Valerie Manusov

Effects of gaze on hiring, credibility, attraction and relational message interpretation

Two competing models of the social meaning and effects of eye gaze exist. One holds that different levels of eye gaze have clearly identifiable meanings that will yield main effects on such communication outcomes as hiring and interpersonal evaluations. The other holds that deviant levels of eye gaze are ambiguous in meaning and that interpretation depends on contextual cues such as the reward value of the violator. An experiment required 140 Ss to serve as interviewers during a structured interview in which six confederate interviewees sytematically varied three levels of eye gaze (high, normal, low) and two levels of reward (highly qualified, highly unqualified for the advertised position). Results favored a social meaning model over a violations of expectations model: Subjects were more likely to hire and rate as credible and attractive interviewees who maintained a normal or high degree of gaze than those who averted gaze. Interpretations given to higher amounts of gaze were more intimacy and similarity, more immediacy and involvement, and more composure, informality and nonarousal.“The eyes of men converse as much as their tongues, with the advantage that the ocular dialect needs no dictionary, but is understood the world over.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson“These lovely lamps, these windows of the soul.”—Guillaume de Salluste“And I have known the eyes already, known them all—The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase ...”—T.S. Eliot

What's in a Story? The Relationship Between Narrative Completeness and Adjustment to Relationship Dissolution

The construction of narratives has been shown to assist sufferers of emotional or traumatic events - such as the ending of relationships - in making sense of and coming to terms with the event. Despite this connection, few studies have explored how the completeness of the narratives contributes to positive outcomes. Building on research in both communication and psychology, we conceptualized a complete narrative as one that clearly and extensively (1) segmented the experience episodically/sequentially, (2) represented causes and consequences in the explained events, (3) developed characters relative to the story, (4) evoked and made sense of affect, (5) drew meaning from the events in the narrative, (6) provided a coherent narrative, and (7) attributed responsibility to the characters in the story. We collected and analyzed the break-up stories of 90 participants. We then rated the narratives to see if relationships exist between narrative completeness and adjustment to relationship dissolution as well as to the tellers role in the break-up and his or her current relationship status. In addition to the implementation of a new method for coding and analyzing narrative content, the results indicate that certain elements of completeness are more related to adjustment than are others.

Relational Turning Point Events and Their Outcomes in College Teacher- Student Relationships from Students' Perspectives

The purpose of this study was to investigate teacher–student interaction using a relational frame (i.e., describing the student–teacher dynamic as inherently relational). Specifically, we focus on turning points and their potential outcomes in student–teacher relationships. Students who were able to identify a relational turning point event with a college teacher (n = 394) completed open- and closed-ended survey questions about the event, its outcomes, and their learning and motivation. Analysis of participants’ responses yielded six meta-level categories of turning point events, most of which were positively valenced: instrumental, personal, rhetorical, ridicule/discipline, locational, and other person. Our analysis also yielded 11 categories of outcomes of relational turning point events. Two of these—changes in willingness to approach the teacher/seek help and changes in perceptions of their relationship with the teacher—were common to personal turning point events. Students who reported positive instrumental, personal, and locational turning point events also reported increased cognitive learning, affective learning, and student motivation following the turning points. Further, students who reported a ridicule/discipline turning point event, the one event type commonly rated negatively, reported decreased cognitive learning, affective learning, and student motivation.

Acting out our minds: Incorporating behavior into models of stereotype‐based expectancies for cross‐cultural interactions

This article presents an observational study designed to investigate the role of expectancies and behaviors during cross‐cultural interactions. In a partial test of several cognition‐based models, the study provided more support for associations between individuating behaviors (involvement, verbal openness, and nonverbal cue congruence) and post‐interaction evaluations than between expectancies (reported knowledge and attitudes) and evaluations, which is consistent with a “weak social constructivist view” (Jussim, 1991) of the evaluation process. Individuating behavior was particularly likely to correlate with evaluations when it occurred later in interactions. Despite their relative unimportance in predicting evaluations, stereotype‐based expectancies were associated with some behaviors (gaze, lean, head nods, and body orientation) used by the participants and, to a lesser degree, by their partners. Expectancies also predicted behavioral congruence for vocal, body orientation, and kinesic cues. A model o...

The communication of compliments in romantic relationships: An investigation of relational satisfaction and sex differences and similarities in compliment behavior

The present study examines the role of compliments in romantic relationships. Surveys designed to assess relational satisfaction and participants’ feelings about compliments in romantic relationships were administered to 163 participants currently involved in a heterosexual romantic relationship. Participants were also asked to complete a diary, recording (1) the first three compliments received from their partner, or (2) the first three compliments given to their partner. The final data set consisted of 528 compliments. Compliments reported as received or given were coded for the formulaic structure of compliment, the topic of compliment, and verbal responses to compliment. Results indicate that compliments in romantic relationships are not as likely to follow the formulaic structure of compliments as do compliments given by strangers or acquaintances reported in previous research; participants’ perceptions of their own and their partners’ compliment behavior are positively related to relational satisfaction; women tend to be more aware of compliments than are men; and some differences, as well as similarities, between men and women occurred on topics of compliments given and received and on their verbal responses to compliments.

