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Part 2 • Communicating
invited. The exact dimensions of these private bubbles vary from culture to culture and person to person, but adult Americans usually become anxious when others intrude on their intimate zone, from actual physical contact to about 2 feet away. During meetings with established teams, members are usually comfortable interacting within their personal zones, approximately 2–4 feet apart. How other people react if you enter into their personal space can be a nonverbal signal about how comfortable they are with you. People can generally be classified into two major proxemic categories. Although space preferences are based on personal and experience factors, Americans and northern Europeans, for example, typify the noncontact group because of the small amount of touching and relatively large space between them during their transactions. Arabs and Latinos are examples from the contact group, who normally stand very close to each other and use a lot of touching when they communicate. When people do not appreciate differences in personal zones, discomfort, distrust, and misunderstanding can occur. Contact people can unknowingly get too close to or touch noncontact people, which makes the latter uncomfortable. Image Communication23 People do judge a book by its cover. Through clothing, hairstyle, body adornments, and other dimensions of physical appearance, we communicate our values and expectations. People react favorably to an expected image. But it is unusual to overcome a bad initial impression and reveal genuine assets hidden underneath. First impressions made by the initial impact of your clothing, voice, grooming, handshake, eye contact, and body posture are lasting images. Projecting both a depth and breadth of knowledge builds your credibility, commands respect from others, and helps develop rapport. Flexibility, enthusiasm, and sincerity create a positive image that can enhance your communication effectiveness. In terms of dress, colors have meanings (e.g., brown for trusting, white for purity, dark colors for power), as do style (e.g., formal vs. casual for more or less status, respectively) and material (e.g., synthetic fibers such as polyester convey lower class, while pure fibers such as wool convey higher class).24
CONCEPT QUIZ Take the following 10-question, true–false quiz. The answers are at the end of the quiz. If you read the previous material carefully, you should get them all correct. If you miss any, go back and find out why you got them wrong. Circle the right answer. True False 1. Active listening is hard work. True False 2. One of the essential requirements for being an active listener is to anticipate what the speaker is going to say. True False 3. Empathy means reading nonverbal as well as verbal messages. True False 4. The first step toward effective listening is the motivation to make the effort. True False 5. The effective listener maintains constant, penetrating eye contact with the speaker.
