Globally, people make assumptions, judgments, and decisions about one another or things around them based on responses they receive from others. These assumptions are according to nonverbal communications that people use within their own cultures and how they deal with others. Often, these nonverbal reactions affect the way people communicate with and among each other, which makes understanding these nonverbal cues crucial when developing and maintaining relationships with other people. Do people expect other cultures to adapt to their own culture or are they willing to adopt another person’s culture? Are people expected to compromise or are they forced to deal and accept another culture’s communication methods? As the international market becomes reachable to all, which causes different cultures to collide, being more sensitive, aware, and observant of the various cultural nuances, actions, and body language of others becomes more important. This is especially true as people cross over to another cultural border, thus, understanding nonverbal communication methods is a good way to show respect, discover, and appreciate the silent language of gestures.
This paper highlights how nonverbal communication is transmitted using French communication methods, including when it is appropriate to use nonverbal communication. This form of communication is both a traditional and cultural method of communication practiced by the French people not only in their home country but also in places where they have chosen to settle in with their families, all over the world. Based on research, nonverbal forms of communication speak volumes about the French people’s oral and written literacy because their actions and way of thinking are primarily guided and heavily attached to their cultural upbringing.
Defining Nonverbal Communication
Colta (n.d.) defines nonverbal communication by acknowledging that nonverbal communication is fundamental in daily communication situations. It takes different forms that represent ways on how one can express the self to others. The author says that in order to understand some aspects of another person’s messages, interpretation is likely to occur, but they have to “make sense of non-verbal cues [which] is only possible because a special part of [the] brain deals with the emotional part of the message” (779). Additionally, the author acknowledges that learning and gaining a true understanding of non-verbal language is a long and tedious process, but the reality is that while many people may have problems expressing themselves verbally, they usually display their nonverbal emotions and responses unconsciously. This is where understanding and reading nonverbal cues come in.
Overview of the French Culture
As a country, France is a well-cultured nation, which explains why it is a class-stratified society. Prior to the 1960s, French society was divided among the nobility, the bourgeoisie, the peasant, and the proletariat. Class struggles were very much apparent as the bourgeoisie controlled the education sector and the various industries. Although there have been changes and advancements in the country, studies revealed that children of the working class sector remained as working class men and women just like their parents, while only a handful became elite workers. This social stratification has become symbolic of the French culture as clearly exhibited by one’s taste in art, leisure activities, food, and music, among others. Knowing about fine art is not enough to cement one’s upper social class in society, but understanding about the latest in avant-garde art does. As a whole, the French are a modest people and would not display their wealth. They are very discreet about it, but one can surely differentiate a well-heeled French individual from the middle-class through their manners and their great, but subdued conversational skills (Simm).
French Nonverbal Communication Practices
The French communication practices are different from those used globally. The differences lie hugely on dissimilarities in social behavior considering that the French are a very much well-mannered and cultured society. Verbal and nonverbal differences tell about how they, as a culture, attempt to preserve peace and harmony in their business and interpersonal relationships.
Ambady& Rosenthal (1998) defines nonverbal communication as “communication and interpretation of information by any means other than language” (p. 775). It is comprised of various modes of communication such as gestures, vocal tone and pitch, facial expressions, and body movements, among others. It also includes mannerisms of both sender and receiver when talking, verbal interruptions and hesitations while speaking, and other speech errors they make when conversing or dealing with other people. Nonverbal communication is very much related to how communication signals are sent or received by both the message sender and the recipient, including the interpretation of the messages.
Aranguren & Tonelat (2014) observed that physical contact in the Parisian setting is frowned upon as it was considered an invasion of privacy or territorial intrusion even if the condition is a crowded situation. The authors reiterated that Parisians resolve this imposition through non-verbal communication using facial expressions as their main mode of showing disgust or exasperation. The authors’ further asserted that violations due to personal intrusions elicit various kinds of nonverbal reactions and can be extended to other modes of transportation and other settings. Their study further established that the contact incident is composed of two distinct phases, the physical contact between two individuals and the facial reaction of the offended party, which is typically expressed through eye closure or raised eyebrows (p. 502). Movements of the forehead or the mouth also represent nonverbal communication that expresses aversion over the situation.
