Chapter Overview

Summary--From the Intercultural Perspective

When we learn to communicate, we learn not only language but also various ways of communicating. Communicators use both verbal and nonverbal codes to communicate, listeners expect to receive both kinds of messages during a conversation. If a speaker uses nonverbal codes poorly or inappropriately, a listener may consider the person a poor speaker. However, misunderstandings may occur when the speakers and listeners are from different cultures and do not share the same nonverbal codes.

In brief, the messages sent without using words are called nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication involves those nonverbal stimuli in a communication setting that are generated by the sender and his or her use of the environment—these have potential message value for both the sender and receiver.

Nonverbal communication codes or symbols or stimuli in a communicating setting can be divided into different categories: paralanguage, silence, proxemics, chronemics, oculesics, olfactics, haptics, kinesics, chromatics and attire.

Paralanguage is the set of audible sounds that accompany oral language to augment its meaning. When the German poet Klopstock wrote "The tones of human voices are mightier than strings or brass to move the soul", he meant that sounds we generate often communicate more than the words that they produce. We have the experience of watching foreign movies: if we don’t know the language they speak and there are no subtitles, we can still infer when performers are expressing anger, sorrow, joy, or any other emotions.

Silence cues affect interpersonal communication by providing an interval in an ongoing interaction during which the participants have time to think, check or suppress an emotion, encode a lengthy response, or inaugurate another line of thought. 

Chronemics is the study of how people perceive and use time. People have different attitudes toward punctuality because they have different time orientations. People from monochronic cultures emphasize schedules, while people from polychronic cultures stress involvement of people and the completion of tasks as opposed to a strict adherence to schedules.

Proxemics refers to the study of spatial relations. Cultures vary in such things as how living space is arranged and the distance between people in interaction. 

Oculesics refers to the study of communications sent by the eyes. Eyes play a central role in impression management. When people say that eyes talk, they mean that eyes convey messages. Although eye contact is a very important way of communication, direct eye-to-eye contact is not a custom throughout the world.

Olfactics refers to the study of communication via smell. Americans feel uncomfortable with natural smells, so they spend millions of dollars to make themselves smell "good". However, many cultures regard natural smells as normal. Most Arabs perceive a person's smell as an extension of the person. 

Haptics or touch refers to communication through the use of bodily contact. There are different behavioral patterns regarding touch. We learn the rules, as we move from infancy into childhood. The wrong behavior of touching in strange cultures can create uncertainty and even ill feeling. 

Kinesics refers to gestures, facial expressions, eye contact, body position, body movement, and forms of greeting and their relations to communication. Although any part of the body can be used for communicating nonverbally, face, hands, and arms are the primary kinesic channels through which nonverbal messages are sent.

Chromatics refers to the study of color in reference to people's perception, behaviors, and impressions of others. The same color may be interpreted differently in different cultures. The wrong color of your clothes may make people dislike you, or even hate you. It is quite important to watch what color is appropriate in certain settings, when you are in a foreign country.

Attire refers to clothing and physical appearance. It also serves as nonverbal symbols. We often identify a person’s culture by his or her physical appearance and dress. Communication with others is often perceived by visual observations of his or her physical appearance.

Case Analysis for Chapter 6

Critical Thinking Questions

Keywords for Chapter 6

(1) Nonverbal communication: It refers to the messages sent without using words. （非言语交际：不运用言语语言传递信息被称为非言语交际。)

(2) Proxemics: It refers to the study of spatial relations.（时空行为：时空行为对空间关系的研究。）

(3) Kinesics: It refers to gestures, facial expressions, eye contact, body positions, body movement, and forms of greeting and their relation to communication.（身势语行为：身势语（也称体态语），指手势、面目表情、眼神交流、身体姿势、肢体运动和问候方式以及和他们与交际的关系。）

(4) Chronemics: It is the study of how people perceive and use time.（时间行为：对于人们如何理解和利用时间的研究。）

(5) Paralanguage: It is the set of audible sounds that accompany oral language to augment its meaning.（辅助语行为：为增强其含义，伴随言语语言产生的可听到的声音符号系统。）

(6) Haptics: It refers to communicating through the use of bodily contact.（触觉行为：指通过身体接触来交流。）

(7) Chromatics: It refers to the study of color use in affecting people’s perceptions, behaviors and impressions of others.（色彩学：色彩学指对于影响人们认知、行为和他人印象的色彩的研究。）

(8) Olfactics: It is the study of communication via smell.（气味行为：研究气味对于交流的影响的学科。） 

(9) Oculesics: It is the study of communications sent by the eyes.（目光语：对于由眼睛所传达的信息的研究。不同的文化对于交际时眼神的接触有不同的要求。）

Now you've finished studying Chapter 6, have you mastered all the key points in this chapter? If the answer is YES, move on to Assessment to check your comprehension and mastery of Chapter 6.