BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES - Universitatea de Medicină şi Farmacie

In some parts of the world, particularly in East Asia, eye contact
can provoke misunderstandings between people of different nationalities.
Keeping direct eye contact with a work supervisor or elderly people leads
them to assume you are being aggressive and rude.
In Japan, it is more common to look at the throat of the other
person. In China and Indonesia, the practice is to lower the eyes because
direct eye contact is considered bad manners, and in Hispanic culture
direct eye contact is a form of challenge and disrespect. In Mediterranean
society, men often look at women for long periods of time that may be
interpreted as starring by women from other cultures.
In some Western cultures the eye to eye contact is considered as
positive (advise children to look a person in the eyes). But within USA,
African-Americans use more eye contact when talking and less when
listening with reverse true for Anglo Americans. This is a possible cause
for some sense of unease between races in US. A prolonged gaze is often
seen as a sign of sexual interest.
In Arab culture, it is common for both speakers and listeners to
look directly into each others’ eyes for long periods of time, indicating
keen interest in the conversation. The prolonged eye contact shows interest
and helps them understand truthfulness of the other person (a person who
doesn’t reciprocate is seen as untrustworthy).
Movement and body position
Kinesics is the study of body movements, facial expressions, and
gestures. It was developed by anthropologist Ray L. Birdwhistell in the
1950s. Kinesic behaviors include mutual gaze, smiling, facial warmth or
pleasantness, childlike behaviors, direct body orientation, and the like.
The body movements way.
lateral movements – good communicator.
forward / backword movements – action man.
vertical movements – man with strong persuasion power
Posture can be used to determine a participant’s degree of
attention or involvement, the difference in status between communicators,
and the level of fondness a person has for the other communicator. Our
body postures can create a feeling of warm openness or cold rejection.
Studies investigating the impact of posture on interpersonal relationships
suggest that mirror-image congruent postures, where one person’s left side
is parallel to the other’s right side, leads to favorable perception of
communicators and positive speech; a person who displays a forward lean
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