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Odessa I.I. Mechnikov National University

Romance-Germanic Philology Department
Chair of English Lexicology and Stylistics

DIPLOMA PAPER
Master Degree
«Polycode Structure of ‘Body Language’ by Allan and Barbara Pease»
«Полікодова структура «Body Language» Алана і Барбари Піз»

Written by the full-time student

speciality 035 Philology 035.04 Germanic Languages
and Literature (translation included):
English language and literature

E.Appiah
Scientific Supervisor:
As. Professor D.O. Pozdnyakov __________
Reviewer: As. Professor Pozharitska O.O.

Approved at the meeting of the chair: Defended at the meeting of the EB № 2

Minutes №______ Minutes №_______
Head of the Chair________ Amount of points_____Mark ECTS___
National scale______
Prof., PhD I.M. Kolegaeva Head of the EB PhD N.O. Kravchenko

ODESSA - 2018
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PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Nonverbal communication describes the process of shared cues between people, which
goes hand-in-hand with verbal communication. These shared cues which really
represent the reflection of our thoughts however, are usually not recognized by
communicators; and this in a way, hinders the effectiveness of communication. This is
what actually fueled my decision to embark on this research into the impact of body
language. This study examines communication and its role in our daily lives, creating
impressions, nonverbal cues and body language such as eye contact, frequency of
glances, blink rate, gestures, facial expressions, postures, and more. The study goes
further to investigate the meanings of various hand signals in different countries and
cultures across the globe; as well as commonly used same signals with different
meanings.

Communication is a topic that I have become so passionate about due to my honours

thesis, and I am hoping to keep pursing that drive in my future career path. I hope my
enthusiasm is evident in reading my paper and that it encourages others to pursue what
they are passionate about.

I first want to thank my family and friends who encouraged me and gave me their
support from the very beginning. I really appreciate your attention and the views you
shared with me concerning this particular topic. I am really grateful for being part of
this success.

I also want to thank my department (Department of Stylistics and Lexicology) for

giving me the platform to embark on this master’s thesis. A special thanks goes to Prof.
Колегаева I. М (The Head of Department) for your approval to write this thesis in
English language. I am really grateful for that edge.

Finally, I want to give a special thank you to Prof. Позднеков Д. О, my scientific

advisor. I am glad that you shared my passion in nonverbal communication; seeing you
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just as fascinated by my research helped encourage me to research more. Thank you for
being so available for help and offering all of your time to work with me. I am glad I
got the opportunity to work with you one on one over the course of the last year. I
appreciate all of the advice you put into my paper. If it were not for you I would
probably still be writing my first chapter.

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CONTENTS

PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 2

INTRODUCTION 6
CHAPTER I. NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION 12
1.1. LITERATURE REVIEW OF NONVERBAL 13
COMMUNICATION
1.2. SUBCONSSCIOUS REACTIONS 14
1.3. BODY LANGUAGE AND ITS ORIGINS 15
1.4. ASSPECTS OF BODY LANGUAGE 16
1.5. HOW BODY LANGUAGE REVEALS EMOTIONS AND 19
THOUGHTS
1.6. MALE AND FEMALE DIFFERENCES 20
1.7. WHY WOMEN ARE MORE PERCEPTIVE 22
1.8. IMPORTANCE OF BODY LANGUAGE 23
CHAPTER II. CREATING IMPRESSIONS 26
2.1. EVOLUTION OF FIRST IMPRESSIONS 27
2.2. EMPATHY AND CREATING IMPRESSIONS 30
2.3. GENDER DIFFERENCE IN EMPATHY 31
CHAPTER III. IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF NONVERBAL 34
COMMUNICATION

3.1. FACIAL EXPRESSIONS 34

3.2. EYE SIGNALS 35
3.3. ARM SIGNALS 41
3.4. GESTURES OF THE LEG 50
CHAPTER IV. BODY LANGUAGE BASED ON DIFFERENT 55
CULTURES
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4.1. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES ASSOCIATED WITH HAND 55

SIGNALS
4.2. THE THREE MOST COMMON CULTURAL GESSTURES 59
4.3. CULTURAL BASICS ARE THE SAME ALMOST 62
EVERYWHERE
CONCLUSION 64
REFERENCES 67
РЕЗЮМЕ 70

