ABSTRACT
Basic cross-cultural research has substantially documented the influence of culture on one aspect of nonverbal behavior—facial expressions of emotion. But, although “facts” about cultural differences in nonverbal behavior have accumulated, accompanying models of culture that predict and explain such differences have been comparably slow to develop. The lack of such a model is not without consequence. Not only is progress in basic cross-cultural research hindered, the impetus for conducting cross-cultural research on nonverbal behavior in applied settings also suffers. As awareness of the importance of nonverbal behavior in applied settings grows, so does the necessity to incorporate culture into our theoretical understanding and empirical practices.
