Evaluating the Relation of Vocal Accommodation in Conversation Partners' Fundamental Frequencies to Perceptions of Communication Quality

Previous acoustic analysis of fundamental frequencies from interview partners' voices revealed mutual accommodation of voice frequency and amplitude. These findings also showed partners' accommodation was associated with such attributes as social status. However, previous studies did not assess the function of partners' voice accommodation in extending general communication quality. The present study employs an experimental protocol wherein the fundamental frequency is included in some conversations and filtered from others to show, first, that partners do actively accommodate the fundamental frequency of their voices, and, second, that elimination of the fundamental frequency from conversation partners' voices profoundly alters perceived positive evaluations by judges overhearing the conversation. This experiment specifies an important auxiliary role for the fundamental frequency in nonverbal communication.     

Struck by speech revisited: Embodied stance in jurisdictional discourse1

This paper illustrates how stance functions as a semiotic resource that feeds into and mediates institutional context. I consider stance not only as linguistic expression but as interactive, bodily engagement, synchronized in multimodal layers of participation. Using data from a focus group interview, I examine how stance emerges in the collaborative rhythms of linguistic, paralinguistic and, most prominently, embodied conduct between speaker and listener to index socio‐cultural knowledge about the jurisdictional division of labor among legal professionals. Drawing on Charles Frake's classic ‘Struck by speech,’ I illustrate not only how a speaker strikes his listener with speech, but also how the body of the listener displays being struck.     

Cultural patterns in Dutch and Surinam nonverbal behavior: An analysis of simulated police/citizen encounters

Differences in nonverbal behavioral patterns in a simulated police interview setting were examined. One group of subjects was asked to tell the truth to a police officer whereas the other group was asked to deceive the officer. Major differences between our study and other deception studies include the distinction between nonverbal behavior displayed while listening and while speaking, and the inclusion of black subjects. Results show that there are differences in nonverbal behavior between deceivers and those who tell the truth, and generally support the finding that deception is associated with changes in vocal characteristics and hand and arm movements. However, differences in hand and arm movements occurred only while the deceiver was listening. Furthermore, findings showed that blacks looked less frequently at their discussion partner, smiled and laughed more, made more speech disturbances, spoke slower, and with more pitch raises, and were livelier in the sense that they made more trunk movements and gestures than whites.We wish to thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on an earlier draft. This project was in part supported by the PSYCHON Foundation, which is subsidized by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research.     

The effect of verbal content on children's encoding of paralinguistic affect

This study examines the accuracy with which 6th-grade children communicate affect as a function of consistency and inconsistened between the verbal and paralinguistic channels. Accuracy was determined by comparing the level of affect that children intended to encode with ratings made by judges. Two independent variables were manipulated: (1) literal content of the child's verbal message (positive/negative), and (2) encoder's intended level of vocal intonation (extremely unfriendly, moderately unfriendly, neutral, moderately friendly, and extremely friendly). The hypothesis that paralinguistic encoding would be more accurate when literal content and intended affect are consistent (rather than inconsistent) was confirmed. The hypothesis that positive verbal/negative paralinguistic inconsistenc would bet more accurately encoded than negative verbal/positive paralinguistic inconsistency was also confirmed. Also, male children were more accurate encoders than female children.The authors appreciate the assistance of Linda B. Brideau in dealing with statistical problems in this study.The research was supported by the Wisconsin Research and Development Center for Cognitive Learning of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, by funds from the National Institute of Education, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (Center Contract No. NE-00-3-0065).     

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.     

Survival and social change among the Amish in five communities

This article will explore the Amish subculture and evidence suggesting that gradual social change is occurring within the five communities selected for study: Berne, Indiana; Ethridge, Tennessee; Intercourse, Pennsylvania; Kalona, Iowa; and, Plain City, Ohio. Data has been collected from 87 Amish families using a 12 page structured questionnaire. Social change is investigated in each major social institution that impacts upon Amish life—and select micro-trends are identified for the mid 1980's. The findings in this sample suggest that the Amish are accepting selective (modest) acculturation—particularly in their work and their search for economic survival. The respondents in this study have sought to avoid extreme dependence on any one aspect of modern life, and they have remained largely unfettered by the national pursuit of success, careerism, competition, one-up-manship, and power seeking.Dr. Jerry Savells is a Professor of Sociology at Wright State University. Dr. Savells received his B. S. Degree in 1963 from Murray State University, and his M. A. Degree and Ph. D. Degree from Louisiana State University (in 1969 and 1971 respectively). Dr. Savells is the co-author of two books on the family, and has been conducting research among the Old Order Amish for the past four years.Requests for reprints can be sent to the author at: Department of Sociology, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio 45435.This paper was presented at the New York State Sociological Society Meetings, New York, NY, October 19–20, 1984. This research has been supported by two College of Liberal Arts Research Grants (1982 and 1984) and a University Research Grant (1983) at Wright State University, Dayton, OH. Appreciation is expressed for this financial support.     