Authors Gueguen & Jacob (2002) emphasized the importance of another form of nonverbal communication when dealing with others. According to the authors’ study, direct eye contact plays a very important role on whether people will be more cooperative and responsive or not towards other people’s requests. Results of their study revealed that 66% of respondents complied with requests made by the confederate as compared with the 34% who did when an evasive glance was used when talking to them. The result of their study further gave credence to previous studies that claimed the positive effects of direct eye contact in other cultural backgrounds. Additionally, this form of nonverbal communication provides similar outcomes as when the sense of touch is used, considering the more personal approach when it comes to communication. The authors added that the longer the eye contact, the higher the level of trust and positive judgment of personality attributes for the requester. The study also revealed a correlation between gender and eye contact considering that women were proven to be more sensitive to and affected by direct eye contact as compared with an evasive glance. However, when it came to the men, the opposite was true, which affirmed the belief that that women are more influenced by nonverbal behavior, such as a smile or a gaze, than men are. It appeared that women were more responsive and cooperative when the requester looked them directly in the eye as compared with absence of direct eye contact.
Dumitrescu (2010) stressed the crucial role posters play during election season as she pushed for the idea that poster content was not merely about the content considering that posters represent the image of politicians. This nonverbal form of communication is a way of enticing voters to support a candidate. The author suggested that voters who are only exposed to visual images of a candidate do experience the “positive” vibe that posters convey. Candidates’ facial expressions of happiness appeal to the voters’ emotions, which help sway the results of the election process, while a candidate’s forward and strong stance may be perceived as aggressive behavior. The author supported the idea that on a psychological point of view, facial expressions are used as social tools that indicated the behavioral intents of individuals, and thus, can be used to understand the possible social interaction one might have with another person. However, the author also pointed out that nonverbal communication in this format is not only limited to the factual and visual content of posters. Rather, the size and the positioning of texts and visuals also affect the way voters develop a preference towards a certain candidate. Thus, if the focus should be on the candidate, all other information is left smaller than the image and name of the candidate.
Roach, Cornett-DeVito, & DeVito (2005) claimed that because France is an entirely different culture than America, there are significant differences in how communication methods are practiced in both countries, one of which is explained in the concept of power distance where the more “powerful” of two individuals or groups maintain a certain level of space between the speaker and the receiver. The authors used this concept when they compared the method of instruction in France and the United States, where the former was teacher-centered and the latter, student-centered. Based on their study, the authors found that French students responded better to this type of instruction because they expected that teachers should maintain a degree of aloofness from their students, thus, this nonverbal communication style clearly conveys which among the teachers and the students has more power in the classroom. Alternatively, this is not a well-accepted situation in America because American culture is more of a low power distance culture where students expect and want independence from their teachers. Thus, in both cases, without having to vocally say who has more power between the teachers and the students, it is already implied in the way power distance is applied through nonverbal means.
Banziger, Patel, & Scherer (2014) emphasized that nonverbal communication can also be expressed through “voice and speech characteristics, [such as] loudness, pitch, intonation, sharpness, articulation, roughness, instability, and speech rate” (p. 31). Using these parameters, the French people are able to express positive or negative emotions. Additionally, the authors recognized that facial and vocal expressions tell much about the emotions considering that happiness and loathing, among others, can be clearly seen in the face, while unhappiness and antagonism can clearly be heard and expressed in the voice. This is particularly true considering that the French tend to talk with lilting voices when they are happy, thus, it is easier to decipher their moods and responses based on the tone and intonation of the voice. On the other hand, anger may be expressed and recognized based on the rise on the voice pitch.
Gueguen (2013) explained that human behavior is not only limited or affected by the individual’s interaction with another person, but may also be affected by the weather conditions. In the author’s experiment, a greeting of “hi” or “hello” under the sunny weather produced very positive results because people were more receptive to other people’s greetings and reactions. Thus, to further strengthen his research, the author used nonverbal modes of communication by smiling at other people, still in the same weather condition. Results showed the same outcome which further bolstered the author’s assumptions that the weather and smiling to other people is contagious and can produce positive emotional effects to all. It is a favorable action that facilitates social relationships among people. Additionally, based on research, those people who were approached for surveys did not respond positively when approached during a different weather condition.
