D. Olfactics is our perception of odors and scents.
1. Different smells cause different responses.
2. Body odors may produce sexual attraction.
E. Artifacts are personal objects.
1. Artifacts announce our identities and personalize our environment.
2. Artifacts express gender prescriptions.
3. Artifacts express cultural and ethnic identity.
4. Artifacts announce professional identity.
5. Artifacts define our personal settings and territories.
F. Proxemics refers to personal space and how we use it.
1. Space expresses status.
2. How we arrange our space lets others know if we want interaction.
IV. Digital Media and Nonverbal Communication
A. Digital media don’t allow us to use the same amount of nonverbal communication as
face-to-face interaction, so emoticons and stickers have been developed to help convey
C. Digital communication often competes with and distracts us from face-to-face
communication.
D. Increasingly our homes and offices are being designed and furnished to facilitate our
digital media use.
KEY CONCEPTS
Artifacts
Chronemics
Environmental factors
Haptics
Kinesics
Olfactics
Nonverbal behavior
Paralanguage
Physical appearance
Proxemics
Silence
ACTIVITY: Bending the Rules for Proxemics and Kinesics
Purpose/Objective:
To illustrate that most of us have a “silent” understanding of what counts as appropriate use of
space and gestures, and that we recognize when these have been violated.
2. Ask for two volunteers who will engage in a communication exercise illustrating the use
of “gestures” for the rest of the class to observe. Take aside one volunteer and instruct
ACTIVITY: Meanings between Words
Purpose/Objective:
This exercise demonstrates the importance of vocal cues in creating the overall meanings of
communication.
Instructions:
1. Ask for two volunteers. Give them a copy of the dialogue that appears below. Tell them
they are to read the dialogue and the class will try to determine what the context of the
dialogue is and what relationship exists between the two communicators. On a sheet of
paper that other class members cannot see, inform the volunteers that they are two people
planning a robbery. After they have read the dialogue, ask the class to guess what the
situation and relationship is and to identify nonverbal cues that inform their guesses.
2. Ask for two more volunteers to read the same dialogue. This time pass them a sheet of
paper that tells them to read the dialogue as occurring in a bar and involving a woman
flirting with a man she knows casually. The woman is very interested in an intimate
relationship with the man. After discussion, have two more volunteers read the dialogue
as a couple that has separated and is considering divorce and met unexpectedly at a
shopping mall. Conclude the exercise by summarizing the importance of vocal qualities
in creating the meaning of communication.
Dialogue
A: Hello.
B: Hello.
A: So, ah, how are you?
B: About the same. You?
A: Nothing new to report.
B: I thought maybe you might have something to tell me.
A: Has anything changed?
B: Not that I know of. Do you know of a change?
A: No.
B: So what do you think we should do now?
A: I suppose we could go ahead and . . .
B: Yeah, seems like it’s a good plan.
A: Are you sure?
B: As sure as we ever can be in situations like this.
A: Want to reconsider? A lot is at stake.
B: No, I’m ready. Let’s do it.
JOURNAL ITEMS
1. Violate a nonverbal gender prescription. If you are a woman, you might restrain yourself
from smiling for 24 hours, staring defiantly at others when you talk with them, or sitting
with your legs and arms spread widely. If you are a man, you might smile
continuously—whenever you meet people, when you talk with them, etc. Men may also
violate masculine nonverbal prescriptions by giving strong eye contact and abundant
head nods and other displays of responsiveness when they converse with others. Analyze
how you felt violating the nonverbal prescription for your gender and what responses you
got from others.
2. Analyze the artifacts and environment of your room. What do these nonverbals
communicate about who you are? How does their presence affect your feelings of
comfort, identity, and security? What would be different if all of your personal artifacts
disappeared?
PANEL IDEA
1. Invite a group of artists who rely on nonverbal communication to express themselves to
discuss their crafts. Consider having a painter, dancer, musician, and actor discuss the
communication process as a creative, expressive process.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Watch a silent film. Observe nonverbal behaviors of the characters portrayed. How are
you able to make sense of what is happening without the reliance of words? Draw on
concepts from the chapter on nonverbal communication.
