You will be put into groups.
Then, you will leave to explore campus and watch nonverbal behavior.
Quietly observe people around campus. I suggest you visit the library, the student center, the web cafe, the bookstore, and around the sidewalks. While in the library, be absolutely silent.
Notice nonverbal behaviors such as dress, eye contact between customers and staff, how long people sit at tables, and whether they sit face to face, side by side, or side by side with empty chairs between them. Can you identify rules governing nonverbal behavior?
There are nine basic types of nonverbal communication. Find examples for as many as you can. Describe the examples.
A. Kinesics refers to all of our body positions, body movements, and facial expressions.
B. Haptics is the technical term we use to refer to our touching behaviors.
C. Physical appearance messages are frequently the first way we form perceptions of others when we meet them.
D. Artifacts are personal objects that we use to indicate to others important information about our self.
E. Environmental factors are aspects of the context in which we communicate that influence how we act and feel.
F. Proxemics is the technical term for space and how we use it.
G. How we use and value time is the study of chronemics.
H. Messages that we indicate with our voice, beyond the words we use, are called paralanguage.
I. Silence is the final type of nonverbal message.
Can you identify rules governing nonverbal behavior? Do you notice cultural difference in nonverbal communication?