<p>Nonverbal communication such as body language is a vital component of our communication, and since scholars agree that there are some notable differences in the way men and women use body language, the study of gendered nonverbal communication as a social construction is vital to our understanding of how we create gendered identities. The aim of this paper is to investigate how social gender norms concerning body language appear in constructed communication. By studying the body language of the characters in the American sitcom Friends, and with focus on leg postures, I examine how the show Friends enacts and represents stereotyped sex differences in body language. The study encompasses both the distribution of leg positions between the genders, and what these postures seem to accomplish in interaction. As for the relationship between gender and leg postures, I observed the sitting positions of the characters Chandler, Ross, Joey, Monica and Rachel in six episodes from the 1999/2000 season of Friends for the first study. For the analysis of leg postures in relation to the communicative situation, the entire corpus of ten episode recordings was used. Based on repeated inspection of scenes where leg positions could be studied in relation to gender and communication, systematic patterns were identified.</p><p>The results of the study are consistent with the findings of scholars like Vrugt and Luyerink (2000); women tend to sit in closed postures or with their legs crossed, which is regarded feminine, while men sit in wide positions with their legs spread, which is regarded masculine. Furthermore, the characters/actors in Friends seem to perform their gender roles partly by using different leg positions and wideness of postures. However, leg positions alone were not found to be decisive in the messages communicated, and emotions and stance were communicated using verbal and other non-verbal channels and cues. Instead, leg positions remained gender-stereotypical regardless of the message communicated, and men and women seem to communicate the same message using different leg positions. It is therefore concluded that leg positions are an inherent part of “doing gender”, but that leg positions as such are not necessarily related to the type of message or emotional stance that is communicated.</p>

My study is focused on one organization with is Unicef, the organization that is workning on a UN mission. The mission is about children's rights and Unicef has brought children's actions since 1946.The purpose of this essay was to research whether the images can be used alone or as a complement to the text that the communication organizations use. By examining the way images are used, I hoped to be able to deduce the results of image use. I study if the effect out messages with only pictures will be more effective than the message in which the verbal mixed with the non-verbal.Theoretical part of this essay has a communication perspective. The essay is structure by tree elements, non-verbal communication, mass communication and intercultural communication. With these elements, or keywords, have I interpret UNICEFs communications through two media channels, internet and TV.The methodology I have chosen is qualitative method with a hermeneutic approach. I have carried out three qualitative interviews with women within the organization and one group interview consisting of four persons. I have also observation a qualitative media observation of charity gala on TV4.     My conclusions were that non-verbal communication is most likely more effective as a tool too the verbal instead of the only communication. I also got the conclusion that UNICEF communicate with people thought picture that’s gives hope for the future.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 192-200).

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2002. Graduate Programme in Psychology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 46-55). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pMQ71578.

Purpose: The purposes of the present study consisted of primary, secondary, and tertiary purposes: 1) to determine what factors that can be addressed in speech therapy are the most important for female-to-male (FtM) transgender individuals in passing as their true gender, 2) to determine what factors may contribute to these individuals seeking speech therapy services and to the importance that they assign to speech therapy as part of the transition process, and 3) to determine awareness of this population in regards to the availability and scope of speech therapy services relative to transitioning or passing as their true gender. Method: A 38-item survey was developed to address these research questions and a link to the online survey was distributed via email to various listservs, organizations, and personal contacts to assist in the electronic distribution of the survey link. The responses of the final participant pool of 63 respondents were evaluated. Results: Overall, the participants ranked voice characteristics as the most important for passing followed by nonverbal communication and social language use. These broad categories rankings are generally supported by the existing literature. Within category rankings revealed rankings that are in accord with the existing literature, others that oppose the existing literature, and others that have not been explored in the literature. The following factors stood out as possibly contributing to how important FtMs find speech therapy as facilitating their ability to live as their true gender: desire to pass, satisfaction with hormone related pitch changes, current overall presentation, and whether speech/language contribute to instances of not passing. Factors that appear to possibly contribute to how likely FtMs are to have sought speech therapy include: satisfaction with hormone related pitch changes, voice prior to transition, and if aspects of speech and language contribute to instances of not passing. Overall, FtMs have little awareness regarding speech therapy as part of the transition process, particularly for FtMs. / text