2. Discuss how the furniture is set up your living room at home. How does it suggest that
you seek or avoid interaction?
MOVIE—HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS
Benjamin Barry (Matthew McConaughey) is an ad executive who makes a bet that he can make
a woman fall in love with him in 10 days. Andie Anderson (Kate Hudson) is a magazine writer
researching an article on what women do that turn off men. When they meet, their relationship
seems doomed. While this is a fairly predictable romantic comedy, it does provide great
examples of the impact of nonverbals on relationship communication. Students should be able to
find plenty of examples of how nonverbal messages interact with verbal ones.
COMMUNICATION SCENARIOS DVD
Here in “Teamwork,” the focus is on group dynamics and communication. A project team is
meeting to discuss the most effective way to present its recommendations for implementing a
flextime policy on a trial basis. Members of the team are: Jason Brown, team leader; Erika
Filene, Victoria Lawrence, and Bill Williams. They are sitting around a rectangular table with
ESSAY QUESTIONS
1. A friend learns you are taking a course in interpersonal communication and remarks, “Wow,
I’ll bet you know all about how to read nonverbals. Tell me the rules.” Write out your
response to your friend. Be sure to address the assumption behind your friend’s statement as
well as what you might tell the friend about “rules.”
2. A restaurant owner comes to you for advice. She has just realized that, although there are
always customers waiting at lunch and dinnertime, diners are taking so long to eat that she is
losing money. She wants to know if there is anything she can do to make diners eat more
quickly so that she can make a larger profit. Based on your knowledge of how various
nonverbal behaviors affect us, what would you tell the restaurant owner?
3. Discuss the five ways that nonverbal behavior can interact with verbal communication. Give
an example of each type of interaction.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Nonverbal communication is estimated to account for what percentage of the total meaning
of communication? [p. 90 , II]
a. Less than 12%
2. Which of the following is NOT true about nonverbal communication? [pp. 91–94, II]
3. Rachel doesn’t want to be interrupted while she’s speaking so she avoids looking at others
until she has said all she wants to say. Then she looks at the person who wants to respond.
Rachel has used nonverbal behavior to __________. [p. 92, III]
a. establish relational level meanings
4. Assuming an attentive posture, holding eye contact, and nodding to show you understand
what another person is saying are nonverbal behaviors that convey which dimension of
relational level meanings? [p. 92, II]
e. control
5. Smiles, friendly touches, shaking hands are all signs of __________ in Western societies.
e. awareness
6. All of the following can be used to express power, except __________. [pp. 93–94, II]
a. moving into someone’s space
7. The term referring to body position and motions is __________. [p. 95, I]
e. artifacts
8. Research has shown that babies in dysfunctional families are touched less often and less
affectionately than babies in healthy families. This type of nonverbal behavior is referred to
as __________. [p. 96, II]
9. The study of our perception of odor and scents is known as __________. [p. 99, I]
a. artifacts
10. Nathan just moved into a new apartment and spent the first day hanging pictures, putting out
souvenirs of important times, and placing favorite objects on the bookshelves. Nathan has
relied on what form of nonverbal communication to personalize the new apartment? [pp.
100–101, III]
e. appearance
11. The study of space and how people use it is known as __________. [pp. 101–102, I]
a. kinesics
12. Caitlin is angry with her boyfriend, so she refuses to sit near him in the car or to let him get
really close to her while they are walking. To communicate her anger, Caitlin is relying on
__________. [pp. 101–102, III]
a. artifacts
13. Joaquin came to the United States from Mexico three months ago and he is still having
trouble understanding Americans’ tendency to rush all the time. He is also surprised when his
teachers are irritated if he joins class a while after class has started. Joaquin’s confusion
about American pace of life is based on which aspect of nonverbal behavior? [pp. 103–104,
e. none of the above
14. During an argument, when Lisa tells her husband Scott, “It’s not what you said, it’s how you
said it,” Lisa is upset with Scott’s use of __________. [pp. 104–105, III]
