Page 134 - Effective Communication Soft Skills Strategies For Success by Nitin Bhatnagar, Mamta Bhatnagar

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improve impressions, regardless of communicator valence, whereas
reduced involvement and gaze aversion and negative violations.
3. Hypo- and hyper-relaxation are negative violations that produce
largely unfavourable social judgments, although hyper-relaxation
may create an impression of power and dominance.
Other relevant appropriateness or acceptability include:
(a) physical attractiveness (apparel, grooming, etc.);

(b) warmth and pleasantness (expressive behaviours such as smiling,
nodding of the head, raising of the eyebrows, pleasantness of the
voice);
(c) immediacy (eye contact or gaze, touch, closeness/proximity, open
body positions, direct body orientation, leaning forward); and
(d) dominance (e.g., relaxed, asymmetrical posture with slight backward
leaning and frequent gesturing but infrequent nodding; louder, faster,
more fluent voice, with shorter response latencies, and longer turn
lengths).
Many of these cues are employed to manage impressions of credibility and
power in a like manner. Credibility is a multidimensional construct that
includes judgments of competence, character, sociability, dynamism, and
composure.
Many of the kinesic and proxemic cues that convey dominance are
very important communication tactics. Taken together, these cues help
speakers to manage others’ impressions of their poise, competence, trust-
worthiness, credibility, and power. The number of relevant cues points to
the powerful and dramatic effects of nonverbal signals in fostering desired
impression.

Relational Communication
Relational communication, impression management, and identity have close
resemblances with regard to specific nonverbal cues used to signal evalu-
ations and self-images. However, relational communication is distinct in at
least four aspects.

1. Relational communication follows a participant as opposed to an
observer’s perspective.
2. A relational message is directed towards a specific target as opposed
to a generalized audience.
3. Relational communication typically focuses on dyadic interaction
between the sender and the receiver and may use the dyad as the

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