Cues of Immediacy
What are Vocalic Cues of Immediacy?
When people are highly involved in the conversation at hand, they tend to talk louder and faster, sound more varied in terms of tempo, pitch, and volume, and have fewer silences and non-fluencies.
Stage 1
Attention
Behavior is ambiguous, timid, and submissive
Key Nonverbal Behaviors: Shy smiles and behaviors, self-adaptors, nervous laughter, primping behavior.
How do intimate relationships influence the use of facial and vocal expressions compared to non-intimate relationships?
Intimates use more facial and vocal expressions with each other than non-intimates.
Involvement Cues
Show that a person is engaged actively in the conversation. (ex; Leaning in, eye contact using an expressive voice.)
What does close proxemics indicate in a relationship?
Close proxemic distances are the #1 indicator of relational satisfaction
Stage 2
Courtship, Readiness and Recognition
Behavior is still indirect, but signals availability for interaction and willingness to communicate occur.
Key Nonverbal Behaviors: Eyebrows raised, head tilts, increased gaze, increased muscle tone, direct body orientation
How do intimates compare to non-intimates in terms of accuracy and efficiency in nonverbal communication?
Intimates are generally more accurate and more efficient when using NVC cues/communicating than non-intimates.
Intimacy
Reflected in messages that show high levels of immediacy, involvement, affection, depths & trust; displays of similarity, having a social orientation, and being informal also make interactions more intimate.Intimacy is experienced as an internal state and expressed using verbal & nonverbal behaviors.
What are Kinesic cues of immediacy?
gaze, smiling, body positioning, positive reinforcers, facial animation, & gestural animation.
Stage 3
Positioning
Behavior indicates responsiveness and shuts off communication with those outside the dyad.
Key Nonverbal Behaviors: Forward leaning and close proximity, mirroring/ postural congruence, tie-signs, kinesics and vocal animation, territorial markers.
What is one difference in how intimates and non-intimates respond to nonverbal actions?
Intimates give each other more expressions of overt disapproval for nonverbal actions than non-intimates.
Immediacy
(Positive involvement cues) Communicate intimacy and closeness. (ex; closer proximity, more touch, more eye contact, facial expressiveness, and more vocalic engagement.)
What are Chronemic Cues of Immediacy?
rules of punctuality and consideration, time spent together, and the monochromic use of time.
Stage 4
Sexual Arousal & Invitations
Behaviors seek and give confirmation for pursuing sexual intimacy
Key Nonverbal Behaviors: Increasingly intimate touch/kissing, baby talk, revealing skin.
What is a potential risk for intimates when it comes to interpreting each other's nonverbal cues?
Intimates often become overconfident in being able to decode each other's cues.
Relational Communication
Refers to how people define their relationship with one another. It concerns the messages, usually nonverbal, that people exchange telling one another whether they view the relationship as one of love or hate, friendship or enemy, trust or distrust, equality or inequality, etc
What are Indirect Vs. Direct Nonverbal Affection Behaviors?
(Direct NVB) Close conversational distances, positive forms of touch such as tie-signs, mutual gaze and eye contact, smiling, vocal warmth, high pitch.
(Indirect NVB) Social Support Behaviors: Doing someone a favor. Helping with a task
Idiomatic Expressions: Special gestures in a relationship. Used more in public and more often by Men.
Stage 5
Resolution
Behaviors consists of sexual intercourse
When people flirt without the intention of sexual intercourse, their flirting behaviors are classified as quasi-courtship rather than courtship behavior.
In terms of communication focus, how do intimates differ from non-intimates?
Intimates pay more attention to nonverbal communication (NVC) cues and focus less on verbal messages compared to non-intimates.
The Principle of Escalation
NVC related to immediacy, and particularly those related to courtship, tend to increase as a romantic relationship escalates toward commitment and sexual involvement. When a relationship is committed, the immediacy cues decrease somewhat and then level off.