INTRODUCTION: This article will plumb the mysterious world of voice and body language. Body language examined will include: facial expressions, eye gaze, postures and gestures. The “Five C’s of Body Language” will be reviewed. Decoding of implicit communication will be discussed. Evolutionary theory, which proposes to explain voice and body language, will be considered. Finally, utilization of body language will be introduced as applied to the psychotherapeutic setting, specifically as utilized in Gestalt Therapy:
When someone speaks, we are not only hearing their words, but listening to multiple elements of their voice, also known as paralinguistics. If we can see them, we are hearing their words, listening to their voice, and watching their non-verbal communications, also known as body language. We may be simultaneously decoding three distinct messages, with both our ears and our eyes. What is most amazing about this decoding process is that the majority of our translations of these messages are implicit; we are not consciously aware of it. The process of receiving and interpreting another’s message is lightening fast, like a reflex; it just “happens.” The purpose of this paper is to slow this process down long enough to investigate what messages are being sent through voice and body language.
Non-verbal communication has been recognized by psychology as a critical factor in the counseling process (Tepper & Haase, 1978). Non-verbal communication is so relevant in therapy that psychiatrist Frederick S. Perls (Fritz Perls), creator of Gestalt Therapy, uses it as a premier method of bringing feelings and thoughts to the patient’s foreground consciousness. “We have blocked (repressed) one side, and then the self-expression comes out somewhere else, in our movements, in our posture, and most of all in our voice. A good therapist doesn’t listen to the content of the bullshit the patient produces, but to the sound, to the music, to the hesitations. Verbal communication is usually a lie. The real communication is beyond words” (Perls, Gestalt Therapy Verbatum, p. 53).
As much as 55% of communication is non-verbal (Mehrabian, 1968, Bird-Whistell, 1970, Argyle, Alkema and Gilmour, 1971). In one study on empathy, facial expression accounted for 26.1% of a show of empathy, followed by verbal message at 16.94%, followed by eye contact at 6.03%, and vocal intonation at 1.14% (Tepper & Haase, 1978). If non-verbal communication is such a significant part of communication, it is worth decoding.
Facial expressions account for the largest percentage of non-verbal communications. “Emotional faces communicate both the emotional state, and behavioral intentions of an individual. They also activate behavioral tendencies in the perceiver, namely approach or avoidance…Happiness was associated with approach, and anger with avoidance...Sadness produced automatic approach, then withdrawal, and disgust elicited withdrawal” (Seidel & Habel, Kirschner, Gur and Derntl, 2010). It seems our facial expressions trigger automatic, unconscious responses in others. Sometimes, our faces can say it all wrong: “We often use people’s faces to incorrectly judge people’s personality traits” (Hutson, Psychology Today, 2009). This judging of non-verbal communications is unconscious. “Interpersonal evaluations are often communicated implicitly through the use of various facial, vocal and postural cues” (Dorris & Wertheim, 1972). Because reactions to common facial gestures are implicit, evolutionary psychology points to genetics and evolution to explain their epistemology. “From an evolutionary point of view, it seems reasonable that sadness communicates a request for help, and elicits approach towards the sender. The expression of disgust serves an evolutionary advantage as an important signal in voiding noxious stimuli but can also be interpersonally related to the opponent, thereby eliciting avoidance” (Seidel & Habel, Kirschner, Gur and Derntl, 2010). It seems there are important reasons related to our survival why facial features are interpreted spontaneously and implicitly. What specifically do the eyes communicate?
As much as 55% of communication is non-verbal (Mehrabian, 1968, Bird-Whistell, 1970, Argyle, Alkema and Gilmour, 1971). In one study on empathy, facial expression accounted for 26.1% of a show of empathy, followed by verbal message at 16.94%, followed by eye contact at 6.03%, and vocal intonation at 1.14% (Tepper & Haase, 1978). If non-verbal communication is such a significant part of communication, it is worth decoding.
