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Chapter 6: Nonverbal Communication Issues
Martin, Experiencing Intercultural Communication, 6e
Chapter 6
Nonverbal Communication Issues
Study Objectives
After studying the material in this chapter, students should be able to accomplish the following
objectives.
1. Define nonverbal communication.
2. Understand the difference between verbal and nonverbal communication.
3. Describe what nonverbal behavior communicates.
4. Identify cultural differences in nonverbal behavior.
5. Understand how nonverbal communication can reinforce cultural stereotypes.
6. Define and give examples of cultural space.
7. Describe the relationship between cultural identity and cultural space.
8. Describe the dynamic nature of cultural spaces.
Key Terms
Adaptors
Contact cultures
Cultural spaces
Cyberspace
Deception
Emblems
Eye contact
Facial expressions
Gestures
Home
Illustrators
Migration
MMORPGs
Monochronic
Neighborhood
Noncontact cultures
Nonverbal communication
Paralinguistics
Personal space
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Chapter 6: Nonverbal Communication Issues
Martin, Experiencing Intercultural Communication, 6e
Physical appearance
Polychronic
Regionalism
Regulators
Relational messages
Silence
Status
Traveling
Detailed Chapter Outline
I. Defining Nonverbal Communication
• Nonverbal communication is communication through means other than language (for
example, facial expression, personal space, eye contact, use of time, and conversational
silence.)
• Nonverbal communication also involves the notion of cultural spaces. Cultural spaces are
the contexts that form people’s identity—where they grow up and where they live.
A. Comparing Verbal and Nonverbal Communication
• Both verbal and nonverbal communications are symbolic, both communicate meaning,
and both are patterned—that is, are governed by rules that are determined by particular
contexts and situations.
• However, there are some important differences between nonverbal and verbal
communication in any culture.
o Although people learn rules and meanings for language behavior in grammar and
spelling lessons, they learn nonverbal meanings and behaviors more
unconsciously.
o Sometimes people learn strategies for nonverbal communication. For example,
one may have been taught to shake hands firmly when one meets someone, or one
might have learnt that a limp handshake indicates a person with a weak character.
o Nonverbal behaviors can reinforce, substitute for, or contradict verbal behaviors.
o Because nonverbal communication operates at a more subconscious level, people
tend to think that they have less control over their nonverbal behavior.
B. What Nonverbal Behavior Communicates
• Nonverbal behavior sends relational messages and communicates status and deception.
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Chapter 6: Nonverbal Communication Issues
Martin, Experiencing Intercultural Communication, 6e
o Although language is effective at communicating specific information, nonverbal
communication often communicates relational messages about how one really
feels about a person, and so on.
• There are three guidelines to prevent hasty interpretations of nonverbal behaviors.
o The first is to think about the context.
o The second guideline is to consider the person’s other nonverbal behaviors.
o A third guideline is to remember to consider the verbal messages along with the
nonverbal messages.
• Nonverbal behavior also communicates status—the relative position a person occupies
in an organizational or social setting.
• Nonverbal behavior also communicates deception.
II. Cultural Variations in Nonverbal Behavior
• There is something very basic, and perhaps universal, about some of people’s nonverbal
behaviors—particularly the facial expressions, facial gestures that convey emotions and
attitudes.
A. Nonverbal Codes
• Paralinguistics refer to the study of paralanguage—vocal behaviors that indicate how
something is said, including speaking rate, volume, pitch, and stress, among others.
o Voice qualities or the nontechnical term “tone of voice” includes speed, pitch,
rhythm, vocal range, and articulation; these qualities make up the “music” of the
human voice.
o Vocalizations are the sounds people utter that do not have the structure of
language.
• Personal space is the “bubble” that surrounds people, marking the territory between
themselves and others.
o One would probably know from personal experience that when someone stands
too close to them or too far in conversation, they tend to feel uncomfortable and
may even move to shorten or widen the space.
• It turns out that some cultural groups are identified as contact cultures and others as
noncontact cultures.
o Contact cultures are those in which people stand closer together while talking,
make more direct eye contact, touch frequently, and speak in louder voices..
o Noncontact cultures are those in which people tend to stand farther apart when
conversing, maintain less eye contact, and touch less often.
