Non-Verbal Communication Flashcards
Give a study on the tone of voice
Argyle, Alkema and Gilmour:
To see if the tone of voice effects interpreting a verbal message.
Different groups of participants listened to either friendly or hostile messages in those two times of voice.
When participants were asked to interpret the messages, it was found that time of voice had about 5 times the effect of the verbal message.
Tone of voice is very important when people interpret verbal messages.
Give a study on emotion using paralinguistics
Davitz and Davitz:
Aim: To see the effect of paralinguistics on the assessment of emotion.
Method: Different groups of participants listened to either friendly or hostile messages spoken in either friendly or hostile tones of voice. Therefore, some participants heard a hostile message spoken in a friendly tone and others heard a friendly message spoken in a hostile tone.
Results: when participants were asked to interpret the messages, it was found that tone of voice had about five times the effect of the verbal message itself.
Conclusion: Tone of voice is extremely important in how people interpret verbal messages.
Give a study on postural echo?
McGinley
Aim: To see the affect of postural echo when having conversation.
Method: A confederate approached individuals in a social setting and had conversations with them. In half the meetings the confederate echoed the posture of the people they were talking to. With the other half of the people the confederate didn’t echo their posture. Afterwards, the experimenter approached the individuals and asked them what they thought of the confederate.
Results: When postural echo was used, the people questioned liked the confederate and thought that they got on well together. When postural echo was not used, the confederate was not liked as much and the conversation felt awkward.
Conclusion: Postural echo gives an unconscious message of friendliness.
Give a study on open and closed posture?
McGinley, Lefevre and McGinley:
To see the effect of open and closed posture when having a conversation.
Gesture = ?
SQUAT
Give a study on gestures?
Lynn and Mynier
Aim: To see the effect of gestures used by waiters and waitresses on the tipping behaviour of customers in a restaurant.
Method: While taking orders from seated customers, waiters and waitresses were instructed to either stand up right or squat down near the customer (squatting down makes more eye contacted possible)
Those who squatted got more tips.
Results: When the waiters and waitresses squatted down, larger tips were received compared with when they took orders standing upright.
Conclusions: The gesture of squatting down near a seated customer to take an order will have a positive effect on tipping behaviour.
Give a study on touch?
Fisher, Rytting and Heslin
Aim: To see the effect of touch on people’s attitudes.
Method: Female students in a library were handed books by the librarian, who who was a confederate of the experimenter. Half of the students were briefly touched on the hand by the librarian when the books were handed to them. The other students were not touched.
Results: When questioned later, the students who were touched had a much more positive attitude towards the library and the librarian than those who were not touched. The interesting thing was that the students were not aware that they
Give a study on eye contact
Argyle study
Aim: to see how interrupting eye contact affects conversation
Method: Pairs of participants were observed having conversations. In half the conversations, one of the participants wore dark glasses so that the other could not receive eye contact.
Results: When one of the participants wore dark glasses, there were more pauses and interruptions than when dark glasses were not worn.
Conclusions: Eye contact is important in ensuring the smooth flow of conversation.
Give a study on personal space (cultural)
To see if there are cultural differences in the use of personal space
Summer observed groups of white English people and groups of Arab people in conversation.
White English people generally stood about 1-1.5 metres away from each other, whilst the Arab people stood much closer together
Give a study on personal space (age)
To see if age has an effect on personal space
Willis observed almost 800 individuals in different social situations
The results were that people of around the same agar stood closer together than if they were much older or younger than each other
