ABSTRACT

Although “language” often comes to mind first when considering communication, no discussion of communication is complete without the inclusion of nonverbal behaviors. These are all the behaviors that occur during communication that do not involve verbal language, and include facial expressions, nonverbal vocal cues, gestures, body postures, interpersonal distance, touching, and gaze. Some authors even consider the way you dress, the placement of your office within a building, the use of time, blinking, or the arrangement of your room as aspects of nonverbal communication (Henley 1977). Collectively, nonverbal behaviors (NVBs) serve many functions. They signal emotions,

attitudes, physiological states, and other mental states; they illustrate speech and regulate conversation; they convey verbal messages; and they manipulate the body. Given the wealth of information that they communicate, it is no wonder that studies that have compared the relative contributions of verbal vs. NVB in conveying messages report that the vast majority of the messages communicated are nonverbal (Friedman 1978). This is ironic, especially because most people consciously attend to the verbal language when interacting with others (Ekman et al. 1980; O’Sullivan et al. 1985). NVB is part of the “hidden dimension” of communication, a silent language (Hall 1966, 1973), and not paying attention to it means that one misses many messages that are being conveyed. Thus, although active listening is always good, active observation is also necessary. Although there are some NVBs that have universal and probably biologically rooted bases,

culture influences NVB in profound ways. Just as members of every culture learn to communicate with verbal language, they also learn to communicate nonverbally in culture-specific ways as well. When interacting with people of different cultures, one deals not only with different verbal languages, but with different NVBs. Understanding and even performing the mannerisms and associated NVBs of a language aids in becoming culturally as well as linguistically fluent (akin to the intercultural communicative competence of intercultural mediators described by Byram, Chapter 5, and Wilkinson, Chapter 18, this volume). These differences make intercultural interactions more complex and difficult than intracultural interactions, and lead to greater potential difficulties in relationships. We will return to this point at the end of

the chapter. First, we review the main research findings from literature examining the influence of culture on the various NVBs and discuss how these influences contribute to the intercultural communication process. We begin our presentation with a discussion of culture and facial expressions.