Non-Verbal Communication: Eye Contact, Body Language, Personal Space

The same question, a new arrow

When you studied language and thought you met a question about which way a causal arrow points: does thinking come first and language express it, or does the language you have shape what you can think? This part of the topic asks a question with exactly the same shape, about a different thing. People communicate a great deal without using words at all. A person's posture, whether they meet your eye, how close they stand: all of it carries meaning, and often more reliably than what they say. The question is where that comes from. One answer is that these signals are evolved. They appear in every human society, they work without being taught, and they would have been useful to our ancestors, so perhaps we are born with them. The other answer is that we learn them, by growing up among people who use them, which would explain why they are not identical everywhere. The evidence in your specification pulls in both directions, and that is the point rather than a problem. So learn the behaviours in the first half of this module as evidence you will need in the second, not as a list to memorise. Every function of eye contact and every difference in personal space is something a good theory of where NVC comes from has to account for.

Words for what the body says

Six terms the specification names. The first two are definitions you may be asked for directly, so learn them as definitions rather than as examples.

Which one is non-verbal

Which of these is an example of NON-verbal communication?

• Standing with arms crossed while someone speaks to you
• Writing a letter to a friend
• Explaining something to someone over the phone
• Whispering an answer to someone

Three jobs the eyes do

Your specification names three functions of eye contact, and an answer that gives one or two has given a fraction of the mark scheme. Regulating the flow of conversation. Eye contact is how people take turns without arranging it. A speaker tends to look away while talking and back at the listener as they finish, which signals that the other person may now speak. Conversations run smoothly because of this, and it is noticeable when it fails. Signalling attraction. People tend to hold eye contact longer with someone they are attracted to, and the pupils may widen as well, which others read without being aware of doing so. Expressing emotion. A great deal of emotion is readable from the eyes alone, which is why people can often tell how someone feels even when the rest of the face is covered. Notice that these three are doing different kinds of work. The first is practical and manages the mechanics of talking; the second and third convey information about an inner state. Being able to say what a function DOES, rather than just naming it, is what separates a full answer from a list.

Match each posture to what it signals

Which two describe personal space

Select the TWO statements that accurately describe personal space as your specification presents it.

• The distance people prefer to keep varies between cultures, so what feels comfortable in one society may feel too close or too distant in another
• The relative status of the two people affects it, with less distance usually kept between people of similar status
• It is fixed at the same distance for everybody, since it is a biological requirement
• It applies only to strangers, and disappears entirely between people who know each other

Non-verbal communication in words

Communicating in words, whether spoken or written, is _____ communication; conveying meaning without words is _____ communication. Eye contact regulates the _____ of conversation, signals attraction and expresses emotion. Mirroring another person's posture is called postural _____, and generally signals friendliness. The distance people keep from one another is called personal _____, and it varies with culture, status and gender.

Born with it, or picked up

The evidence your specification names, sorted by which side it supports. Read both columns before deciding what you think, because a good answer uses both.

The chain the innate argument runs

The argument that NVC is innate has a definite shape. Put its steps in order.

• If a behaviour is innate, it should appear before there has been any opportunity to learn it
• Neonates produce recognisable expressions in the first days of life, before that opportunity has arisen
• People sensory deprived from birth produce expressions despite never having seen anyone make them
• Learning from observation cannot account for either case
• So at least part of non-verbal communication appears not to depend on learning

What Darwin argued, and how far it goes

Darwin's evolutionary explanation is on your specification, and the way to handle it is to report the argument and then say what it does and does not account for. What he argued: that non-verbal signals are evolved and adaptive. On this account, expressions and gestures were useful to our ancestors because they conveyed information quickly and without language, and behaviours that helped survival and reproduction were passed on. A signal of aggression that stops a fight before it starts, or an expression of fear that alerts others to danger, does real work. If that is right, we should expect such signals to be widely shared among humans rather than invented separately by each society, and to appear without being taught. What it accounts for well: the neonate evidence and the sensory-deprived evidence both fit it, since neither group could have learned by watching. What it accounts for less well: the differences. If NVC were entirely evolved, we would not expect personal space preferences to vary between cultures, or Yuki to have found cultural differences in how emoticons are read. Notice the shape of that evaluation, because it is what earns marks. You are not asked to decide that Darwin was right or wrong. You are asked to say what his explanation predicts, which evidence matches the prediction, and which evidence sits awkwardly with it. Most psychologists conclude that both are involved, and that is a defensible position provided you say why.

The claim that forgets to attribute

Four sentences from answers on this topic. Select the ONE that states a contested claim as established fact instead of attributing it.

• Darwin argued that non-verbal signals are evolved and adaptive, because they conveyed information useful for survival.
• Non-verbal communication is inherited, so culture plays no part in how people use it.
• Yuki's study of emoticons found cultural differences in how non-verbal cues are interpreted.
• Evidence from neonates suggests that at least some expressions do not depend on learning.

State it without overclaiming

Assemble a sentence that uses evidence from both sides without going beyond it.

Weighing the evidence on NVC

A question asks whether non-verbal communication is innate or learned. Work through how to answer it.

• You want to open with the strongest evidence for the innate side. Which do you choose?
• You now need evidence for the learned side. What does the specification give you?
• A classmate writes that NVC is definitely innate because Darwin proved it. What is wrong?
• You are writing the conclusion. What earns most credit?

Explain whether NVC is innate

Explain what non-verbal communication is, and discuss whether it is innate or learned. Use the evidence named on your specification and attribute every position.

• Define verbal and non-verbal communication, and be precise about where writing belongs
• Give all three functions of eye contact and say what each one does
• Describe body language, including open and closed posture, postural echo and touch
• Explain that personal space varies with culture, status and gender
• Report what Darwin argued about non-verbal communication being evolved and adaptive
• Give the evidence that NVC is innate, including neonates and the sensory deprived
• Give the evidence that it is learned, including Yuki's study of emoticons
• Finish by weighing both sides and saying what each explains best