Media Bias in Interviewers’ Nonverbal Behavior: Potential Remedies,Attitude Similarity and Meta-analysis

Previous research demonstrated that viewers’ judgments of an interviewee are influenced by the nonverbal behavior of the interviewer. In studies of this media bias effect, judges view a short political interview with a friendly or a hostile interviewer, and then rate their impressions of the interviewee, whose behavior remains identical in all conditions. The present research utilizes the same design and materials to explore potential cognitive remedies, to investigate the effect of attitude similarity on media bias, and to meta-analyze seven replications of the media bias effect. In Study 1, a cognitive remedy in the form of an instruction to ignore the interviewer neutralized and even reversed the media bias effect. In Study 2, insertion of a brief segment depicting a “beaming” and relaxed interviewee also reversed the media bias effect. Study 3 demonstrated that negative ratings of the interviewee due to interviewer’s hostility were intensified when respondents considered the interviewee as “one of them” politically, and disappeared when he was perceived as “one of us”. Study 4 demonstrated the consistency of the media bias effect by meta-analyzing seven replications in different countries. Implications for nonverbal research and for media research concerning the consistency of the media bias effect and its amenability to remedy are discussed.     

The last ten turns: Behavior and sequencing in friends' and strangers' conversational findings

This study examined the verbal and nonverbal behaviors which characterize the ends of two-person face-to-face interactions. It was hypothesized that sequences of both verbal and nonverbal behavior would be present in conversational endings and that nonverbal behaviors would occur with different frequency in the middle and at the end of conversations. It was also predicted that both verbal and nonverbal behavior in conversational endings between friends and between strangers would differ. Ten dyads of friends and ten dyads of strangers, all female, were videotaped while in relatively unconstrained conversation. The content of verbal statements and the occurrence or nonoccurrence of 13 nonverbal behaviors in the ten middlemost and the ten last turns were analyzed. Results indicated that the seven verbal statement types formed a sequence of information, summary, question, verbalization, justification, continuity, and well-wishing. Six clusters of nonverbal behavior distinguished the ending phase from the middle phase; these behaviors were organized into a general sequential pattern, but the positions of several behaviors within the sequence were subject to variation. Finally, three clusters of nonverbal behaviors (more looking away, more grooming, less head nodding) distinguished conversation endings between friends from those between strangers.We are grateful to Helen McKenna and Peter Pamment for their help. We also appreciate the comments given by Dr. Judee, K. Burgoon, and an anonymous reviewer.     

Using Thin Slices for Behavioral Coding

This study investigated whether brief segments of nonverbal behavior or “thin slices” would be representative of behavior across a longer interaction. It was hypothesized that behavioral slices would correlate with behavior across a full 15-minute interaction. Five commonly investigated nonverbal behaviors were coded: gazing, gestures, nods, smiles, and self-touch. The findings showed moderate to high positive correlations between the thin slices (1-minute slice, total of two 1-minute slices, total of three 1-minute slices) and the full interaction for all five behaviors. In regards to behavioral coding, the thin-slice methodology proposed could save nonverbal researchers considerable time, energy, and money by decreasing resources dedicated to coding behavior in some types of interactions. Such results suggest that thin slices could represent an individual’s behavior across a longer length of time. Nora A. Murphy is now at the Department of Psychology, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA. The data was collected at Northeastern University and the research was supported by National Science Foundation grant SBR 97 09032 awarded to Judith A. Hall.     

Parents’ Interpersonal Distance and Touch Behavior and Child Pain and Distress during Painful Pediatric Oncology Procedures

Children with cancer and their parents report that treatment-related procedures are more traumatic and painful than cancer itself. Competing hypotheses have emerged regarding relations between parents’ social support and child pain and distress. Little is known about caregivers’ use of nonverbal immediacy behaviors that may function as social support messages. This study describes caregivers’ interpersonal distance and touch behaviors during painful pediatric oncology procedures and examines relations between those behaviors and children’s pain and distress. Caregivers’ total touch time and instrumental (task-oriented) touch time, but not supportive touch time, during the actual procedure covaried with children’s procedural pain and distress. This research was conducted as part of a larger investigation funded by a grant from the National Cancer Institute, “Parental Role in Pediatric Cancer Pain and Survivorship” (NCI R01 CA100027), Terrance L. Albrecht, PI. The authors wish to thank Ellen Jones for her efforts.     

