SUMMARY CHAPTER 7

NONVERBAL CODES AND CULTURAL SPACE

Nonverbal elements of cultural communication are highly dynamic and play an important role in
understanding intercultural communication. Reading non- verbal communication within various
cultural spaces can be a key to survival, depending upon the situation. The first part of this chapter
focuses on understanding nonverbal aspects of intercriltural communication. We can examine
nonverbal communication in terms of the personal-contextual and the static-dynamic dia- lectics.
Although nonverbal communication can be highly dynamic, personal space, gestures, and facial
expressions are fairly static patterns of specific non-verbal communication codes. These patterns are
the focus of the second part of this chapter. Finally, we investigate the concept of cultural space in
which cuitural identity is shaped and negotiated by the cultural spaces (home, ncighborhood, and
on) that people

DEFINING NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION: THINKING DIALECTICALLY In this chapter, we discuss two

forms of communication beyond speech. The first includes facial expression, personal space, eye
contact, use of time, and conver sational silence. (What is not said is often as important as what is
spoken.) The second includes the cultural spaces that we occupy and negotiate. Cultural paces are
the social and cultural contexts in which we live (not necessarily the physical hoes and neigh
borhoods, but the cultural meanings created in these places), In thinkinge dialectically, we need to
consider the relationship between the nonverbal behavior and the culturai spaces in which the
behavior occurs, and between the nonverbal behavior and the verbal message. Although there ar
whereas others idiosyncratic, that is, peculiar to individuals patterns to nonverbal behaviors, they
are not always culturally appropriate in all culvral spaces. Remember, too, that some nonverbal
behaviors are cultural, whereas others are idiosyncractic, that is, peculiar to individuals.

Comparing Verbal and Nonverbal Communication Kecogsizing Nonverbal Bebavior Both verbal and
nunverbal communication are symbols, communicate meaning, and are patterned- that is, are
governed However, some differences between nonverbal and verbal communication codes have
important implications for inter cultural interaction.

Learning Nonverbal Rebavior Whereas we learn rules and meanings for lan- guage behavior
grammar and language arts lessons, we learu nonverbal mean- ings and behaviors by more implicit
socialization. No one explains, "When you with someone you like, lean forward, smile, and touch the
person that is because it will communicate that really about him." In many contexts in the United
States, such behaviors communicate immediacy and pos itive meanings (Burgoon & LePoire, 1999)

Coordinating Nonverbal and Verbal Behaviors Nonverbal behaviors can reinforcement, substitute
for, contradict verbal behaviors. For example, when we shake our heads and say "no," we are
reinforcing verbal behavior. When we point in stead of saying "over theic," we are substituting,
nonverbal behavior for verbal communication. If we tell a friend, "I cant wait to see you," and then
den't show up at the friend's house, our nonverbal behavior is contradicting the verbal mesage.
Bccause nonverbal communication operates at a less conscious level, we tend to think that people
have less control over their nonverbal behavior. There, we often think of nonverbal behaviors as
conveying the "real" messages. What Nonverbal Behavior Communicates Although the language is
an effective and efficient means of communicating explicit information, nouverbal communication
conveys relationd messages-how we really feel about other people. Nonverbal behavior also
communicates status and power. For example, a supervisor may be able to touch subordinates, but
it is usually unacceptable for subordinates to a touch supervisor. Broad, expansive gestures are
associated with high status; conversely, holding the body in a tight, closed position communicates
low status.

THE UNIVERSALITY OF NONVERBAL BEHAVIOR Most traditional research in intercultural

communication focuses on identifying cross-cultural differences in nonverbal behavior. How do
culture, ethnicity, and gender influence nonverbal communication patterns? How universal is most
nonverbal communication? Research traditionally has sought to answer these questions.

Recent Research Findings Research investigating the universality of nonverbal communication has
focused on three areas: (1) the relationship of human behavior to that of primates (par- ticularly
chimpanzees), (2) nonverbal communication of sensory-deprived children who are blind or deaf, and
(3) on facial expressions.

Nonverbal Codes

proxemics is the study of how people use personal space, or the "bubble around us that marks the
territory be tween ourselves and others. O. M. Watson (1970),

Eye Contact

Eye contact often is included in proxemics because it regulates interpersonal distance. Direct eye
contact shoriens the distance between two people, whereas less eye contact increases the distance.
Eye contact communi cates meanings about respect and status and oftern regulates turn-taking.

