ABSTRACT
In the broader sense in which the concept has been used traditionally, however, the term “nonverbal behavior” is a misnomer, for a variety of subtle aspects of speech frequently have been included in discussions of nonverbal phenomena. Nonverbal behaviors per se form the backbone of nonverbal literature. Their subtlety can be attributed to the lack of explicit coding rules for these behaviors in most cultures. The work of W. S. Condon and W. D. Ogston has dealt with synchronous relations of a speaker’s verbal cues to his own and his addressee’s nonverbal behaviors. To summarize, the present approach makes the traditional distinction between verbal-linguistic communication and the phenomena of nonverbal communication. However, the subtle aspects of social interaction that are discussed in the nonverbal communication literature should more appropriately and generically be termed implicit behaviors, distinct from verbal-linguistic, or explicit, behaviors.
