Nonverbal Communication: The Chameleon Effect

To me interpersonal communication describes the exchange of verbal and nonverbal messages between two different people. Joseph DeVito states that “interpersonal communication is inevitable, irreversible, and unrepeatable” due to these things effective communication is a necessary skill for us to function in our day to day lives (p. 20). Therefore, I have created a theory for interpersonal communication that goes as follows; To experience effective communication you must understand: your culture, the other person’s culture, and how to listen effectively. By knowing these three things you can consistently avoid misunderstandings and promote understanding in your interpersonal and intercultural relationships.

Non-verbal communication consists mainly of the things people do with their body language. There are times where words are expressed and non-verbal communication could help emphasize the message. A few examples of nonverbal communication are hand gestures eye contact, facial expressions as well as tone and volume. I was given this assignment to observe a situation and take note of the nonverbal communication that occurred. I also had to observe whether the non-verbals were able to execute the message and if the behavior was acceptable.

Body language (the process of communicating nonverbally through conscious or unconscious gestures and movements). People all of the world use body language or gestures to communicate nonverbally. I personally think that nonverbal communication and body language are one of the biggest barriers in communication especially between one culture to other. Body gestures can be misinterpreted as rude or disrespectful depending on the country, region, or even the city you’re from.

Nonverbal communication also reflects and shapes the relationships that are built with other individuals. As individuals make connections with one another, they use nonverbal communication. These include handshakes, smiles, and waves. Each of these send a message to another individual regarding a relationship. A handshake could represent a relationship between an employer and an employee. A smile can represent a wanted relationship between someone that an individual is attracted to. When waving to an individual it can be a way to shape a friendship.

Tanya Chartrand and John Bargh are two notable researchers whom also have extensively contributed to the topic of the chameleon effect, and eloquently explain its mechanism. In their studies, they primarily focus on the motor mimicry that typically accompanies tonal mimicry. However, the subconscious intent and the resulting effects are the same. In their study “The Chameleon Effect: The Perception-Behavior Link and Social Interaction”, they explain, “the perception of the similar behavior on the part of the other creates shared feelings of empathy and rapport”. As a result, they continue, the chameleon effect “exists…as a kind of “social glue” that produces empathetic understanding and even greater liking between people, without their having to intend or try to have this happen”. The chameleon effect communicates empathy and understanding through its vocal mimicry. In doing so, the chameleon effect subconsciously bonds individuals together in their

Since we often times face many people in a day, social psychology is an important part of understanding our actions. By analyzing numerous people, their community, and their social groups, it is possible to gain knowledge on the group dynamic, something that plays an important role in every day life and community. If the importance of social interaction in life is realized, it is possible to start to understand the actions of other people, as

People are social beings. From the moment we are born, we are raised to socialize with an incredible amount of people. These people influence our day-to-day lives just as much as we affect the lives of others. Social psychology searches to understand these interactions. What complicates these interactions is that they do not even need to be real, as long as they are perceived interactions. The idea is that people are a combination of their own personality plus the people they interact with on a regular basis.

The Chameleon effect refers to nonconscious mimicry of the posture, mannerisms, facial expressions, and other behaviors of one’s interaction partners, such that one’s behavior passively and unintentionally changes to match that of others in one’s current social environment (Chartrand & Bargh, 1999). Chartrand and Bargh studied the idea that human’s behavior affects one another. Chartrand and Bargh conducted 3 different experiments. The first experiment if mimic exist on a nonconscious level with interacting subjects. Here the control subjects were instructed to not make eye contact with the

Our textbook describes the communicative value of nonverbal communications as communication by nonlinguistic means, whether visually, physically, or vocally: another meaning involves messages expressed without words. Nonverbal communication involves messages expressed without words. Nonverbal resembles verbal communication in some ways and is quite different from it in others

People are social animals, who we are and what we do is strongly influenced by our experiences of other people along the way and we are affected by the social situations that we find ourselves in. Attribution plays a central role in virtually every social encounter that people have with others. People witness behaviour in others and will seek to understand why events happen or why people behave in various situations. The context of such interactions can change the entire outcome of how a person will perceive other people or their behaviour.

Nonverbal communication is very import it shows how you feel toward someone or something and helps the person you’re talking to understand what you’re talking about better. Non-verbal communication can also tell someone if you’re tired of the conversation your having or if your uncomfortable talking about something. When talking to my partner I had to concentrate on not getting distracted but it happened anyways and it was obvious to her.

Communication is a vital form of survival for most breathing life forms, including the human population. Communication is defined as a form of symbolic expressions to create meaning. There are two types of communication: verbal and nonverbal. Verbal communication is directing messages from one party to another through sound. Nonverbal communication has more depth to it; there is more meaning in its nonverbal gestures such as body language. Albert Mehrabin is a UCLA Professor who developed a rule stating messages sent from one person to another are mostly received through nonverbal forms ("Non Verbal Communication", 2013). Interpersonal relationship relies heavily on nonverbal cues because it is an important factor that builds

Communication is a common necessity among people. Communication is needed in order to interact with other people in almost everything within day to day life. Communication can be viewed in two subdivisions, verbal communication and nonverbal communication. Verbal communication is based on using words and sounds to communicate with another person. Oppositely we have nonverbal communication, which is communication through sending and receiving wordless clues. Examples of nonverbal communication can include things like gestures, facial expressions, hugging, and shaking of hands. This literature review will further examine the history of nonverbal communication, the abilities of its use, how much of communication is nonverbal, why people use

Most people would at first define the word “communication” as the act of speaking, however, in actuality, communication involves the interactions of multiple people with the act of speaking and listening. A business consultant and eloquent write Peter Drucker once said that “the most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said” and this is nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication is the use of other aspects instead of words to communicate. Four significant types of nonverbal communication are kinesics, artifacts, proxemics and silence.

The key aspect for nonverbal is communication by expressing through nonlinguistic means, there are various types of nonverbal communication in which I will explain what is proxemics, kinesics, and paralanguage.