Facial expressions account for the largest percentage of non-verbal communications. “Emotional faces communicate both the emotional state, and behavioral intentions of an individual. They also activate behavioral tendencies in the perceiver, namely approach or avoidance…Happiness was associated with approach, and anger with avoidance...Sadness produced automatic approach, then withdrawal, and disgust elicited withdrawal” (Seidel & Habel, Kirschner, Gur and Derntl, 2010). It seems our facial expressions trigger automatic, unconscious responses in others. Sometimes, our faces can say it all wrong: “We often use people’s faces to incorrectly judge people’s personality traits” (Hutson, Psychology Today, 2009). This judging of non-verbal communications is unconscious. “Interpersonal evaluations are often communicated implicitly through the use of various facial, vocal and postural cues” (Dorris & Wertheim, 1972). Because reactions to common facial gestures are implicit, evolutionary psychology points to genetics and evolution to explain their epistemology. “From an evolutionary point of view, it seems reasonable that sadness communicates a request for help, and elicits approach towards the sender. The expression of disgust serves an evolutionary advantage as an important signal in voiding noxious stimuli but can also be interpersonally related to the opponent, thereby eliciting avoidance” (Seidel & Habel, Kirschner, Gur and Derntl, 2010). It seems there are important reasons related to our survival why facial features are interpreted spontaneously and implicitly. What specifically do the eyes communicate?
“Direct (eye) gaze increases the perception of anger (but not fear), whereas averted gaze enhances the perception of fear and not anger…facial expressions of emotion and direct eye gaze can combine to facilitate social communication in humans “ (Fox, Mathews, Calder & Yiend, 2007). This finding makes evolutionary sense, as combined eye gaze and facial emotion can provide an important cue for environmental threat. An angry face looking directly at us tells us the person may be dangerous to us, while a fearful face looking away suggests the threat may be in the direction that the fearful face is averted toward. “Our results strongly suggest that gaze direction does contribute to the perceived emotional relevance of facial expression, both behaviorally and neutrally as indexed by amygdale response, but particularly for mild-intensity expression where facial features alone may evoke relatively weak emotional signals” (N’Diaye, Sander & Vuilleumier, 2009). Not only do we decode facial emotions, but eye gaze allows us a second opportunity to judge body language. Is the voice as easily decoded as a facial expression?
The human voice is a rich and nuanced source of emotional signaling, as evident in studies of the varieties of laughter (Bachorowski, Smoski, and Owren, 2001), teasing (Keltner, Capps, Kring, Young & Heerey, 2001), and motherese (Fernald, 1992). Nearly half of Darwin’s descriptions of the non-verbal correlates of over 40 emotion-related states include references to specific paralinguistic vocalizations—“snorts” of contempt, “little coughs” of embarrassment, “air sucks” of high spirits, and “deep sighs” of grief (Darwin, 1872). In the largest study of its kind on the identification of vocalized emotions, "well-studied negative emotions such as: anger, disgust, fear, sadness and surprise ranged from 80%-96% accurate, corroborating existing findings" (Juslin & Laukka, 2003; Sauter and Scott, 2007; Scherer, 1994). Embarrassment, guilt and shame were identified with low, but above chance levels of accuracy. Awe and interest was readily identified. Compassion, gratitude, enthusiasm and triumph were identified with low to moderate levels of accuracy. Taken together, these studies suggest that the voice can communicate at least 14 distinct emotional states without explicit words of obvious word substitutes” (Simon-Thomas et. al., 2009). What of the rest of the body’s non-verbal communication: posture and gestures?
