The Social Psychological Lens - Part I
Now
that this tutorial has made you more familiar with what nonverbal behaviour is
and how it influences communication, you may be left thinking that nonverbal
behaviour is simply human nature – something we just do automatically, with messages about our thoughts, feelings,
and attitudes mysteriously ‘picked up’
by those who see us. However the concept is not quite so simple, and
we can glean further insight into the why
and how of nonverbal behaviour by
turning to the field of social psychology.
Social psychology is defined by Gordon Allport as “an attempt to understand and explain how the thoughts, feelings, and behaviours of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others” (as cited in Kirichenko, 2013). With this definition in mind, it is apparent that social psychology has much to offer in explaining why we communicate nonverbally and how our nonverbal messages are perceived by others.
Social psychology is defined by Gordon Allport as “an attempt to understand and explain how the thoughts, feelings, and behaviours of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others” (as cited in Kirichenko, 2013). With this definition in mind, it is apparent that social psychology has much to offer in explaining why we communicate nonverbally and how our nonverbal messages are perceived by others.
Why we Communicate Nonverbally
When asking ourselves why we communicate nonverbally, the most obvious answer is that we do so to convey our thoughts, feelings, and attitudes to others, whether consciously or unconsciously. This is certainly true – we may intend to convey our sadness through the use of kinesics (similar to the photo in Figure 2 on the previous page) or unintentionally convey a negative attitude towards our employees by complacently accepting the corner office as our workspace (as shown in Figure 5 on the previous page). Yet social psychology offers that there are several deeper reasons why we communicate through nonverbal means: whether to fulfill the expectations of a situation, help us attain certain goals, increase our self-esteem, persuade others, help us understand ourselves, or even influence our own emotions. This page explores these reasons in detail.
Fulfilling Expectations
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The topic of social scripts is one social psychological concept that explains why we communicate through nonverbal behaviour. Social scripts can be defined as culturally-specific “guidelines that people follow to carry out interactions” (Tepperman, 2011, p. 486) with others in given situations. For example, the typical script of a North American job interview usually involves wearing professional-looking attire, arriving to the interview a few minutes early, greeting the interviewer with a firm handshake, maintaining eye contact, and holding an upright posture. The script for a job interview in Asia may be similar, but it would involve greeting the interviewer with a bow or a head nod (instead of a handshake) and refraining from direct eye contact (Ray, 2011). Thus, if we were to find ourselves in either a North American or an Asian job interview, we would use nonverbal behaviour to help us meet the demands of the situation. We would ensure that we arrive early, adjust our posture before entering the interview room, and tell ourselves to maintain eye contact (or not) because these behaviours are the behaviours required of us in this setting. In other words, we use nonverbal behaviour to fulfill the expectations set out by the social script.
Attaining Goals
It is important to note that we do not engage in certain nonverbal behaviours simply because the social scripts of the situation call for such actions. In fact, much of our nonverbal behaviour stems from our own desire to present ourselves in a particular way. The social psychological theory of self-presentation suggests that individuals use “strategies [. . .] to shape what others think of them” (Kassin et al., 2013, p. 88). These strategies take one of two forms: strategic self-presentation or self-verification.
When someone is using strategic self-presentation strategies, they are motivated by a desire to gain acceptance, power, sympathy, or influence (Kassin et al., 2013). Thus, they engage in acts with the goal of showing themselves as likeable or competent (or any other characteristic) to other people. Frequently, the acts they engage in will include nonverbal behaviour. For example, if you are attending a North American job interview, you will likely be motivated to gain the acceptance of the interviewer, and you will make it your goal to present to him or her that you are likeable and competent. Therefore, the strategies that you use to meet this goal include the nonverbal behaviours of smiling, nodding, offering a firm handshake, maintaining an upright posture, and wearing impressive-looking attire. In this example, there is no telling whether you truly are likeable and competent, you are simply presenting yourself that way to the interviewer in order to gain his or her acceptance.
The video below shows strategic self-presentation in action. Here, the people in the video are motivated to gain the acceptance of potential employers, and their goals are to show themselves as competent and confident. The body language techniques discussed by the narrator, Carol Goman, are the strategic self-presentation strategies that these individuals can use to present themselves as competent and confident to the employers.
