Miles L. Patterson

Nonverbal Behavior: A Functional Perspective.

1. Defining a Perspective on Nonverbal Behavior.- Patterns of Nonverbal Behaviors.- Nonverbal Involvement.- Functional Analysis.- Summary.- 2. Developing a Sequential Functional Model.- Theoretical Background.- Empirical Research on the Arousal Model.- Comprehensiveness of Existing Theories.- Antecedent Factors.- Mediating Mechanisms.- Exchange Outcome.- A Sequential Functional Model.- Summary.- 3. The Informational Function.- Perspectives on Communication.- Determinants of Communication.- Expressive Indication.- Implications of the Communication-Indication Contrast.- Summary.- 4. Regulating Interaction.- Focused Interactions.- Unfocused Interactions-Passing Encounters.- Summary.- 5. Intimacy.- The Construct of Intimacy.- Social Penetration Theory.- Relationship Intimacy and Nonverbal Involvement.- Developed Relationships.- Assessing the Intimacy Function.- Summary.- 6. Social Control.- Power and Dominance.- Persuasion.- Feedback and Reinforcement.- Deception.- Impression Management.- Comparing Intimacy and Social Control Functions.- Conclusions.- Summary.- 7. The Service-Task Function.- Service Relationships in Focused Interaction.- Evaluating the Service Component.- Task Constraints in Unfocused Interactions.- Significance of the Service-Task Function.- Summary.- 8. Antecedent Influences.- Personal Factors.- Experiential Factors.- Relational-Situational Factors.- The Mediation of Antecedent Influences.- An Overview of Antecedent Influences.- Summary.- 9. An Overview: Problems and Prospects.- Evaluating the Functional Perspective.- Directions for Research.- Personal Observations.- Summary.- Reference Notes.- References.- Author Index.

Expectations, Impressions, and Judgments of Physically Attractive Students: A Review

This article examines the effect of students’ physical attractiveness on a variety of judgments made in educational settings. This review discusses the following issues: (a) methodology for studying physical attractiveness in the classroom; (b) teacher judgments, expectations, and impressions of physically attractive students; and (c) the influence of moderator variables such as gender, race, conduct, and physical attractiveness effects. A descriptive and a meta-analytic review of the research indicated that physically attractive students are judged usually more favorably by teachers in a number of dimensions including intelligence, academic potential, grades, and various social skills. The potential influence of moderator variables—such as, student gender, race, and past performance on the physical attractiveness bias—is also examined. Finally, the possible mechanisms responsible for the attractiveness effect and the limitations of this research are discussed.

Invited article: A parallel process model of nonverbal communication

This article develops a parallel processing model of nonverbal communication that emphasizes the interdependence of behavioral and person perception processes from a functional perspective on social interaction. The form and outcome of the behavioral (encoding) and person perception (decoding) processes are a product of three related elements, including: (1) determinants, (2) the social environment, and (3) cognitive-affective mediators. In this model, the determinants (biology, culture, gender, and personality), in combination with the partner and setting, influence interpersonal expectancies, dispositions, goals, affect, and cognitive resources. In turn, these mediators constrain the attention and cognitive effort applied to behavior management and person perception. In general, fewer cognitive resources and decreased effort will have less effect on the outcome of automatic behavioral (e.g., scripts) and person perception (e.g., impressions based on appearance and nonverbal cues) processes than on more demanding ones. The utility of this theory in integrating behavioral and person perception processes into a single system is discussed.

Touch, compliance, and interpersonal affect

This study investigated the effects of touch on compliance to a help request. The experimenters initiation of touch during the request did increase compliance as measured by time spent scoring bogus personality inventories. The hypothesized role of attraction in mediating the touch-compliance link was not supported. Instead, touch may have served to indicate status or power differences that influenced subjects to comply. A sex of subject × sex of experimenter interaction was manifested in female subjects complying more to female experimenters than did subjects in any other sex pairing.

Stability of nonverbal immediacy behaviors

Abstract The stability of the immediacy behaviors of approach distance, eye contact, approach orientation, and body lean was examined across two interviews over a 25 min and a 1-week interval. Stability coefficients were similarly high between the sessions for each interval. General support was found for the presence of compensatory relationships between approach distance and eye contact and between approach distance and approach orientation. A bimodal distribution of approach distances, found in both studies, included a substantial intermediate range which was not used by any of the subjects. Evidence from personality data and self-ratings suggested that subjects who remained more distant were more anxious than those who approached closer.

