Role of Non-Verbal Language

Unit 3: Social Perception
Role of Non-verbal Language in

Social Perception
4- Sujina Manandhar, 5-Suman Maharjan, 6-Aastha Lakhe, 7-Sharada Sunuwar
Central Department of Psychology, Tribhuvan University
PSY. 552 Social Psychology
Khem Raj Bhatta
17 July, 2020
TOPICS COVERED
Sujina Manandhar Sharada Sunuwar

Concept of nonverbal language Basic nonverbal channels of communication
Perception Categories of nonverbal communication
Suman Maharjan Aastha Lakhe

Recognizing Deception Functions of nonverbal communication
Detecting lies Importance of nonverbal communication
Concept of nonverbal language
● Nonverbal communication refers to facial

expressions, tone of voice, eye contact ,
body language, gestures, posture, and other
ways people can communicate without
using words.
● It can effectively communicate many human

feelings more accurately than verbal
methods of communication.
It can be expressed consciously or
unconsciously; intentionally or
unintentionally.
The study of nonverbal communication

started in 1872 with the publication of
"The Expression of the Emotions in Man
and Animals" by Charles Darwin. Darwin
began to study nonverbal
communication as he noticed the
interactions between animals and
realized they also communicated by
gestures and expressions.
PERCEPTION
PERCEPTION
Our sensory receptors are constantly collecting information from the
environment, the process of organizing, interpreting and consciously
experiencing the collected sensory information is called perception.
Perception includes bottom-up and top-down processing.
Bottom-up processing refers to the fact that perceptions are built from
sensory inputs.
Top-down processing on the other hand states, how we interpret sensations

is influenced by our existing/available knowledge, our experiences and our
thought.
Basic nonverbal
channels of
communication
● Facial expression cues
● Eye contact
● Gestures, Postures, Body movement
● Touch
“The face is a picture of the
mind with the eyes as it’s
interpreter”
- Roman Emperor Cicero.

1. Facial Expressions-
Cues to others’ emotions:
From an early age, 5 different basic emotions

are clearly represented:
● Fear
● Anger
● Happiness
● Sadness
● Disgust
The basic facial expressions are universal, but they vary in degrees of
recognition.
Happiness is the most accurately recognized emotion whereas fear is the least
accurately recognized one because it is most commonly misunderstood as
surprise.
Sadness and disgust are moderately recognized.
Surprise has mixed evidence in being a basic emotion.
Emotions come in combinations and vary greatly in strength. There are an

immense number of variations to it.
●
Cultural Difference
People more easily and precisely

recognize expressions of people of their
own country and cultures as compared to
those of other cultures.
A study done in Washington by Rachael E. Jack

and team:
Among 15 Chinese and 15 Caucasian participants, Chinese
participants relied on the eyes more to represent facial
expressions, while Western Caucasians relied on the
eyebrows and mouth.
The cultural distinctions could lead to missed

cues or misinterpreted signals about emotions
during cross-cultural communications.
2. Eye Contact
● We learn a lot about others feelings

through their eyes.
● For example, when people maintain

eye contact during a conversation
we perceive that as a sign of liking or
friendliness.
● On the other hand when people tend

to avoid eye contact we perceive
that they are unfriendly, they don’t
like us or that they’re shy.
3. Body Language- Gestures,
Postures and Movements
● Our current emotions or moods are

often reflected in the positions,
postures and movements of our body.
● Together these nonverbal behaviors are

termed body language.
● Body language can provide useful

information about others just like facial
expression and eyes. Body language
often reveals others’ emotional states.
Gestures
Body movements that carry specific

meanings in a given culture.
One should use gestures carefully while

dealing with people from different
cultures.
Example: The given gesture is known as

the OK sign in the USA. But, this same
gesture means “money” in Japan; “zero”
in France; and in many other countries
like Brazil, it is a very offensive gesture.
Postures
Oxford Learner’s Dictionary

