PSY274H5 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Nonverbal Communication, Paralanguage, Human Body
Chapter 2: Channels of human communication (Posted Reading 1)
- Humans communicate successfully in various different situations
o Intimate face-to-face encounters – separated by inches
o In shops- separated by feet
o In lecture halls separated by yards
o In telephone separated by half a word
- Communicate in conditions when body is visible and even when it is not
- Communication can be pre-planned, intentional, executed with care and control- like a public
speech. Also in conditions when intention to communicate is entirely missing
- Communicate when we talk and communicate with our silence when we do not want to talk
- In face to face interactions people speak with a distinct posture, certain distance, facial
expressions, tone, and eye contact
- Speech is just one component of communication, behaviors that accompany speech, emphasize,
contradict, or even substitute for it
- Static channels are termed standing features
o Relatively unchanged aspects of an interaction- such as personal distance and appearance
of the other individual
- Other channels are more dynamic – such as speech itself or the vocal accompanies of speech-
posture, gesture, looking behavior. These are in a constant state of flux
- Dynamic features of social behaviors interact to reveal important connections between speech and
nonverbal communication
- There are 5 primary systems of communicating
o Verbal – comprises of speech itself. Speech is made of words, clauses and sentences-
each connected to a higher order unit. Words are made of morphemes- smallest
linguistic units that carry meaning, and phonemes- the sounds of the unit of language
o Prosodic- comprises of intonation, rhythm and pause in speech whose position and
function are linguistically determined.
▪ “ old men and women” a pause after men would change the meaning of the
phrase versus saying the phrase without the pause
▪ Intonation is the pitch pattern of speech, stress with juncture markings and
boundaries. Intonation affects meaning. I.e. “ he died” could be a question or a
statement depending on where you rise or drop the pitch at the end in this case.
o Paralinguistic- “um”, “ah”, laugh, cry, whine, and yawn are vocal behaviors part of the
paralanguage. Pausing or falling silent for linguistic purpose
▪ 16%- 62% of speech is spent this way
o Kinesic- movements of the face, head, body, posture and gesture
o Standing features of interaction- interpersonal distance (and touch), orientation and
appearance.
▪ Appearance is generally more static than distance and orientation
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Document Summary
Humans communicate successfully in various different situations. Communicate in conditions when body is visible and even when it is not. Communication can be pre-planned, intentional, executed with care and control- like a public speech. Also in conditions when intention to communicate is entirely missing. Communicate when we talk and communicate with our silence when we do not want to talk. In face to face interactions people speak with a distinct posture, certain distance, facial expressions, tone, and eye contact. Speech is just one component of communication, behaviors that accompany speech, emphasize, contradict, or even substitute for it. Static channels are termed standing features: relatively unchanged aspects of an interaction- such as personal distance and appearance of the other individual. Other channels are more dynamic such as speech itself or the vocal accompanies of speech- posture, gesture, looking behavior. These are in a constant state of flux.
