12.5 Eight Forms of Nonverbal Communication

First, let’s look at the different kinds of behaviors and signals that are usually included under the umbrella of nonverbal communication. Each channel has a common name, but scholars also use more esoteric terms that I include in case you want to do further research.

Hand gestures, which can replace spoken or written words , such as the “talk to the hand” gesture in the chapter opener , or supplement speech , such as using a gesture to emphasize a key point, or “enumerating fingers” when going through a numbered list .

Head motions, including nodding, shaking, and wobbling your head (which has multiple meanings in India).

Posture, which can be used to express interest ( by leaning forward), anger (especially through a rigid, tense posture), and sadness ( as seen in the posture of Napoleon Dynamite, who somehow looks like he feels defeated by the world even before he has spoken a word).

Movement, which includes where you stand or face relative to others, and distance regulation — also known as “proxemics.” For example, in the book How To Talk Minnesotan, author Howard Mohr includes diagrams of how Minnesotans typically stand when talking to each other (e.g., not directly facing each other, but at an angle, staring at the horizon).

Touch, also known as “haptics,” which includes touching others as well as self-touch (such as scratching or rubbing your face).

Facial expressions, which are used both to convey your emotions and to regulate conversation (such as a raised eyebrow meaning, “Yes? Do you have a question?”). The world’s leading expert on facial expressions is Paul Ekman, who has developed the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) to analyze facial expressions.^[1]

Eye contact, which is more formally known as “gaze,” since “eye contact” implies two people looking at each other, but one person can gaze at another person even if that person doesn’t look back .

Vocal behavior, a category that closely overlaps with speech, but which includes everything conveyed through the voice that is not about the words: tone of voice, intonation, speech rate, and loudness, as well as non-word-related vocalizations such as sighs, groans, laughter, and yawns. For an illustration of how much impact intonation can have, try saying the sentence “Do you want me to eat that cake?” Which of the eight words did you stress, and how much difference would it have made if you had stressed a different word instead?

You could also incorporate architecture, furniture, territoriality, clothing, scent, and the use of time (known as “chronemics”) under the umbrella of nonverbal communication, but that’s more than we can cover in this chapter.^[2]