• Many factors besides culture determine how close together or far apart people stand.
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Chapter 6: Nonverbal Communication Issues
Martin, Experiencing Intercultural Communication, 6e
Gender, age, ethnicity, the context of the interaction, and the topic of discussion all
influence the use of personal space.
• Physical appearance is an important nonverbal code.
o It includes physical characteristics like height, weight, and body shape, as well as
personal grooming and personal artifacts such as jewelry, glasses, and
backpacks/briefcases/purses.
o Physical attractiveness is dynamic and variable—beauty is in the eye of the
beholder, to some extent.
o There are two universal measures of attractiveness: 1) there is more emphasis on
female attractiveness than male attractiveness, and 2) men consistently express
stronger preferences for attractive mates than women.
• Eye contact is often considered an element of personal space because it regulates
interpersonal distance.
o Eye contact communicates meanings related to respect and status, and it often
regulates turn taking in conversations..
o Patterns of eye contact vary from culture to culture.
• It is important to recognize that there is variation in many aspects of facial expressions.
o A smile may universally indicate pleasure and happiness, and a frown may
indicate sadness, but there is a lot of variation in what causes someone to smile or
frown.
o The rules that regulate facial expressions also may vary. Thus, a greeting may call
for a wide smile in some cultures and a much more subdued or less expressive
smile in others.
• Gestures are simply arm and hand movements that communicate non-verbally. There
are at least four different kinds of gestures: emblems, illustrators, regulators, and
adaptors.
o Emblems are those gestures that have a specific verbal translation.
o Illustrators are all those gestures that go along with our speech.
o Much of people’s conversation is regulated by nonverbal gestures, called
regulators. Thus, when someone tries to interrupt while people are talking, they
may put out their hand, indicating that they aren’t finished speaking.
o The final type of gesture is adaptors, which are related to managing emotions.
• There are many cultural variations regarding how people understand and use time.
o One way to understand these variations is to look at the differences between
monochronic and polychronic time orientations.
o People who have a monochronic concept of time, like most people in the United
States, regard time as a commodity: Time can be gained, lost, spent, wasted, or
saved.
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Chapter 6: Nonverbal Communication Issues
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o By contrast, people with a polychronic orientation conceptualize time as more
holistic, perhaps more circular: Many events can happen at once. Often, tasks are
accomplished because of personal relationships, not in spite of them.
o Many international business negotiations, technical assistance projects, and team
projects fail because of differences in time orientation.
• Cultural groups may vary in the relative emphasis placed on speaking and on silence.
o In most U.S. American contexts, silence is not highly valued. Particularly in
developing relationships, silence communicates awkwardness and can make
people feel uncomfortable. In U.S. American contexts, people employ active
uncertainty reduction strategies, such as asking questions.
o However, in many other cultural contexts, people reduce uncertainty by more
passive strategies, such as remaining silent, observing, and perhaps asking a third
party about someone’s behavior.
o In Japan, for instance, silence can convey respect for the person who has spoken,
or it can be a way of unifying people.
• Some experts hypothesize that there are some underlying situational commonalities in
cultures where silence is a prevalent practice.
o One is that silence is appropriate when the participants see the relationship or
situation as ambiguous or uncertain (e.g., just getting to know someone).
o Another common situation that calls for silence is where there are power
differences (e.g., boss–employee interaction).
o In both these situations, whereas a Diné or Japanese response might be one of
silence, an appropriate white U. S. American response might be to just “speak up”
in order to reduce uncertainty.
B. Cultural Variation or Stereotype?
• One of the problems with identifying cultural variations in nonverbal codes is that it is
tempting to overgeneralize these variations and to stereotype groups of people.
o Prejudice is often based on nonverbal aspects of behavior. That is, the negative
prejudgment is triggered by physical appearances or physical behavior.
III. Defining Cultural Space
• Cultural space relates to the way communication constructs meanings of various places.
For example, at the beginning of this book, some background information about people and
the cultural places where they grew up was provided. These particular cultural spaces are
important in understanding our identities.
