1990) examines interactions when opposite-sex strangers first meet, noting that this is always a difficult situation, high-risk, where neither person knows the intention of the other. Because of this, says Grammar, nonverbal signaling becomes the major channel for communication between the two. Females are seen as having a higher biological risk, so it is assumed that they would prefer less obvious tactics to communicate interest in a potential partner than would a male. The need to signal clearly but subtly, says Grammar, is a problem solved by the use of multifunctional or metacommunicative signals. Grammar proposes that there is no one single meaning for any given signal but that the meaning derives from a combination of signals and from the situation in which they come together. Grammar considers the specific behavior of laughter and how it can have different meanings, and he finds that while males use only a few sig
...