Kinesics is the study of body movement, facial expressions, and gestures. It includes several types of nonverbal communication such as emblems, illustrators, affect displays, regulators, and adaptors. Understanding kinesics can help improve communication and avoid misunderstandings by making the meanings we transmit clearer. It allows people to communicate significant information through body language even without words.

1. Kinesics
Body movement and gestures
Presented By:
Avish Shah –

2.  “ A man stands
inside of a closed
glass phone booth.
You cannot hear a
word he says, but
you see his
postures, gestures,
and facial
expressions. “
You see his kinesics.
Marjorie F. Vargas
(Louder Than
Words)

3. Kinesics is the study of body
movement, facial expressions, and
gestures.
Points Covered In
Presentation…
 Postures
 Gestures
 Emblems
 Illustrators
 Affect displays
 Regulators
 Adaptors

4. Posture & Gait
 Expressions related  In Western culture, an
upright, yet relaxed body
to posture, gait
posture, is associated with
◦ “grow a spine” confidence, positivity, high
◦ walking with a “spring self esteem (Guerrero &
in your step” Floyd, 2006).
◦ “stand up for yourself”
◦ “stand up straight”
◦ “hold your head high”
◦ “don’t slouch.”
◦ “stand still”

5. Posture & Gait

6. Posture and Body Movement
 Nonverbal indicators of
Liking
◦ Forward lean
◦ Body and head orientation
facing the other person
◦ Open body positions
◦ Affirmative head nods
◦ Moderate gesturing and
animation
◦ Close interpersonal distances
◦ Moderate body relaxation
◦ Touching
◦ Initiating and maintaining eye
contact
◦ Smiling
◦ Mirroring (congruent posture)

7. Posture and Body Movement
 Nonverbal indicators of
dislike
◦ Indirect, oblique body
orientation
◦ No eye contact, or eye
contact of short duration
◦ Averted eyes
◦ Unpleasant facial
expressions
◦ Relative absence of
gestures
◦ Body rigidity, bodily tension
◦ Incongruent postures

8. Politician’s postures

9. nonverbal faux pas

10. Gestures
 Humans have uniquely
expressive hands.

11. Gestures
 Gestures may be
conflicting
◦ Yawning while
saying you are not
tired.
◦ Looking involved but
saying, “I don’t
care,”

12. Emblems :
Movement communicates
meaning
 Emblems are body
movements that
substitute for words and
phrases.
 We beckon with are
index finger to mean
“come here.”
 We use an open hand
held up to mean “stop.”
However,
be wary of emblems,
they may mean
something different in a
different culture.

13. Emblems
 Emblems are used
intentionally.
 They have verbal
equivalents
 They have a clear,
consistent meaning
within a particular
culture
◦ Cross my heart
◦ Shame on you
◦ Peace sign
◦ I’m crazy

14. In much of the
world today,
the thumbs up
means,
"O.K.", "Right
On!", or "I like
this”
.
But in Iran,
Afghanistan, Nigeria
and parts of Italy
and Greece.. it is an
obscene insult,
especially when
combined with a
sweep of the arms.

15. Illustrators
 Illustrators are used  Examples of illustrators
intentionally.  Two palms held up signify “I
 Illustrators are tied to don’t know.
speech.  Wagging a finger while
◦ They reinforce or
making a point
supplement what is being  Rolling one’s eyes in
said. disbelief
 “For example” gesture
 Illustrators are most
 Just a pinch
common in face-to-face
 Hitting one’s fist for
interaction
emphasis
 Illustrators are so  A double head nod
habitual, people use  Pointing when giving
them when talking on directions
the phone  I caught a fish this big.
 After you

16. Affect displays
Are these people expressing
the same emotion, in differing
degrees, or different emotions
altogether?

17. Affect displays
 Affect displays may  Interpreting affect
or may not be displays:
intentional ◦ Look at the face to
 Affect displays determine the emotion
convey feeling and ◦ Look at body cues to
determine the strength or
emotion
intensity of the emotion.
 They are often
communicated via
facial expressions
 They can be difficult
to interpret

18. Regulators
 Regulators are primarily  Types of turn-taking
unintentional  Turn-requesting cues
 They regulate turn-taking
 Turn maintaining cues
behavior
 Turn yielding cues
 Conversational give and
take depends on  Turn denying cues
regulators

19. Regulators
 Regulate the ebb
and flow of
conversation

20. Adaptors
 Adaptors are usually  Examples of adaptors
unintentional. ◦ Fiddling with one’s hair
 Adaptors include ◦ Chewing one’s fingernails
self-touching ◦ Tapping one’s foot or leg
behaviors ◦ Biting one’s lips
 Adapters signal ◦ Scratching one’s arm
nervousness, ◦ Wringing one’s hands
anxiousness, ◦ Clenching one’s jaw
boredom
 Generally speaking,
adapters are
perceived negatively
◦ However, adaptors
may be perceived as
more genuine,
authentic

21. Adaptors
 Hair twirling is
an adaptor, but
does it always
mean the same
thing?

22. Adaptors
 Object adaptors  Adaptors when
include: students take tests
 Tapping a pencil ◦ Hair twirling
 Drumming one’s ◦ Scratching
fingers ◦ Ear pulling
◦ Forehead rubbing
 Adjusting one’s
clothing
 Playing with
jewelry

23. How does it help to know about
kinesics?
 Understanding nonverbal
communication can help us
communicate better. We avoid
misunderstandings. We are clearer
in the meanings we transmit.

24. Sources:
 http://www.ooze.com/finger/html/foriegn.htm
l
 http://members.aol.com/doder1/kinesic1.ht
m
 http://www.psychcorp.com/catg/pdf/p187.p
df