Nonverbal communication takes place in every social setting, though often it is not recognized for what it is or for what it means. Much research has been undertaken in recent years to analyze different kinds of nonverbal communication, and much of this research has addressed issues of interpersonal and inter-gender communication, addressing questions of interpersonal attraction, flirting, interactions in business situations, comparisons of male versus female interpretations of nonverbal behavior, and so on. An examination of the literature shows some of the parameters of this research and suggests ways of interpreting the findings and applying them to different situations.
Guerrero (1997) raises a number of interesting issues in analyzing nonverbal behavior in terms of the relationship between the sender and receiver to discover what differences might be found among same-sex friends, opposite-sex friends, and opposite-sex romantic partners. Presumably, the interactions should differ in some terms among these different dyadic partners, and factors such as communicator sex and predispositions toward approach/avoidance considered likely to contribute to consistency in nonverbal behaviors. Factors such as target sex, type of relationship, intimacy, and impression management are seen as likely to contribute to change in nonverbal behaviors. Guerrero investigated how the involvement of the individual in nonverbal behavior changes across interactions with same-sex friends, opposite-sex friends, and romantic partners. It was found that close proximity, touch, gaze, general interest, less fluency, longer response latencies, and more silence could be used to distinguish romantic relationships from friendships. Frequent nodding and vocal interest were more common in friendships than in romantic relationships. Females showed more direct body orientation than gaze, and males showed more forward lean and postural congruence.
Grammar (...