Non-verbal Cues in person perception

The salient movements of body parts such as smiles, scowls, nods, gestures, leg movements, etc., all constitute body language. The information converged by such cues and the person’s efforts to interpret these inputs are technically called non-verbal communication. Some non-verbal cues are discussed below:

1. Facial expression

    Human emotions and feelings are often reflected by the face. Researches have revealed that six basic emotions such as fear, anger, happiness, sadness, surprise and disgust are clearly observed from the face of the persons. These facial expressions are universal and therefore, recognized around the world. Our judgement of such facial expressions depends on the social context in which the facial expressions occur as well as on the various situational cues. Cultural and geographical differences exist in these expressions which is why researchers are less certain of contempt, surprise and interest.

2. Eye contact

    It is said that eyes are the windows to the soul. Eye contact indicates interest or lack of it. We often learn more about the feelings and emotions of others from their eyes. For example, a high level of gazing from another person is taken to be a sign of positive feelings, friendliness, or liking and if someone avoids direct eye contact in the social interaction, it is generally concluded that he is shy, or unfriendly or has a little liking.

Another form of eye contact is staring, where another person gazes upon us continuously and keeps gazing regardless of what we do. Staring is often regarded as a sign of hostility or anger.

3. Gesture, posture and bodily movements

    Many bodily gestures are widely accepted and convey specific information. Gestures for ‘stop’, ‘come’, ‘sit down’, ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘go away’ and ‘good bye’ are widely known. Gestures have meaning only when the perceivers and the participants understand the contexts, especially when they understand the culture.

Sweeping and expansive gesture may suggest force and vigor. Such gestures are called emblems, that is, bodily movements carrying specific meanings in a given culture. Like culture, gender may also impact the meaning of bodily movements. For example, clenched fist for men indicate desire to obtain power while for women indicates loss of power or reduced hope.

Bodily postures also reveal feelings and emotions of a person. For example, a person with a slumped posture, who moves very slowly, may be perceived as dull, lifeless and depressed. Researches conducted by Ekman (1964) indicated that the bodily posture provides very useful cues for the judgement of the extent to which a person is relaxed or tense, whereas head provides cues about the pleasantness and unpleasantness of the feelings of the participants. Bodily postures in which one part of the body does something to another part (such as rubbing, scratching, etc.) tend to suggest emotional arousal.

4. Body build and physical appearance

    Impression about the personality of others is also formed on the basis of body build and physical appearance, although the validity of such information is questionable. For example, tall, lean and thin persons are usually sensitive, withdrawn and reserved whereas short and fat persons are sociable and forceful. Sheldon, Stevens and Tucker (1940) provided that there are three different types of body build- ectomorphic, mesomorphic, and endomorphic and each is associated with different types of temperamental characteristics. For example, endomorphs (heavy and fat persons) were characterized as relaxed, slow to react and loving physical comfort; mesomorphs (persons with strong muscles and athletic build) were associated with energetic, enjoying exercise and assertive of some postures and movements and loving physical adventure. The ectomorphs (tall and thin) were imaginative, self-directed, introvert and disliking social activities.

5. Voice quality and dress

    Certain qualities of voice have been found to be very much helpful in person perception. Vocal behavior include pitch, loudness, speed, emphasis, inflection, breathiness, stretching or clipping of words, pauses, etc. These carry great emotional meaning. Similarly, the way a person dresses himself also contributes in impression formation.

6. Touching

    Touching conveys great meaning on the basis of- who did the touching, the nature of touching and the context in which the touching took place. Handshake is a famous non-verbal cue. A firm handshake indicates to the person being extroverted and also emotionally expressive while limp or dry handshake indicates disinterest.