Describe the five basic channels of nonverbal behavior and how the ways in which each impacts our understanding of others

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answer:
The five channels are facial expressions, eye contact, body movements, posture, and touching. (A student may also mention paralinguistic/body chemistry as a possibility but this is not one of the primary five from the text.)
1. Facial expressions often allow us to ascertain the emotional state of a person. There are five basic emotions that appear to be relatively universal: anger, fear, happiness, sadness, and disgust. These expressions can occur in a variety of combinations to express a much wider array of responses and reactions. Micro expressions are one example of how a fleeting response can be quite telling about a person's true feelings.
2. Eye contact is usually seen as a positive and friendly interaction cue. Being unable to see someone's eyes during an interaction may make us very uncomfortable. On the other hand staring or excessive unblinking eye contact may be seen as aggressive or hostile.
3. Body movements are thought to communicate a great deal. A large number of movements or self-manipulations (e.g., touching one's leg, rubbing one's ear, etc.) maybe a sign of emotional arousal or nervousness.
4. Body postures may also tell us about another person's emotions or traits. Research on ballet postures found that diagonal and angular postures are interpreted as dangerous or threatening, while warm sympathetic characters tend to adopt more rounded postures.
5. Appropriate touching can convey quite a lot of information and is typically perceived positively by the person being touched. If a touch is viewed as inappropriate (e.g., too long, too rough, who is carrying out the behavior), then it can have a quite negative impact on the perceptions of the person doing the touching. Handshakes can convey quite important and particular information during first impressions.