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Nonverbal Involvement

Nonverbal involvement refers to the behavioral immediacy between people in social settings. Increased nonverbal involvement is a cumulative product of several behaviors, including closer distance, higher levels of gaze, touch, forward lean, more direct body orientation, and greater expressiveness in facial, gestural, and vocal channels. In general, higher levels of nonverbal involvement signal more intense interactions. High involvement may be positive, as in the embrace of lovers, or negative, as in the brawling of enemies. Because nonverbal communication is typically more important in face-to-face interactions than is verbal communication, nonverbal involvement plays a critical role in the formation and maintenance of relationships. This entry specifically examines the determinants, functions, and dynamics of nonverbal involvement.

Determinants

A variety of factors combine to shape our interactions and, more specifically, our patterns of nonverbal involvement with others. The first and most basic factor is biology. During evolution, patterns of high involvement with mates, offspring, and friends were selected because they promoted reproduction and survival. Closer contact and visual attention to others around us also provide opportunities for social support and adaptive information about our surrounding environments. Next, cultural norms prescribe specific patterns of behavior that facilitate order and predictability consistent with societal values. For example, in some Asian, collectivistic cultures, individuals tend to be less expressive in public settings than are individuals in more Western, individualistic societies. Third, gender differences in nonverbal involvement are the product of both biology and culture. That is, some behavioral differences between males and females are the result of biological hardwiring, but societal norms can also enhance or diminish the expression of those differences. For example, evolution facilitated women's ability to read the nonverbal behavior of others, but the social norms in many societies also promoted greater sensitivity and caring for women than for men. Next, individual differences in personality affect stable preferences for nonverbal involvement in interactions. For example, anxious and introverted individuals usually maintain greater interpersonal distances, lower levels of gaze, and less expressiveness in interactions than do nonanxious and extraverted individuals. In effect, biology, culture, gender, and personality constitute the “baggage” that both precipitate and constrain the practical range of nonverbal involvement in specific social settings.

Nevertheless, behavioral involvement is also affected by the physical design of social environments, the norms in the setting, the particular goals of individuals, and the characteristics of interaction partners. This latter set of situational factors introduces considerable variability in the way that the same people behave across different settings. For example, the “fanny pats” by many masculine sports heroes following a great play are not likely to be seen with the same people after a successful business meeting. The next section discusses the functions of nonverbal involvement, that is, the utility of nonverbal patterns in the give-and-take of interaction in all types of relationships.

Functions

Similar patterns of nonverbal behavior can serve different functions in different situations. That is, the meaning and impact of a particular nonverbal pattern depends on the determinants and situational influences mentioned earlier. For example, at a funeral, a person might console an opposite-sex acquaintance with a hug, but the same hug might be inappropriate in the workplace. Conversely, a particular function may be manifested with various combinations of nonverbal behavior. For example, comparable levels of liking may be expressed with a moderately close, directly facing approach, and sustained gaze, or by a closer adjacent approach, touch, and a much lower level of gaze. Despite the ambiguity of isolated nonverbal behaviors across situations, there are regularities in the functions of the larger, coordinated behavior patterns. A given pattern of involvement also can simultaneously serve multiple functions.

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