defines posture as “the position
in which you hold your body
when standing or sitting”.
Postures can tell a lot about

internal moods and emotions.
Body Movement
Large number of movements such as

touching, rubbing, scratching are
considered a sign of high level of
emotional arousal or nervousness.
In various settings, “Fidgeting” is

considered a sign of lying.
Fidgeting= According to Oxford

Dictionary, fidgeting means ”Make small
movements, especially of the hands and
feet, through nervousness or
impatience”.
4. Touch
● Touch depends on
Who does the touching (friend or stranger, male or
female);
The nature of the physical contact (brief or
prolonged, gentle or rough, area of the body touched);
and the context in which the touching takes place
(business or social setting, doctor’s office).
● Touch can suggest friendliness,
affection, sexual interest, dominance,
caring, or aggression.
● When touching is considered
appropriate, it often elicits positive
reactions in the person being
touched
Paralanguage :
How we speak
Paralanguage is a type of
nonverbal communication
involving vocal effects other
than speech.
It could be :
● Tone
● Pitch
● Volume
● Quality
● Specific sounds
Categories of nonverbal
communication
1. Aesthetic : It involves creative expression such
as dance, music, art, theater,etc.
2. Physical : It involves bodily movements during

social interaction such as smile, frown, wink,
etc
3. Signs : It includes any signals that are used or

displayed to communicate the message or
that have a special meaning.
4. Symbols : Symbols are any materials objects

that promote social status such as jewellery,
cars, clothing, etc
Reinforcement
“the amount of redundancy nonverbal
communication adds to the verbal message”
Substitution
“using a nonverbal action or cue instead of
speaking”
Functions of nonverbal
Contradiction communication
“the use of a nonverbal message to negate the
verbal message”.
Accentuation
“the use of nonverbal cues to intensify the
verbal message”
Regulation
“the turn taking cues of conversational order”
“The most important
thing in communication is
hearing what isn’t said.”
– Peter F. Drucker
Importance of nonverbal communication
● The non verbal communication cues such as the way a person looks,listen, react
and move shows that the person we are communicating with whether
concentrating or not.
● When we see the nonverbal signs match up with words then they increase trust,
clarity and rapport, and when they don’t, they can generate mistrust, tension and
miscommunication.
● In cross cultural context, nonverbal behavior or cues provide the context for
interpreting and understanding how the verbal message should be understood.
● In professional settings, a manager communicating positive nonverbal cues when

speaking with employees can increase employees self-confidence, self-esteem, as
well as their job performance.
Recognizing Most people tell at least one lie
everyday
Deception
Some form of deception is used
in almost 20 percent of people’s
social interaction.
We tend to perceive others as

truthful and so we don’t search
for clues of deception. (Ekman,
2001)
A study by Ekman and O’ sullivan (1991)
“Are trained experts better at detecting lies and

deception in everyday life?”
Included people like judges, psychiatrists, police,

polygraphers, secret service agents and college
students.
Conclusion: Only secret service

agents proved to be significantly
above chance in accurately
detecting deception.
Moods Influence our
Ability to Recognize
Deception
Our own moods can affect our ability
to detect lies.
People in happy mood are less likely to

recognize deception than people in sad
mood.
Recognising cues is very
hard!
There are Lot of factors in non-verbal cues
Also, The non verbal cues on which we tend

to focus are not very informative on
Deception
How To Detect Lies?
Few non verbal cues are moderately accurate in detecting
deception.
● Microexpressions ● Exaggerated Facial expressions

Facial expressions lasting only one tenth Smiling more often than necessary or
of a second. showing too much interest in what
someone is saying reflects attempts to
● Interchannel Discrepancies engage in deception.
People who are lying often find it difficult
to control all channels of communication. ● Linguistic Styles
Example: discrepancies between Some features like the following are
person’s facial expressions and body present while deceiving
language. - Increased pitch of voice
- Increased time delay in responding
- Slower description of events
- Trying to change the story from one to
another in the same conversation.
Summary
Communicating to one another without using spoken or
written language
Eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, and body postures.
Non verbal communication in some purposes is more

powerful and consequential than verbal language
Has huge impact on social perception