Facial Expressions

As noted earlier in this chapter, there have been many in- vestigations of the universality of facial
expressions. Psychologists Paul Ekman nd Wallace Friesen (1987) conducted extensive and
systematic research in non- verbal communication.

Chronemics

Chronemics concerns concepts of and the rules that govern its use. There are many cultural
variations regarding how people understand and use time. Edward Hall (1976) distinguished
between monochronic and poly chronic time orientation. People monochronic concept of time re-
gard it as a commodity: Time can be gained, lost, spent, wasted, or saved. In this orientation, time is
linear, with one event happening at a time.

In contrast, in polychronic orientation, time is more holistic, and perhaps more circural several
events can happen at once. Many international busines negotiations and technical assistance
projects falter and even fail because of dit- ferences in time orientation.

Silence Cultural groups may vary in the degree of emphasis placed on silence, which can be as
meaningful as language. According to scholar William B. Gudykunst's (1983) certainty reduction
theory, the main reason for communicating verbally in ini- tial interactions is to reduce uncertainty.
U.S. American contexts, people em ploy active uncertainty reduction surategies, such as asked
questions. However, in many other cultural contexts, people reduce uncertainty using more passive
strategies for example, remaining silent, observing, or perhaps asking a third about someone's
behavior.
Cultural Variation or Stereotype? As one of the reasons for the comparing of Japanese and Western
attitudes toward silence, the stereotype us about comparing Japanese and Western attitudes
toward silence. Based on research and extensive experience in Japan, he identifies some of the sub
cultural p people. For example, psychologist Helmut Morsbach (1988) cautions tleties of atterns of
silence.

Semiotics and Nonverbal Communication In Chapter 6, we introduce semiotics and the meanings of
signs and symbols of communication and their meanings. Semiotics is a useful tool for examination
of clothing, tattoos, and other cultural artifacts. Semioticians have been attached to the context in
which the signifsiers (words and symbols) are placed in order to understand which mean- ings are
being communicated.

DEFINING CULTURAL SPACE

Each region ways life that help us are. Our deci ell you where we come from was meani to
communicate something out who we think we are. So, although we can identiry precisely the
borders that mark out these spaces and make them real, or material, the spaces also are cultural in
the imagine them to be

Cultural Identity and Cultural Space

Home Cultural spaces iniluence how we think atout ourselves and others. One of the earliest cultural
spaces we experience is our home. As noted previousty non erbal communication often involves
issues of status. The home is no excep- tion.

Neigbborhood One significant type of cultural space that emerged in US. citi s in the latter 19th and
early 20th centuries was the ethnic or racial neighborhood (See Figure 7-2.) By law and custom, and
under different political pressures, some cities develuped segregated neighborhoods. Malcolm X
(Malcolm X & Haley, 1964)

Regionalism Ongoing regional and religious confict, as well as rationalism and ethnic revival, point to
the continuing struggle over who gets to define whom. Such conflicts are not new, though. In fact,
some culural spaces fnuch as Jerusalem) have been sites of struggie for many centuries.

Changing Cultural Space

chapter 8 discusses in greater detail the intercultural experiences of those who traverse culturai
spaces and attempts to negotiate chhange. In this chapter, we want to focus on some of the driving
needs of those who change cultural spaces. Traveling is frequently viewed as an unimportant leisure
activity, but it is more than that. In terms of intercultural communication, traveling changes cultural
spaces in ways that of ten transform the traveler. Changing cultural spaces means changing people
you are and how you interact with others.

Migration People also change cultural spaces when they relocate. Moving, of course, ivolves a
different kind of change in cultural spaces than traveling. In traveling, the change is fleeting,
temporary, and usually desirable; it is something that travelers seek out. However, people who
migrate do not always seek out this change.

Postmodern Cultural Spaces Space has become increasingly popular in the negotiations of cultural
and social identities, and so the culture is more generaliy. As Leah Vande Berg (1999) explains, the
notion that identity and knowledge are pro- toundly spatial (as well as temporal), and that this
condition structures meaning ful embodiment and experience "(p 249). Postmodern cultural spaces
are attributed by cultural practices-langiages spoken, identities en- acted, riruals performed-and
they often change as new people move in and out of these spaces. Inagine being in a small
restaurant when a large group of people arrives, all of whom are speaking another language. How
has this space changed? Whose space is it? As different people move in and out of this space, how
does the cultural character change?