What Does that Smile Mean? The Meaning of Nonverbal Behaviors in Social Interaction
Author(s)
Rashotte, Lisa Slattery
Abstract
I report results from two studies investigating the social meanings of nonverbal behaviors. Both adapt theory and empirical methods from the tradition of affect control theory. The first study measures affective meanings of dozens of nonverbal behaviors independent of any situational context. In the second study I systematically pair the nonverbal behaviors with other behaviors to see how they combine in respondents’ perceptions to create new affective meanings. The main findings of these two are studies are (1) that single nonverbal elements have distinct meanings and create distinct impressions among observers; (2) that nonverbal behaviors combine as predicted with other behaviors to create modified impressions of events; and (3) that the role played by nonverbal behaviors is as important as the role of other behaviors in forming overall affective responses.