Nonverbal Communication Performance and Perceptions Associated with Reticence: Replications and Classroom Implications.

Two studies replicated and extended Burgoon and Koper (1984) by examining the nonverbal behavior patterns, relational message interpretations and credibility evaluations associated with communication reticence. Study One (N = 110) examined multiple kinesic and vocalic behaviors exhibited by reticents during a dyadic advocacy/decision‐making task and relational interpretations by unacquainted interaction partners. Study Two (N = 60) examined similar behaviors displayed during a persuasive speaking assignment and credibility evaluations assigned by classmates. In both studies, nonverbal manifestations were sufficiently modest and in some cases transitory to challenge the traditional view that reticence produces pronounced performance decrements. Evaluations, although unfavorable, were also not seriously detrimental. Education implications are discussed.

Communicative outcomes of stereotype‐based expectancies: An observational study of cross‐cultural dyads

To investigate the behavioral manifestations of stereotype‐based expectancies, American students (N = 46) talked with confederates from India. The tapes of the interactions were coded for communication behaviors that were likely to differentiate people who entered interactions with pre‐existing, neutral conceptions of the Indian culture from those who began the interaction with little knowledge or beliefs about India. Evaluations of the confederate were also assessed. It was found that people with a specific schema judged the confederate to be more attractive, were more satisfied with the interaction, and differed in their use of language. Specifically, people with pre‐existing stereotypes used less open feedback, fewer summaries, brought up more content areas, asked fewer questions in each area, and used more verbal strategies showing their own depth of knowledge and a U.S. bias. They were also more likely to ask about the confederates education and less likely to talk about Indian dress, marriage, and ...

Accounts in child custody mediation sessions

Abstract The discourse in child custody mediation sessions was investigated to discover the frequency, type, and sequence of accusations made within interactions as well as their effects on subsequent outcomes. Coded transcripts of 20 child custody mediation sessions provided the material for this descriptive study and revealed 288 instances in which one disputant accused another of some offense. Most of these alleged offenses involved perceptions of specific behaviors instead of non‐negotiable character flaws. Disputants frequently rebuked their former spouses, rather than simply asking for an explanation. In general, partners responded to these aggravating reproaches with aggravating account forms, and these were followed by rejection of the account or mediator intervention. However, couples were more likely to reach custody agreements when mediators intervened after reproaches, when discussion of behaviors was avoided, and when reproachers were allowed to use direct rebukes.

Interpreting Nonverbal Behavior: Representation and Transformation Frames in Israeli and Palestinian Media Coverage of the 1993 Rabin-Arafat Handshake

Consistent with calls by O’Sullivan (1999) and Rogers (1999), we use mass communication theory to help understand what are often thought to be largely interpersonal communication processes. Specifically, we contend that investigating media frames found within metapragmatic discourse of nonverbal events can help organize and reveal more specific meanings that can be given to the cues. To provide evidence for our argument, we analyzed Israeli and Palestinian media coverage of the 1993 handshake between Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat on the White House lawn. Our analysis, across 187 texts, helped us identify two primary frames for reporting about the handshake and media‐indicated related behaviors (e.g., co‐occurring facial expressions or subsequent actions). We labeled these frames representations and transformations. Within these two frames, we also identified an array of more specific meanings given to the cues. These frames, and the meanings embedded within them, help reflect the diversity and structure of interpretations that can occur for nonverbal cues.

Bumps and Tears on the Road to the Presidency: Media Framing of Key Nonverbal Events in the 2008 Democratic Election

Two nonverbal “events” leading up to the nomination of the Democratic presidential candidate in the 2008 election, Hillary Clintons “tears” and Barack and Michelle Obamas “fist bump,” were the subject of news media discussion. This discourse provides a sense of the diverse ways the media framed these nonverbal cues, their communicative functions, and the social commentary implied in these framings. We found one common frame in the discourse of both events: an informative frame in which the behavior is discussed as an “authentic” reflection of the candidate. A performative frame was seen in the discourse surrounding the tears. Both of these frames speak to the challenges of emotional expression in U.S. politics, particularly for women. For the bump, an additional frame not discussed in previous literature was labeled interpretive, in which the discussion focused primarily on accessing or debating the arbitrarily derived meaning of the behavior, a relatively “safe” way of handling a potentially race-based cue.