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Chapter 6: Nonverbal Communication Issues
Martin, Experiencing Intercultural Communication, 6e
o The meanings of cultural spaces are dynamic and ever changing. In addition, the
relations between people’s cultural spaces and identities are negotiated in complex
ways.
A. Cultural Identity and Cultural Space
• One of the earliest cultural spaces one experiences is home, the immediate cultural
context for one’s upbringing.
o The social class of an American home is often expressed nonverbally: from the
way the lawn is cared for, to the kinds of cars in the driveway, to the way the
television is situated, to the kinds of furniture in the home.
o Even if people’s homes do not reflect the social class they wish to be in, they
often identify with it strongly. People often model their own lives on the way
things were done in their childhood homes.
o Home can be a place of safety and security.
o Home is not the same as the physical location it occupies, nor the building (the
house) on that location. Home is variously defined as specific addresses, cities,
states, regions, and even nations.
o Some people have feelings of fondness for the region of the country where they
grew up. But others feel less positive about where they come from.
• A neighborhood is a living area defined by its own cultural identity, especially an
ethnic or racial one.
o The phenomenon of “Whites-only” areas has been very common in U.S. history.
Beginning in 1890 until the late 1960s (the fair-housing legislation), Whites in
America created thousands of Whites-only towns, commonly known as “sundown
towns.”
o Until racial covenants were lifted in 1947, Chinese Americans were forced to live
in Chinatown.
o Historical forces and power relations have led to different settlement patterns of
other cultural groups in ethnic enclaves across the U.S. landscape.
o Power relations influence how some cultural groups are accepted, some tolerated
and others may be unacceptable.
• Regionalism is the loyalty to some area that holds cultural meaning, can take many
different forms, from symbolic expressions of identification to armed conflict.
o Within the United States, people may identify themselves or others as southerners
or midwesterners.
o Sometimes people fly regional flags, wear particular kinds of clothes, celebrate
regional holidays, and participate in other cultural activities to communicate their
regional identification.
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Chapter 6: Nonverbal Communication Issues
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• Another set of postmodern spaces that are quite familiar are those on new media, that
exist in cyberspace.
o There are MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role-playing games), virtual
worlds like Second Life, Onverse, Smallworlds, and Habbo, where people meet in
real time and interact primarily for recreational purposes.
o There are also more than 2 billion people who now use social network sites such
as Facebook, Instagram, and Tumbler in the United States, VK, Qzone, Renren,
etc., and some scholars question the effect on relationships of so much time spent
in these cultural spaces.
o While these sites offer opportunities for connection, learning and support, and
empowerment, results of one study suggest the longer someone spends on
Facebook, the worse their mood gets.
o In addition, they can be hostile cultural places of harassment and exclusion. Gay,
lesbian, and transgendered individuals are much more likely to be the targets of
bullying than straight individuals.
B. Changing Cultural Space
• In terms of intercultural communication, traveling changes cultural spaces in a way that
often transforms the traveler.
o Changing cultural spaces means changing who one is and how one interacts with
others.
o Experts also caution that cyberspace may be changing the way one experiences
travel.
• People also change cultural spaces through migration from a primary cultural context
to a new one.
o Migration, of course, involves a different kind of change in cultural spaces than
traveling. With traveling, the change is temporary and, usually, desirable. It is
something people seek out. By contrast, people who migrate do not always seek
out this change.
o Many immigrants leave their homelands simply to survive. But they often find it
difficult to adjust to the change, especially if the language and customs of the new
cultural space are unfamiliar.
C. The Dynamic Nature of Cultural Spaces
• The dynamic nature of cultural space stands in sharp contrast to more traditional
Western notions of space, which promoted land ownership, surveys, borders, colonies,
and territories.
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Chapter 6: Nonverbal Communication Issues
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o The dynamic nature of current cultural spaces underscores their relationship to
changing cultural needs. The space exists only as long as it is needed in its present
form.
o The rise of the Internet has added a new dimension to the creation of cultural
spaces. People can now enter (virtually) a number of spaces where they can
communicate in ways that express different aspects of their cultural identities.
Discussion Questions
1. How is nonverbal communication different from verbal communication?
2. Does the absence of nonverbal cues make intercultural communication easier or more
difficult?
