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NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION & LEADERSHIP.
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Impact of nonverbal behavior on credibility & leadership emergence. Eye contact, para-language, voice, gestures, posture.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Impact of nonverbal behavior on credibility & leadership emergence. Eye contact, para-language, voice, gestures, posture.

Paper Introduction:
The Effects of Nonverbal Communication on Credibility and Leadership Emergence The old saying, "It's not what you say; it's how you say it," well represents the importance of nonverbal behaviors to the emergence of leadership and the establishment of credibility. Several nonverbal behaviors can greatly increase or decrease the opportunities for emergence of leadership and credibility. Studies have explored all aspects of the link between nonverbal communication and the establishment of leadership and credibility. Nonverbal factors fit into five categories: eye contact, gesticulations, paralanguage, posture, and overall facial expression. Also, environmental factors such as seating arrangement and setting have a great effect on leadership emergence and credibility. Use of this information can be

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Gestures make up a large portion of a message. Communication Education, 23, 21-25.Brembeck, W.L., & Howell, W.S. This helps the credibility rating. Given a choice of a seat or resting area, acommunicator should choose the most central position available, to receivemore communication flow. People's credibility is measured by the people with whom they areinteracting. Although the output of credibility can be controlled by acommunicator, the measure of credibility is still made by the receiver(Leathers, 1986). These should be used to emphasize a point. Eye contact studies oncredibility have produced information about the effect of eye contact onthe three components of credibility. Gestures should agree withthe vocal message; if they don't, they will be detrimental. Verbalmessages such as "I am confident that . Nonverbal factors fit into five categories: eye contact,gesticulations, paralanguage, posture, and overall facial expression.Also, environmental factors such as seating arrangement and setting have agreat effect on leadership emergence and credibility. Of all communication, nonverbal is the most important.Competence, trustworthiness, and dynamism are the three major componentsthat make up credibility (Brembeck and Howell, 1976). Dynamism is a person's energy and confidence in communicating.Nonverbal communication is vital to competence, trustworthiness, anddynamism because these qualities are rarely stated directly. A speaker's face must show interest and attention to the subject ofcommunication. Several nonverbalbehaviors can greatly increase or decrease the opportunities for emergenceof leadership and credibility. Gestures should be performed without nervousness. The studies discussed in this report are goodindicators of the tendencies of communicators. People rarelysay, "I am competent" or "I am trustworthy." The most noticeable nonverbal behavior that affects credibility iseye behavior and eye contact. The receiver is taking in, consciously orunconsciously, all communication output and summing it up to measurecredibility. Changes in pitch are expected by receivers and make acommunicator more colorful and dynamic. ." are persuasive.Paralinguistic factors such as volume, rate, pitch, and pronunciation havea strong effect on the receiver. Thefirst impression of a person is based on appearance. The first general finding on eye contact is that themaintenance of gaze while communicating is beneficial to credibilityestablishment, and, conversely, averting eye contact is detrimental tocredibility establishment (Hemsley and Doob, 1978). The Effects of Nonverbal Communication on Credibility and Leadership Emergence The old saying, "It's not what you say; it's how you say it," wellrepresents the importance of nonverbal behaviors to the emergence ofleadership and the establishment of credibility. The effect of looking behavior onperceptions of a communicator's credibility. (1984). Communicator physical attractiveness and persuasion.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 1387-97.Hemsley, G.D., & Doob, A.N. (1976). Theenvironment in which communication occurs can have a great effect on thecommunication that takes place. There is no"correct" gesture for any given situation, but one of the keys to usinggood gestures is the appearance of spontaneity and naturalness (Leathers,1986). During a conversation, pitch almost alwayschanges if the subject changes from a sports event to abortion, forexample. Environmental factors also lead to leadership emergence. Factors such as seating arrangement andthe objects in the environment are important. From the standpoint of credibilityestablishment, people should wear styles that fit the environment and feelcomfortable. Persuasion, a means of socialinfluence. New York: Macmillan.Miles, E.W., & Leathers, D.G. Closed postures,with features such as folded arms and crossed legs, indicate a closedpersonality and show a lack of confidence. As expected, the speakers withconfident voices were rated more credible. The pitch of a communicator's voice usually varies, depending