The primary purpose of this study was to determine if relationships exist among the constructs of field dependence, simultaneous processing and sequential processing. The interrelationships among these constructs and ability and achievement were also explored. Regression and discriminant analyses, as well as t-tests were used in the statistical treatment of the data.The 56 student subjects, equally divided by sex, were randomly selected from sixth-grade classrooms in a suburban school corporation in central Indiana. The GEFT and the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) were administered. Results from the comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS) and the Test of Cognitive Skills (TCS) were obtained from school personnel.Overall, there were higher correlations among individual and among group tests than were found between the two types of tests. The GEFT, whether treated as a continuous or categorical variable, was found to correlate significantly with group-administered tests of ability and achievement. The TCS and the CTBS were also found to be significantly related. Intercorrelations among selected Global Scales of the K-ABC were significant. There were no significant zero-order correlations between the K-ABC processing scales and the TCS. There were significant correlations between the K-ABC Achievement measure and group-administered tests of both ability and achievement. While the Achievement Scale of the K-ABC had a significant positive relationship with the LEFT, results of a t-test revealed no significant difference between the performance of field dependent and field independent subjects on the Achievement Scale. A significant positive relationship was found between the GEFTand the Simultaneous Processing Scale as well as the Mental Processing Composite. However, in a regression analysis the principal component of the linear composite was the Simultaneous Scale.

Icke verbal kommunikation förekommer i vårdmöten dagligen. Den kan vara omedveten och otydlig vilket kan göra patienten förvirrad och stressad. Informationen som patienten får av sjukvårdspersonal uttrycks både med verbal och icke verbal kommunikation. i mötet kan icke verbal kommunikation ge stöd och trygghet i omvårdnaden för patienten. Syftet med studien var all belysa sjukvårdspersonalens icke verbala kommunikation i relationen till patienten. Studien utfördes som en systematisk litteraturstudie där resultatet baserades på fjorton vetenskapliga artiklar. De var inhämtade från databaser relevanta för omvårdnadsforskning. Resultatet indikerade att icke verbal kommunikation är ett redskap i vårdmötet. Då kommunikationsprocessen även fortlöper utan ord kan icke verbal kommunikation uttryckas på många olika sätt, däribland tonläge, beröring, gestikulering och kroppsspråk. Det påvisar betydelsen av icke verbal kommunikation för relationen. Det verbala får en djupare förståelse med hjälp av det icke verbala och det kan stärka relationen mellan sjukvårdspersonal och patient. Forskning visar på att sjukvårdsyrkena behöver bredda sin utbildning av icke verbal kommunikation för att optimera vårdmötet. Även mer forskning behövs inom icke verbal kommunikation. / Nonverbal communication occurs in healthcare daily. It may be unconscius and unclear, and it may make the patient confused and stressed. The information that the patient receive from the medical staff, can be expressed in both nonverbal and verbal communication. Under the meeting the patient can feel support and security through nonverbal communication. The purpose of this study was to elucidate professional's nonverbal communication in relation to the patient. It was conducted as a literature study where the results were based on fourteen scientific articles. They were retrieved from databases, relevant to nursing research. The results indicate that nonverbal communication is a tool in health care encounter. When the communication process continues even without words, nonverbal communication is expressed in many different ways. There, in among other, the tone, touch, gestures and body language. It demonstrates the importance of nonverbla communication in the relationship. The verbal get at deeper understanding through the nonverbal and it can streghten the relationship between the health professional and patient. Research shows that the medical profession needs to broaden its training of nonverbal communication to optimize the health care encounter. Although more research is needed on the subject.