Lying and nonverbal behavior: Theoretical issues and new findings

Conceptual issues about deceit, in specific why lies fail and when and how behavior may betray a lie, provides the basis for considering the type of experimental situations which may be fruitful for the study of deceit. New evidence, integrating past reports with new unpublished findings, compare the relative efficacy of facial, bodily, vocal, paralinguistic and textual measures in discriminating deceptive from honest behavior. The findings show also that most people do not rely upon the most useful sources of information in judging whether someone is lying.The information reported here also appears inCredibility Assessment—A Unified Theoretical and Research Perspective, J. Yuille (Ed.), in press, Kluwer. The work described was supported by a Research Scientist Award from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH 06092) and a previous grant from NIMH (MH11976).     

Beliefs About Cues to Deception: Mindless Stereotypes or Untapped Wisdom?

In this longitudinal study, senders told truths and lies to same-sex friends (judges) at both one month and six months into the relationship. Judges guessed whether the stories were truths or lies, and described the cues they used to make their decisions. These cues were coded into categories according to the nature of the cue (verbal, visual, or paralinguistic). Judges mentioned more verbal cues when the story was truthful than when it was fabricated, and mentioned more visual nonverbal cues when it was fabricated than when it was truthful. Therefore, perceivers' stated beliefs about cues discriminated the truths from the lies, although their explicit judgments of deceptiveness did not. Perceivers who mentioned visual or verbal cues more often were not more accurate at detecting deception (explicitly), but those who mentioned paralinguistic cues more often were more accurate.     

Rapport expressed through nonverbal behavior

Family Medicine residents were videotaped in interviews with a new and a return-visit patient. Two coders recorded nonverbal behavior performed by the residents for two, one-minute segments of each interview. Categories of movement included: proxemic behaviors of distance, orientation, and trunk lean, and head, hand/arm, and leg/foot movement, facial expression, and direction of gaze.Each of the 36 video segments were rated by a group of psychiatric nurses using bipolar adjective scales assessing dimensions of rapport. Significant differences in nonverbal behavior were found between high and low rapport doctors. Physicians were rated more positively when they sat directly facing the patient, with uncrossed legs, and arms in symmetrical, side-by-side positions. High rapport doctors also engaged in moderate, but less extensive eye contact, with the patient than low rapport doctors. Discussion focuses on the impact of nonverbal behavior on physician-patient communication and the establishment of rapport.This research was supported in part by a grant from the Department of Health and Human Services.     

Perceived stress among nonmetropolitan Utah residents

This article examines relationships between perceived stress and variables such as life events, differential economic satisfaction, health problems, and sociodemographic characteristics among respondents in three nonmetropolitan areas in Utah. The three most predictive factors related to perceived stress are economic satisfaction, life events experienced, and religion. The analysis shows an inverse partial relationship between perceived stress scores and economic satisfaction, and a positive partial relationship between the number of life events and perceived stress. Non-Mormons report higher levels of stress than Mormons. A positive but weak relationship is observed between stress and household size. Weak inverse relationships are observed between stress and a measure of household unemployment, income, and respondent's sex.Richard S. Krannich received his Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University. He is an Associate Professor of Sociology, and Director of the Institute for Social Science Research on Natural Resources, Utah State University, Logan, UT84322-0730. His research interests include rural development processes, community change, and social responses to natural resource developments.Pamela J. Riley received her Ph.D. from Washington State University. She is currently an Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322-0730. Research interests include rural family stress, the impacts of tourism on developing countries, and social aspects of on-farm water management.Ann Leffler is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of the Liberal Arts and Sciences Program, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322-0730. Research interests include nonmetropolitan family stress. She received her Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.     