on thesubject (Leathers, 1986). However, the rate should beintelligible to the audience and slow enough not to reveal nervousness. Whenvolunteers were asked to rate competence of communicators with low eyecontact and with high eye contact, the competence ratings weresignificantly higher for the subjects who exhibited high eye contact withthe audience (Beebe, 1974). A speaker with poor pronunciation is perceived to be lower incompetence, trustworthiness and dynamism than a speaker with goodpronunciation. While gender has not been treated as a nonverbalfactor in the literature so far, it may need to be added as a factor inorder to provide a realistic assessment. A monotonous pitch throughout aconversation will probably be perceived as neither competent nor dynamic.The pronunciation of a communicator is vital to credibility establishmentbecause pronunciation is probably the most obvious semantic feature of avoice. Thisway, the gestures work to enhance the content. American Sociological Review, 16, 461-68.Beebe, S.A. Unnaturalgestures, such as touching the body and playing with objects like clothingor pens, are detrimental to the conveyance of the message and hurtcredibility perception. People can change appearance by changing clothing styles,hairstyles and other esoteric factors (Leathers, 1986). The rate at which someone speaks is vital to the understanding of amessage and to the credibility of the communicator. The overall facialexpression of a communicator is important to a receiver's perception ofcredibility. Circular seating has no advantage ordisadvantage because every person has the same opportunity to receivecommunication flow. In general, the communicatorshould avoid long pauses, repetition of words, and constant filler wordslike "uh." These vocal actions reduce credibility (Leathers, 1986). The size, objects, colors, seating arrangements, and other factorsdetermine this personality. A speaker simplystanding and talking with no motion whatsoever is dull. Journal of Applied SocialPsychology, 8, 136-44.Howell, L.T., & Becker, S.W. In tests where these three componentswere isolated, eye behaviors had little effect on dynamism. The impact of aesthetic andprofessionally related objects on credibility in the office setting.Southern Speech Communication Journal, 49, 247-54.Scherer, K.R., London, H., & Wolf, J.J. A person sitting at the head of atable probably receives more communication than those on the sides, since,from the head of the table, one can easily engage in face-to-facecommunication, and the communication centralizes there. Posture can also influence perceived competence. Some nonverbal elements of leadership emergence.Southern Speech Communication Journal, 42, 352-61.Báles, R.F., Strodtbeck, F.L., Mills, T.M., & Roseborough, M.E. Thus, one's nonverbal communication is vital to theestablishment of credibility. Beneficial gestures are usually performed with the hands, arms, andhead. Other strange eye behaviors, such asshifting eyes, looking down at notes for extended periods, and blinkingexcessively, have been shown to lower credibility ratings (Leathers, 1986). Journal of Personality and Social Behavior, 58, 48-59.Chaiken, S. Besides leadership, other environmental factors affect theestablishment of credibility and leadership. An expression of dullness detracts from an image of dynamism. (1951). Environments have personality, as peopledo. The voice of confidence.Journal of Research in Personality, 7, 31-44.----------------------- 9 In group communication ortask-oriented communication, the communication seems to centralize: "Thisseems to indicate that the top [person] is acting as a kind ofcommunication center, and in this sense is performing a leadershipfunction" (Báles, Strodtbeck, Mills, & Roseborough,1953, p. Competence is thecommunicator's knowledge and expertise about the communication.Trustworthiness is the quality which shows the communicator's honesty andsincerity. However, a recent study (Butler andGeis, 199 ) indicates that gender influences credibility establishment andleadership emergence. Studies have explored all aspects of thelink between nonverbal communication and the establishment of leadershipand credibility. Different seating positions have different effects on communicationflow and leadership emergence. (1978). Nonverbal affect responses to male and female leaders: Implications for leadership evaluation. 465). Using gestures to show participation anddynamism is beneficial to the establishment of credibility. The communicator's voice is a largedeterminer of the receiver's first impression and final impression. There are alsogestures that can be detrimental to those who want to be perceived ascredible. Eye contact: A nonverbal determiner of speakercredibility. This does not meanthat all gestures enhance one's communication. Volumerepresents more than a level of sound that can be heard. G. Many studies havebeen done on eye behaviors and their effect on communication andcredibility. Personal appearance is a major factor used to judge a person. (1974). A 1984 study by Edward Milesand Dale Leathers found that aesthetic and professional objects in theoffice affect the image of credibility. If these semantic qualities are used while communicating, thecommunicator will have the "confident voice," according to a study byScherer, London and Wolf (1973). Ideally, a person's gestures flow with the vocal channel. The