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INTRODUCTION

Communication has always been an integral part of our daily lives since time
immemorial. It has been in existence since millions of year ago and has always serve
as a means of expressing ideas, thoughts, emotions, feelings and other aspects of our
beings. As humans, everyone learns how to communicate, whether it be speaking,
facial and hand gestures or other body signals. Some learn as babies from watching
adults; a baby’s first word is normally a milestone event. Others learn as toddlers
and continue as they grow older. Some may take classes on language and speech.
Normally as one grows older, the spoken word is emphasized but it is not the only
way to communicate. What if one knew that what he or she was learning only
skimmed the surface of successful communication skills? Body language is the
original shared language of communication. Research has found that 93% of our
interpersonal communication is nonverbal, leaving only 7% of communication
involving actual words. To break it down even further, 55% of nonverbal
communication is visual (body language, eye contact) and 38% is vocal (pitch,
speed, volume, tone of voice). There are over 1,000 nonverbal factors that contribute
to the messages people send in every interaction. Nonverbal communication is any
form of communication that does not contain the spoken word such as facial
expressions, the way someone is standing or is dressed, a person’s movements and
mannerisms or vocal pitches and tone.

Body language sends messages to people that are more convincing than just
words. These messages are more honest and reliable sources. They are influenced
and learned over time by neurological, familial, cultural and individual aspects of a
person’s life. They are also influenced by biological gender differences that allow

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for men and women to communication differently. For example, men use only one
side of their brain at a time; therefore, they absorb one message at a time. Women
have more complex connections between both hemispheres of their brain which can
absorb more information quicker. Some forms of body language are conscious like
standing up straight, smiling and giving handshakes. But no matter how conscious
people are of body language, slight slips and leakages are nearly impossible to
control. In order for others to believe a person is being truthful body language must
be congruent with verbal and nonverbal cues. One cannot hide their body language
because it is always constant. A person is still communicating with body language
by clothes, stances, facial expressions or silence. However, it can never be based on
one signal. One must read several signals that suggest the same thought or emotion
to properly assume that that signal is true.

Even though nonverbal communication is the majority of a person’s

communication, why is it so important? According to Tonya Reiman, author of The
Power of Body Language, research from Princeton showed that humans make initial
judgments about a person’s attractiveness, likeability, trustworthiness, competence
and aggressiveness within 100 milliseconds or one tenth of one second when meeting
someone, and all those initial judgments are based on nonverbal communication
signals. Each time someone meets another we take a tiny sample of their life and
assume it portrays 100 percent of his or her personality. In 1/10 of second, people
decide whether they can trust them, will like them and if they are competent. People
have 1/10 of a second to show using nonverbal communication that they are a decent,
friendly, trustworthy person. Seems unfair but even if a person might think of
themselves as open minded and unlikely to cast judgments based on superficial facts,
they will still judge you. Given this state of affairs, one could argue that it would
defy the basic logic of evolutionary biology if people did not form immediate
impressions of others. It happens in job interviews often. The first way a person is
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identified and judged for a job is by their body language. The interviewer looking to
hire a person is immediately judging one to see if their personality will work well in
the office. It is not based on their work skills or experience as it used to be. Without
proper nonverbal communication, a person can lose a job before they even say a
word.

Over the time of one’s life people subconsciously develop first impression
interpretation skills but some are more accurate than others. Accuracy of first
impressions, or AFI, is the ability of people to draw conclusions about strangers
based on very little information and how correct that information is. By applying
judgment policies based on generalizations of body language as well as stereotypes
and folk knowledge learned from the wider society, people are able to make
inferences about new people with very little information. Exposure to a person for
just a few seconds produces first impressions that are often a remarkable accurate
judgment of the other person character. Perceivers are typically extremely accurate
at judging prototypical facial expressions of basic emotions such as happiness or
sadness even when they are only exposed to that emotional facial expression for a
fraction of a second. However, some perceivers who might be better at judging facial
expressions may not do as well at judging voice expressions. And even though one
might be accurate at perceiving others, most are inaccurate about how others
perceive them. AFI can be determined by different testing. It can differ between
children and adults as well as male and females. In all likelihood, those individuals
that have been identified as higher in AFI based on testing will reap social benefits.
They tend to be more popular, less lonely, have higher salaries and obtain more
raises. Being able to accurately judge others can be a good indication of your
personality. People who were tested with higher AFI were seen by friends as warm,
compassionate, considerate and capable of close relationships.