Behavioral Stability Across Time and Situations: Nonverbal Versus Verbal Consistency

Behavioral consistency has been at the center of debates regarding the stability of personality. We argue that people are consistent but that such consistency is best observed in nonverbal behavior. In Study 1, participants’ verbal and nonverbal behaviors were observed in a mock interview and then in an informal interaction. In Study 2, medical students’ verbal and nonverbal behaviors were observed during first- and third-year clinical skills evaluation. Nonverbal behavior exhibited consistency across context and time (a duration of 2 years) whereas verbal behavior did not. Discussion focuses on implications for theories of personality and nonverbal behavior.     

Sensory-Processing Sensitivity and Nonverbal Decoding: The Effect on Listening Ability and Accuracy

Sensory-processing sensitivity (Aron & Aron, 1997) is a broad temperament construct consisting of two orthogonal dimensions, including deep processing of sensory information (manifest in a tendency to notice fine details) and a low threshold for arousal (exhibited as rapid irritability). This article investigates the multiple effects of sensory-processing sensitivity on nonverbal decoding, specifically identifying emotions from paralinguistic cues. High sensitivity is predicted to relate to enhanced accuracy. Additionally, participants are exposed to stimulation to examine whether arousal relates to deficits in accuracy. Results indicate no significant differences in decoding between sensitive and nonsensitive persons, regardless of the presence of stimulation.     

The consumer expenditures of elderly women: Racial,marital, and rural/urban impacts

This research, using data from the interview component of the 1990 Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES), examines the main and interaction effects of race, marital status, and residence on the economic well-being of women 65 years or older (N=3,205). Economic well-being is measured by total annualized expenditures of the household for goods and services. The first hypothesis is supported: race, marital status, and urban or rural residence each has a major effect on the economic well-being of older women after adjusting for the effects of age and household size. The characteristics of nonwhite, nonmarried, and rural are associated with lower economic well-being. The second hypothesis is not supported: race, marital status, and residence do not interact to produce differences in the economic well-being of older women. Both hypotheses are examined by analysis of covariance. The results show the economic diversity of older women and the persistent effects of race, marital status, and rural or urban residence on the economic well-being of older women regardless of age and household size. This research was conducted at the Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture (Family Economics Research Group), Hyattsville, MD, July 1992, where Dr. Kivett was a Visiting Scientist at the time. Appreciation is expressed to the staff of the Family Economics Research Group for their technical assistance at all stages of the research. and 1992 Visiting Professor at the Family Economics Research Group, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Her current research interests include the family supports and relationships of older retired migrants. She received her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Her current research interests include the economic status of elderly American households. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Maryland.     

Six‐Month‐Old Infants Prefer Speech with Raised Formant Frequencies

Voices can be characterized by their fundamental frequency as well as by speech timbre characteristics, such as formant frequencies. While infants' responses to fundamental frequency characteristics are well established, very little is known about how infants respond to changes in formant frequencies. This study tested whether 6‐month‐old infants prefer listening to speech with raised formant frequencies over speech with lowered formant frequencies. Naturally spoken utterances were acoustically manipulated to render raised‐formant and lowered‐formant stimuli that only differed in the formant frequencies, while keeping fundamental frequency and other acoustic characteristics constant. Infants in an infant‐controlled listening procedure listened longer to the raised‐formant than to the lowered‐formant stimuli. These results provide the first evidence that infants distinguish and show preferences for variations in formant frequencies in adult speech.     

KNOWING TOO MUCH ABOUT OTHERS: MODERATORS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EAVESDROPPING AND RAPPORT IN SOCIAL INTERACTION

This study examined the association between a partners ability to eavesdrop on nonverbal cues and an actors feelings of rapport during interaction, as well as neuroticism and self-monitoring as moderators of this effect. Eavesdropping ability was defined as lower sensitivity to cues of the face, a source of overtly displayed emotions, relative to sensitivity to cues of the body, a source of leakage of covert or hidden emotions. Results showed that actors felt less rapport the higher their partners eavesdropping. High neuroticism actors were especially likely to feel worse about their interaction and themselves when their partners were good at eavesdropping. In both instances, the eavesdroppers nonverbal behavior seems to have mediated the associations to a small degree.Both authors contributed equally to this paper. This research was supported by a Mary Switzer Research Fellowship to Tickle-Degnen from the National Institutes of Disability and Rehabilitation Research of the US Department of Education, a Sargent College of Boston University Accelerated Research Grant, and funding from the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc., the American Occupational Therapy Foundation, and Boston University through the Neurobehavioral Rehabilitation Research Center for Scholarship and Research.     