competenceand trustworthiness categories, however, produced a significant link. The same test produced significant differencesin the trustworthiness ratings of those with low eye contact and high eyecontact. (199 ). In that study, texts were read withconfident and doubtful voices to observers. A person sittingin a high position is usually the leader. Thus,vocal factors are important to credibility establishment. At times, paralanguage isactually more important than the words. This shows how important the semantics of acommunicator are to perception by the audience. A speakershould use a rate that is fast enough to keep the audience interested andshow confident knowledge of the subject. People who areattractive are found to be credible more often than less attractive people(Chaiken, 1979). These gestures do not enhance the communicator's message andshould not be used. People in control of their environment shouldconsider these guidelines. Proper use or disuse ofnonverbal communication not only improves communication, but also helpsestablish credibility and leadership. (1973). (1979). Nonverbal factors are important to credibility establishment andleadership emergence. BibliographyBaird, J. When people are side by side, the communication flow is minimal(Howell and Becker, 1962). The study showed that authorityand trustworthiness ratings were higher when a person had aestheticobjects, such as plants and pictures, and professional objects, such asdiplomas and plaques, in the office. Seating arrangement and leadershipemergence. If a person speaks tooslowly, the audience will likely lose interest, and the speaker'scredibility will drop. Leg and foot movements are also known to representdiscomfort and should be avoided (Baird, 1977). Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 64, 148-49.Leathers, D. Also, a speaker with a doubtfultext and confident voice was more credible than a speaker with a confidenttext and a doubtful voice. Credibility is the believability of a person as measured byanother person. Speaking too quickly may make a voiceunintelligible, leading to the same result, lower credibility. Agood combination of volume, varying rate and pitch, and fluency gives theimpression of a competent and dynamic communicator. Successful nonverbal communication. Also, one should changeposture periodically to show confidence because postural stiffness isusually perceived as nervousness. A strong voice, on the other hand, shows great confidence(Scherer, London, & Wolf, 1973). Like the old saying, "Eyes are your windowto the world," eyes can be the window to credibility. Clothing and hairstyle should flatter body type,rather than exposing weaknesses. Finger-tapping, lip-licking, and smiling too often are tentative gestures that show lack ofconfidence. Eye behaviors can becontrolled by a communicator, but the establishment of credibility cannot.The use of beneficial eye behaviors is a tool that can be used by acommunicator to try to raise credibility with the receiver. Channels of communications in small groups. Surveys have shown that low eye contact is one of the behaviors mostdetrimental to trustworthiness. (1977). One's physicalappearance creates an image of the person in the same way as othernonverbal messages do. These objects did not have a largeeffect on dynamism, as Miles and Leathers thought, but they did affectauthority and trustworthiness. If seatingposition affects communication flow, and communication flow affectsleadership emergence, then seating position affects leadership emergence. For example, Nelson Rockefellerused to have steps up to his desk so that he could stand on top of his deskwhen addressing people in his office. Studieshave shown that communication between people who are face to face ismaximized. This shows that people in different seatingpositions give and receive different amounts of communication. Communicators shouldkeep their hands and elbows away from their bodies to avoid the appearanceof nervousness (Leathers, 1986). A person with aweak voice is usually perceived as lacking confidence, which lowerscredibility. Use of thisinformation can be important to a communicator because receivers interpretspecific actions as having specific credibility and leadership meanings.This paper explores the nonverbal behaviors and environmental factorsimportant to leadership and credibility establishment and the onesdetrimental to it. The difference between gestureand posture is that a gesture conveys a message by using one part of thebody, while a postural shift involves the movement of the body as a whole(Leathers, 1986). (1962). Like gestures, postural movements shouldflow with the conversation so they look natural. It does mean that certaingestures are beneficial to communication and credibility. . Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Butler, D., & Geis, F.L. Open posture, with arms spread in a relaxed manner, is amuch more confident pose than a closed stance. Paralanguage, the semantics of language, is a nonverbal factor thatcan contribute to or take away from a person's credibility. (1986). Use of goodgestures at the proper time is beneficial to credibility. Positions that face the most people in agroup are the best for communication. The most important eye behavior in increasing credibility is themaintenance of eye contact while communicating.

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