The effects of schedules of reinforcement on instruction-following in human subjects with verbal and nonverbal stimuli

The Analysis of Verbal Behavior - The experiment reported here represents a partial replication of an experiment by Newman, Buffington, and Hemmes (in press) and analyzes responding in college...     

Effects of alcohol on the nonverbal communication of anxiety: The impact of beliefs on nonverbal behavior

Three male and three female raters were shown videotapes of 29 male subjects who were speaking to a silent female confederate. Raters were asked to make 10 judgments about the subjects' behavior. The subjects had been assigned to one of two expectancy conditions in which they were led to believe the drink they consumed prior to meeting the confederate contained alcohol and tonic or tonic only. Actually, half of the subjects in each expectancy condition received alcohol and half received tonic only. Judgments of the female raters viewing the videotapes were congruent with physiological measures of the subjects' anxiety. Those subjects who believed they received alcohol were perceived by female raters as more relaxed, less anxious, less inhibited, and more dominant than subjects who believed they received tonic. The actual content of the drink had no significant effects on the raters' judgements of the subjects' behavior. Male raters were unable to discriminate among the experimental conditions. Implications for possible gender of rater effects in behavioral assessment procedures as well as for the impact of beliefs on nonverbal communication are discussed.     

The effect of nonverbal sensitivity on social interaction

This study examined the relation between decoding ability and quality of dyadic interaction of college roommate pairs. It was found that pairs with members who were both high in decoding (HH pairs) rated their interactions somewhat more positively than pairs in which one or both roommates were low (HL and LL pairs). This effect was more pronounced for ratings reflecting emotional sharing (e.g., gave and received support) than for ratings reflecting influence (e.g., initiated the interaction). For emotional sharing only, the difference between the HH pairs and the HL plus LL pairs was significant. The relative advantage of the HH pairs in emotional sharing and relative disadvantage in influence was more pronounced for males and less for females, suggesting a reversal of traditional sex-role behavior. When differences in decoding ability within roommate pairs were considered, the results showed that, in dyads with at least one good decoder (HH and HL pairs), the interaction was rated more positively by the roommate who was lower in decoding ability. The concept and measure of decoding ability and their implications for interaction and sex-role behavior were discussed.This research was supported in part by NIMH Grant # R01 MH 40498 to Miron Zuckerman.     

The effects of distance and individual differences in arousability on nonverbal involvement: A test of discrepancy-arousal theory

Mutual influence in human interaction refers to the tendency for persons to alter their verbal, vocal, and kinesic behaviors in response to the intensity, frequency or duration of those behaviors emitted by their partners. Numerous explanations of these processes have been put forward involving principles of approach-avoidance conflict, arousal, reward, and cognitive processes. These explanations are reviewed with special attention given to an arousal based theory, discrepancy-arousal. This theory holds that mutual influence is primarily the result of arousal changes due to the degree of discrepancy of partner's behavior from the receiver's expectation.The theory predicts that persons who differ in reaction to arousal should also differ in their response to a partner's immediacy. This hypothesis was tested on high and low sensation seekers under conditions of near and normal distances during an interview. Several different behavioral responses were coded, including eye gaze, posture and orientation, smiles and laughter, object- and body-focused gestures, vocalization, pauses, and latencies to respond. The hypothesized interaction did not materialize with a median split on sensation seeking. A measure of state-trait sensation seeking (STSS) was developed. The interaction between distance and a median split on the state-trait measure was significant for eye gaze and posture and orientation, with the high STSS subjects compensating less than the low STSS subjects.     

Accuracy of nonverbal communication as determinant of interpersonal expectancy effects

The person perception paradigm was used to address the effects of experimenters' ability to encode nonverbal cues and subjects' ability to decode nonverbal cues on magnitude of expectancy effects. Greater expectancy effects were obtained when experimenters were better encoders and subjects were better decoders of nonverbal cues and the separate contributions of experimenter's and subject's nonverbal skills were of similar magnitudes.The authors wish to express their thanks to Rena Baskin for her help.Preparation of this article and the research described was facilitated by a grant [GS-3942] from the Division of Social Sciences of the National Science Foundation to Robert Rosenthal.     

Individual differences in the nonverbal communication of affect: The diagnostic analysis of nonverbal accuracy scale

The Diagnostic Analysis of Nonverbal Accuracy (DANVA) was designed to measure individual differences in the accurate sending and receiving of nonverbal social information. The DANVA consists of four receptive and three expressive subtests that measure nonverbal processing accuracy in children from 6 to 10 years of age. Four propositions were offered to guide the gathering of construct validity data for the DANVA. In support of the propositions, researchers found that DANVA accuracy scores increased with age, were internally consistent and reliable over time, and snowed significant relationships with indices of personal and social adjustment and academic achievement but were not related to IQ. Evidence for construct validity was stronger for receptive, as compared to expressive, subtests. Future research should include additional populations of subjects and study of the impact of intensity of emotion being sent or received.     

