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Immediacy

Immediacy refers to nonphysical closeness people have with each other when communicating. Albert Mehrabian, often credited with developing the principle of immediacy, asserts that people tend to be attracted to people and things they like, prefer, and evaluate highly. Conversely, they avoid or move away from people and things they dislike, do not prefer, or evaluate negatively. Immediacy has also been defined as psychological closeness, or creating a sense of togetherness or oneness. When people communicate, they convey a sense of attention, attraction, understanding, and/or concern. Immediate communication behavior conveys these attributes in a manner that shows closeness; therefore, messages are sent that reflect higher amounts of the aforementioned traits. Nonimmediate communication behavior conveys distance between communicators.

Both verbal and nonverbal messages reflect immediacy; however, people tend to respond more to nonverbal cues when assessing immediacy. Cultural groups construct and respond to immediacy differently; however, research suggests that people respond more favorably to more immediate communicators than those who convey distance and lack of concern. Most of the existing immediacy research focuses on communication between instructors and students in educational settings. The verbal and nonverbal experience of immediacy within and between groups shapes how a self relates to others. In the most significant sense, immediacy can either invite or exclude a self into a particular worldview. Consequently, immediacy behaviors and norms shape the process by which a self identifies with another or an entire social group.

Verbal Immediacy

Verbal messages communicate immediacy. The use of names, pronouns, and terms of endearment can often attract people and make them feel liked or closer to others when communicating. During a conversation, using a person's name can increase immediacy. Public speakers are also often advised to use pronouns such as us instead of you to show a connection between them and audience members. When people feel close to each other, they often develop nicknames or pet names for each other to reflect closeness. General terms of endearment, such as honey or sweetheart, also convey feelings of closeness and attraction. Verbal messages can also be used to decrease immediacy or show distance between speakers. Refusing to address someone by his or her correct name or using the pronoun you can convey lack of concern or understanding. For example, the comment, “You know how you people can be” can be interpreted negatively and promote distance between communicators. Name-calling or the use of negative nicknames also decreases immediacy and can result in psychological distance and hurt feelings.

When people communicate, they may not always agree on immediacy behaviors. For instance, a person calling a colleague “honey” may intend to promote a connection and closeness, but the recipient of the message may interpret this as inappropriate or condescending behavior. If the message is interpreted in this manner, the use of “honey” can have the opposite effect and create distance and lack of understanding instead of promoting immediacy. In instances such as these, to reduce potential misunderstandings one must take care to understand how one's messages can be interpreted.

Nonverbal Immediacy

Proxemics

Physical closeness sends messages about immediacy when communicating. Edward T. Hall, an early pioneer of physical space, labeled the use of space when communicating proxemics. He divided the use of space into four distances: intimate distance, personal distance, social distance, and public distance. Hall placed intimate distance at 0 to 18 inches. When communicating with others, people place very close friends and loved ones at this distance. Personal distance ranges from 18 inches to 4 feet. At this space, people cannot touch one another. They can, however, close this space easily by extending an arm. People generally prefer to communicate with others within this range. This space provides a comfortable distance within which to communicate, and people can easily move into the intimate space if so desired, for example, to embrace or hug. Some refer to this distance as a “personal bubble” that protects people from invading the intimate space of others while remaining close enough to communicate easily. Communicating within intimate and personal distances increases immediacy. Although people generally react to more immediate communicative behavior positively, there are times when changing distances to increase immediacy can have negative results. For example, if two people are communicating and one feels more comfortable at the personal distance, the other person moving to the intimate distance may cause the first person to react negatively to an uncomfortable change in distance.

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