The Signal System

Abstract

What are the major components of body language? What are the most important nonverbal behaviors we need to attend to? What do very specific behaviors tell us? Traditionally, researchers have “split up” the different types of bodily communication. Thus there are books, papers and experts on eye gaze as well as experts focusing on gestures alone. Some concentrate on cross-cultural differences in one or more types of body language, while others look for the body language indicators of specific emotions such as anxiety. As technology has progressed, so has research into such areas as olfaction (the sense of smell). No doubt soon there will be MRI or brain activity studies of body language.