Cultural Factors in Nonverbal Communication.

Participants in a communication process adapt to each other’s speaking style – for example, by leaning forward, matching the other’s speech rate, assuming a similar posture, using similar gestures, or pronouncing words with the same accent. If a communicator rejects the style of the other as culturally inappropriate – for example, by leaning away, intentionally slowing the speech rate, or assuming an uninviting posture – the flow of communication is interrupted.

Edward Hall stated:” People in interactions move together in a kind of dance, but they are not aware of their synchronous movement”. He found that each culture has its own characteristic manner of sitting, standing, reclining (облокачиваться, откидываться назад) and gesturing. Most people are unaware when these are happening. When they become aware, they are unable to pay attention to anything else.

Culture establishes standards for nonverbal behavior. We often have an involuntary reaction to someone violating our expectations about personal space. Our culture specifies behaviors that invite or discourage interaction. We learn nonverbal signals that indicate another person is receptive to being approached – for example, smiling, and eye contact. If we use those same cues in interaction with someone from another culture, we could be quite startled (сильно удивлять, поражать) by the response. If our expectations are not met, we will probably evaluate the other person negatively based on behavior that conforms to a culture different from our own.

Types of Nonverbal Communication

There are seven types of nonverbal communication: kinesics (кинесика, наука о движениях и действиях) and other body movements, space, time, touch, voice, artifacts (искусственные/материальные средства идентификации), and physical appearance.

Body movements

Kinesics is a type of nonverbal communication that involves body movement and activities (also called body language). The four main types of kinesic communication are: emblems, illustrators, regulators, affect displays.

Emblems are body movements that can be translated into words and that are used intentionally to transmit a message. One type of emblem that is particularly important, perhaps ranking second only to facial expressions, is hand gestures. People talk with their hands. Hand gestures like the thumbs up or the thumb and forefinger circle (okay) sign, the palm outward gesture (silence, or stop), and circling a forefinger near one’s head (crazy) all have a widely understood meaning. But the meanings of these emblems may be quite different in various nations.

Hand gestures can be very confusing interculturally. As with verbal language, nonverbal codes are not universal. There are gender differences as well as cultural differences in hand gestures. An emblem unique to Japanese women is the hand held in front of the mouth when smiling or laughing. People from the United States perceive this gesture as girlish, polite, and cute. Only women in Japan cover their mouth when smiling. Men never do.

In addition to hand gestures, head movements can also communicate nonverbally. Like hand movements, head movements differ from one culture to another. In India the head gesture for a positive response to a question is a sideways movement which is perceived by most non-Indians as a head shake meaning no. But after visiting India for a period of time, the typical foreigner is likely to have picked up the sideways head nod. When the person returns to the home country and uses shaking the head sideways to mean yes, further confusion occurs. In Turkey, an up-and-down movement of the head conveys a negative rather than a positive expression.

Illustrators are a type of kinesic behavior that accompanies what is said verbally. Hand and body gestures are a natural part of speaking for most individuals. Illustrators include gesturing with one’s hands, smiling or frowning. They are particularly noticeable when an individual is giving directions to a certain place. Illustrators differ from emblems in that they cannot be translated into words.

Regulators are kinesic behaviors that control turn-taking and other procedural aspects of interpersonal communication. A practical necessity in every conversation is to determine who is going to speak first, next, and so on. This process of turn-taking is mainly an unconscious process. Sometimes problems occur, such as when two or more people talk at once and no one can be understood. Usually this behavior occurs when individuals are excited or angry. In most conversations, turn-taking proceeds smoothly because of regulators like the turn of a head, gaze, and other body movements.

Affect displays are kinesic behaviors that express emotions. Facial expressions are one of the most important ways of communicating meaning to another person. For example, surprise is conveyed by arching (изгибать дугой) the eyebrows, opening the eyelids so that the white of the eye shows. In contrast, the emotion of fear is shown by raising the eyebrows and drawing them together, while tensing the lips and drawing them back. Disgust is conveyed by wrinkling the nose, lowering the eyebrows. The facial expressions for anger, happiness, and sadness are generally universal across all cultures, but other emotions are expressed differently depending on particular cultural constraints. Rules for expressing emotions vary depending on the culture. All cultures have display rules telling members when it is appropriate to show emotion and when to hide it. Affect displays can occur via crying, laughing, and even by one’s posture (поза).

Space

Proxemics is nonverbal communication that involves space. The word Proxemics derives from the same Latin root as proximity, implying that one dimension of space is how close or distant two or more people are located. How physically close or distant two people stand when they talk tells a great deal about their relationship.

A distance of only eight to thirteen inches (дюйм-2.5 см) between males, for example, is considered very aggressive. When a European American talks with a Latin American, the former feels that the Latin American is uncomfortably “pushy” or trying to be intimate, while the Latin American perceives the person from the United States as cold and remote. Arabic people from the Middle East do not feel that someone is friendly unless they are standing close enough to smell the garlic on the other’s breath. Clearly, there are strong cultural differences in perception of the appropriate space between people involved in interpersonal communication.

Religious values may affect spatial arrangements. For example, the Navajo always build their hogans (хижина) (six- or eight-sided one-story structures) facing east, in order to face the rising sun. According to traditional beliefs, a Navajo should begin the day by running toward the sun. Islamic people believe that the main entrance of important buildings should face in the direction of Mecca.

Space also affects who talks to whom. For example, employees in an office whose desks are located closer are more likely to communicate. Families who live in neighboring homes are more likely to become friends than those who live farther away, even though the spatial difference may be negligible (незначительный). New communication technologies like the Internet may overcome the effect of spatial distance on the frequency of communication. E-mail effectively removes spatial barriers whether two people are working in adjoining (соседний) buildings or are located across the world from each other.