Non-Verbal Communication Studies

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Argyle, Alkema and Gilmour 1971

Aim - To see if tone of voice has an effect when interpreting verbal messages

Method - Different groups of participants were played either hostile or friendly messages in hostile or friendly tones of voice

Results - It was found tone had 5x as much effect as the message itself

Conclusion - Tone of voice is very important in interpretation of verbal messages

Evaluation - This study had an artificial set-up as the participants were asked to concentrate on the paralinguistics

- Arguably as the tone was different to the message the participants may've been deceived

Argyle 1968

Aim - To see how interrupting eye contact disrupts a conversation

Method - Participants were asked to have conversations with other participants, some of which wore dark glasses

Results - In conversations where one of the participants wore dark glasses the flow was disrupted much more than when glasses weren't worn

Conclusion - Eye contact is important in ensuring the smooth flow of conversation

Evaluation - This study lacks ecological validity as in real life you don't have to wear dark glasses when in conversation

- Similarly, the idea of new people getting acquainted under such conditions is very artificial

Hess 1963

Aim - To see the effect of pupil dilation on emotion

Method - Participants were shown a picture of a woman with her pupils dilated and then were shown a nearly identical picture of the same woman without dilated pupils

Results - Participants said they found the picture with dilated pupils more attractive but couldn't identify why

Conclusion - Pupil dilation has an unconscious but powerful effect on emotion

Evaluation - This study lacked ecological validity for in real life you aren't asked to compare two nearly identical pictures

- This study gives evidence for why eye makeup is popular as it makes the eyes look darker and therefore more attractive

Sackeim 1978

Aim - To investigate the relationship between facial expressions and sides of the brain

Method - Pictures of people's faces showing different emotions were cut down the middle and mirrored. Participants were then asked which they preferred

Results - Participants said the left half face because it looked 'warmer'

Conclusion - The left side of the face appears to express more emotion than the right side

Evaluation - Other studies support this idea as does biological evidence

- Arguably the participants were deceived as the pictures were artificial as in weren't real pictures

- The whole experiment was arguably artificial as it involved the use of still pictures so wasn't natural

McGinley 1975

Aim - To see if postural echo has an effect on people's impression of us

Method - Individuals were approached by confederates for conversation. In half of the conversations confederates postural echoed the participants

Results - When asked after confederates who used postural echo were liked more as when it wasn't used the conversation felt more awkward

Conclusion - Postural echo gives an unconscious message of friendliness

Evaluation - As confederates were used, the study was arguably unethical as the participants were deceived

- It lacked ecological validity as in real life people don't come up randomly and start conversations

- The participants didn't know they were in an experiment making it unethical

Lynn and Mynier 1993

Aim - To see the effect of gestures used by waiters and waitresses in a restaurant

Method - While taking orders, waiters were ordered to stand upright or squat down (making eye contact more possible)

Results - When waiters squatted the tips collected were greater than when they stood upright

Conclusion - The gesture of squatting down near customers has a positive effect on tipping behaviour

Evaluation - Other factors such as the size of the bill may've accounted for the tip size rather than gestures

- It does provide how knowledge of gestures can be applied to the real world

Fisher, Rytting and Heslin 1976

Aim - To see the effect of touch on people's attitudes

Method - When female library students were handed books by a librarian, half of the students had their hand subtly touched by the librarian (who was a confederate)

Results - When asked later, students who had been touched had a more positive impression of the librarian although they didn't realise they had been touched

Conclusion - Touch can have an unconscious and positive effect on attitudes

Evaluation - All participants were female so perhaps results can't be generalised to males

- The ethics of the study were questionable as the students weren't aware they were part of an experiment until after

Argyle and Dean 1965

Aim - To see if sex differences affect personal space

Method - Participants were asked to sit and have conversations with confederates, some of whom were the same sex and some who were the opposite sex. The confederate sat at different distances and continually looked into the participant's eyes

Results - Participants tended to break eye contact with the confederate of the opposite sex at a greater distance than when the confederate was the same sex. Argyle and Dean believed this to be the point where personal space was being invaded

Conclusion - We prefer a greater amount of personal space between ourselves and the opposite sex during normal conversation

Evaluation - Confederates were used

- Artifical setting

- Outside factors eg. personality

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