ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 explores how nonverbal communication practices including interactional styles and preferences reflect gendering and help express gender-role identities. In addition to looking at the functions of nonverbal cues, the chapter also explains how kinesic, haptic, paralinguistic, and proxemic cues together with artifacts communicate gendered messages and transmit social definitions reflective of the premise that women focus primarily on relationships, tending to use deferential, expressive, and responsive cues, while men focus more on using cues that affirm their status, power, independence, and control. The chapter also explores ways in which nonverbal displays reflect the same sex-role stereotypes discussed in previous chapters, and looks at how these sex-role stereotypes create expectations that influence behavior. In addition, it considers the benefits of expanding perceived nonverbal options and of practicing nonverbal behaviors that are new and different for us – among them, the potential to raze artificial reception and response barriers, widen our communication repertoire, and enhance our communication effectiveness.