3. What are some of the messages that we communicate through our nonverbal behaviors?
How might these affect communication with people from different cultures?
4. Which nonverbal behaviors, if any, are universal?
5. What is the difference between contact and noncontact cultures?
6. How does our sense of space, in terms of land ownership, borders, and territories, differ
from the notion of cultural space as dynamic and responsive to changing cultural needs?
7. How do our cultural spaces affect our identities?
8. What is the importance of cultural spaces in intercultural communication?
9. How has the Internet affected cultural spaces?
10. Are there any universal measures of attractiveness?
Classroom Exercises and Chapter Assignments
1. Ambiguity of Nonverbal Messages Assignment: This assignment is designed to help
students observe the ease with which nonverbal messages can be misinterpreted. Have the
students write a one- to two-page essay about an interpersonal situation in which they
misread or misinterpreted someone’s nonverbal message. Students should describe what
the nonverbal message was, how it was misinterpreted, and what happened as a result of
the misinterpretation. You can allow them to choose any interaction for this assignment or
ask them to focus on an intercultural interaction that caused the misinterpretation.
2. Proxemics Exercise: This exercise illustrates the various distances people use in everyday
interactions and helps students find their “bubble” or comfort zone. The exercise also
points out how people’s bubbles vary depending on their cultures and personal preferences.
Have students pair off and stand facing each other at a variety of distances while
conversing. Instruct them to pay attention to their own and the other person’s posture while
doing this exercise. Use the steps given below:
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Chapter 6: Nonverbal Communication Issues
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• Have students stand with toes touching.
• Have students stand one arm’s length away from each other.
• Have one person move to his or her comfortable conversational distance while the
other does not move.
• Have the person who did not move find his or her comfortable conversational
distance while the other person does not move.
Debrief this exercise by asking students which of the distances they were most comfortable
with. Did they notice any differences between their own bubble and that of their partner?
When they were uncomfortable, what did they do with their bodies to “create” distance
(such as not look at each other, bend backward as far as they could go, or turn shoulder to
shoulder rather than face each other)? What did this exercise reveal to them about personal
space and cultural differences?
3. Role of Nonverbal Communication Exercise: This exercise will help students understand
that nonverbal communication is present in all communication interactions. It will also
help them recognize some of the functions of nonverbal communication. Ask four student
volunteers to participate in a class contest. Have them each choose an experience to tell the
class that was either very funny, scary, exciting, or infuriating. The object of the contest is
to tell the story without using any nonverbal communication. As such, the only movement
they can make is with their mouths, to formulate the words coherently.
Give the four volunteers a few minutes to think of their stories. Meanwhile, instruct the rest
of the class that they will be the judges of the contest. As soon as they notice any nonverbal
behaviors, they should shout “Stop.” Assign one student to keep time. Ask the four
volunteers to come to the front of the class. Instruct them to take turns to tell their stories
and to stop when they hear the word “Stop.” You may want to sit where you can see the
faces of the volunteers, because students are sometimes hesitant to speak up at the first one
or two violations, so you will probably have to do so. Halt the story as soon as you see
even the slightest changes in facial expressions, eye movement swaying, and so forth.
Students seldom last more than 4 to 6 seconds. After the student stops, tell the student what
movement he or she made, and ask him or her to remain standing in front of the class.
When all four students have finished, ask the class whether it is possible to communicate
without using nonverbal behaviors.
Then, invite the students to relax and tell the stories as they normally would, using any
nonverbal behaviors they like. After they finish, let them sit down, and ask the class
whether the stories were more or less interesting with the nonverbal communication
behaviors. Ask the class what functions the nonverbal behaviors of these students played in
their storytelling. Elicit specific examples.
4. Nonverbal Variations Assignment I: This assignment focuses on nonverbal differences in
other cultures. Instruct students to choose a culture and research it to discover differences
in nonverbal behaviors. Have them write a brief paper outlining the differences as
compared with general behaviors typically found in the United States.
5. Nonverbal Variations Assignment II: A variation to the previous assignment is to have the
students research the nonverbal behaviors of another culture in small groups and present
their findings in the form of a role play instead of as a written report.