Infant Auditory Sensitivity to Pure Tones and Frequency‐Modulated Tones

It has been suggested that infants respond preferentially to infant‐directed speech because their auditory sensitivity to sounds with extensive frequency modulation (FM) is better than their sensitivity to less modulated sounds. In this experiment, auditory thresholds for FM tones and for unmodulated, or pure, tones in a background of noise were measured for 4‐month‐old infants using a conditioned response procedure. The FM tones swept from 150 to 275 Hz or from 150 to 550 Hz. The frequency of the pure tone was either 275 or 550 Hz. The results showed that infants were slightly, but significantly, more sensitive to the sounds that included 550 Hz than they were to the lower frequency sounds, whether or not the sound was frequency modulated. It appears that infants could be somewhat more sensitive to infant‐directed than to adult‐directed speech, not because of FM per se, but because the fundamental frequency excursions in infant‐directed speech extend into a higher frequency range than those in adult‐directed speech.     

In a Nervous Voice: Acoustic Analysis and Perception of Anxiety in Social Phobics’ Speech

This study investigated the effects of anxiety on nonverbal aspects of speech using data collected in the framework of a large study of social phobia treatment. The speech of social phobics (N = 71) was recorded during an anxiogenic public speaking task both before and after treatment. The speech samples were analyzed with respect to various acoustic parameters related to pitch, loudness, voice quality, and temporal aspects of speech. The samples were further content-masked by low-pass filtering (which obscures the linguistic content of the speech but preserves nonverbal affective cues) and subjected to listening tests. Results showed that a decrease in experienced state anxiety after treatment was accompanied by corresponding decreases in (a) several acoustic parameters (i.e., mean and maximum voice pitch, high-frequency components in the energy spectrum, and proportion of silent pauses), and (b) listeners’ perceived level of nervousness. Both speakers’ self-ratings of state anxiety and listeners’ ratings of perceived nervousness were further correlated with similar acoustic parameters. The results complement earlier studies on vocal affect expression which have been conducted on posed, rather than authentic, emotional speech.     

Sibling resemblances in nonverbal skill and style

This study explored the hypothesis that siblings display a tendency for family resemblance in nonverbal decoding skills. Thirty-seven sibling pairs between the ages of 9 and 15 were administered the videotaped Nonverbal Discrepancy Test. This audiovisual test assesses (1) decoding accuracy—the extent to which subjects are able to identify affects (positivity and dominance) from face, body, and tone of voice cues; (2) discrepancy accuracy—the extent to which subjects recognize the degree of discrepancy between audio and video cues; and (3) video primacy—the extent to which subjects are more influenced by video (face or body) than by audio cues. Brother-brother pairs showed family resemblances in all three nonverbal indices, whereas brother-sister pairs displayed family similarity only in discrepancy accuracy. Overall, sibling pairs showed a tendency for family resemblance in nonverbal decoding. The processes that might lead siblings to develop similar patterns of nonverbal skills were discussed.     

Sensitivity to nonverbal cues as a function of social competence

The hypothesis that sensitivity to nonverbal messages is an important component of social compentence was tested employing 24 female subjects. It was predicted that subjects low in social competence would experience a high level of anxiety in a social interaction and that this would interfere with their ability to attend to the nonverbal behaviors of others. Subjects were given the task of interviewing a confederate. They were instructed to change the interview topic if the questioning appeared to produce discomfort in their partner. The confederate displayed a series of nonverbal cues indicating mounting tension while responding to certain questions. Two measures of sensitivity to the cues were obtained: (1) how quickly the subject changed the interview topic in response to the cues and (2) how many nonverbal cues the subject reported observing. The findings indicated that low-competence subjects reported having observed as many of the nonverbal messages as the high-competence subjects but failed to respond to them. An explanation for this is offered based on information gathered during a postexperimental interview. No difference was found between groups for level of anxiety experienced during the interaction. This is discussed in terms of the experimental design employed, which may have served to reduce anxiety in the subjects.This study was conducted by the first author as part of the requirements for the master's degree at the University of Connecticut. The authors wish to express their appreciation to Suzanne Weiss, who served as the confederate and assisted in the analysis of the data.     

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.