ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to provide greater cohesion for measuring nonverbal dominance. Gottman and his colleagues created coding systems for microanalysis of nonverbal behavior. There are several key issues pertaining to the measurement of nonverbal dominance that should be examined before selecting which form of measurement is appropriate for the question at hand. These include whether objective or subjective measures are used, how macroscopic or microscopic the unit of analysis is, whether individually based behaviors or relationally based behaviors are examined, and whether the observation takes place in a naturalistic or laboratory setting. Burgoon et al. defined interpersonal dominance as a dyadic and interactional construct, specifically describing it as expressive, relationally-based strategies and as one set of communicative acts by which power is exerted and influence achieved. Dominance should not be seen as the only nonverbal cue that influences communication outcomes in interaction, but as one part of the communication process.
