ABSTRACT
It is widely held that nonverbal aspects of verbal behavior contain potential information about the character and psychological state of the speaker, quite apart from the message that he himself thinks he is conveying. Because he is attending to his spoken message, he is not attending to these paralinguistic aspects of his speech. Hence, he is not disclosing to himself the information he paralinguistically discloses to others. This information may be consistent with his intended message or discrepant. Many have claimed that when it is discrepant it is more trustworthy information about him than anything he may be saying about himself. There is some research in the past decade that supports this view (Zuckerman, DePaulo, & Rosenthal, 1981). It is easy to understand the appeal that paralanguage has had for psychologists: potentially at least, it appears to be a “window into the soul.” Presumably it can reveal information about motivation and personality that goes beyond any impression management on the part of the speaker.
