Nonverbal Communication Systems

Nonverbal communication is carried out through several systems, including kinesics, haptics, extra- and paralinguistics, oculesics, olfaction, gustics, and proxemics (Kreidlin, 2002; Labunskaya, 1999).

1. Kinesics

Kinesics is the largest system, encompassing various movements—postures, gait, gestures, and facial expressions.

• Posture is the position of the human body. Postures can be classified based on the following criteria: stages of communication (entry and exit postures); types of relationships (sympathy–antipathy; submission–dominance; involvement–detachment); psychophysiological states (tense–relaxed, active–passive postures); synchrony between partners (synchronous–asynchronous postures); orientation toward the partner (face-to-face, back-to-back); and harmony with other nonverbal behaviors (harmonious–disharmonious).
• Gait refers to leg movements that allow a person to move through space. It is related to posture, as walking changes the body’s position. Gait is measured by rhythm, speed, stride length, and foot pressure.
• Gestures are movements of the hands or wrists. Gestures are distinguished by whether one or both hands are involved, whether they are crossed or symmetrical, whether they move away from or toward the body, and whether they have a single or multiple meanings.
• Facial expressions involve movements of facial muscles and skin characteristics. There are three types of facial signals: stable (skin color, face shape and structure); relatively stable (skin appearance, wrinkle placement, muscle tone—features that change over a lifetime); and unstable (short-term changes in facial muscle movements).

Overall, P. Ekman and W. Friesen identified five types of movements (Kreidlin, 2001):

• Emblems – movements that replace words or phrases (e.g., a pointing gesture).
• Illustrators – movements that accompany verbal messages (e.g., showing the size of a caught fish while telling a fishing story).
• Expressive signs – movements used to express emotions (e.g., a joyful facial expression).
• Regulators – movements that regulate the flow of communication (e.g., turning away from a conversation partner to signal the end of communication).
• Adaptors – residual forms of once-purposeful actions that accompany the satisfaction of needs, serving as self-protection or self-support (e.g., rubbing the nose, smacking lips).

2. Haptics

Haptics refers to the communicator’s touches to themselves or the recipient. Some psychologists include this system as part of kinesics.

3. Paralinguistics

Paralinguistics are the parameters of a person’s voice, including volume and its changes, speech speed and rhythm, timbre, resonance, tension, voice melody (hoarseness, nasality, grating, etc.), and clarity of articulation.

4. Extralinguistics

Extralinguistics are non-speech elements in speech: moans, laughter, crying, sighs, pauses, and filler words (“um,” “oh,” “well”).

5. Oculesics

Oculesics is visual behavior during communication. Eye contact parameters include direction, line and object of gaze, eye movement and size, pupil size, and duration of visual contact.

6. Olfaction

Olfaction is the language of smells. This system includes both natural body odors and artificial scents, such as perfumes and incense.

7. Gustics

Gustics is the language of food and drinks offered to others, demonstrating one’s attitude toward them or the situation as a whole.

8. Proxemics

Proxemics is the spatial and temporal organization of communication. This system includes distance, orientation and angle of communication, placement of personal items, territoriality, and the temporal organization of situations.

• Distance is the space between communication partners. There are various classifications of distances. For example, E. Hall identifies four distances:
  • Intimate distance (0 to 18 inches) is used for communication between the closest people.
  • Personal distance (18 to 47 inches) is used for everyday communication with acquaintances.
  • Social distance (4 to 13 feet) is preferred for communication with strangers and in formal settings.
  • Public distance (13 to 24 feet) is used when speaking to large audiences.
• Personal and group spaces are also distinguished.
  • Personal space is the area around a person, bounded by an imaginary line that others should not cross. If someone crosses this line, the person may feel negative emotions. Personal space is not circular but more oval—wider in front and behind, narrower at the sides.
  • Group space is the area “admitted” only to group members. If possible, a group will arrange itself so that the space between its members is less than the distance to outsiders. Typically, the distance between groups is at least 40–50 inches. Group space is especially noticeable during breaks at public events, when participants gather in interest groups.
• Orientation and angle of communication refer to how partners are positioned relative to each other. This is influenced by participant arrangement and furniture placement, such as table shape and chair height. Common spatial arrangements include:
  • Classroom (rows): Participants’ attention is focused entirely on the communicator, creating traditional zones of activity and opposition (front rows, back rows, etc.).
  • “Horseshoe”: Participants sit in an incomplete circle with an open side for visual materials. The communicator closes the “horseshoe” from one side, reducing opposition between recipients and communicator.
  • Circle (conference table): The circle eliminates most differences between participants. It should be tight, with no gaps, to encourage engagement.
  • Cluster (working in subgroups): Participants are divided into subgroups at separate tables, alternating group work with presentations. The closer the subgroups are to each other, the more they influence one another; the farther apart, the stronger the internal group processes.
• Placement of personal items: This aspect of proxemics has only recently attracted researchers’ attention. It turns out people form impressions of others based on how they arrange their personal belongings. For example, the arrangement of items in an apartment creates similar impressions among different people about the owner, and these impressions are fairly accurate, as people rely on appropriate cues (Gosling et al., 2002).
• Territoriality: Territories can be classified by size, ownership, type of interaction, etc. There are two main psychological aspects of territory. First, people assign different meanings to the spaces in their lives, such as viewing parts of a home as status indicators (prestigious or non-prestigious areas), or as places of connection to the supernatural (basement, attic), and so on. Second, people tend to defend territory they consider their own, even if it is only temporarily occupied, such as a parking spot. For example, drivers take longer to leave a parking space if another driver is clearly waiting for it (standing nearby, honking).
• Temporal characteristics of communication: People have certain expectations about the timing and duration of different communication situations. By comparing these expectations with actual communication time, they draw important conclusions.

In addition to the systems listed above, other indicators are sometimes included in nonverbal communication, such as a person’s clothing style, colors used in interior design, and so on.

Different nonverbal communication systems are interconnected and form a unified whole. Changes in one system’s parameters are accompanied by changes in another. For example, in crowded public transport, passengers are forced to reduce the distance between themselves (an indicator of increased intimacy), but at the same time, they reduce visual contact (an indicator of decreased intimacy). Thus, at the nonverbal level, the closeness of contact remains the same. This is known as the “equilibrium principle.” This principle has received some empirical support, though it is not always observed. For example, in anxiety-provoking situations, the weaker the eye contact between partners, the greater the distance between them (Albas & Albas, 1989).