Summary of Assumptions
Jessica Scott, Colleen Pyle, and Narissra Maria focus on an area that has not been penetrated by previous researchers. Past work addresses the utilization of nonverbal behaviors as a mechanism of formulating and sustaining stable relationships. In the authors’ study, they develop a new ideology that seeks to examine the correlations between long-lasting relationships and positive nonverbal behaviors. The researchers assess the overall satisfactions of partners in a relationship based on the availability of positive nonverbal cues. Scott et.al (2010) tests two essential variables, that is, overall satisfaction and relationship longevity, with respect to the use of the positive nonverbal actions. This essay attempts to develop an understanding of the hypotheses and outcomes of the authors’ research.
The writers provide an articulate definition of relationship maintenance as the behaviors adopted by partners to enhance relational characteristics like satisfaction. Nonverbal communication, on the other hand, entails vocal or visually encoded communicators to give a consensual meaning during interactions. The rationale of Scott et.al (2010) is to assess the duration of people’s marital relationships by initiating a correlation with the presence of nonverbal cues. The authors test the hypotheses throughout the course of the participants’ relationships ranging from non-marital interactions, dating, and marital communications.
The differences in the nonverbal behaviors are expected to outline the duration of the relationships and confirm the rationale of the researchers. The article has three prominent hypotheses. The first one depicts that the couple’s utilization of nonverbal cues will have increase the length of the relationship. The second hypothesis states that as the length of marital relationship increase, the adoption of negative nonverbal behaviors reduces greatly. Lastly, the longevity of the interactions will promote the relational satisfaction of the partners (Scott et.al, 2010).
Research Method
The analysis adopts a self-reflexive technique of gathering information from the participants in the study. The respondents are examined on how well they can highlight and decode nonverbal behaviors. The measurements differentiate between the women and men in terms of how they use the nonverbal cues. The participants in Scott et.al (2010) are recruited from a southwestern university through different undergraduate communication courses. A recognized and vetted sample of 219 students 18 years and older are used in the study. Out of the respondents, 83 were female while 79 were male.
The students used as the sample range from sophomores, juniors, seniors, and freshmen. Out of the learners, 66 provided their relationship status as single, 48 committed, 3 married, and 45 were dating. The authors had to discard 57 entries that were incomplete leaving 162 complete and valid surveys. The participants learned the importance of using nonverbal cues in maintaining their relationships. They were given 26 questions presented using the 7-point Likert scale. The patterns utilized were between 1 (strongly agree) and 7 (strongly disagree). The first five queries involved demographic elements while the others focused on relationship satisfaction, nonverbal behaviors, and the history of the relationship (Scott et.al, 2010).
The questionnaires were provided during class time as a way for the students to receive extra credit. However, the participation was not mandatory and the students were allowed to stop at any time. Their identities would also remain hidden. The information was assessed by placing it in the SPSS software to identify correlations and patterns in the data. The dependent variables that the authors’ examined were living arrangements, relationship statuses, lengths of the relationships, classification, and gender. The independent postulates were relationship satisfaction, negative, and positive nonverbal cues. The appendices provide a breakdown of the actual questions used in the research (Scott et.al, 2010).
Conclusions
The findings clarified the hypothesis of the study which was to identify that nonverbal interactions were positively related to the longevity of the relationships. However, the writers did not obtain adequate information to validate whether as the length of the communications increase, the use of negative non-verbal cues decreases. The implications of their findings indicate that the longer partners stay in a union, whether they are married, committed, or dating, the more satisfied they are about the relationship due to the presence of positive nonverbal actions. The outcomes are valuable because they confirm the positive correlation between union satisfaction and nonverbal factors. Couples should thus focus on using more nonverbal cues such as physical touch, smiling, and eye contact. The research gives a new depth that requires more evidence to validate the usefulness of nonverbal cues in human communications (Scott et.al, 2010).
Unfortunately, even though the study confirmed the essence of nonverbal behaviors in marital and non-marital relationships, the fact that they used undergraduates who do not have much experience in unions limited the outcomes of the research. Most of the students were in relationships that were no more than a year old. Hence, in future, researchers should collect participants who have been in unions for more than a year to obtain substantial conclusions. The authors also did not address the convergence on nonverbal cues between both partners in a relationship. The aspect would help in defining why the nonverbal behaviors are vital in the longevity of the union. It would also help in determining the specific nonverbal cues that can assist in promoting relationship satisfaction and longevity (Scott et.al, 2010).
Implications of the Research Findings
Activities that individuals engage in to acquire immediacy, satisfaction, and liking have been the primary focus of recent communication assessments. The authors close in on the huge gap in nonverbal research to determine the usefulness of the behaviors in overall satisfaction and relationship duration. The analysis comes at a time when many of today’s marriages end up in break-ups or divorces. Hence, it is crucial for communication specialists to understand how couples can maintain happy and healthy marriages. The more a person perceives that his or her spouse is utilizing maintenance behaviors that coincide with his or her expectations, the happier the individual becomes in the relationship (Scott et.al, 2010).
A validation is formulated between liking and reciprocating within a union. The confirmation asserts that the partners feel as if they are working towards similar outcomes or objectives. Based on the model of planned behavior, the efficacy and desire to interact can predict a spouse’s willingness to discuss an underlying problem in the relationship. The theory implies that the more individuals in a union discuss the issues that they want to avoid or pursue, the more they begin to value their relationship. The five primary maintenance techniques of a marriage include sharing, openness, social networks, assurances, and positivity (Scott et.al, 2010).
Future studies can now focus on streamlining the generalized perspectives of Scott et.al (2010). An area that new researchers can consider is the living situations of the two partners in the relationship, that is, whether they stay together, alone, or sleepover regularly. It would be fascinating to view how the living situations can influence the use of nonverbal behaviors. The future research should also work on specifying the positive nonverbal behaviors that enhance longevity and satisfaction in the relationship. The findings are fundamental to the domain of communication studies because they focus on the essence of using nonverbal interactions as a mechanism for promoting relationships. Hence, couples and specialists can now formulate strategies to strengthen unions and communications by adopting nonverbal cues.
Reference
Scott J. et.al (2010). Positive and Negative Nonverbal Behaviors in Relationships: A Study of Relationship Satisfaction and Longevity. Human Communication Review. A Publication of the Pacific and Asian Communication Association. Vol. 13, No. 1, pp.29 - 41.