The role of nonverbal sensitivity in childhood psychopathology

Two samples of boys were compared on their sensitivity to nonverbal communication: boys not in treatment (sampled from elementary school populations) and boys in treatment (sampled from community mental health clinics). Three main decoding tasks assessed the boys' ability to identify, classify, and predict nonverbal displays. Parent and self appraisals on nonverbal sensitivity were also collected. Results indicated that clinic-recruited boys performed less well than school-recruited boys on the three decoding tasks, but there were no significant differences in the self or parent appraisals. Older boys performed better than younger boys on the decoding tasks, but were not differentiated by self or parent appraisals. Further analyses revealed a significant positive correlation between the level of the boys' social incompetence and poor self-control and the number of decoding errors the boys made on the dominant/submissive but not the negative/positive dimension of nonverbal displays. In addition, the interrelationship of the nonverbal skills appeared to differ across clinic- and school-recruited boys. Results are discussed in terms of their relevance for understanding child psychopathology and their implications for child assessment and treatment.     

Effects of nonverbal intimacy on arousal and behavioral adjustment

The effects of two intimacy manipulations, 80% eye contact (EC) and combined lean, touch, 50% eye contact (LT), were examined in a bogus waiting period involving a male confederate-male subject pairing. Hypothesized arousal increase was found only for the LT manipulation when it occurred later, rather than earlier, in the waiting period. Associated with that increased arousal were weak tendencies for increased eye contact and talking. These results offered limited support for the arousal model of interpersonal intimacy (Patterson, 1976). However, it also appeared that the directing effect of the specific social context qualified the impact and meaning of the confederate's high intimacy.The authors thank Larry Halligan and Joan Naylor for their assistance in conducting this experiment and also Bill Ickes for his constructive comments.This project was completed under National Institute of Health grant, USPH RO1 MH 32386 01 awarded to the first author.     

Measurement and reliability of nonverbal behavior

This review synthesizes data on the reliability of nonverbal behaviors, classified according to kinesics, proxemics, haptics, vocalics, turn-taking behaviors, and global assessments, across a wide range of studies. The purpose of the review was (1) to determine which nonverbal behaviors within each classification can be measured reliably and (2) to determine which codes/classifications can be reliably measured. It was found that: (1) most nonverbal behaviors within each classification, except vocalics, can be measured reliably (.80+), (2) the codes themselves, when considered in aggregate form, can be measured reliably (.80+) when using the median as the best estimate. Several qualifications and recommendations for future research are suggested.     

Familiarity effects in nonverbal understanding: Recognizing our own facial expressions and our friends'

In this study we explored how individuals' private expressions are interpreted by the self, same-sex friends, and strangers. Videotapes were made of participants as they watched pleasant, unpleasant, and unusual slides. Approximately a year later, the tapes were shown to the participant, a same-sex friend, another participant, and the other participant's friend. Judges were able to read the facial expressions at levels of accuracy that were significantly greater than chance. They were no better at reading familiar targets (themselves or their friends) than unfamiliar ones (strangers), with only one exception (men were better at recognizing the reactions of familiar targets than unfamiliar targets viewing pleasant slides). In their abilities to understand nonverbal cues, female friends showed resemblances to each other on all accuracy measures (pleasant/unpleasant/unusual X familiar/unfamiliar). Male friends resembled each other only in their understanding of the reactions of unfamiliar men viewing unpleasant slides.This research was supported in part by an NSF grant and an NIMH Research Scientist Development Award to the second author. We thank Charles Frohman and Laura Yamhure for their help with this research.     

The relative equivalence of senders in studies of nonverbal encoding and decoding

As an aid to researchers who study encoding and decoding of nonverbal cues, we compared the relative equivalence of encoders sending a single scene with the relative equivalence of scenes when one encoder sent many scenes. Length-corrected internal consistency was identical in both cases, indicating that no necessary gain in generality results from employing more senders each of whom sends fewer scenes rather than one sender who sends more scenes.Preparation of this paper was supported by a grant from the Milton Fund of Harvard University to the first author and by a grant to the second author (BRSG Grant 5 So 7 RR07041-11) awarded by the Biomedical Research Support Grant Program, Division of Research Resources, National Institutes of Health.     

