Does Sexual Orientation Have an Impact on Nonverbal Behavior in Interpersonal Communication?

This study explores the impact of sexual orientation on the nonverbal behavior of individuals in dyadic communication situations. It is hypothesized that the patterns of nonverbal behavior displayed in dyads with and without an individual with an open homosexual orientation are different from those in dyads with heterosexual participants only. An observational study was conducted with a total of 24 participants, 12 with a heterosexual orientation and 12 with a homosexual orientation (6 males and 6 females in each group). Participants were videotaped during a 20-min conversation which took place in dyads that were composed of individuals of the same biological sex with either the same sexual orientation (homosexual or heterosexual) or differing sexual orientations. Results show that in dyads which include a homosexual person nonverbal behavior is different from that displayed in dyads consisting of heterosexual participants only in terms of self-touch, body posture, body orientation, and gaze. Results are interpreted in terms of stereotyping and presentation rules.     

Video ethology: Television as a data base for cross-cultural studies in nonverbal displays

This demonstration study attempts to indicate how live television programming might provide an economical and easily-accessed source of material for cross-cultural investigation. This study compared the nonverbal displays of emotion for American and Canadian television game show contestants. Results suggested that although Americans and Canadians did not differ significantly in the types of emotions displayed, Americans were rated as being significantly more expressive in their emotional display. In addition, Americans differed from Canadians in their forms of nonverbal display. American females were seen as using their hands more than the Canadian females. American males were seen to smile more than their Canadian counterparts. Discussion explored how methodology introduced in this study could be conveniently expanded to more conclusively explore culturally determined display rules. Consideration of current video cassette technology facilitating this form of investigation was discussed.This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada under grant number 410-84-0640.     

Children's nonverbal responses to a physically disabled person

A male, who either was wearing a leg brace and carrying a metal crutch or was nondisabled, conducted interviews outside a discount store with 120 children accompanied by their parents and ranging in age from three to 15. A hidden observer recorded aspects of each child's nonverbal behavior and his or her parent's distance from the child-interviewer interaction. When the interviewer was disabled, the youngest children engaged in less self-manipulatory behavior, children of all ages stood closer to him and looked more at his leg and body, and parents stood closer to their children at the start of the interview. It is argued that these findings suggest interest in rather than aversion toward disability. The fact that no major developmental changes or sex differences were detected raises questions about previous findings suggesting that attitudes toward disabled persons become more positive with age and are more positive among girls than among boys. Findings based on obtrusive measures of verbally expressed attitudes may not generalize to situations in which nonverbal responses are unobtrusively observed.Portions of this paper were presented at the annual meeting of the southeastern Psychology Association in Atlanta, March 1985. The authors wish to thank Greg Batts, Tracy Mattingly, and Lee Sigelman for their help.     

Rule-Governed Behavior: Teaching a Preliminary Repertoire of Rule-Following to Children With Autism

Rule-governed behavior is generally considered an integral component of complex verbal repertoires but has rarely been the subject of empirical research. In particular, little or no previous research has attempted to establish rule-governed behavior in individuals who do not already display the repertoire. This study consists of two experiments that evaluated multiple exemplar training procedures for teaching a simple component skill, which may be necessary for developing a repertoire of rule-governed behavior. In both experiments, children with autism were taught to respond to simple rules that specified antecedents and the behaviors that should occur in their presence. In the first study, participants were taught to respond to rules containing "if/then" statements, where the antecedent was specified before the behavior. The second experiment was a replication and extension of the first. It involved a variation on the manner in which rules were presented. Both experiments eventually demonstrated generalization to novel rules for all participants; however variations to the standard procedure were required for several participants. Results suggest that rule-following can be analyzed and taught as generalized operant behavior and implications for future research are discussed.     

Identification of spontaneous and deliberate behavior

The present research investigates the accuracy of decoding spontaneous (natural or unintentional) and deliberate (posed or intentional) nonverbal behavior. Previous research has suggested that spontaneous and deliberate nonverbal cues are highly similar if not identical, implying that observers cannot discriminate accurately between the two types of behavior. But this conclusion is based on the decoding of information about content, without taking into account the structure of the behavior. Observers in the present study viewed silent videotapes of schoolchildren listening to a lesson. The behavior of the stimulus children was either spontaneous or deliberate, and they either comprehended or did not comprehend the lesson. Simultaneously, observers were required to identify the behavior both in terms of its content (comprehension or noncomprehension) and its structure (spontaneous or deliberate). Results indicated that observers readily differentiated between spontaneous and deliberate behavior. Implications for existing theories of deception are discussedThis research was supported by the Wisconsin Research and Development Center for Individualized Schooling of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, by funds from the National Institute of Education, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (Center Contract No. OB-NIE-78-0217).     

