Deck 4: C: Verbal Communication

Question 1

List the four spatial zones identified by Edward Hall and discussed in your textbook.

Answer 1

The four spatial zones are intimate, personal, social, and public.

Question 2

Give an example of functional-professional touch you have either provided to a customer or client or that you have received as a customer or client.

Answer 2

Examples will vary but should represent touch that is used for the purpose of performing a professional task-such as a barber touching his client's head, a nail technician touching a client's hand, or a massage therapist touching her client's back or shoulders.

Question 3

Provide some examples of the ways in which a person's environment sends nonverbal messages to others.

Answer 3

Examples will vary but will portray that the elements of an environment, including décor, lighting, cleanliness, clutter, color, and even smell convey information about a person. For example, arranging furniture in clusters encourages conversation while placing chairs farther apart creates a sense of distance.

Question 4

Briefly describe the interaction management function of nonverbal communication and give an example of a behavior that regulates the back-and-forth flow of communication.

Question 5

Describe one element of the physical environment in your favorite public place to hang out with friends (a restaurant, café, pub, etc.), and what that aspect of the environment communicates to patrons.

Question 6

Using a brief example, illustrate how a communicator could use nonverbal behavior to accent a verbal message.

Question 7

What is the difference between a nonverbal message that repeats a verbal message and one that complements a verbal message?

Question 8

Provide an example of an illustrator and an affect display.

Question 9

Define chronemics and provide an example of a time you have used it to communicate with someone.

Question 10

What is the difference between a contact and a noncontact culture?

Question 11

List four of the seven facial expressions that appear to be inborn and that are exhibited across cultures as well as among people who are blind and have never had the opportunity to imitate others' facial expressions.

Question 12

Define nonverbal communication.

Question 13

Briefly explain why sign language would not be considered nonverbal communication.

Question 14

A paralinguistic cue that gives information about the speaker's emotional or physical state is referred to as a(n) ____________, and an example of one would be ____________.

Question 15

Define immediacy as it would be communicated through nonverbal communication.

Question 16

List four of the five styles of touch that are categorized along the intimacy continuum.

Question 17

Identify one artifact you are using right now, and briefly describe what you believe it may be communicating about you to your classmates and professor.

Question 18

Define oculesics and provide an example of how someone would use it to communicate.

Question 19

_______ is an example of a nonvocal form for verbal communication that is often mistaken for nonverbal communication because of its reliance on gestural symbols rather than spoken words.

Question 20

Using one of your experiences, provide a brief example of a time when someone's nonverbal behavior contradicted his or her verbal message, and you found the nonverbal message to be more believable.

Question 21

Contrast the public-private dimension of the situational context with the informal-formal dimension.
Answer Key

Question 22

What is one example of something people do when sending an e-mail or chatting online to substitute for the lack of nonverbal communication channels?