When someone is using strategic self-presentation strategies, they are motivated by a desire to gain acceptance, power, sympathy, or influence (Kassin et al., 2013). Thus, they engage in acts with the goal of showing themselves as likeable or competent (or any other characteristic) to other people. Frequently, the acts they engage in will include nonverbal behaviour. For example, if you are attending a North American job interview, you will likely be motivated to gain the acceptance of the interviewer, and you will make it your goal to present to him or her that you are likeable and competent. Therefore, the strategies that you use to meet this goal include the nonverbal behaviours of smiling, nodding, offering a firm handshake, maintaining an upright posture, and wearing impressive-looking attire. In this example, there is no telling whether you truly are likeable and competent, you are simply presenting yourself that way to the interviewer in order to gain his or her acceptance.
The video below shows strategic self-presentation in action. Here, the people in the video are motivated to gain the acceptance of potential employers, and their goals are to show themselves as competent and confident. The body language techniques discussed by the narrator, Carol Goman, are the strategic self-presentation strategies that these individuals can use to present themselves as competent and confident to the employers.
When someone is using self-verification strategies, they are motivated by a “desire to have others perceive [them] as they truly see [themselves]” (Kassin et al., 2013, p. 89). Their goal is not to gain the acceptance of others, but rather, show others how they believe they are on the inside. For example, let us imagine that you are attending a job interview and you do not wish to be there. Your father made you go to the interview and you do not feel competent enough for the job. What is more, you are in a rather depressed state, and do not see yourself as likeable. A few days prior to the interview, the interviewer sent you an email to say how much she was looking forward to meeting you, since your father told her what a pleasant and upstanding individual you were. Feeling that her preconception did not fit with how you saw yourself – and motivated by a desire to show her who you truly were – you decided to show up to the interview dressed in your favourite pair of jeans. When you meet the interviewer, you refuse to shake her hand, and you keep your head down throughout the interview. In other words, your nonverbal behaviour has helped you verify your self-concept (your beliefs about yourself) in the interviewer’s eyes. In essence, then, the above examples show that we communicate nonverbally to help us reach our self-presentation goals.
Increasing Self-Esteem
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Sometimes, we communicate nonverbally for the purpose of raising our own self-esteem. Self-esteem is described as “our positive and negative self-evaluations” (Kassin et al., 2013, p. 71). It refers to how good or bad we believe ourselves to be. Generally, we want to see ourselves in a positive way and will try to raise our self-esteem if it is lowered. There are a number of methods, according to social psychologists, that we use to raise our self-esteem, but one method has a distinctly nonverbal component: basking in reflected glory. Basking in reflected glory is a concept first identified in 1976 by Robert Cialdini, which refers to the act of “showing off [one’s] connections to successful others” (Kassin et al., 2013, p. 84) in order to boost self-esteem. Cialdini’s study (as cited in Kassin et al., 2013) found that when university students had their self-esteem lowered after failing a test, they were quick to associate themselves with their school’s recently‑victorious football team by wearing campus sweatshirts. Given that artifacts is the nonverbal behaviour category in which objects are used to communicate something about ourselves, we can see from the basking in reflected glory concept that the use of artifacts is not simply a matter of conveying our interests to others, but also of enhancing our self-esteem. Perhaps you can identify with this concept: Have you ever donned the jersey of a hockey team who had just won the Stanley Cup, or worn a pair of shoes designed by a successful musician? If so, you may have done this to increase your self-esteem by 'showing off' the fact that you were connected to someone successful.
Persuading
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The peripheral route to persuasion says that these feet might convince you to cross the street.
Communicating through nonverbal behaviour also plays a role in persuasion. Persuasion is “the process by which attitudes are changed” (Kassin et al., 2013, p. 200), where attitudes, as described earlier, are one’s positive or negative reactions towards a person, object, or idea (Kassin et al., 2013). According to John Cacioppo (as cited in Kassin et al., 2013), one method of persuading others is the peripheral route to persuasion, which occurs when people do not think carefully about the communication they are presented with and are instead influenced by superficial cues. Many times, these superficial cues involve nonverbal behaviour. For example, a study by Lefkowitz, Blake, and Mouton (1955) found that people were more likely to follow a model’s example by crossing the street against a ‘wait’ signal when the model was dressed in a business suit than when the model was dressed in casual clothing. We could say that the individuals in this study took the peripheral route to persuasion. Ordinarily, in the absence of influences, we could deem that most individuals would hold a negative attitude towards the idea of crossing the street when they knew they were not supposed to (and therefore would not do it). But in the presence of influences in this study, attitudes were changed. While very few individuals in the study crossed the street when the models were dressed in casual attire, a large number crossed the street when the models were dressed in business suits. Therefore, the attitudes of the majority of people were influenced by something as superficial as the model’s style of dress (or use of artifacts), and their reactions towards the idea of crossing against the ‘wait’ signal became positive enough for them to do it!
