Bodily Cues Research Articles

Nonverbal Components in the Communication of Assertiveness

Male and female subjects, viewing only the nonverbal behavior of high/ low male and female models, rated model behavior according to (a) the degree to which nine body parts conveyed information regarding level of assertiveness, (b) overall assertiveness, (c) a semantic differential scale, (d) the Rathus Assertiveness Schedule completed by subjects instructed to place themselves in individual model's roles, and (e) narrative forms indicating means by which various body parts communicated information regarding models' levels of assertiveness. Results indicated high assertive models were distinguished from low for all dependent measures on the basis of nonverbal cues alone. Moreover, nonverbal behavior revealed more information regarding level of assertiveness for male than for female models. In addition, particular body dimensions (i.e., hands, arm position, and overall body cues) were found significantly more salient than others in the communication of assertiveness. These findings were discussed with regard to research and practice in assertion training.

The Recognition of Embarrassment

Two experiments were conducted to determine whether embarrassment is a recognizable emotion independent of the nonverbal associates of humor. In the first experiment subjects attempted to identify embarrassment or amusement from silent videotape recordings presented under three viewing conditions: body, face, or face and body together. Correct recognition of embarrassment required both face and body cues while amusement required only facial cues. Embarrassment was incorrectly identified as amusement from facial cues. Experiment 2 investigated the relative importance of facial versus bodily cues for the recognition of embarrassment and amusement. Subjects, who viewed only the face plus body condition, indicated on a schematic drawing of a person which part they were utilizing to make their judgments. While the mouth signaled amusement, the eyes, hands, lower legs, and mouth were all important signals of embarrassment. The part played by amusement in an embarrassing incident is discussed in the light of these findings.

Developmental changes in decoding discrepant and nondiscrepant nonverbal cues.

In this study we examined developmental changes in responses to consistent and discrepant video and audio nonverbal cues. A videotaped Nonverbal Discrepancy Test was administered to children aged 9-15 years. The discrepancy test measures (a) decoding accuracy—the extent to which subjects are able to identify affects (positivity and dominance) from visual (facial and body) cues and audio (content-filtered and random-spliced) cues—and (b) video primacy—the extent to which subjects are more influenced by video (face or body) than by audio cues. It was found that older children were more accurate at decoding affects than were younger children, particularly dominance-submission cues. Video primacy increased with age for facial cues (but not for body cues) and for cues of positivity (but not for cues of dominance). Relative to males younger female subjects showed more video primacy and older female subjects showed less video primacy, particularly for cues of dominance-submission. Relative to younger children older children showed less video primacy in decoding extremely discrepant audio and video cues than in decoding moderately discrepant audio and video cues. The development of nonverbal sensitivity to video and audio cues is discussed.

The structure of nonverbal decoding skills.

The structure of skill at decoding nonverbal cues was examined for 150 high school students and 95 college students. An overall principal components analysis yielded four factors differing in the complexity of the message (pure versus mixed) and in the relative importance of the video versus the audio modality. Factor 1 (pure video) was defined by accuracy at face and body cues of ordinary (2 second) and very brief exposure length. Factor 2 (mixed video) was defined by accuracy at face and body cues with a "noisy" background. Factor 3 (mixed audio) was defined by accuracy at decoding discrepant cues and "noisy" audio cues. Factor 4 (ure audio) was defined by accuracy at pure tone of voice cues. The overall evidence suggested that despite a nontrivial degree of relationship among all measures of skill at decoding nonverbal cues (Armor's Theta = .62), it would increase our theoretical and empirical precision to conceptualize nonverbal decoding ability as made up of several relatively unrelated subskills.

Responses of sexually experienced and naive male rats to cues from receptive vs. nonreceptive females

In order to learn more about their reaction to the female sex attractant, 61 male Norway rats were given two-choice preference tests in which they reacted to cues from receptive vs. non-receptive females. In the first experiment, 16 heterosexually experienced males showed a reliable preference (p < .01) for receptive over nonreceptive anesthetized females, as did 15 naive males (p < .02) which later proved to be copulators. Ten naive males which later proved to be noncopulators showed no reliable preference for either type of female. In the second experiment, 15 naive males which later proved to be copulators showed no reliable preference for the odors from receptive vs. nonreceptive females. From these experiments, we conclude that naive males which later prove to be sexually vigorous are attracted to the composite bodily cues from receptive females, and that this attraction is not mediated by olfactory cues alone.

"Arousal" and alcoholism: psychophysiological responses to alcohol.

