In contemporary research, it has been estimated that at least sixty five percent of communication between people is expressed through nonverbal messages. Research further indicated that there are at least nine components of communication that are expressive in a nonverbal manner, leading to increased difficulties in understanding and explaining communication. Theses components include: the human body, in that physical characteristics often convey a message; kinesics, the language of body position and movement; the eyes, their contract and use; paralanguage, those voice qualities and characteristics that accompany spoken words; silence; tacesics and stroking, the language of touch and its substitutes; proxemics, the way that humans use space to communicate; chronemics, time in both its cultural and physiological dimensions; and color (Vargas, 1986, pp. 10 11).
In this review of the literature, the previously identified classifications will become the framework in order to analyze the developmental background of the principles surrounding nonverbal communication. The paper will focus a bit on the methodological assumptions of the research, but will primarily look at the overall place that each research study has in the overall field of nonverbal communication. At the end of the paper, some conclusions will be drawn according to the studies presented, and directions for further research will be discussed.
Within the past two decades, there has been a significant increase in empirical attention within the field of listening and nonverbal communication (Baesler and Burgoon, 1987). In part, this may be due to not only the recognition, but the popular realization that nonverbal behaviors account for a substantial portion of communication between human beings, particularly as related to the processes of listening and human interaction. Indeed, other authors point out that nonverbal behavior is one of the most important indicators o...