15. Which of the following is not a paralanguage behavior? [pp. 104–105, III]
a. raising volume when speaking
16. Nonverbal communication involving touch is called __________. [p.96, II]
e. Dianetics
17. Physiological features and characteristics belong to a category called [p. 98, II]
a. artifacts
b. proxemics
18. Elements of settings that affect how we feel, think and act are __________. [p. 102, II]
a. artifacts
19. How we perceive and use time to define identities and interaction is referred to as
e. kinesics
20. Vocal communication that is not actual words is known as __________. [pp. 104–105, II]
a. chronemics
TRUE/FALSE
1. Unlike verbal communication, nonverbal communication is not ambiguous. [II] F
2. Nonverbal communication is all aspects of communication other than words themselves. [I]
T
6 // LISTENING AND RESPONDING TO OTHERS
I. Listening is at least as important as talking in the communication process.
A. Studies indicate that we spend 45%-55% our waking time listening, which is more than
other communication activity.
B. Learning to listen well enhances personal, academic, social, and professional
effectiveness.
II. Listening is a complex process.
b. Mindfulness promotes more complete communication by others.
C. Listening involves physically receiving communication but is not limited to hearing
sounds.
1. People who do not hear well may have difficulty receiving oral messages.
2. Other physiological factors influence how and how well we listen.
D. We selectively attend to and organize some aspects of communication such as gender and
speaking rate, and not others.
1. We tend to notice stimuli that are intense, loud, or unusual.
2. We use cognitive schemata (Chapter 3) to organize our perceptions.
3. We construct others and their communication by the schemata that we use to organize
our perceptions about them.
F. Effective listening also involves responding, both during the process of interaction and
after another person has stopped speaking.
1. Skillful listeners give signs to show that they are involved in the interaction.
2. Responding involves nonverbal communication.
3. Responding involves giving feedback.
G. Remembering important parts of interpretations of the message is the final aspect of the
listening process.
1. Remembering is not simply recalling literal messages. It is the ability to recall your
interpretation of the messages.
2. We forget about two-thirds of the meanings after about 8 hours of hearing a message.
3. Selectively focusing our attention is especially important when we listen to
presentations that include a lot of information.
III. There are two general kinds of obstacles to effective listening: situational obstacles and
internal obstacles.
A. Situational obstacles include message overload, message complexity, and environmental
distractions.
b. Mind reading occurs when we assume that we know what others feel, think, or are
going to say and we fit their messages to our preconceptions.
3. Lack of effort and energy can reduce listening effectiveness.
4. Reacting to words that evoke very strong emotional responses, positive or negative,
can reduce effective listening.
5. Failure to recognize different styles of communicating can interfere with listening.
IV. There are six forms of ineffective listening.
V. Digital Media and Listening
A. Online communication requires us to observe the same listening principles as face-to-face
listening.
B. Digital media often distract us and diminish our listening effectiveness.
C. Online communication requires vigilance and critical thinking.
VI. The key to effective listening is to adapt to specific communication goals.
A. Informational and critical listening is intended to gain and evaluate information. It
requires paying close attention to content.
1. The primary purpose of informational listening is to gain and understand information.
2. The primary purpose of critical listening is to make judgments of people and ideas.
3. There are five skills that we can use to be a better informational and critical listener.
a. We can be mindful to carefully attend to what is being communicated no matter
how complex the material.
b. We can try to control obstacles and distractions to listening.
c. We can ask questions so that speakers have an opportunity to clarify their
messages.
d. We can use aids to try to help us to recall the information.
e. We can try to organize the information by regrouping the information into
categories.
C. There are two additional listening goals.
1. We don’t need to concentrate on organizing or remembering when listening for
pleasure.
2. In some situations, we listen to make fine distinctions in sounds in order to draw more
accurate conclusions.
KEY CONCEPTS
Message overload
ACTIVITY: Responding vs. Reacting
Based on an exercise used in Pennsylvania State University’s Continuing Education program
Purpose/Objective:
To illustrate for students we often “listen” on auto-pilot and react according to pre-programmed
scripts. Careful listening means paying careful attention…and being patient!