First impressions are subconscious but if one pays close attention to it, it can
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be used to one’s advantage, especially in situations in the work place. For example
the first way a person is identified and judged for a job is by their body language
before they even speak. Another form is during presentation and project sales. Just
as in a job interview, the audience in a presentation is immediately judging you to see
if you are a person the company can work well with not on your work skills. When
selling a project not only are you selling the product but you are selling your firm
and yourself to gain the trust of the client. Once that first impression is made it can
be rather difficult to change.

Examples of first impressions can be seen every day. One example is interior
design students at Kent State University. As students are preparing to enter the job
force and applying for internships with few jobs available, first impressions are
incredibly important. Students are also presenting projects to clients and critics at
least once or twice a semester. With creativity at its highest, it is easy to overlook
that the project cannot sell itself. Students must sell the project to the client, which
means they are selling themselves as well as Kent State University. What if the
students proposing a mediocre design project with a great first impression are picked
by a client over students with better design solution but a negative first impression?
This is where body language and communication skills are important. A student can
have the best designed project in the class according to design criteria but if they
cannot properly communicate and sell their design the project could be overlooked.
Communication all stems back to that first impression and how accurate they are
based on body language. People tend to overlook the fact that first impressions are
important because some do not feel they are accurate or they can be changed.

But if the first impression is a negative one, no matter how successfully the
design might be, a client might not want to work with them. Which leads us to try
and determine; what are first impressions of Kent State interior design students based
on nonverbal communication and how accurate are they?
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The topicality of this work lies in the insufficient research in modern theory of
communication of the polycode text in context of its encoding body language.
The purpose of this work is to analyze and classify polycode messages in the
work Body Language by Barbara and Alan Pease. Achieving the purpose requires
solving specific tasks, among which:
• To study the peculiarities of policode messages;
• To identify the specific features of policode messages;
• To define the concept of non-verbal communication ;;
• To conduct the classification of polycode messages in the work Body
Language by Barbara and Alan Pease.
• To analyse their pragmatic functions.
The object of the research is polycode messages in the work Body Language by
Barbara and Alan Pease.
The subject of the study is pragmatic functions of polycode messages in the work
Body Language by Barbara and Alan Pease.
The research methods employed are the sampling method, the interpretation
method.
The material of the study includes 120 polycode messages from Body Language
by Barbara and Alan Pease.
The theoretical significance of the work is due to the elucidation of the specifics
of the analysis and classification of polycode messages.
The practical significance of work consists in its contribution to theory of
communication.
The work consists of an introduction, 4 chapters, conclusions, a list of references
and summary (summary).
The introduction refers to the relevance of this work, the goals and objectives of

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the study, the theoretical and practical significance of the work.

The results of the work are contained in the conclusions.
The list of used references contains 32 positions.

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CONCLUSION
When most people look at others they see the person, but they miss revealing
details that are obvious when pointed out. And so it is with body language.
Communication through body language has been going on for over a million years
but has only been scientifically studied to any extent since the end of the twentieth
century. Body language is finally being 'discovered' by people throughout the world
and is now a part of formal education and business training everywhere.

Nonverbal communication is an unconscious habit that the majority of people

take for granted even though it is over 93 % of our overall communication. If people
focused on nonverbal signals they would become more observant of all relationships
in their life. The key to body language is that it is subconscious, but becoming
conscious of it will add benefits to one’s life.