Verbal and nonverbal modality effects on impressions of political candidates: Analysis from the 1984 presidential debates

Two experiments examined the role of presentation modality in evaluations of Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale during the second Presidential debate in the 1984 campaign. In the first experiment, 219 subjects were presented selected segments from the debate in one of four following conditions: (1) audiovisual, (2) visual only, (3) audio only, or (4) text. Although Reagan was rated more favorably than Mondale in all of the conditions, Reagans advantage was greatest in the visual modality. The second experiment (n = 64) examined the role of judgments of expressiveness and physical attractiveness as potential mediators of the visual modality advantage of Reagan. Results showed that rated expressiveness and physical attractiveness differences between the candidates were maximized in the visual modality condition, primarily due to Mondale being rated as less expressive and less physically attractive. Analysis of behavioral differences between the candidates revealed that Mondale blinked more frequently and had...

Interpersonal Distance, Affect, and Equilibrium Theory

Summary Two studies, one in the laboratory (N = 48 male and female undergraduates) and one in the field (N = 28 adult pairs), were undertaken to test the predictions of Argyle and Deans equilibrium theory of nonverbal intimacy. Seating distance was manipulated in the laboratory as a function of the Ss own feeling of comfort. The results indicated that closer approaches produced a reduction of eye contact with an interviewer and less directly confronting body orientations, but no changes in body lean. A second study was conducted in the field to eliminate a potential artifact in the distance-body orientation relationship in the first study. In that study, pairs of Ss, observed in standing interactions, also chose less directly confronting orientations with closer approaches. These results, generally supportive of equilibrium theory, are discussed primarily in terms of the role of affect in the equilibrium process.

Effects of Cognitive Demand and Judgment Strategy on Person Perception Accuracy

The present study examined the effects of cognitive demand and judgment strategy in performance on the Interpersonal Perception Task (Costanzo & Archer, 1989). The Interpersonal Perception Task (IPT) contains 30 brief, real-life scenes on videotape for which there are objectively correct answers to questions about status, intimacy, kinship, competition, and deception. A total of 142 participants were run in a 2 (high vs. low cognitive demand) × 2 (first impression vs. nonverbal cues strategy) × 2 (audiovisual vs. visual only modality) design. A significant Cognitive Demand × Judgment Strategy interaction supported the hypothesized benefit of a first impression strategy when participants experienced high, rather than low, cognitive demand. In contrast, participants receiving the nonverbal cues strategy had higher accuracy under low, rather than high, cognitive demand. The conditional effects of cognitive demand on person perception are considered and the larger role of cognitive resources in interaction is discussed.

Effects of nonverbal intimacy on arousal and behavioral adjustment.

The effects of two intimacy manipulations, 80% eye contact (EC) and combined lean, touch, 50% eye contact (LT), were examined in a bogus waiting period involving a male confederate-male subject pairing. Hypothesized arousal increase was found only for the LT manipulation when it occurred later, rather than earlier, in the waiting period. Associated with that increased arousal were weak tendencies for increased eye contact and talking. These results offered limited support for the arousal model of interpersonal intimacy (Patterson, 1976). However, it also appeared that the directing effect of the specific social context qualified the impact and meaning of the confederates high intimacy.

Social and Communicative Anxiety: A Review and Meta-Analysis

This chapter provides a comprehensive review and meta-analysis of the empirical research on social and communicative anxiety. First, in laying the groundwork for their review, the authors show that there is considerable evidence that a variety of different scales of trait social and communicative anxiety are highly correlated and, consequently, appear to be measuring a common construct. In order to assess the relationships between social anxiety and various physiological, behavioral, and cognitive measures, the authors conducted a meta-analysis of the empirical studies. The results of the meta-analysis indicate consistently large effects of social anxiety on a wide variety of cognitive and behavioral measures, but somewhat smaller effects on physiological measures of arousal. A substantive review of this literature supplements the meta-analysis, examining the links between social anxiety and specific physiological, behavioral, and cognitive reactions. Finally, the authors discuss contrasting theoretical e...