Instructions:
Give students a copy of the handout that appears below. Ask them to follow the printed
directions. When all students have finished, ask why so many of them failed to read all the items
before beginning, as indicated in statement #1. Ask students to discuss why some people might
fail to fully “listen” in other situations, and what the consequences might be of this. Also ask for
suggested ways to avoid prejudging, to improve attention, and to heighten mindfulness.
Responding vs. Reacting Handout
Directions: Complete the test as quickly as possible. Please do exactly as instructed. Follow
the instructions for each statement fully. Ask no questions and do not check to see what other
students are doing. When you have finished, sit quietly and do not speak.
ACTIVITY: Listening Actively
Purpose/Objective:
To help students understand the importance of being an informational and critical listener.
Instructions:
Read the following story to the class. Instruct students to listen closely to the story, but to not
take notes. Inform them that they will be asked a series of simple questions afterwards. Have
them write down the answers. Determine why some students were able to answer many
first bystander on his heroism. The police arrived fifteen minutes later, and determined
that there were no injuries. After a witness explained what happened, a ticket was issued
to driver of the van for improperly parking. The passengers were cited for failure to use
ACTIVITY: Being a Nonlistener
Adapted from Barra Kahn, George Mason University
Purpose/Objective:
To help students better understand the six forms of nonlistening by purposely engaging in those
behaviors.
Instructions:
Write the six forms of nonlistening on the board and ask the class to briefly define them. Form
students into two circles in the center of the room: an inner circle facing out, and an outer circle
facing in. Each person should be facing another person in a dyad. The people in the inner circle
need to think up a problem they are having or a decision they need to make and take one minute
to explain the situation to their dyad partner, who will engage in the first form of nonlistening
listed on the board. After two minutes tell everyone in the outer circle to take one step to the left,
facing a new dyad partner. The people in the inner circle should tell the same story to their new
JOURNAL ITEMS
1. Describe a situation during which you practiced mindfulness. What were the
circumstances that led to you deciding to attend fully to the other person? How difficult
was it to be mindful? If you can’t think of time when you were mindful, can you describe
a situation that would have turned out better had you been mindful of the other?
2. Analyze your own listening effectiveness. Using the textbook to guide you, analyze your
strengths and weaknesses in terms of the text’s guidelines for effective informational
listening and effective relational listening. Identify two listening skills you would like to
improve and describe how you plan to develop greater competence in each.
PANEL IDEA
1. Most campuses and campus communities include a number of organizations that train
peer-counselors, e.g., rape crisis counseling, battered women shelters, academic
counselors, etc. Ask one of the organizations to send a representative to your class to
facilitate a workshop on empathic listening skills. Someone with expertise in listening
and in training others to listen can give your students a powerful introduction to effective
listening techniques.
DISCUSSION QUESTION
MOVIE—LOST IN TRANSLATION
Bob Harris (Bill Murray) is an American film actor who is in Tokyo to film a whiskey ad. While
in Tokyo, Bob meets Charlotte (Scarlett Johannson) the young wife of a visiting photographer.
The film follows Bob and Charlotte as they develop a special relationship in a strange culture.
While the movie is primarily a character study, it does provide students with an opportunity to
see examples of listening processes like mindfulness, selective attention, and responsiveness.
Students might also be interested in the ways in which these characters practice relational
listening with one another.
COMMUNICATION SCENARIOS DVD
Over spring break, 20-year old Josh visits his father. He wants to convince his family to support
him in joining a fraternity that has given him a bid. On his second day home, after dinner Josh
decides to broach the topic. His dad is reading the newspaper when Josh walks in the living
room. Josh sits down and opens the conversation. The full transcript of Family Hour is included
in your textbook.
1. What forms of ineffective listening are evident in this dialogue?
2. If you could advise Josh’s father on listening effectively, what would you tell him to do
differently?
