An Advanced Framework for Verbal Communication and Nonverbal Gestures in Parent–child Interactions

A key issue in interpersonal communication is the interrelation of verbal communication and nonverbal gestures (VCNGs). This study expands the theoretical framework for VCNGs by presenting an advanced framework for VCNGs in parent–child interactions. The study explored both parents and children and explains the effect of a wide range of social and situational contexts: child’s sex, parent’s sex, socioeconomic status, and task difficulty on VCNGs. Parent–child interactions (n=160) in structured joint game sequences were filmed in their homes and analyzed using a mixed multivariate design. Findings exposed unexpected VCNGs interrelations and reciprocal patterns for parents and children. Social and situational contexts effected VCNGs significantly. The study contributes composite theoretical accounts for VCNGs from receptive and expressive perspectives

Extending Impression Management Theory: The Need for Privacy vs. the Need to Express Information on Instant Messaging Apps

Impression management (IM) is a central assertion in interpersonal communication. There is increasing interest in exploring IM in new media. However, studies exploring IM in popular instant-messaging apps are lacking. Our main aims in the present study are to fill this gap and extend IM theory toward an innovative theoretical and analytical framework of computer-mediated communication (CMC). This study analyzed the popular instant-messaging app WhatsApp, the largest app for social chatting that has users all over the world.We utilized a multi-variant design of quantitative and qualitative analysis, and conducted content analysis of WhatsApp profiles (n=546); an online survey of WhatsApp users (n=600); and in-depth interpersonal interviews (n=30). The findings demonstrate the structure, motivations, and communication functions of CMC IM. The proposed framework provides composite theoretical explanations, of psychological and sociological perspectives, for the IM’s conflicting motivations: the need for privacy and the need to express information. Moreover, this study delineates the effect of gender and marital status on IM through instant-messaging app. The theoretical and analytical framework develops an impression construct that both reduces and increases information, which activates synchronous and asynchronous features of instant-messaging apps, which affects interpersonal communication

Gender Effect on Political Leaders’ Nonverbal Communicative Structure during the COVID-19 Crisis

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been intense interest in political leaders’ nonverbal communicative structures (NCS) during televised appearances. This study analyzes the effect of gender on leaders’ NCS and presents theoretical and analytical frameworks of gendered NCS. We analyzed 20 televised appearances by 10 heads of state (five males and five females) from democratic Western countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings revealed that gender had a significant effect on leaders’ NCS, indicating that leaders presented NCS that corresponded to their gender. Male leaders’ masculine NCS included competition, warning, threatening, and scaring behavior, broad proxemics, tension leakage, and illustrative gestures, while female leaders presented feminine NCS of cooperativeness, emotional communication, empathy, optimism, eye contact, and flexible expressions. Furthermore, the effect of gender on leaders’ NCS had an interaction effect with the situation of the pandemic, indicating that countries with a female leader had fewer diseased and severe cases and more calmness and healing NCS. The conclusions present theoretical and analytical frameworks that explain the central effect of gender on contemporary leaders’ NCS. This study develops advanced distinctive profiles for male versus female leaders’ NCS of emotions, cognition, and behavior during a crisis