6. Cultural Space Journal Assignment: Have students go to a cultural space that is not their
own. They can go physically or via the Internet. Then, in a journal, have them answer the
following questions:
• What defines this cultural space? (For example, is it the country store where people
hang out to chat, or is it an online forum where people with a specific membership go
to make contact with other like-minded people?)
• How is this place different from your own cultural spaces?
• What rules, verbal or nonverbal, define interaction in this place?
• How might people feel or respond if this space were not available to them?
7. Time Activity: This exercise is designed to help students think about their cultural norms
for time. Ask students to help you create a list on the chalkboard of the different places
they have to go during the week (church, a party, dinner with a friend, or study groups).
Then, suggest a meeting time for each event, and ask the students to write on a piece of
paper the time that they would most likely arrive. After students have finished, have them
share the different times they would arrive, and keep track of these on the board. Then,
examine these times with the class to identify behavioral patterns using the following
questions:
• For which activities are we most likely to arrive closest to the suggested meeting
time?
• For which activities are we most likely to arrive late?
• For which activities do the arrival times vary the most?
• For which activities is it most socially acceptable to be late? Why?
• What is the acceptable time to be late for each of these activities? (Note: If there is a
lot of variation between students’ responses, ask them why they think they have
different ideas about when it is acceptable to be late.)
• How do we learn these rules for being late?
• What does this exercise tell us about the relationship between culture and time?
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Chapter 6: Nonverbal Communication Issues
Martin, Experiencing Intercultural Communication, 6e
Suggested Videos
1. Communication: The Nonverbal Agenda (Distributed by CRM Films, Carlsbad, CA, 1988,
20 minutes)
This film provides a general introduction to nonverbal communication. In this film, the
relationship between verbal and nonverbal communication is examined, and a few aspects
of nonverbal communication that are important in present-day business environments are
discussed.
2. Gender and Communication: Male-Female Differences in Language and Nonverbal
Behavior (Produced by Dane Archer, 42 minutes, Color. 2001)
The film analyses the impact that gender has on verbal messages (including speech,
language, and vocabulary) and nonverbal means of communication such as kinesics
(movement, gestures, and posture), haptics (touch), vocal paralanguage, proxemics (spatial
behavior), and other “unwritten” languages.
3. Architecture: Why Man Builds (Distributed by McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, New
York, 1971, 18 minutes)
This film depicts how architecture communicates about the factors influencing civilizations
and the people who design and use buildings. The film postulates that architecture should
be thought of as “a part of, rather than a backdrop for, life.”
4. A World of Gestures: Culture and Nonverbal Communication (Distributed by University of
California Extension Media Center, Berkeley, 1991, 27 minutes)
This video shows some of the cultural variations in gestures and explores the origins and
functions of gestures.
5. Nonverbal Communication (Distributed by the Intercultural Communication Institute,
1989)
This video by Dr. Milton Bennett presents a lively introduction to the topic of nonverbal
behavior across cultures, with a review of primary nonverbal categories and illustrative
anecdotes. Designed for individuals who will be interacting across cultures, the video
makes the topic of nonverbal communication accessible to all audiences.
6. A World Of Differences: Understanding Cross-Cultural Communication (Univ. of
California Extension Center for Media and Independent Learning, 2000, 30 minutes)
This film reviews fourteen different ways (both nonverbal and verbal) that people from two
different cultures can experience communication failures and conflict. Examples in the
film include the difficulty of understanding idioms from another culture, patterns of touch,
etiquette and ritual, cultural differences in personal space, ideas about food, gestures,
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Chapter 6: Nonverbal Communication Issues
Martin, Experiencing Intercultural Communication, 6e
courtship differences, the expression of emotions, mistranslation, and parent–child
interactions.
7. http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6107259n&tag=contentBody;storyMediaBox
8. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A69Z8fCpuAI
9. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-19942638
10. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-19972026
11. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19973788
12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvIvziN50D0
13. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwrgUqBotpA
14. http://www.upf.pf/?lang=fr
15. http://www.npr.org/2012/10/07/162445840/stateless-and-stranded-on-american-samoa