Resources
Micro expressions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGhOuA3rr1k
Power of Nonverbal Communications

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRl0dvPRkSI
Dr Chris Shea - The Secrets of NonVerbal Communication:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pozqDz7B-sw
References
● Barón, R. A., Branscombe, N. R., & Kapur, P. (2018). Social psychology (14th ed.). India: Pearson India
Education Services
● Darwin, Charles (1972). The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. AMS Pres.
● https://pixabay.com/images/search/ok%20sign/
● https://pixabay.com/images/search/head%20scratching/
● https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Fpin%2F56
6257353118888596%2F&psig=AOvVaw3Ghf6Y_UhYtc-K9WIQo4ek&ust=159465483070
0000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCPjPx6WGyOoCFQAAAAAdAAAAA
BAD
● https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/posture_1#:~:text=posture-,noun,a%20co
mfortable%2Frelaxed%20posture
● https://pixabay.com/images/search/facial%20expressions%20babies/
● https://www.google.com/search?q=5+universal+facial+expressions+in+babies&tbm=isch&hl=en&chips=q
:5+universal+facial+expressions+in+babies,online_chips:toddler&hl=en&ved=2ahUKEwijpZrDjMjqAhUF6jg
GHZjpC-0Q4lYoBXoECAEQGg&biw=1349&bih=608
● https://www.ukessays.com/essays/psychology/nonverbal-communication-in-social-psychology-psych
ology-essay.php
● https://slidesgo.com/theme/social-emotional-learning
THANK YOU!
Do you have any questions?
Role of Non-verbal Language

in Social Perception
4- Sujina Manandhar,
5-Suman Maharjan,
6-Aastha Lakhe,
7-Sharada Sunuwar

Role of Non-Verbal Language

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Unit 3: Social Perception

Role of Non-verbal Language in

Sujina Manandhar Sharada Sunuwar

Suman Maharjan Aastha Lakhe

● Nonverbal communication refers to facial

● It can effectively communicate many human

The study of nonverbal communication

Perception includes bottom-up and top-down processing.

Top-down processing on the other hand states, how we interpret sensations

● Gestures, Postures, Body movement

- Roman Emperor Cicero.

From an early age, 5 different basic emotions

Sadness and disgust are moderately recognized.

Surprise has mixed evidence in being a basic emotion.

Emotions come in combinations and vary greatly in strength. There are an

People more easily and precisely

A study done in Washington by Rachael E. Jack

The cultural distinctions could lead to missed

● We learn a lot about others feelings

● For example, when people maintain

● On the other hand when people tend

● Our current emotions or moods are

● Together these nonverbal behaviors are

● Body language can provide useful

Body movements that carry speciﬁc

One should use gestures carefully while

Example: The given gesture is known as

Oxford Learner’s Dictionary

Postures can tell a lot about

Large number of movements such as

In various settings, “Fidgeting” is

Fidgeting= According to Oxford

2. Physical : It involves bodily movements during

3. Signs : It includes any signals that are used or

4. Symbols : Symbols are any materials objects

● In professional settings, a manager communicating positive nonverbal cues when

We tend to perceive others as

“Are trained experts better at detecting lies and

Included people like judges, psychiatrists, police,

Conclusion: Only secret service

People in happy mood are less likely to

Also, The non verbal cues on which we tend

● Microexpressions ● Exaggerated Facial expressions

Eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, and body postures.

Non verbal communication in some purposes is more

Has huge impact on social perception

Power of Nonverbal Communications

Dr Chris Shea - The Secrets of NonVerbal Communication:

Do you have any questions?

Role of Non-verbal Language

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