Lecture Notes
Chapter 2: Verbal and Nonverbal Communication
Learning Objectives
2.1. Define verbal communication
2.2. Define nonverbal communication
2.3. Appraise your verbal and nonverbal communication skills
2.4. Discuss examples of how verbal and nonverbal communication are related
2.5. Apply the KEYS approach to conduct yourself with professional excellence through verbal
and nonverbal communication in the workplace
Chapter Summary
Chapter 2 defines verbal and nonverbal communication. It also covers how to appraise your
verbal and nonverbal communication skills. In addition, this chapter discusses how verbal and
nonverbal communication are related. Finally, it applies the KEYS approach to professional
excellence outlining how to improve verbal and nonverbal communication in the workplace.
Chapter Outline
I. Verbal Communication
A. What Is Verbal Communication?
1. Verbal communication is created through language, encompassing both our
words and verbal fillers.
2. The symbols communicators use are abstract, vague, and sometimes arbitrary.
3. Verbal communication uses communication rules, or the shared understanding
of what communication means and what constitutes communication in given
contexts.
4. Regulative rules describe when, where, and with whom to discuss certain
things.
5. Constitutive rules define what certain kinds of communication mean, such as
eye contact, showing affection, and signaling inappropriateness.
II. Nonverbal Communication
A. What Is Nonverbal Communication?
1. Nonverbal communication includes all those ways we communicate without
words.
2. Research provides considerable support for the effectiveness of nonverbal
communication as a tool for conveying thoughts, attitudes, perceptions, and
meaning.
3. About 55% of interpersonal messages are conveyed nonverbally.
B. Nonverbal Communication Serves Four Purposes
1. Expressing emotions
2. Conveying interpersonal attitudes
3. Presenting one’s personality
4. Accompanying verbal communication
a. It can repeat what is being said.
b. It can conflict what is being said.
c. It can complement what is being said.
d. It can substitute for what is being said.
e. It can accent or moderate what is being said.
f. It can regulate verbal behaviors by coordinating verbal and nonverbal
behavior.
C. Dimensions of Nonverbal Communication Usage
1. Immediacy: evaluation of things, identifying them as positive or negative, good
or evil
2. Status: perception of behaviors that indicate aspects of status
3. Responsiveness: perception of activity, being active or passive
III. Codes of Nonverbal Communication
A. Vocal Expression
1. The code of vocal expression or vocalics refers to how people use their voices
to communicate and express themselves.
2. Vocal cues include tone and quality of voice, volume, articulation, pitch, rate of
speech, and the use of silence.
B. Space
1. Proxemics: how people create and use space and distance, as well as how they
behave to protect and defend that space
2. Four zones of space in middle-class American culture
a. Intimate zone (0–18 inches): reserved for our significant others, family
members, and closest friends
b. Personal zone (18 inches to 4 feet): reserved for personal relationships
c. Social zone (4–12 feet): distance at which we usually talk to strangers or
conduct business
d. Public zone (12 feet +): refers to the distance typical of large, formal,
public events
C. Environment
1. The constructed or natural surroundings that influence your communicative
decisions, attitude, and mood are termed the environment.
2. Perceive the environment in six ways
a. Formality or the understanding people have of how comfortably they
can behave
b. Warmth or whether an environment gives off a certain sense of warmth,
comfort, or welcoming
c. Privacy or whether we prefer a crowded or a peaceful and quiet
environment
d. Familiarity, meaning that we tend to act cautiously when we meet new
people or when confronted with a new environment
e. Constraint, which focuses on whether we like sharing space with others
or we feel constrained around others
f. Distance, which pertains to the physical arrangements of the
environment
D. Physical Appearance
1. Physical appearance describes the way our bodies and overall appearance
nonverbally communicates to others and impacts our view of ourselves in
everyday life.
2. Connection between physical appearance and nonverbal communication is
important.
a. Reveals a lot about who we are
b. The physical appearance of others influences our perception of them.
3. Artifacts, such as jewelry, tattoos, piercings, makeup, cologne, and eyeglasses,
send nonverbal messages that influence the perceptions others have of us, both
good and bad.
E. Body Movement
1. Kinesics is the study of human movement, gestures, and posture.
2. Five categories of kinesics
a. Emblems provide a specific and widely understood message that can be
substituted for a word or phrase.
b. Illustrators are gestures that complement, enhance, or substitute for the
verbal meaning.
c. Affect displays are facial expressions and gestures that display emotion.
d. Regulators are gestures used to control turn-taking in conversations.
e. Adapters are gestures used to release tension.
F. Facial Behavior
1. Oculesics is the study of eye behavior.
2. Four common techniques of facial management
a. Neutralization: erase how we really feel
b. Masking: hiding an expression connected to a felt emotion and
replacing it with an expression more appropriate to the situation
c. Intensification: expressions that exaggerate how we feel about
something
d. Deintensification: facial expressions that portray a reduction of
intensity that is connected to a certain emotion
G. Touch
1. Also called haptics, describes the use of touching to communicate nonverbal
messages
2. Classifications of touch behavior
a. Functional or professional: takes place within the context of
professional relationships and is low in intimacy
b. Social or polite: connected to cultural norms, demonstrated by actions
such as hugs or pats on the back
c. Friendship or warmth: used to show platonic affection toward each
other
d. Love or intimacy: highly personal and intimate; it communicates
strong feelings of affection
e. Sexual arousal: extremely intimate
IV. Forming Relationships With Verbal and Nonverbal Communication
A. Messages Have Two Layers
1. The content layer consists of information being explicitly discussed.
a. May include descriptive information
b. Exchange content or retrieve information
2. The relational layer reveals how you feel about the other person.
a. May be communicated by your choice of words
b. May be communicated nonverbally through tone of voice, use of space,
and eye contact
B. Verbal and Nonverbal Communication and Their Impact on Professions
1. Customer Service and Sales
a. Success in productivity and sales is linked to the distance between sales
representatives and prospects, salesperson posture, handshake techniques,
and so on.
b. Nonverbal cues (eye gaze, speech hesitations, gestures, clothing, and
posture) influenced the experimental buyers’ perceptions.
2. Journalism and Television Broadcasting
a. Those in the public eye must demonstrate effective nonverbal and
verbal communication.
3. Public Service
a. Evidence indicates that individuals who are trained in nonverbal
communication can replace negative perceptions of themselves with
positive ones.
4. Hospitality Management
a. Can improve an organizations’ image among guests by providing client
services employees training in verbal and nonverbal communication
5. Medical Professions
a. Patients often choose a physician based on their perceived image of the
doctor, as revealed by verbal and nonverbal communications.
6. Teaching Professions
a. Nonverbal communication of teachers influences the evaluation
direction (positive or negative) and level of performance they receive from
their students.
7. Legal Professions
a. Lawyers can project a favorable impression of themselves and their
firms for prospective clients through sustained eye contact and other forms
of body language.
8. Accounting and Finance
a. Accountants can benefit through the technique of maintained and
appropriate eye contact, good posture, and proximity to clients.
9. Management (Private and Public)
a. Job evaluations of employees by their supervisors have been found to
correlate with smiling, gaze, hand movement, and body orientation.
V. KEYS to Excellence in Verbal and Nonverbal Communication
A. Knowing Yourself
1. Be aware of small, unconscious, nonverbal cues you create.
B. Evaluating the Professional Context
1. Assess what nonverbal signals are considered acceptable in your workplace.
C. Your Communication Interaction
1. Take an immediate and reflexive inventory of both your nonverbal
communication and your partner’s.
D. Step Back and Reflect
1. Analyze your communication after the interaction has ended.