It is assumed that any comprehensive theory of alcoholism presupposes an understanding of the biological mechanisms of action subserving or associated with this disorder. It is further assumed that the determinants of excessive drinking behavior pertain not only to environmental events and contingencies but to interoceptive bodily cues induced by alcohol itself (1). Unfortunately, though alcohol represents one of the oldest and most widely used drugs known to man, there is a surprisingly scant and often contradictory literature relevant to its physiological and neurophysiological effects in alcoholics. Almost all prior studies (a) pertain to animals rather than humans, (b) pertain to normal, healthy male volunteers rather than habituated or detoxified alcoholics, thereby ignoring critical factors of metabolic and tissue tolerance (2), (c) employ extremely small, non-representative samples (d) do not take into account the “Mellanby effect” (3) (i.e., differential effects of alcohol pertaining to the ascending and descending limb of the blood alcohol curve) or time-dose-response characteristics and (e) do not control for the extremely important influences of mental set and physical setting.KeywordsTesting PeriodBlood AlcoholBlood Alcohol ConcentrationAlpha ActivityContingent Negative VariationThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

The art therapist's imagery as a response to a therapeutic dialogue

LET ME make you imagine that I stand before you. I am aware of a number of nonverbal cues that seem to emanate around me. I’m aware of the various postures and facial expressions of my audience; I feel and experience a number of body cues that impinge upon me. The room, the smells, the noises all converge to give a total gestalt that has its own internal rhythm and voice. I try not to be aware of my subject but attempt to lose control and let something happen. At times I seem to approach a new state of existence where various images, fantasies, and feelings swell up inside of me. But first let me reach back on to the conscious level of order and reason and ‘tell you something about myself. I teach art therapists and my genesis and frame of reference come from the world of psychoanalysis. I sculpt, theorize and attempt to make some meaning out of the creative dialogue. My purpose here today is to synthesize some of these experiences and talk about the use of the therapist’s imagery as a creative response to a self-actualizing relationship. Now picture if you will a group of art therapy students sitting in a small seminar. They are meeting in my living room. The room is small and we are aware of one another in spite of ourselves. Some are sitting on chairs, others are sitting on the floor. At first there is a tense, expectant air in the room. No one speaks. I look, I wait and wonder what is going to happen. I feel somewhat tense myself. I feel myself to be pushy and controlling. The students in the group have been aware of this, and have reacted in the past in kind. Now this image of my past, this dominating, controlling figure lies somewhat subdued as a stronger sense of me loosens up and springs towards freedom. This is our last session for the year and the reports are due. Then quietly and poignantly one of the students states that he has something to read. Slowly a volley of poetic images and perceptions flow forth as he describes his work with a young boy. I will read you part of this report by Pierre Boenig. But first a few comments. Pierre works in a school for emotionally disturbed children and his report describes the inner life experience of his work with a particular child. I will not attempt to give any of the history but offer to you one paragraph of his report which so much describes what we have been working towards this year. “Mark goes with me to get my coffee, pours the coffee and then spits in the cup. Exploring the hallway further and further, visiting the class across the hall for a few minutes, hiding when strangers come into our room or trying to kick them out, cursing anyone inside or outside, demanding to be carried. Now I am walking, protecting, stopping, holding, comforting, an ally; fighting, killing and being killed; and also I am the strength, the power where frustration, anger, fear, cries and tears mix, and melt through my acceptance of him. How much is it me, how much is it him. I give my resources, he gives his will to fight the suffocation, the rigidity, the conformity, and all of a sudden he is by himself, with himself, his face dry. “Two days ago I told Mark that his mother would be coming to visit. For two days he worries what she will do to his position in the school. Now

Variability and Usefulness of Facial and Body Cues

Variability and Usefulness of Facial and Body Cues

Two methods of determining body sensitivity: a comparison and evaluation.

Field independence, as measured by the magnitude of error in judging true vertical on the Rod and Frame test, has been considered to be related to the utilization of body cues by Witkin, et al. (1954). Benfari and Vitale (1965) have used one portion of the Rod and Frame test, analyzed in terms of direction of error from the vertical, to determine if Ss were “body-oriented.” If field-independence and body-orientation measures tap the same attribute, then they should be highly correlated. Body orientation was not significantly related to field independence when data from 46 adult males were analyzed using both procedures.

Differential communication of affect by head and body cues.

Differential communication of affect by head and body cues.

EFFECTS OF SPECIFIC TRAINING ON FRAME DEPENDENCE.

Forty-four normal adults were screened on the rod and frame test and two groups, each consisting of seven persons who made relatively large errors, were given training specifically designed to improve their performances. The first group received instructions on how to resist the influence of the tilted frame and how to use bodily cues. The second group received the same training, plus feedback and discussion of each judgment. The first group did not improve. The second did, but the improvement was transient and disappeared upon later retesting under standard conditions. Test-retest correlations within both groups were high.

Factors in learning speechreading.

The term speechreading denotes the skill to understand the discourse of a fellow man by watching the movements of his lips, jaws, teeth, and tongue, and his gestures and facial expressions. It implies that when none of the words are heard the 30% of the speech sounds which are visible, plus the situational, facial, and bodily cues, enable the brain to fill in the invisible parts of speech to render the discourse intelligible. To listen with the eyes has become a mainstay in the education of the deaf, and the lipreading teacher has attained distinctive professional eminence. However, lipreading instruction meets with variable success. The skill is mastered readily by some deaf persons, while others learn it to a limited degree or not at all. From the observation of Utley 1 and Keaster, 2 there is no high correlation between the lipreading ability and the general intelligence. It may well