An early landmark in the scientific study of nonverbal communication was the naturalist Charles Darwins The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872). This influential work was the first to claim that humans, apes and monkeys express certain emotions by similar facial expressions inherited from a common ancestor. Darwins work inspired research which led to the science of ethology: the study of animal behaviour.
In 1969, British zoologist Desmond Morris created a popular publishing sensation by giving an ethological interpretation of human actions in his best seller The Naked Ape . In Manwatching and later books and television programmes, Morris again showed how much we owe nonverbal communication to our animal nature.
KINESICS AND PROXEMICS
Kinesics and proxemics form the basis of the modern study of nonverbal communication.
KINESICS
Kinesics is the study of communication by the bodily movements used when people talk to one another.
PIONEERS IN KINESIC STUDIES
Ray L. Birdwhistell , an American anthropologist, pioneered kinesics. He analysed peoples actions by using slow-motion replays of films showing conversations. He published his findings in books including Introduction to Kinesics (1952).
Albert E. Scheflen , an American psychiatrist, also helped pioneer kinesics. He argued that human activity consists of small, regular actions grouped into larger ones. He found that courtship followed a predictable sequence of actions. He also noticed that people assume different postures when including or excluding others in a group, and that individuals postures changed to mirror those of people they agreed with.
Gerhard Nielsen of the University of Copenhagen found that a young American male and his partner followed a 24-stage sequence of actions from his first approach to sexual intercourse.
Edward H. Hess showed that seeing an attractive person or object makes the pupils of the eyes expand.
Paul Ekman , an American researcher, with colleagues Friesen and Wallblatt in 1980, coined several terms for use in kinesics research. These terms are emblem (a symbolic hand movement with a verbal meaning known to a particular group; for example, the thumbs up, see p. 99), illustrator (a hand movement emphasizing speech rhythm; for example, jabbing, see p. 37), and manipulator (a self-reassuring hand movement or one performing an instrumental task; for example, straightening a tie, see pp. 75 and 162).
PROXEMICS
Proxemics is the study of how people use the space around them to convey information nonverbally.
PIONEERS IN PROXEMIC STUDIES
Edward T. Hall , an American anthropologist, invented the word proxemics in the early 1960s. He discovered that the amount of personal space people feel they need depends upon their social situation.
Robert Sommer , an American psychologist, used the term personal space in 1969. It means the comfortable separation zone that people like to keep around them. He listed the uneasy reactions of hospital patients when he intruded upon their personal space.
CULTURE AND GENDER
The majority of the body language described in Collins Gem Body Language is from the Western and Islamic worlds. Research on body language from other parts of the world is less readily available. Even so, a number of African, Asian and Latin American examples have been included.
GENDER- AND CULTURALLY-SPECIFIC BODY LANGUAGE
Often the reader will notice that certain gestures tend to be performed by (or used to comment about) a specific sex or cultural group. The intention is not to be sexist or ethnically biased but, rather, to reflect gestures that are used by real people in the real world.
VARIATIONS AND INTERPRETATION
The repertoire of gestures in this book, though extensive, is not exhaustive, so variations of certain signals or gestures familiar to some readers may not have been included. The same may be said for the interpretations given. The meanings attributed to certain actions can vary from culture to culture and from region to region.
Expressions and gestures
Here, basic facial expressions and hand actions and their meanings are examined. There follows a checklist of most body parts, large and small, expressing body language. The chapter ends by showing that many of the actions we perform are done automatically, so that we are unaware of exactly what we do.
UNIVERSAL FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
There are at least six facial expressions found throughout the world, which would suggest that they are inborn rather than learned. They are happiness, sadness, surprise, fear, anger and disgust.
Each expression requires a combination and an amazingly subtle rearrangement of features to send a unique and immediately recognizable signal. The three independently mobile parts of the face, involved are: the forehead and eyebrows; the eyes, eyelids and upper part or root of the nose; and the lower face, comprising the rest of the nose, the cheeks, mouth and chin.