Michael Argyle b. 1925
Professor Michael Argyle was a pioneer in the experimental
study of nonverbal behaviour and helped define the scope of social psychology
in academic departments. He made modifications to Charles Berner’s
communication cycle, involving six steps: someone decides to communicate an
idea, encodes it, and sends it; someone else receives it, decodes it and
understands it. Argyle’s studies into gaze and mutual gaze behaviour included
cultural differences, gaze duration, and its role in conversation regulation.
He also identified the ways in which conscious touch takes place, and how
feedback demonstrates understanding. Among his many conclusions were that a
greater importance is placed on nonverbal behaviour over what’s actually spoken
when it comes to attitude assumptions (NV 12.5x more powerful) and the handling
of immediate social relationships; that increased eye contact increases liking
and helps ensure the smooth flow of conversation; and that the amount of eye
contact decreases if a speaker stands closer to the listener than would
normally be comfortable.
Read Bodily Communication (1975) New York, NY:
Methuen