Evolutionary Psychology offers this explanation on why we use gestures when speaking: “Before the adaptation of languages by human beings, the communication was provided through body language because they (prehistorics) did not even have ability to speak. They depended on body language to complain and meet their needs. Even today during a speech, people benefit from gestures, mimics and whereas their facial muscles, shoulders and hands function as a tool for communication” (Çahşkan & Karadağ, 2006). Not only our gestures, but our postures can convey a clear message: “Gestures and nonverbal means of communication convey thoughts and feelings the speaker is not always able to put into words” (Yesil, 2008). Whether gesture and posture are employed as an emphasis to what we are saying, or saying for us what we cannot communicate in words, they communicate eloquently for us. As the saying goes, “Actions speak louder than words.” Four dimensions of nonverbal behavior; gesture, facial expression, intonation and physical appearance seem to work together to create perception, rather than a single factor (Yesil, 2008). Thus, paying attention to non-verbal cues when speaking and listening can enable us to be more effective communicators, and to avoid misunderstandings. How would a psychotherapist use these body-language principles when working with clients to gain greater insight and understanding?
Fritz Perls admonishes therapists on body language: “So don’t listen to the words, just listen to what the voice tells you, what the movements tell you, what the posture tells you, what the image tells you. You don’t have to listen to what the person says: listen to the sounds. Everything a person wants to express is all there-not in words. What we say is mostly either lies or bullshit. But the voice is there, the gesture, the posture, the facial expression, the psychosomatic language. It’s all there if you learn to, more or less, let the content of the sentences play second violin only. If you have eyes and ears, the world is open. Nobody can have any secrets, because the neurotic only fools himself, nobody else. The total personality as it expresses itself with movements, with posture, with sound, with pictures-there is so much invaluable material here…to bring this into the patient’s awareness” (Perls, 1969).
Fritz Perls admonishes therapists on body language: “So don’t listen to the words, just listen to what the voice tells you, what the movements tell you, what the posture tells you, what the image tells you. You don’t have to listen to what the person says: listen to the sounds. Everything a person wants to express is all there-not in words. What we say is mostly either lies or bullshit. But the voice is there, the gesture, the posture, the facial expression, the psychosomatic language. It’s all there if you learn to, more or less, let the content of the sentences play second violin only. If you have eyes and ears, the world is open. Nobody can have any secrets, because the neurotic only fools himself, nobody else. The total personality as it expresses itself with movements, with posture, with sound, with pictures-there is so much invaluable material here…to bring this into the patient’s awareness” (Perls, 1969).
Once the therapist becomes aware of the client’s body language, Perls believes the therapist is in a better position to interpret the client’s resistances, and to draw the client’s attention to them. Body language is implicit; try as we might, unless we are exceptionally skilled liars, and even then, eventually our implicit communication will speak louder than our words. Gestalt Therapy emphasizes helping the patient to become aware of how he or she behaves, rather than why. The therapist’s intent is to help the patient to begin to reclaim in immediate awareness his largely desensitized sensori-motor-affective modalities by making the patient attend to them. When the therapist becomes alerted to incongruences between the client’s words and body language, they can ask the client to bring their attention to the implicit physiological expression. For example, if a client is squeezing one hand with another, the therapist may draw the client’s attention to the hand which is squeezing, and ask the client to give that hand a “voice.” The therapist may ask the hands to talk to one another. This is done because neuromuscular tension belies psychic tension. To the Gestalt Therapist, body language is as important as the spoken word, and sometimes more so; the body is the entry point for accessing the mind. By making the client aware of their non-verbal behaviors, and asking the client to interpret them for the therapist, the implicit behaviors become explicit, and so does their meaning. The following is an excerpt from a Dreamwork Seminar facilitated by Fritz Perls:
Dr. Perls: “Now I am interested, what is your left foot doing to your right?”
Client: “Sort of exercising my knee.”
Dr. Perls: “Could you see whether your knee can be a train track?” (part of the client’s dream)
Client: “I am the tracks. I’m lying on my back, and life is running over me…”
Dr. Perls: “At least we have the (new) word “life” now for the first time. Now have a conversation between the track and the train.”
Client: “I’m the train, and my legs are the tracks. I ride straight ahead and follow where you lead-straight ahead to nowhere…but I’m the power. I’m the life. You’re dead. I just got people into it (the train).”