Uncertainty,selective exposure,and message efficacy effects during life transitions

Drawing on informational utility, uncertainty management, and self-efficacy models, predictions were developed about how individuals select media messages when faced with the transition from college to postcollege life. Predictions were also made concerning how message exposure influences self-efficacy and behavior. Participants filled out a questionnaire and then browsed a university blog that contained alumni posts about transition success (high-efficacy messages) or failure (low-efficacy messages) in a variety of life domains, including the target domain, romance. Browsing was unobtrusively measured through hyperlink tracking. Results indicate that selective exposure to low-efficacy romance messages was predicted by romance outcome expectancies; romance uncertainty discrepancy had an indirect effect on selective exposure through outcome expectancies and self-efficacy’s impact on outcome expectancies. Thus, outcome expectancies and self-efficacy should be considered when predicting exposure to high- versus low-efficacy messages during a life transition.     

Presentational and affect-management functions of nonverbal involvement

The purpose of this paper is to offer an elaboration of an earlier classification of functions of nonverbal involvement (Patterson, 1982, 1983). Specifically, two additional functions of nonverbal involvement, the presentational function and the affect-management function are proposed and discussed. The presentational function is manifested in the purposeful involvement patterns with partners that are designed to create an identity or image, either at the individual or dyadic level. The affect-management function is manifested when intense affect produces adjustments in nonverbal involvement that either serves to control the negative affect (fear, shame) or maximizes the positive affect (happiness, joy). The two functions are discussed in terms of the circumstances that contribute to their emergence in social settings.     

The influence of nonverbal cues associated with looking behavior on young children's mentalistic attributions

The ability of children to use looking behavior as a cue to guide their mentalistic attributions was assessed. In Experiment 1 video displays were presented in which a protagonist faced one of two potential goals, half of the time standing equidistant from both targets and in the remaining trials standing closer to the target not being faced. Preschoolers consistently based their inferences of another's attention and goal on the direction in which the protagonist was facing. However, in Experiments 2 and 3 preschoolers experienced difficulty in correctly inferring an actor's desired goal when the protagonist's body was oriented in a direction opposite of where she was looking. Under these conditions, only young elementary school children consistently inferred that the protagonist's goal was the target being looked at (Experiment 2). The results from these three studies suggest that an important development occurring in childhood is the ability to consistently distinguish gaze from body orientation when inferring the goals of another. The implications of this development for children's understanding of the mind are discussed.     

Young children's perception of nonverbally expressed “preference”: The effects of nonverbal cue,viewer age,and sex of actor

Eighty children, 4 and 6 years old, viewed color movies of other children looking at two identical boxes each containing different toys not visible on the film. Films were made in four nonverbal cue conditions: facial expression and head movement; facial expression, head, and upper body movement; head and upper body movement only; and head movement only. Viewers were asked to identify which box the child in the film preferred and to report the information they had used to decide. Six year olds and those viewing films with female actors were significantly more accurate in identifying the box actually preferred. Differential responding based on type of nonverbal cue was found among 6 year olds and among those viewing films with female actors. Actor looking time at the preferred box was found to relate to viewer judgment and to be reported as the decision strategy used among 6 year olds, but not among 4 year olds.This study is based on an M.A. thesis submitted by Karen L. Pendleton to the Department of Education and Child Development faculty, Bryn Mawr College. The authors gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of the directors, teachers, and students of the schools that participated in this research.     

The development of nonverbal communication of emotion: A functionalist perspective

A functionalist perspective on the development of nonverbal communication of emotion is presented. This perspective is distinguished from other current conceptualizations by the following features: (a) Emphasis is placed on the functional implications of emotion-relevant movements for social regulation (communication), intrapersonal (internal) regulation, and behavior regulation. (b) Emotions are viewed as “members of families of emotions.” Emotion families are composed of emotion processes with similar functional relationships to the environment, which also differ in particular communicative features as a function of contextual demands, socialization history, and developmental abilities of the organism. (c) Facial movements are treated as only one of many forms of communication of emotion, rather than as having special status as “the” clearcut indicators of emotion. (d) Communication of emotion always is embedded in a context: There are no movements that can be considered clearcut, context-free expressions of emotion, at any period of development. (e) The role of socialization in the development of emotion and emotion communication is emphasized. (f) The multiple influences on communicative behavior, and the implications of such multicausality for clearcut communication, are acknowledged.     

The interrelationships of self-monitoring factors,personality traits,and nonverbal social skills

Following recent developments concerning individual differences in nonverbal social skills, the present study examined the inter-relationships of several standardized measures of nonverbal skills and personality. Particular attention was given to the concept of self-monitoring, thought to be a skill central to social interaction. Based on previous research which suggested that self-monitoring, as measured by the Self-Monitoring Scale (SMS), is a multidimensional construct, it was hypothesized that self-monitoring may actually be comprised of a number of more basic social skills. Correlations between standardized measures of basic social skills and three factors obtained from factor analysis of the SMS (Briggs, Cheek, & Buss, 1980) supported this conception. The elements of self-monitoring appear to be “charisma,” “performance,” and “social sensitivity.”