3. What advice would you offer Josh on listening more effectively to his father?
ESSAY QUESTIONS
1. What percentage of waking time does the average person spend listening, according to
studies? [p. 110 , II]
a. 10–18%
2. The physiological component of listening is __________. [p. 110, I]
e. remembering
3. Putting together all that we have selected and organized, in order to make sense of
communication, is known as __________. [p. 112-113, I]
a. responding
e. responding
5. Shawn is having trouble listening effectively in his advanced philosophy course. Usually he
listens well in class, but the professor in this case is so full of information and he presents
such complicated ideas that Shawn has difficulty following and retaining the lecture. Shawn
is experiencing a listening obstacle known as __________. [pp. 115, III]
e. lack of mindfulness
6. When a close friend she hasn’t seen in a long time visits Beth in her dormitory room, Beth
closes the door to the hallway, turns off the radio and shuts the window. By doing so Beth is
reducing the potential __________ so she can effectively listen to her friend. [p. 115, III]
d. regulative distractions
e. message impediments
7. As soon as the news program begins an interview with the President, Dolores quits paying
attention and she mumbles to herself, “I already know everything he has to say and I don’t
want to hear it again.” Dolores’ ability to listen is being hindered by __________. [p. 116,
III]
e. noise
8. When Jing says to Juana that she is having a difficult time in her chemistry class, Juana’s
first response is to launch into an extended description of the difficulties she had in her
physicals class. By doing so, Juana is engaging in a faulty listening practice known as
__________. [pp. 117-118, III]
e. paraphrasing
9. While visiting her parents on a break from school Melinda doesn’t pay attention to much of
what they say. She lets much of their communication just come in one ear and out the other
without her ever listening. However, when her mother mentions going shopping to get some
new clothes and good novels for Melinda to take back to school, Melinda listens attentively.
This is an example of __________. [p. 118, IIII]
e. pseudolistening
10. Before Matt ever begins to speak, Dennis assumes that Matt will say something insulting,
disparaging, or disrespectful. Dennis is engaging in __________. [pp. 118, III]
11. Rebekah is mad at her boyfriend because she suspects that he was playing video games with
friends last night instead of studying. She decides to ask him how his studying went. When
he cannot answer her questions, she will let him have it. Rebekah’s strategy is an example of
__________. [p. 119, III]
e. literal listening
12. Preparing for a geography quiz, Brendan makes up the nonsensical phrase “No one notices
the Queen not liking the pie” as a tool to help him recall the Eastern Canadian provinces of
Nova Scotia, Ontario, New Brunswick, Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince
Edward Island. In doing so, Brendan is employing a tool known as __________. [p. 121, III]
a. a mindful manager
13. Bao is a teacher. When she is talking to students one on one, she gently encourages them to
express themselves by saying, “Tell me more,” “go on,” “I understand.” These are examples
e. mindfulness
14. Lemarr says, “I am really bummed out about not getting any job offers.” His roommate,
John, responds, “Sounds as if you’re feeling pretty low about the response so far.” John’s
communication is an example of __________. [p. 123, III]
e. ambushing
15. After a long night of studying, Jacob puts his headphones on and listens to one of his favorite
CD’s. Jacob is __________. [p. 125, III]
a. listening to discriminate
16. Kenya was tired after a long day at work. She was looking forward to kicking off her shoes
and sitting down in front of the TV when she got home. Nothing else really mattered to her
as her roommate greeted her at the door with news about their neighbor. Which internal
obstacle affected Kenya’s ability to listen to her roommate? [p. 116, III]
a. preoccupation
17. The process of attending to some aspects of communication and disregarding others as we
e. remembering
18. Hwei-Jen believed that averting your eyes when interacting with someone was a sign of
respect. When Hwei-Jen would not look directly at Mark when he spoke, he felt a bit insulted
and thought that Hwei-Jen was not listening to him. This hindrance to effective communication
involves __________. [p. 117, III]
a. responding
b. pseudolistening
19. Which of the following is NOT an effective communication skill that helps us gain insight
into others? [p. 119, II]
a. being person-centered
b. stepping outside of our own point of view
20. Critical listening involves __________. [p. 120-21, II]
e. a neutral, unbiased response to the ideas presented
TRUE FALSE QUESTIONS