Dr. Perls: “Oh! That’s wonderful. So it’s not all dead. Now we’ve gotten people in. Well you’ve gotten your first existential message: we need people”(Perls, 1969).
Client: “Sort of exercising my knee.”
Dr. Perls: “Could you see whether your knee can be a train track?” (part of the client’s dream)
Client: “I am the tracks. I’m lying on my back, and life is running over me…”
Dr. Perls: “At least we have the (new) word “life” now for the first time. Now have a conversation between the track and the train.”
Client: “I’m the train, and my legs are the tracks. I ride straight ahead and follow where you lead-straight ahead to nowhere…but I’m the power. I’m the life. You’re dead. I just got people into it (the train).”
Dr. Perls: “Oh! That’s wonderful. So it’s not all dead. Now we’ve gotten people in. Well you’ve gotten your first existential message: we need people”(Perls, 1969).
In review, vocal and body language is an important alternate form of communication. When taken out of context, non-verbal communication can be misinterpreted. Of body language, facial expressions are the most significant communicators, followed by the voice (paralinguistics), eye contact or gaze, and posture and gesture. Body language is evolutionary; we have learned to decode it to ensure our survival. Body language is implicit, which means it is hard to hide from others. Because of the transparent quality of nonverbal communication, it can be used in psychotherapy as an indicator of internal, psychic resistances and used as a means of making the client aware of his unconscious needs. Body language, in some forms of psychotherapy such as Gestalt Therapy, may be more important to interpret than the spoken word. Communications which are implicit never lie; facial expression and body language are the litmus test of communication.
References
Tepper, Jr., D.T., Haase, R.F. (1978). Verbal and non verbal communication of facilitative conditions. Journal of Counseling Psychology, Vol. 25, No. 1, p. 35-44.
Perls, F. S. (1979).Gestalt Therapy Verbatim. Real People Press, Lafayette, California.
Mehrabian, A. (1968). Nonverbal Communication. Chicago: Aldine-Atherton, 1972.
Goman, C.K. (2008). The Nonverbal Advantage: Secrets and Science of Body Language at Work. Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco, California.
Seidel, E.M, Habel, U., Kirschner, M., Gur, R., & Derntl, B. (2010). The Impact of Facial Emotional Expressions on Behavioral Tendencies in Women and Men. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 0096-1523, 2010, Vol. 36, Issue 2. Hutson, M. (2009). Permexpressions. Psychology Today, Jul/Aug2009, Vol. 42 Issue 4, p24-24, 2/3p. Dorris, J.W., Wertheim, A. (1975). An attribution approach to investigating the perception of implicit communications of evaluation. Mt. Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts, 01075.
Fox, E., Mathews, A., Calder, A., Yiend, J. (2007). Anxiety and sensitivity to gaze direction in emotionally expressive faces. American Psychological Association, Emotion, Vol 7(3), Aug, 2007. pp. 478-486.
N’Diaye, K., Sander, D., Vuilleumier, P. (2009). Self-relevance processing in the human amygdala: Gaze direction, facial expression, and emotion intensity. American Psychological Association, Emotion, Vol 9(6), Dec, 2009. pp. 798-806.
Bachorowski, J. A., Smoski, M. J., & Owren, M. J. (2001). The acoustic features of human laughter. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 110, 1581–1597.
Keltner, D., Capps, L. M., Kring, A. M., Young, R. C., & Heerey, E. A. (2001). Just teasing: A conceptual analysis and empirical review. Psychological Bulletin, 127, 229–248.
Fernald, A. (1992). Human maternal vocalizations to infants as biologically relevant signals: An evolutionary perspective. In H.Barkow, L.Cosmides, & J.Tooby (Eds.), The adapted mind (pp. 391–428). New York: Oxford University Press.
Simon-Thomas, E.R., Keltner, D.J., Sauter, D., Sinicropi-Yao, L., Abramson, A. (2009). The voice conveys specific emotions : evidence from vocal burst displays. American Psychological Association, Emotion, 15283542, 20091201, Vol. 9, Issue 6.