The design discipline is reliant on communication as a means to express and share ideas during the creation of products. Design communication can take place in two distinct settings: formal communication presentations and informal interaction communication. Group design communication involves the communication of various attributes of a design. Attributes such as the scale, shape and functionality of a product are communicated. Designers employ various mechanisms including verbal, non-verbal (e.g. hand gestures), and physical tools (e.g. sketches and models) to communicate attributes. Although the verbal and physical tools are commonly used effective tools, hand gestures remain underused. Yet, hand gestures are extensions of the human mind, which may reveal thoughts that verbal communication may not be able to communicate (McNeil, 1992). Hand gestures have the potential to reveal thoughts and if used as an interface mechanism, can augment the information space. As such, hand gestures may facilitate design communication within a group. This study explores the potential of hand gestures as tools in design communication. Moreover; the purpose of this study is to understand how gestures can facilitate the design communication that occurs within a group. A two-phase study was proposed: a research phase and a design phase. During the research phase, ethnographic research in design education environments was conducted to understand what gestures are produced and how they are used during formal and informal design communication settings. The data collected was analyzed and categorized to reveal quantitative and qualitative results. Survey studies were also conducted to validate the hand gesture meaning. The data was used to create design guidelines that directed the design phase, where concepts used hand gestures as interface mechanisms, to augment the experience of a design information exchange. The significance of this project is to generate new knowledge to be applied to the development of more natural technological systems where gestures are used as an alternative to current input devices (e.g. mouse and keyboard) for navigation and manipulation of design material amongst a group. The goal was to improve the communication between designers and their materials and enhance the experience of distributing and receiving design information.

Little has been written of Yat Malmgren’s actor training technique, despite its international influence in mainstream western actor training. Created originally for the construction and performance of characters in theatrical and screen realism, at the Drama Centre, London, in the 1960-1970s, Malmgren’s actor training process, known as Character Analysis, forms a body of knowledge, which is transmitted practically and experientially to trainee actors. This thesis outlines the Malmgren technique’s traditions, processes of transmission and centres primarily on the modes of understanding that underlie this practical system. This research sets a series of widening contextualistations of understandings of the modalities of embedded/embodied knowledge disseminated through the training process. Interwoven throughout this thesis, the researcher’s voice appears as a Researcher’s Journal, placing the embodied awareness of the researcher, as one of the principal Malmgren trainers in Australia. The material and engendered locus for this research is my own embodied consciousness. This research differentiates Malmgren’s training process both from Laban’s movement techniques and from other twentieth century western actor training processes. It begins with the traditions of Rudolf Laban’s movement theories, from which the Malmgren technique arose, Hermeneutic phenomenology is the methodological framework used to investigate the meaning of the Malmgren technique to those studying it, taking into account contemporary performance and communication theories of agency and embodiment. Benner’s (1994) hermeneutic phenomenological method of data collection and analysis, used previously in nursing research, is newly applied to the field of acting. Participants from three full-time acting courses, where Yat Malmgren’s technique is the principal mode of actor training, provide the interview data to articulate a series of phenomenological themes. This research uses Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s image of the chiasm, where materiality and consciousness interweave as an underlying metaphorical structure for embodiment. This research proposes a six-step progression, through which Malmgren’s technique enables trainee actors to develop a growing performative awareness of their bodily-located behaviours. This research also posits the generation of heightened differentiation of sensory inputs and expressions for trainee actors through the Malmgren technique, and how this opens up possibilities for transformation in modes of embodiment for the trainee. Using feminist theories, this research links this development of embodied awareness, in particular the awareness of non-verbal communication and the ‘unspoken’, with a greater understanding of alterity. Whilst the Malmgren technique was developed for purposes of theatrical realism, this research indicates that the technique’s impact facilitates a range of modes of performance by investigating the less articulated forms of performative communication. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Thesis (M.(Augmentative and Alternative Communication))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Summary in English and Afrikaans. Includes bibliographical references.