Nonverbal Communication of Similarity Via the Torso: It’s in the Bag

The human body plays a central role in nonverbal communication, conveying attitudes, personality, and values during social interactions. Three experiments in a large, open classroom setting investigated whether the visibility of torso-located cues affects nonverbal communication of similarity. In Experiments 1 and 2, half the participants wore a black plastic bag over their torso. Participants interacted with an unacquainted same-sex individual selected from a large class who was also wearing (or also not wearing) a bag. Experiment 3 added a clear bag condition, in which visual torso cues were not obscured. Across experiments, black bag-wearing participants selected partners who were less similar to them on attitudes, behaviors, and personality compared to the bag-less—and clear bag—participants. Nonverbal cues in the torso communicate information about similarity of attitudes, behavior, and personality; the center of the body plays a surprisingly central role in early-stage person perception and attraction.     

Nonverbal relational control in family communication

A nonverbal component for an observational coding system of verbal relational control, the Family Relational Communication Control Coding System (FRCCCS; Friedlander & Heatherington, 1989) was developed and validated for research with families or other groups. In so doing, it was demonstrated that nonverbal relational control behaviors can be reliably identified and that these behaviors enhance communicative meaning in predictable ways. First, a pool of nonverbal behaviors with relational control meaning (e.g., head nod, raised eyebrow) was identified from consultation with family therapy researchers and from the literature. Second, the behaviors that were retained from the results of a content validity test were perceived by three independent samples as commonly understood, discrete attempts to either gain control (one-up) or relinquish control (one down) of a social relationship. Still other behaviors were eliminated based on results of a cluster analysis, the interpretation of which was the basis for composing operational definitions for four classes of nonverbal behaviors. Finally, assessments of the interjudge reliability and criterion validity of the nonverbal coding scheme supported its psychometric adequacy. Comparison of effect sizes showed that these discrete nonverbal behaviors accounted for over twice the variance in observers' perceptions as the verbal behaviors.     

Recall of Nonverbal Cues: Exploring a New Definition of Interpersonal Sensitivity

Interpersonal sensitivity, defined as the accurate recall of another person’s nonverbal behavior, was measured in two studies. In Study 1, nonverbal recall accuracy (NRA) was based on recall of cues expressed by a man and/or woman being interviewed on videotape. Retest reliability after 2 weeks was satisfactory and the male and female tests demonstrated sufficient convergence. Participants could assess their own recall accuracy at better than chance levels; ability to decode the meanings of visual nonverbal cues was positively related to NRA; discriminant validity of NRA was demonstrated with regard to general cognitive ability; and women had higher NRA than men. In Study 2, NRA was based on recall of a live interaction partner. Women again had higher NRA than men; NRA was significantly better than chance; and higher NRA was associated with more smiling and self-reported positive affect during the interaction. Nonverbal recall accuracy is a promising new definition of interpersonal sensitivity.

Do Actions Speak Louder Than Words? Preschool Children's Use of the Verbal-Nonverbal Consistency Principle During Inconsistent Communications

The present study investigated whether preschool children could use the conventional actions speak louder than words principle (or the verbal-nonverbal consistency principle) to process information in situations where verbal cues contradict nonverbal cues. Three-, 4-, and 5-year-olds were shown a video in which an actor drank a beverage and made a verbal statement (e.g., I like it) that was inconsistent with her emotional expression (e.g., frowning), and were asked whether the actor liked or disliked the beverage. If children used the verbal-nonverbal consistency principle, they should respond according to the information conveyed by the actor's emotional expression. Results showed that when the message was more naturalistic, the majority of children tended to respond based on the actor's verbal message. However, when the inconsistency between the verbal and nonverbal messages was made salient, more children appeared to rely on the nonverbal cue. Younger children's reliance on verbal cues reported in previous research may be partly explained by the salience of the verbal message.     