Darwin, C. R. (1872). The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (First ed. Ed.). London: John Murray. Juslin, P. N., & Laukka, P. (2003). Communication of emotions in vocal expression and music performance: Different channels, same code? Psychological Bulletin, 129, 770–814.
Sauter, D. A., & Scott, S. K. (2007). More than one kind of happiness: Can we recognize vocal expressions of different positive states? Motivation and Emotion, 31, 192–199.
Scherer, K. R. (1994). Affect bursts. In S. H. M.van Goozen, N. E.van de Poll, & J. A.Sergeant (Eds.), Emotions (pp. 161–193). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Yesil, R. (2008). Evaluation of body language behavior in a class debate. Social Behavior and Personality, Vol 36(7), 2008. pp. 893-902.
Perls, F. S. (1979).Gestalt Therapy Verbatim. Real People Press, Lafayette, California.
Mehrabian, A. (1968). Nonverbal Communication. Chicago: Aldine-Atherton, 1972.
Goman, C.K. (2008). The Nonverbal Advantage: Secrets and Science of Body Language at Work. Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco, California.
Seidel, E.M, Habel, U., Kirschner, M., Gur, R., & Derntl, B. (2010). The Impact of Facial Emotional Expressions on Behavioral Tendencies in Women and Men. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 0096-1523, 2010, Vol. 36, Issue 2. Hutson, M. (2009). Permexpressions. Psychology Today, Jul/Aug2009, Vol. 42 Issue 4, p24-24, 2/3p. Dorris, J.W., Wertheim, A. (1975). An attribution approach to investigating the perception of implicit communications of evaluation. Mt. Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts, 01075.
Fox, E., Mathews, A., Calder, A., Yiend, J. (2007). Anxiety and sensitivity to gaze direction in emotionally expressive faces. American Psychological Association, Emotion, Vol 7(3), Aug, 2007. pp. 478-486.
N’Diaye, K., Sander, D., Vuilleumier, P. (2009). Self-relevance processing in the human amygdala: Gaze direction, facial expression, and emotion intensity. American Psychological Association, Emotion, Vol 9(6), Dec, 2009. pp. 798-806.
Bachorowski, J. A., Smoski, M. J., & Owren, M. J. (2001). The acoustic features of human laughter. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 110, 1581–1597.
Keltner, D., Capps, L. M., Kring, A. M., Young, R. C., & Heerey, E. A. (2001). Just teasing: A conceptual analysis and empirical review. Psychological Bulletin, 127, 229–248.
Fernald, A. (1992). Human maternal vocalizations to infants as biologically relevant signals: An evolutionary perspective. In H.Barkow, L.Cosmides, & J.Tooby (Eds.), The adapted mind (pp. 391–428). New York: Oxford University Press.
Simon-Thomas, E.R., Keltner, D.J., Sauter, D., Sinicropi-Yao, L., Abramson, A. (2009). The voice conveys specific emotions : evidence from vocal burst displays. American Psychological Association, Emotion, 15283542, 20091201, Vol. 9, Issue 6.
Darwin, C. R. (1872). The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (First ed. Ed.). London: John Murray. Juslin, P. N., & Laukka, P. (2003). Communication of emotions in vocal expression and music performance: Different channels, same code? Psychological Bulletin, 129, 770–814.
Sauter, D. A., & Scott, S. K. (2007). More than one kind of happiness: Can we recognize vocal expressions of different positive states? Motivation and Emotion, 31, 192–199.
Scherer, K. R. (1994). Affect bursts. In S. H. M.van Goozen, N. E.van de Poll, & J. A.Sergeant (Eds.), Emotions (pp. 161–193). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Yesil, R. (2008). Evaluation of body language behavior in a class debate. Social Behavior and Personality, Vol 36(7), 2008. pp. 893-902.
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