Non-Verbal Communication: Body Language and Eye Contact

Non-verbal communication (NVC) refers to the ways we communicate without using words. It includes body language, facial expressions, eye contact, gestures, posture, tone of voice, and personal space. Research suggests that NVC accounts for a significant proportion of the information we communicate — some estimates suggest that as much as 55–93% of communication is non-verbal.

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Types of Non-Verbal Communication

Type	Description	Example
Facial expressions	Movements of the face that convey emotions	Smiling, frowning, raising eyebrows
Eye contact	Looking at another person's eyes during interaction	Maintaining gaze during conversation
Body language (posture)	The position and movement of the body	Leaning forward (interest), crossed arms (defensive)
Gestures	Hand and arm movements that convey meaning	Thumbs up, waving, pointing
Touch	Physical contact used for communication	Handshake, pat on the back, hug
Tone of voice (paralinguistics)	Vocal features other than the actual words	Pitch, speed, volume, intonation
Personal space (proxemics)	The physical distance between people during interaction	Standing close to someone (intimate) vs far away (formal)

flowchart TD
    NVC["Non-verbal<br/>communication"] --> FE["Facial<br/>expressions"]
    NVC --> EC[Eye contact]
    NVC --> BL[Body language]
    NVC --> GE[Gestures]
    NVC --> PS["Personal space<br/>proxemics"]
    NVC --> PV["Paralinguistics<br/>tone, pitch"]
    FE --> FE1["Six universal<br/>emotions - Ekman"]
    EC --> EC1["Regulates conversation,<br/>intimacy, dominance"]
    BL --> BL1["Open vs closed posture,<br/>postural echo"]
    GE --> GE1["Pointing, waving,<br/>thumbs up"]
    PS --> PS1[Hall four zones]

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Eye Contact

Eye contact is one of the most important forms of non-verbal communication. It serves several functions:

Function	Description
Regulating conversation	Eye contact signals when it is someone's turn to speak. Looking away may signal that you have finished talking
Expressing emotion	Dilated pupils indicate interest or arousal; narrowing eyes may indicate suspicion
Indicating interest	Maintaining eye contact shows you are paying attention and interested
Establishing dominance	Prolonged staring can be interpreted as a challenge or assertion of dominance
Building intimacy	Mutual gaze between partners strengthens emotional connection

Cultural Differences in Eye Contact

Eye contact norms vary significantly across cultures:

• In Western cultures, direct eye contact is generally seen as a sign of confidence, honesty, and engagement
• In some East Asian cultures (e.g. Japan), prolonged eye contact may be seen as disrespectful or aggressive, especially with authority figures
• In some Middle Eastern cultures, direct eye contact between men and women may be considered inappropriate

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Body Language and Posture

Body language refers to the messages communicated through body position, movement, and orientation.

Open vs Closed Body Language

Type	Characteristics	Interpretation
Open	Relaxed posture, uncrossed arms, facing the person, leaning slightly forward	Interest, confidence, openness, friendliness
Closed	Crossed arms, turned away, hunched shoulders, leaning back	Defensiveness, discomfort, disinterest, anxiety

Postural Echo (Mirroring)

Postural echo (or mirroring) occurs when one person unconsciously adopts the same posture as the person they are interacting with. This tends to happen during positive social interactions and can indicate:

• Rapport — the two people feel connected
• Agreement — they share similar views
• Empathy — one person is attuned to the other's emotional state

Research has shown that deliberately mirroring someone's posture can increase liking and trust in social interactions.

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Facial Expressions

Ekman (1970) conducted influential research on facial expressions and concluded that six basic emotions have universal facial expressions, recognisable across all cultures:

Emotion	Facial Expression
Happiness	Smile, raised cheeks, crinkled eyes
Sadness	Drooping mouth, inner eyebrows raised
Anger	Furrowed brow, tightened lips, flared nostrils
Fear	Wide eyes, open mouth, raised eyebrows
Surprise	Raised eyebrows, wide eyes, dropped jaw
Disgust	Wrinkled nose, raised upper lip

Ekman tested this by showing photographs of facial expressions to people from different cultures (including isolated tribes with no exposure to Western media) and found that they could reliably identify the emotions.

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Evaluation of NVC Research

Strengths

• Ekman's research provides evidence for universal facial expressions, suggesting a biological basis
• NVC research has practical applications in areas such as counselling, policing (detecting deception), and social skills training
• Understanding NVC helps improve interpersonal communication

Weaknesses

• While some expressions may be universal, their display rules (when and how expressions are shown) vary across cultures
• NVC can be ambiguous — the same gesture or expression can have different meanings in different contexts
• Much research uses static photographs rather than dynamic, real-life interactions
• There is a risk of oversimplification — non-verbal cues are often interpreted together, not in isolation

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Key Points

• Non-verbal communication includes facial expressions, eye contact, body language, gestures, touch, tone of voice, and personal space.
• Eye contact serves multiple functions: regulating conversation, expressing emotion, indicating interest, and establishing dominance.
• Open body language signals confidence and interest; closed body language signals defensiveness.
• Ekman identified six universal facial expressions of emotion.
• Cultural differences affect the use and interpretation of NVC.

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Worked Study: Yuki, Maddux and Masuda (2007) — Eye Contact and Cultural Reading of Faces

Aim: to investigate whether the cultural design of emoticons (mouth-focused :-) in the West, eye-focused (^_^) in Japan) mirrors a genuine difference in how real facial NVC — particularly the eye region — is used to decode emotion. The underlying question is whether eye contact and eye expression are weighted differently across cultures.

Procedure: 95 American and 118 Japanese university students were shown computer-generated faces in which the eye expression (happy, neutral, sad) and mouth expression (happy, neutral, sad) were independently manipulated. Participants rated each face on nine-point happiness and sadness scales. A second experiment used parallel text emoticons built from varying eye and mouth characters.