The “Silent Dog” Method: Analyzing the Impact of Self-Generated Rules When Teaching Different Computer Chains to Boys with Autism

The purpose of the study was to extend the literature on verbal self-regulation by using the “silent dog” method to evaluate the role of verbal regulation over nonverbal behavior in 2 individuals with autism. Participants were required to talk-aloud while performing functional computer tasks.Then the effects of distracters with increasing demands on target behavior were evaluated as well as whether self-talk emitted by Participant 1 could be used to alter Participant 2''s performance. Results suggest that participants'' tasks seemed to be under control of self-instructions, and the rules generated from Participants 1''s self-talk were effective in teaching computer skills to Participant 2. The silent dog method was useful in evaluating the possible role of self-generated rules in teaching computer skills to participants with autism.     

Nonverbal expressiveness and physical attractiveness as mediators of interpersonal perceptions

This research examines the impact of spontaneous nonverbal expressiveness and physical attractiveness on the formation of initial interpersonal impressions. It was hypothesized that in the absence of a relationship history with a person, those people who provide more spontaneous, uncensored, nonverbal information would be viewed as more interpersonally attractive. In addition, as a secondary focus of the study, data were analyzed to examine the relationship between physical attractiveness and nonverbal communication abilities. Results suggest that both physical attractiveness and nonverbal expressiveness independent of one another and in conjunction with one another positively impact on interpersonal perceptions. In addition, physical attractiveness was found to positively covary with nonverbal encoding accuracy but negatively covary with nonverbal decoding abilities.The authors wish to express their appreciation to Ross Buck and Robert Ryder for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of the paper.     

Listening Behaviors of Married Couples: An Exploration of Nonverbal Presentation to a Relational Outsider

This study examined the nonverbal behaviors of spouses as they listened to their partners present an area of disagreement in their marriage to a relational outsider. Ninety-four married couples, representing a range of marital satisfaction levels, engaged in an interview with a researcher about areas of disagreement in their relationships. A rating system was used to capture the nonverbal listening behaviors of spouses from tapes of the interactions. Husbands and wives demonstrated similar composites of listening behaviors overall, but there were some differences in how the particular behaviors were enacted. Specifically, both husbands and wives enacted nonverbal listening behaviors that demonstrated negative emotion and nonverbal involvement. Results also indicated that displays of negative emotion predicted relational dissatisfaction for husbands. Displays of negative emotion did not predict relational dissatisfaction for wives. Nonverbal involvement did not predict relational satisfaction for husbands or wives in this study. These results suggest that it may be important for husbands and wives, regardless of satisfaction level, to demonstrate nonverbal involvement to both their partners and a relational outsider and that the nonverbal expression of negative emotion may be used by dissatisfied husbands as a way to let the relational outsider as well as their wives know that they disagree or are displeased with what their wives are saying.     

Explorations in immediacy: The nonverbal system and its relationship to affective and situational factors

Male college students interacted with a male confederate while the context of the interaction, gaze behaviors of the confederate and the perceived source of the subject's arousal were manipulated. The dependent variables included nonverbal behaviors, affective reactions and perceptions of and liking for the confederate. The study was conducted to provide more information about the relationship among the nonverbal immediacy behaviors and the relevance of several situational variables to each of these behaviors. In addition, there was an examination of Patterson's 1976 contention that the evaluation of the individual's state of arousal determines the reciprocation or compensation of nonverbal intimacy. The data analysis revealed a system of weakly related immediacy behaviors strongly related to the subjects' affective states. A general dominance factor emerged that was related to several nonverbal behaviors and it was confirmed that arousal was related to both nonverbal behavior and interpersonal attraction. It seemed doubtful, however, that this relationship was as straightforward as Patterson's model predicted. The results are discussed in light of problems specific to this area of research.This experiment was based on a portion of a doctoral dissertation carried out by the first author at the University of Maine at Orono.The authors would like to acknowledge the help of the following people who served as observers and/or confederates: Charlotte Bailey, Vicki Choate, Gail Deabay, Mark Himelfarb, Maryjo McAndrew, Brad Peters and Tom Waite.     

