Communication Research

The following is an edited version of a discussion that will appear in The Nonverbal Communication Book to be published soon (Kendall Hunt).   But, I thought it might be of interest more generally--to anyone teaching or taking or contemplating taking a course in nonverbal communication. The exercise at the end should prove useful for stimulating class discussion.   The Benefits of Studying Nonverbal Communication   The ability to use nonverbal communication effectively can yield a variety of both general and specific benefits in your social and your workplace lives. First, let�s identify some general benefits and then some more specific benefits. Some General Benefits The general benefits span the entire range of your communication life whether online or face-to-face, whether personal or workplace. First, it will improve your accuracy in understanding others, those who are from your own or similar culture as well as those who are from cultures very different from your own...

The recent release of Skyfall and the news that Heineken spent $45 million dollars to have James Bond drink its beer makes a perfect introduction to the issue of product placement. The following is a brief discussion of product placement and an exercise I developed for the artifactual communication chapter in my nonverbal communication book�still in manuscript. I thought this might be useful to those teaching the nonverbal communication course or a unit in an introductory course. In much the same way that we make judgments about people on the basis of the products they use (jewelry, furs, and name brands from Prada to Old Navy), we also make judgments about products on the basis of the people who use them, a tendency that has spawned huge product placement efforts by major corporations. Product placement refers simply to the placement of a product�for a fee but without any explicit advertising statements�within a scene of a movie or television show to give it a certain image. The a...

Here is a brief exercise that I used in teaching nonverbal communication and that I rewrote for a textbook in nonverbal that I�m in the process of writing. Here I use it as an introduction to the discussion of height but it can also be used with perception, stereotypes, and media influences, for example. You can adjust it in any way you�d like for your own classes. Before reading about/discussing height, try your hand at estimating the heights of famous people that you�ve probably read about, heard about, and perhaps seen in photographs and film portrayals, but not face-to-face. Estimate their heights (in feet and inches) simply on the basis of the image you have of these people. 1.       Baby Face Nelson (bank robber and murderer in the 1930s) __________. 2.       Ludwig Van Beethoven (influential German composer) __________. 3.       Bonnie Parker (gangster of the 1920s and 1930s, part of the Barrow Gang) _____...