Body language sends messages to people that are more convincing than just
words. These messages are more honest and reliable sources. They are influenced
and learned over time by neurological, familial, cultural and individual aspects of a
person’s life. They are also influenced by biological gender differences that allow
for men and women to communication differently. For example, men use only one
side of their brain at a time; therefore, they absorb one message at a time. Women
have more complex connections between both hemispheres of their brain which can
absorb more information quicker. Some forms of body language are conscious like
standing up straight, smiling and giving handshakes. But no matter how conscious
people are of body language, slight slips and leakages are nearly impossible to
control. In order for others to believe a person is being truthful body language must
be congruent with verbal and nonverbal cues. One cannot hide their body language
because it is always constant. A person is still communicating with body language
by clothes, stances, facial expressions or silence. However, it can never be based on
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one signal. One must read several signals that suggest the same thought or emotion
to properly assume that that signal is true.
Studies on Facial Expressions and Physiognomy date back to the early
Aristotelian era (4th century BC). Physiognomy is the assessment of a person's
character or personality from their outer appearance, especially the face. But over
the years, while the interest in Physiognomy has been waxing and waning, the study
of facial expressions has consistently been an active topic. Facial expressions is a
form of non-verbal communication whereby the movement of the muscles beneath
the skin of the face, conveys the emotional state of an individual to observers.
Psychological research has classified six facial expressions which correspond to
distinct universal emotions: disgust, sadness, happiness, fear, anger, surprise. It is
interesting however, to note that four out of these six are negative emotions.

The hand is the most powerful part of the body which is often seen in support
of various parts of the head in many occasions. This collaboration usually brings out
many different gestures, some of which depict lying, taking a decision,
procrastinating and the reveal of some other emotions.

It is interesting to know however, that some body language expressions cut

across different cultures with the same or similar implications. Facial expressions
and smiles register the same meanings to people almost everywhere. Paul Ekman of
the University of California, San Francisco, showed photographs of the emotions of
happiness, anger, fear, sadness, disgust and surprise to people in 21 different cultures
and found that in every case, the majority in each country agreed about the pictures
that showed happiness, sadness and disgust. There was agreement by the majority in
20 out of the 21 countries for the surprise expressions, for fear on 19 out of 21 agreed
and for anger, 18 out of 21 agreed. The only significant cultural difference was with
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the Japanese who described the fear photograph as surprise.

This gives a clear understanding with respect to the commonness of some body
languages across the globe with similar meanings or implications. The biggest
cultural differences exist mainly in relation to territorial space, eye contact, touch
frequency and insult gestures. The regions that have the greatest number of different
local signals are Arab countries, parts of Asia and Japan. All in all, Understanding
cultural differences with regards to body language is a very broad area to be covered,
and needs much attention in education.

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REFERENCES
1. Ambady, N., & Rosenthal, R. (1993). Half a Minute: Predicting Teacher
Evaluations From Thin Slices of Nonverbal Behavior And Physical
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Retrieved February 11, 2011.
2. Ambady, N., & Skowronski, J. J. (2008). First impressions. New York:
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3. Blahna, L. (1975). A Survey of Research on Sex Differences in Nonverbal
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4. Carton, J., Kessler, E., & Pape, C. (1999). Nonverbal Decoding Skills and
Relationship Well-Being in Adults. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 23, 91-
100.
5. Charlesworth, W. R., & Dzur, C. (1987). Child Development. Gender
Comparisons of Preschoolers' Behavior and Resource Utilization in Group
Problem Solving, 58, 191-200.
6. Davis, M. H. (1996). Empathy: a social psychological approach. Boulder
(Colo.): Westview press. Davitz, J. R. (1964). The communication of
emotional meaning. New York: McGraw-Hill.
7. Ekman, P. (1974). Detecting Deception from the Body or Face. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 29, 288-298. Retrieved February 25, 2011
8. Fagan, N. (n.d.). BBW Magazine: Attraction and Body Language. Welcome to
BBW Magazine Online. Retrieved February 12, 2011, from
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9. Feldman, R. S., & RimeÌ , B. (1991). Fundamentals of nonverbal behavior.
Cambridge [England: Cambridge University Press.
10.Franken, S. (2001, March 11). In business world, much of what's said and heard
is never spoken.
11.Post-Gazette.com. Retrieved February 9, 2011.
12.Funder, D., & Harris, M. (1986). On the several facets of personality assessment:
The case of social acuity. Journal of Personality, 54, 528-550.