Tremblay & Spinelli (2014) used language to determine how the concept of nonverbal cues can be applied. In their study, the authors found out that non-native French speakers had a fixation on the vowel sounds in the French language. They also found out that these learners knew several words in French and could actually spot the words within the sentences, but do not truly have the real knowledge on how to use the words correctly. As such, non-traditional French speakers, that is, Americans and other foreigners, would often rely on acoustic-phonetic cues to gain understanding of the language. In the authors’ experiment, they relied on the visual-world eye-tracking paradigm where participants listen to sentences in French. In typical visual-world paradigm experiments, participants are shown scenes, often cartoon-like pictures, on a computer screen while their eye fixations are being monitored. According to their experiment, they found that without the computer screen, French learners recognized the target sounds and consonants better than the vowel sounds, while the opposite was true for words that were seen, read, and heard with the help of the computer. “These results suggest that the speech processing system uses acoustic-phonetic cues to recognize vowel-words in liaison contexts, but again these cues may not be sufficiently strong to rule out consonant-initial lexical competitors” (314).
Conclusion
It appears that even though France has its own culture, some of the issues they may have when it comes to nonverbal communication may be shared by other nations as well. They are universal in nature considering that people may express themselves using various nonverbal means, but one that may be “read” by other people through their own interpretations. The way the French people look, listen, move, or react to another person’s actions tell so much about whether the person cares about what the other is saying or not, is being truthful, or is really listening. When nonverbal cues do not match what is being said, they generate mistrust, tension, and confusion. Nonverbal forms of communication help evoke various expressions and reactions to people and situations, especially when direct eye contact and the sense of touch are used. Typically, those who employ a direct eye contact approach receive positive responses as compared with those who cannot establish eye contact with other people. Physical contact, which is another form of nonverbal communication, is not welcome either because it is likened to invasion of personal privacy.
Communication is very much part of everyday life. People need to have good communication skills to interact with others and for survival purposes. However, it is also very important that people learn how to decipher and interpret nonverbal communication cues to gain understanding of the whole communication process.
References
Aranguren, M., & Tonelat, S. (2014). Emotional transactions in the Paris subway: Combining naturalistic videotaping, objective facial coding and sequential analysis in the study of nonverbal emotional behavior. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior 38:495-521. PDF.
Ambady, N., & Rosenthal, R. (1998). Nonverbal communication. Encyclopedia of Mental Health 2(0). Retrieved from http://ambadylab.stanford.edu/pubs/1998Ambady.pdf
Banziger, T., Patel, S., & Scherer, K.R. (2014). The role of perceived voice and speech characteristics in vocal emotion communication. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior 38:31-52. PDF.
Colta, A.Z. (n.d.). The importance of non-verbal communication in business. Retrieved from http://fse.tibiscus.ro/anale/Lucrari2010/134.%20Colta%20Suzana.pdf
Dumitrescu, D. (2010). Know me, love me, fear me: The anatomy of candidate poster designs in the 2007 French legislative elections. Political Communication 27:20-23. PDF.
Gueguen, N. (2013). Weather and smiling contagion: A quasi experiment with the smiling sunshine. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior 37:5-55. PDF.
Gueguen, N., & Jacob, C. (2002). Direct look versus evasive glance and compliance with a request. The Journal of Social Psychology 142(3), 393-396. PDF.
Roach, K.D., Cornett-DeVito, M.M., & DeVito, R. (2005). A cross-cultural comparison of instructors communication in American and French classrooms. Communication Quarterly. 53(1) 87-107. PDF.
Simm, J. (n.d.). 10 things that make the French French. Retrieved from http://www.frenchpropertylinks.com/essential/10-things-french.html
Tremblay, A., & Spinelli, E. (2014). English listeners’ use of distributional and acoustic-phonetic cues to liaison in French: evidence from eye movements. Language and Speech 57(3), 310-337. PDF.