Nonverbal Decoding Skills and Relationship Well-Being in Adults

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relation between nonverbal decoding skills and relationship well-being. Sixty college students were administered tests of their abilities to identify the affective meanings in facial expressions and tones of voice. The students also completed self-report measures of relationship well-being and depression. Correlational analyses indicated that errors in decoding facial expressions and tones of voice were associated with less relationship well-being and greater depression. Hierarchical regression revealed that nonverbal decoding accuracy was significantly related to relationship well-being even after controlling for depression.     

Sex Differences in Body Movement and Visual Attention: An Integrated Analysis of Movement and Gaze in Mixed-Sex Dyads

The body movement and visual behavior of women and men engaged in mixed-sex dyadic interactions were analyzed in a three-factorial design including the personal factor sex of the interactants, the situational factor partner familiarity, and the situational factor visual attention of the interaction partner. Measures of nonverbal activity were derived from integrated time-series protocols of body movement and gaze for both interaction partners. Data analysis revealed significant sex differences in individual frequency and duration of movement and gaze, as well as dyadic differences for both behavior measures. Men, in general, were more active while women were more visually attentive. Also, the results point to specific interaction effects between sex and familiarity. The data indicate that there were specific adaptational strategies for both sexes with familiar and unfamiliar partners.     

A test among models of nonverbal immediacy reactions: Arousal-labeling,discrepancy-arousal,and social cognition

Individuals may respond to an increase in nonverbal immediacy by either increasing or decreasing the immediacy of their own behavior. To account for this, a number of models have been proposed, including arousal-labeling (Patterson, 1976), discrepancy-arousal (Cappella & Greene, 1982), and social cognition (e.g., Ellsworth, 1978). An experiment was designed to test the social cognition approach and, when combined with findings of previous studies, to serve as a test among three models. Individual male subjects discussed a moral dilemma with a male confederate at a seating distance of either 1.1 m (control group) or 0.3 m in two experimental groups (confederate intentional-close and confederate forced-close). Subjects in both experimental conditions showed less immediate nonverbal behavior, but only subjects in the intentional-close condition evaluated the confederate more negatively than subjects in the control group. These results, when combined with past research findings, suggest that social cognition alone may determine whether nonverbal compensation or reciprocation will occur, and that arousal-based explanations may be unnecessary. Other self-report findings of the study, however, create difficulties for all three models of nonverbal exchange.We thank Paul Baker, Larry Coutts, David Gartrell, Leslie Hayduk, Ron Hoppe, Eric Knowles, G. Alexander Milton, and an anonymous reviewer for their comments on earlier drafts.     

Measuring Nonverbal Bias Through Body Language Responses to Stereotypes

Although research has demonstrated the manifestation of racial bias by measuring overt attitudes and behaviors, there has been little examination of the subtle nonverbal cues that may also characterize such bias. The present study investigates implicit racial bias by analyzing nonverbal behaviors of individuals shown video of a criminal suspect whose ethnic identity is manipulated to be Black or White. Participants appeared significantly more uncertain about what they were saying when describing the White suspect than when describing the Black suspect. Participants were also more likely to display “open” posture when describing the Black suspect but “closed” posture (e.g., crossed arms) when describing the White suspect. The results indicate that biases in attitudes and beliefs might be reliably detected and measured through body language. The findings are discussed in terms of how nonverbal behaviors may reveal more subtle forms of prejudice and miscommunication. Contextual correlations between specific nonverbal behaviors and affective states are also discussed.     

Nonverbal Social Sensing in Action: Unobtrusive Recording and Extracting of Nonverbal Behavior in Social Interactions Illustrated with a Research Example

Nonverbal behavior coding is typically conducted by “hand”. To remedy this time and resource intensive undertaking, we illustrate how nonverbal social sensing, defined as the automated recording and extracting of nonverbal behavior via ubiquitous social sensing platforms, can be achieved. More precisely, we show how and what kind of nonverbal cues can be extracted and to what extent automated extracted nonverbal cues can be validly obtained with an illustrative research example. In a job interview, the applicant’s vocal and visual nonverbal immediacy behavior was automatically sensed and extracted. Results show that the applicant’s nonverbal behavior can be validly extracted. Moreover, both visual and vocal applicant nonverbal behavior predict recruiter hiring decision, which is in line with previous findings on manually coded applicant nonverbal behavior. Finally, applicant average turn duration, tempo variation, and gazing best predict recruiter hiring decision. Results and implications of such a nonverbal social sensing for future research are discussed.     