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13.Gallo, C. (2007, February 14). Body Language: A Key to Success in the

Workplace: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance. Yahoo! Finance -
Business Finance, Stock Market, Quotes, News. Retrieved September 5, 2010.
14.Hall, J. (1978). Gender Effects in Decoding Nonverbal Cues. Psychological
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15.Happe, F. (1995). The Role of Age and Verbal Ability in the Theory of Mind
Task Performance of Subjects with Autism. Child Development, 66, 843-855.
16.Hoffman, M. L. (1977). Sex Difference in Empathy and Related Behaviors.
Psychological Bulletin, 84, 712-722.Hogan, K. (2008). The Secret Language of
Business: How to Read Anyone in 3 Seconds or Less.
17.New York, NY: Wiley.
18.Hodgins, H., & Koestner, R. (1993). The origins of nonverbal sensitivity.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 19, 466-473.
19.Ians. (2009, March 8). This is How First Impressions are Made. Thaindian
News. Retrieved February 5, 2011, from
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impressions-are-made_100164317.html
20.Ivy, D. K., & Wahl, S. T. (2008). The Nonverbal Self: Communication for a
Lifetime (1 ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
21.Jensen, D. (2004, August 20). Tooling Up: First Impressions--Are Interview
Results Preordained?
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Science Careers. Science Careers, from the Journal Science - Biotech,
Pharmaceutical, Faculty, Postdoc jobs on Science Careers. Retrieved
February 5, 2011.
22.Mast, M. S., & Hall, J. (2004). Who Is the Boss and Who Is Not? Accuracy of
Judging Status. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 28(3), 145-165. Retrieved
February 23, 2011, from
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23.Nauert, R. (2009, March 9). Brain Response to First Impressions| Psych
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(4th ed.). Los Angeles: Sage.

25.Nowicki, S., & Duke, M. (1994). Individual differences in the nonverbal
communication of affect: The diagnostic analysis of nonverbal accuracy scale.
Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 18, 9-35.
26.Pease, A., & Pease, B. (2006). The Definitive Book of Body Language. United
States and Canada: Bantam.
27.Reiman, T. (2007). The Power of Body Language: How to Succeed in Every
Business and Social Encounter [POWER OF BODY LANGUAGE -OS]. New
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28.Siddons, S. (2008). The Complete Presentation Skills Handbook: How to
Understand and Reach Your Audience for Maximum Impact and Success.
London: Kogan Page.
29.Smith, P. M. (1985). Language, the sexes, and society. Oxford, OX, UK: B.
Blackwell.
30.Wainwright, G. (2009). Teach Yourself Body Language (Teach Yourself Social
Science) (3rd Revised edition ed.). United Kingdom: Teach Yourself Books.

31.Wargo, E. (n.d.). APS Observer - How Many Seconds to a First Impression?

Association for Psychological Science. Retrieved February 12, 2011.
32.Webbink, P. (1986). The Power of the Eyes. New York City: Springer Pub Co.

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РЕЗЮМЕ
Спілкування через мову тіла триває понад мільйон років, але лише з кінця
ХХ століття воно було науково вивчено в повній мірі. Мова тіла нарешті
"відкривається" людям у всьому світі, і тепер вона є частиною формальної освіти
та бізнес-тренінгів.

Невербальне спілкування - це несвідома звичка, яку більшість людей

визнає як належне, хоча воно становить понад 93% загального спілкування. Якщо
б люди зосередили увагу на невербальних сигналах, вони стали би більш
уважними до всіх відносин у своєму житті.

Мова тіла надсилає повідомлення людям ще більш переконливо ніж просто

слова. Ці повідомлення є більш чесними та надійними джерелами інформації. На
них впливають психологічні, сімейні, культурні та індивідуальні аспекти життя
людини. На них також впливають гендерні відмінності, які дозволяють чоловікам
та жінкам спілкуватися по-різному. Наприклад, чоловіки одночасно
використовують лише одну сторону свого мозку; отже, вони декодують одне
повідомлення за один раз. Жінки мають більш складні зв'язки між півкулями
головного мозку, що дозволяє їм засвоювати більше інформації.

Дослідження, що стосуються виразів обличчя та фізіогномії, відносяться до

ранньої Арістотелівської епохи (4 ст до н.е.). Психологічне дослідження
класифікує шість виразів обличчя, що відповідають різним універсальним
емоціям: відраза, смуток, щастя, страх, гнів, здивування. Цікаво, однак,
відзначити, що чотири з цих шести є негативними емоціями.

Деякі вирази мови тіла мають однакове або близьке значення в різних
культурах. Посмішка інтерпретується однаково майже всіма культурами. Вираз
таких емоцій як щастя, гніву, страху, смутку, огиди і здивування в більшості
випадків співпадає у всіх країнах світу.
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