As another example, a study by Burgoon, Birk, and Pfau (1990) found that people were likely to consider a speaker to be persuasive when the speaker used nonverbal behaviours such as facial expressiveness, eye contact, and pitch variety (paralanguage). Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever attended a trade show where product sellers delivered speeches to sell their goods and you found yourself more convinced to purchase items from a seller who used expressive nonverbal behaviours than from a seller who slouched over and spoke in a monotone voice? If so, you took the peripheral route to persuasion – you did not think critically about the communication you were being presented with, so your attitude towards the product was influenced by the speaker’s use of body language. Thus, it would seem that nonverbal behaviour can very much be used as a persuasion tool.
As another example, a study by Burgoon, Birk, and Pfau (1990) found that people were likely to consider a speaker to be persuasive when the speaker used nonverbal behaviours such as facial expressiveness, eye contact, and pitch variety (paralanguage). Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever attended a trade show where product sellers delivered speeches to sell their goods and you found yourself more convinced to purchase items from a seller who used expressive nonverbal behaviours than from a seller who slouched over and spoke in a monotone voice? If so, you took the peripheral route to persuasion – you did not think critically about the communication you were being presented with, so your attitude towards the product was influenced by the speaker’s use of body language. Thus, it would seem that nonverbal behaviour can very much be used as a persuasion tool.
Understanding Ourselves
Quite intriguingly, social psychology also tells us that we communicate nonverbally to tell us something about ourselves. According to the theory of self-perception, “people infer what they think and how they feel by observing their own behaviour and the situation in which that behaviour takes place” (Kassin et al., 2013, p. 60). For example, as part of an assignment for a communication class, I videotaped a practice counselling session in which I helped a classmate with a problem. At the time of videotaping, I did not understand how I felt about conducting the session. However, when I watched the video shortly afterwards, I noticed my trembling fingers and rapid rate of higher-pitched speech. Thus, by observing my own behaviours, I inferred that I must have been nervous in that situation. In other words, self-perception told me something I did not know about myself – that I am nervous when conducting videotaped practice counselling sessions. Ultimately, it would seem that nonverbal behaviours play an important role in helping us understand ourselves.
Influencing our Emotions
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Through a concept closely related to the theory of self-perception, research indicates that we may even use nonverbal behaviours to change our own emotions. According to the facial feedback hypothesis, changes in our facial expressions lead to corresponding changes in emotion (Kassin et al., 2013). As tested by James Laird (as cited in Kassin et al., 2013), participants who were told to form a smile or frown reported feeling happier when they were smiling than when they were frowning. What this means is that our facial expressions are not simply revealing our inner feelings, but also causing them. There is also further evidence to show that the facial feedback hypothesis can be applied to nonverbal behaviours outside of facial expressions. In a 1993 study by Stepper and Strack (as cited in Kassin et al., 2013), it was found that people who were told to sit with an upright posture felt more pride after succeeding at a task than people who were told to sit with a slouched posture. With this in mind, perhaps you might recall a time when you were told to “smile and keep your chin up" when you were feeling sad. Were you surprised to find that when you heeded the advice and adjusted your nonverbal behaviour that you actually felt better? Indeed, through self-perception, you would have observed your own behaviour and inferred that “I must be happy because I am smiling and holding an upright posture” – and just as the facial feedback hypothesis suggests, happier feelings would have followed. If we apply this concept to the job interview example discussed previously, we can see that the act of holding an upright posture may not have only been an act of meeting the expectations of the social script or of presenting yourself as competent to the interviewer, but it may have also enabled you to feel competent in your ability to do the job you were being interviewed for. Thus, another reason why we communicate nonverbally may be to evoke emotions within ourselves.
By no means are the explanations presented here an exhaustive list of reasons why we communicate nonverbally. There are many reasons considered in alternate fields such as biology and evolutionary psychology, and even more that can be extracted from social psychology. However, I hope I have shown through this section’s focus on social psychology that when considering why we communicate nonverbally, there are much more profound explanations than simple human nature.