The Implicit Realm in Couples Therapy: Improving Right Hemisphere Affect-Regulating Capabilities

Attachment theory, viewed through the lens of neurobiology, explains how infants learn, through unconscious, rapid, non-verbal interactions with caretaking adults, to successfully manage their own emotional energy. These neurological affect-regulating mechanisms formed in early childhood shape later-forming attachment relationships, including those of adult romantic dyads which depend, for intimacy and stability, on the same right brain, nonverbal, modulating capacities. Psychoanalytic researchers have identified healing, implicit, unconscious psychobiological mechanisms, other than verbal insight, explanation and interpretation that can be learned remedially in couples’ therapy. This paper examines an implicit, emotion-focused approach to couples’ work that brings unconscious affect center stage.     

On the Correspondence Between Physiological and Nonverbal Responses: Nonverbal Behavior Accompanying Challenge and Threat

Little is known regarding the covariance between physiological and nonverbal responses to “stressful” situations. We argue that physiological markers are especially likely to be accompanied by psychologically-meaningful nonverbal behavior. Within “stressful” motivated performance situations, complex patterns of cardiovascular (CV) reactivity mark challenge and threat motivational states relevant to confidence. We expected the CV challenge and threat markers to be distinguished on the basis of facial and vocal confidence. In a test of this hypothesis, participants’ cardiovascular (CV) responses were recorded during a videotaped social interaction. As expected, the CV challenge marker was associated with more vocal confidence and less facial confidence than the CV threat marker. These findings are related to the complexity of human responses to motivated performances.     

Detecting Deceit via Analysis of Verbal and Nonverbal Behavior

We examined the hypotheses that (1) a systematic analysis of nonverbal behavior could be useful in the detection of deceit and (2) that lie detection would be most accurate if both verbal and nonverbal indicators of deception are taken into account. Seventy-three nursing students participated in a study about telling lies and either told the truth or lied about a film they had just seen. The interviews were videotaped and audiotaped, and the nonverbal behavior (NVB) and speech content of the liars and truth tellers were analyzed, the latter with the Criteria-Based Content Analysis technique (CBCA) and the Reality Monitoring technique (RM). Results revealed several nonverbal and verbal indicators of deception. On the basis of nonverbal behavior alone, 78% of the lies and truths could be correctly classified. An even higher percentage could be correctly classified when all three detection techniques (i.e., NVB, CBCA, RM) were taken into account.     

Heterosexual Seduction in the Urban Night Context: Behaviors and Meanings

This article presents an anthropological analysis of heterosexual seduction behaviors of men and women (from 18 to 65 years old, with varying civil status) who attended nightclubs located in the movida areas of Lisbon, Portugal. These behaviors were analyzed according to structure versus communitas theories. Nighttime seduction behaviors were observed and recorded in a field diary, and in-depth semistructured interviews with 60 men and 60 women were conducted. Interviews were analyzed using the thematic content analysis model. Results suggested that the communitas domain was evinced in the various seduction strategies. These courtship behaviors tended to follow a specific pattern: nonverbal seduction, visual seduction, verbal seduction, and acting—consisting of caresses, touches, and kisses. When this escalation process evoked positive responses, it generally culminated in the complete synchrony of movements between the two bodies. The seduction process encompassed both masculine and feminine initiatives: Women engaged primarily in nonverbal and visual seduction, while men appeared to orchestrate verbal courtship and acting. However, sometimes men and women did not want to seduce or be seduced because they were married (especially women) or were with their partners (especially young men) and did not want to endanger the structure domain.     

Asperger’s Syndrome and the Decoding of Boredom,Interest, and Disagreement from Body Posture

Twenty Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) participants were compared with 20 matched neurotypical controls in their decoding of postural cues of boredom, interest, and disagreement. On a nonverbal matching task, the AS group performed as accurately as the controls, whereas on a verbal labeling task, AS participants made significantly more mistakes in labeling bored postures. Response times of the AS group were significantly slower than controls in their judgments of all three attitudes on both tasks, with the exception only of disagreeing postures on the verbal labeling task. It was hypothesized that these slower response times may reflect a feature-based cognitive processing style by AS participants. Proposed practical recommendations are to train AS individuals in the recognition of boredom, and to improve the speed with which they can recognize different attitudes.     

