Psychology GCSE: Non Verbal Communication

Aim: To see if tone of voice has any effect when interpreting a verbal message
Method: Different groups of participants listened to either friendly or hostile messages in either friendly or hostile tones of voice. Therefore, some participants heard a hostile message spoken in a friendly tone of voice and vice versa
Results: When participants were asked to interpret the messages, it was found that tone of voice had about 5 times the effect of the verbal message itself
Conclusion: Tone of voice is extremely important in how people interpret verbal messages

Aim: to see the effect of paralinguistics on the assessment of emotion
Method: participants listened to tape recordings and assessed the speaker’s emotions from the paralinguistic cues
Results: there was a very high level of accuracy in recognising the emotions: affection, amusement, disgust and fear
Conclusion: paralinguistics are very important when judging emotions

Aim: to see how interrupting eye contact affects conversation
Method: pairs of participants were observed having conversations and in half the conversations, dark glasses were worn so eye contact couldn’t be received (weren’t worn in other half)
Results: when dark glasses were worn, there were more pauses and interruptions than when the glasses were not worn
Conclusion: eye contact is important to ensure the smooth flow of conversation

Aim: to see the effect of pupil dilation on emotion
Method: participants were shown two pictures of the same girl and asked which was more attractive. the only difference was that one had dilated pupils and the other didn’t
Results: most participants said the girl with the dilated pupils was more attractive but they couldn’t say why
Conclusion: pupil dilation has an unconscious but powerful effect on emotion

they help us to understand why we feel uncomfortable talking to someone who either constantly looks at us or never at all (you’re never quite sure when it’s you’re turn to speak)

we have no control over pupil dilation and so a drawback of this could be that we can’t hide our emotions if we’re attracted to someone. they also help us to understand why eye make-up is so popular

7 facial expressions are recognised in nearly every society:

1. happy

2. sad

3. angry

4. afraid

5. surprised

6. disgusted

7. interested

Sackheim
Aim: to look at the relationship between facial expressions and hemispheres of the brain
Method: pictures of people’s faces were cut in half and recreated with their mirror image. each pair of new faces was shown to participants who were asked which they liked better
Results: majority chose the left half and it’s reflection and when asked why, said it looked ‘warmer’
Conclusion: the left side of the face seems to express emotion more than the right side

1. facial expressions are inherited so they happen instinctively and are therefore more truthful. it’s harder to lie with facial expressions than with words

2. sackheim’s study helps us to understand why we prefer certain profiles of ourselves rather than others (we prefer to show our warm side)

Aim: to see the effect of postural echo when in conversation
Method: a confederate approached individuals in a social setting. in half the conversations, the confederate echoed the posture of the individual and didn’t in the other half. after, the experimenter approached the individuals and asked them what they thought of the confederate
Results: when postural echo was used, the confederate was liked and thought to have got on well together but when postural echo wasn’t used, the confederate wasn’t liked and conversation felt awkward
Conclusion: postural echo gives an unconscious message of friendliness

people in the real world may use this knowledge to their advantage. e.g. counsellors may deliberately use postural echo to develop closer relationships with their clients. the implication for the client is that they are more likely to divulge information to a counsellor who uses postural echo

Aim: to see the effect of open and close posture on conversation
Method: confederate approached individuals in a social setting. in half the conversations, the confederate adopted an open posture and a closed posture was adopted in the other half. participants were then approached by experimenter and asked what they thought of the confederate

Results: when showing open posture, the confederate was seen as friendly and attractive. when showing closed posture, the confederate was seen as unfriendly and less attractive
Conclusion: posture can make a difference on how much we’re liked

salespeople might use open posture when talking to customers as it may help the make a sale. the implication for the customer is that they don’t realise how they’re being manipulated

Aim: to see the effect of gestures used by waiters on tipping behaviour of customers in a restaurant
Method: while taking orders from seated customers, waiters were instructed to either stand upright or squat down near the customer

Results: when waiters squatted down, larger tips were received compared to when they took orders standing
Conclusion: the gesture of squatting down near a seated customer to take an order will have a positive effect on tipping behaviour

one famous restaurant chain trains its staff to squat down when taking orders. unsuspecting customers probably see this as friendly but studies show there to be other motives

Aim: to see the effect of touch on people’s attitudes
Method: female students in a library were handed a book by a librarian (confederate). half the students were briefly touched on the hand when given the book and the other students were not touched

Results: when questioned later, the students who were touched had a more positive attitude towards the library and the librarian than those who were not touched. however, they were unaware they had been touched
Conclusion: touch can have an unconscious but powerful effect on attitudes

show how attitudes in the real world might be manipulated by people who want to win favour

Aim: to see if sex differences affect personal space
Method: individually, participants had a conversation with a confederate who was sometimes of the same sex and other times of opposite sex. the confederate sat at different distances and constantly looked into the participants eyes

Results: participants usually broke eye contact with the confederate of the opposite sex at a greater distance compared to the same sex confederate. this is thought to be the point when personal space is invaded
Conclusion: we prefer to have a greater distance between ourselves and members of the opposite sex during normal conversation

it could be that when a man is in conversation with a woman, he might not be aware that he’s standing too close for her comfort

Aim: to see if age has an effect on personal space
Method: Willis observed almost 800 individuals in different social situations

Results: those he observed tended to stand closer to people their own age and further away from people who were either very much older or younger than themselves
Conclusion: age differences affect how close we stand to one another

1. people might think that, if a person older or younger than themselves stands further away, they're being unfriendly

2. if we attempt to stand closer to a person older or younger than ourselves, it might cause them to feel uncomfortable

Aim: to see if there are cultural differences in the use of personal space
Method: Summer observed groups of white English people and groups of Arab people in conversation

Results: the comfortable conversation distance for the white English people was 1-1.5m, whereas it was much less than this for the Arab groups
Conclusion: the use of personal space in normal conversation varies with culture

helps us to understand why people in Arab countries regard Europeans and Americans as unfriendly and untrustworthy, as they tend to stand back during conversations

Aim: to see if status affects personal space
Method: Zahn observed people of equal status approaching each other to have a conversation. he also observed people of unequal status approaching each other

Results: Zahn found that people of lower status didn't approach people of higher status with the same degree of closeness as those of equal status
Conclusion: the use of personal space varies with differences in status when approaching other people

implies that it feels more threatening to approach someone of higher status and we show our anxiety by keeping our distance. implies we feel more comfortable approaching people of equal status