The Expression of Victory and Loss: Estimating Who’s Leading or Trailing from Nonverbal Cues in Sports

The goal of the paper was to test if humans can detect whether athletes are trailing or leading in sports based on the perception of thin slices of athletes’ nonverbal behavior. In Experiment 1, participants who were unexperienced in the respective sports watched short videos depicting basketball and table tennis players and rated whether athletes were trailing or leading. Results indicated that participants could significantly differentiate between trailing and leading athletes in both team and individual sports. Experiment 2 showed that children were also able to distinguish between trailing and leading athletes based on nonverbal behavior. Comparison with the adult results from Experiment 1 revealed that the adult ratings corresponded to a higher degree with the actual scores during the game compared to the children’s. In Experiment 3, we replicated the findings from Experiment 1 with both expert and unexperienced participants and a different set of stimuli from team handball. Both experts and unexpert participants were able to differentiate between leading and trailing athletes. Our findings are in line with evolutionary accounts of nonverbal behavior and suggest that humans display nonverbal signals as a consequence of leading or trailing which are reliably interpreted by others. By comparing this effect as a function of different age groups we provide evidence that although even young children can differentiate between leading and trailing athletes, the decoding of subtle nonverbal cues continues to develop with increasing experience and maturation processes.     

The Interaction of Sex,Verbal, and Nonverbal Cues in Same-Sex First Encounters

This experiment examined sex differences in responses to various combinations of verbal and nonverbal content during a same-sex interaction. Fifty men and thirty women participated in a same-sex interview task with a confederate posing as another participant. Confederates disclosed either superficial or emotional information, and they faced away from or toward the participant, when answering questions. Results revealed that men attended to verbal information to evaluate the appropriateness of their own personal disclosure, whereas women attended to both verbal and nonverbal cues to evaluate the conversation partner and the appropriateness of their own personal disclosure.     

Nonverbal cues to deception among intimates,friends, and strangers

Buller and Burgoon (in press) propose that deceivers attempt to encode strategically nonverbal cues which indicate nonimmediacy and project a positive image. At the same time, deceivers leak arousal and negative affect via their nonverbal display. This experiment tested these predictions, while examining the influence of relational history on deception cues and the stability of deception cues within deceptive conversations. The nonverbal behavior of 130 strangers, friends, and intimates was measured. Results indicated that deceivers signalled nonimmediacy, arousal, and negative affect, but they did not appear to project a positive image. Deception cues were mediated by relational history and showed considerable temporal variation. Strangers leaked more arousal and negative affect than friends and intimates. Further, deceivers, particularly deceiving friends and intimates, seemed to monitor and control their nonverbal behavior during deception by suppressing arousal and negative affect cues and moderating nonimmediate behavior.     

The effects of specific versus nonspecific reinforcement on verbal behavior

The current study is a systematic replication and extension of previous research on the differences between specific (mand) and nonspecific (tact) reinforcement. The focus was on the role that these different consequences played in the acquisition of verbal behavior. Using both a within-subject and a between-subjects design, the current researchers trained eight essentially nonverbal individuals to tact a variety of foods under two different reinforcement conditions. The results showed no significant differences between the four matched-pairs in rates of acquisition, or in the resistance to extinction. However, subjects in the specific reinforcement condition emitted more untrained mand-compliance responses, while subjects in the nonspecific group demonstrated increased generalization to multiply controlled mand conditions. The results supported previous findings which indicated that the two types of consequences were equally effective in the acquisition of tacting, but each had unique features and implications for language training with nonverbal populations.

     

Romantic Partners' Contribution to the Continuity of Male and Female Delinquent and Violent Behavior

Using data drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), this study examined males' and females' criminality in young adulthood with models that considered the associations of both their own past delinquency and their current partners' criminality. Specific models considered the main effects of both previous adolescent delinquency and violence and current opposite sex romantic partners' criminality and violence, as well as the interaction of these with each other and by sex of primary participant. Main effects for adolescent delinquency and partners' criminality were significant; however, the results of the interactions by sex suggest different patterns of results for males and females. Models run separately by sex showed that having a prior delinquent history predicted adult criminality for males but not for females, while being in a relationship with a criminal partner increased the odds of criminal behavior in young adulthood for both males and females. A different pattern of results was found for violence in young adulthood. Having a prior violent history predicted adult violence for males and females. However, being in a relationship with a violent partner increased the odds of violent behavior for females only.