The Effect of Social Presence on the Facial and Verbal Expression of Emotion and the Interrelationships Among Emotion Components

Women were videotaped while they spoke about a positive and a negative experience either in the presence of an experimenter or alone. They gave self-reports of their emotional experience, and the videotapes were rated for facial and verbal expression of emotion. Participants spoke less about their emotions when the experimenter (E) was present. When E was present, during positive disclosures they smiled more, but in negative disclosures they showed less negative and more positive expression. Facial behavior was only related to experienced emotion during positive disclosure when alone. Verbal behavior was related to experienced emotion for positive and negative disclosures when alone. These results show that verbal and nonverbal behaviors, and their relationship with emotional experience, depend on the type of emotion, the nature of the emotional event, and the social context.     

Pension Participation: Do Parents Transmit Time Preference?

A wide range of economic and health behaviors are influenced by individuals’ attitudes toward the future—including investments in human capital, health capital and financial capital. Intergenerational correlations in such behaviors suggest an important role the family may play in transmitting time preferences to children. This article presents a model of parental investment in future-oriented capital, where parents shape their children’s time preference rates. The research identifies a dual role for a parent’s time preference rate in the process of shaping the offspring’s attitude toward the future, and discusses paths through which parents may socialize children to be patient. The model’s implications are studied by investigating the parent–child correlation in pension participation using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics     

How People Really Suspect and Discover Lies

Previous research suggested that real-world lies are detected through hard evidence, such as physical evidence or a direct confession, and not via nonverbal clues. However, we argue that discovering a lie is a process, and nonverbal clues are an important source of information that can induce suspicion, which then triggers the search for hard evidence. We replicated an original study suggesting the irrelevance of nonverbal clues, but experimentally manipulated the wording of the critical question as ‘discovering’ a lie versus ‘suspecting’ a lie. A second study was conducted that further manipulated the phrasing to ask about ‘events’ versus ‘clues’ that led one to detect the lie. Results of both studies showed that those asked about suspecting a lie cited nonverbal behaviors significantly more often than those asked about discovering a lie. Thus, in contrast to previous research, these findings suggest the importance of behavioral clues (e.g. verbal and nonverbal behavior), specifically in the early stage of lie detection.     

The Extraction of Nonverbal Behaviors: Using Video Images and Speech-Signal Analysis in Dyadic Conversation

This study examined the validity and possible utility of a new procedure for the extraction of nonverbal behaviors from dyadic conversation. Three methods were used to extract nonverbal behaviors (i.e., hand gestures, adaptors, and utterances). A novel automated method employing video images and speech-signal analysis software programs was compared to the more traditional coding and behavioral rating methods. The automated and coding methods provided an objective count of how many times a target behavior occurred, while behavioral ratings were based on more subjective impressions. Although there was no difference between the automated and coding methods for hand gestures, the coding method using an event recorder yielded marginally significantly more instances of adaptors and utterances as compared to the software programs. Measures of each nonverbal behavior were positively correlated across the different methods. In addition, interpersonal impressions of each speaker were rated by both observers and conversational partners. Although R ² was lower than for the coding/behavioral rating methods, nonverbal behaviors extracted using the software programs significantly predicted familiarity and activeness ratings from both observer and partner points of view. These results support the validity and possible utility of the software-based automated extraction procedure.     

Consumer Culture Theory,Nonverbal Communication,and Contemporary Politics: Considering Context and Embracing Complexity

This commentary addresses Olivola and Todorov’s “Elected in 100 ms: Appearance-Based Trait Inferences and Voting” and considers its valuable contribution to the field of nonverbal communication. This work suggests that contemporary politics and voting behavior are so complex that they can be better understood outside of laboratory settings where the vital elements on culture and context come into play. By using consumer culture theory and other cultural theories of branding, this commentary evaluates elements of Barack Obama’s presidential run, and considers why his campaign resonated so well with voters in contemporary United States culture.     

Does Housing Counseling Change Consumer Financial Behaviors? Evidence from Philadelphia

Pre-purchase homeownership counseling is a social service for low- to moderate-income households intent on becoming first-time homeowners. Despite the record number of low- and moderate-income households achieving first-time homeownership over the past decade, there is little research on housing counseling’s effectiveness, in terms of long-term positive financial behaviors. In addition, the research community has traditionally adhered to a proscribed definition of success within programs, which hinders evaluative efforts. This paper examines whether counseled borrowers have experienced financial behavior changes within 5 years after having purchased a home. There were mixed results regarding overall financial behavior changes. Agency identity had little influence on some counselees’ behaviors, while counseling agency characteristics had some limited effects on client behaviors.