Nonverbal Behavior and Social Psychology

Nonverbal behavior is most commonly discussed in terms of its sep- arate channels or modalities, that is, one chapter on distance, another on gaze, a third on facial expression, and so forth. Representative of this approach are a text by Knapp (1978), Harper, Wiens, and Ma- tarazzos (1978) scholarly review, Weitzs (1979) book of readings, and Siegman and Feldsteins (1978) edited volume of chapters by prom- inent researchers. This book examines nonverbal behavior from a different per- spective. It is organized around those dominant themes in social psy- chology which have particular relevance for nonverbal behavior. Ob- viously, not all of the major topics in social psychology are represented here, but many receive some coverage in one or more of the chapters. The following areas are those having broad chapter coverage: (1) research approaches, (2) attraction, (3) social influence, (4) social reg- ulation, (5) emotions, (6) individual and group differences, and (7) theoretical and applied issues.