Nonverbal

Communication
 6th Grade

kinesics
The study of
body language
Ray Birdwhistell in 1950s developed a
method of studying and describing
the body-motion.

Kineme is the smallest discriminable

contrastive unit of body motion
No body movement or facial expression is likely to lack
meaning, because, just like other aspects of voluntary
human behavior, body movements, posture, facial
expressions are patterned and occur together.
 Facial expression
Signals a wide range of emotions from pleasure, happiness,
pleasant surprise to suspicion, sadness, fear, anger, disapproval,
or disgust

Eye contact
Its nature varies not only from culture to culture but also within
the same society from one individual to the next according to
experience, age, self-confidence, and intentions of the
communicator

Hand gestures
Involve touching behavior and culture-specific

Body posture
Conveys the individual’s attitude to the face-to-face
conversation
Proxemics
In the early 1960s, the interdependence between
communication and culture stimulated Edward T.
Hall to develop proxemics.

It is the study of the cultural patterning of the

spatial separation individuals maintain in face-
to-face encounters.

➢ Privacy
➢ Territoriality
➢ Designing buildings
 6th Grade

INTIMATE

PERSONAL

SOCIAL

PUBLIC

In an intimate distance,
individuals are close enough
to be encircled by each other’s By contrast, business is transacted
arms. All senses are engaged. at the social-consultative distance.
 Haptics – means of communication
through touch.
Touch is the most effective means to
communicate our feelings and
emotions.

- Friendship-warmth touch
- Professional-functional touch
- Social-polite touch
- Love-Intimacy touch
The social penetration
theory
 Chronemics – means of communication
associated with time

- those with higher status may keep others waiting

- students expected to be on time, professors can be late

- businesspersons may spend more time with those that have

more money
Sign languages

Are undoubtedly as old as speech.

Fluent use of signs can match the speed of an unhurried conversation.

Finger spelling is considered slower but is indispensable for proper names
or concepts for which there are no signs.

William Stokoe Jr. (1960) studied cheremes, the small set of contrastive
units.

Contrary to popular misconceptions, primary sign languages used by the

deaf are highly structures, complete, and independent communicative
systems, comparable in complexity to spoken and written languages.
Thanks for listening!