1. Non-Verbal CommunicationBy
Jay Barrett
Interpersonal Communication

2. Adam’s Apple Jump: Body Movement:
1. A conspicuous up-and-down motion of the Adam's apple
2. A movement of the throat visible while gulping or swallowing, as in nervousness.

3. Usage: The Adam's-apple-jump is an unconscious sign of emotional anxiety, embarrassment, or stress. At a business meeting, e.g., a listener's Adam's apple may inadvertently jump should he or she dislike or strongly disagree with a speaker's suggestion, perspective, or point of view.
U.S. politics. The Adam's apple gained its 15 minutes of fame when former Vice President James Danforth Quayle's thyroid cartilage "jumped" in the 1988 vice-presidential debates, as his opponent, Lloyd Bentsen, pointedly replied, "I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy!"

4. Emotion. A usually unpleasant feeling of annoyance, resentment, or rage.

5. Usage: Anger may show in:
a. jaws tensed to a biting position;
b. postures of the broadside display (e.g., hands-on-hips);
c. cut-off and head-jerk cues;
d. fist, hand-behind-head, and palm-down beating gestures;
e. frowning and tense-mouth expressions;
f. growling voice tones; and
g. staring.

6. Anatomy. In the face, motion energy maps reveal that anger shows most prominently in contortions around the eyebrows for frowning. Corrugator supercilii muscles, blended with occipitofrontalis and orbicularis oculi, draw the eyebrows down, as if to shield the eyes, producing vertical furrows above the nose. At the same time procerus, blended with occipitofrontalis, produces horizontal wrinkles over the bridge of the nose. Anger shows in contracted orbicularis oris and masseter muscles (of the tense-mouth, e.g.) as well.

7. Culture. In Italy, the forefinger bite--in which "the knuckle of the bent forefinger is placed between the teeth and symbolically bitten"--means, "I am angry" (Morris 1994:81).

8. RESEARCH REPORTS: 1. Signs of anger include body held erect; contracted brows; compressed mouth, flared nostrils, and "flashing eyes" (Darwin 1872:242-43). 2. Anger shows most clearly in the lower face and brow area (Ekman, Friesen, and Tomkins 1971). 3. Facial expressions of anger emerge in human infants between three and four months of age (Burgoon et al. 1989:349). 4. When a human feels anger, ". . . there may be angry vocalization and pugilistic behavior, with the arms flailing somewhat like those of a fighting chimpanzee. Or there may be gorilla-like hooting and striking of the chest" (MacLean 1993:79).

9. ANGULAR DISTANCE:
Posture. 1. The spatial orientation, measured in degrees, of an individual's shoulders relative to those of another.
The position of a speaker's upper body in relation to a listener's (e.g., facing or angled away)
The degree of body alignment between a speaker and listener, as measured in the coronal plane (which divides the body into front and back).

10. Usage: Angular distance reveals how we relate to (i. e
Usage: Angular distance reveals how we relate to (i.e., feel about) people sitting, standing, or waiting nearby.
Our upper body unwittingly squares-up, addresses, and "aims" at those we like, admire, and agree with, but angles away from disliked persons and people with whom we disagree.
In a friendly conversation, formal interview, or staff meeting, e.g., a greater angular distance (i.e, turning away) substitutes for greater linear distance.
Angular distance may range from 0 degrees (directly facing) to 180 degrees (turning one's back).

11. Salesmanship. "Do not turn your upper body away from the prospect
Salesmanship. "Do not turn your upper body away from the prospect. It doesn't make you look casual; it makes you look afraid, uninterested, or even unfriendly" (Delmar 1984:47).
U.S. politics. Known to be ill-at-ease around people, former President Richard Milhous Nixon revealed his discomfort with an exaggerated angular distance, as if to "remove" himself from others nearby. White House photographs taken at staff meetings in the early 1970s show a seated Mr. Nixon, with shoulders turned away from his advisors at angular distances of 90 degrees.

12. RESEARCH REPORTS: 1. Eight positions (from face to face to back to back) are noted in Edward Hall's original proxemics notation system (Hall 1963).
2. GSR (sweaty-palm response) is greatest when subjects are approached frontally (McBride, King, and James 1965).
3. With adult strangers, boys create a greater angular distance than girls (Stern and Bender 1974).
4. The frequency of trunk rotation "showed a marked increase" in conditions of severe crowding (Baxter and Rozelle 1975:49).

13. Facial Expression:
Sign. The act of communicating a mood, attitude, opinion, feeling, or other message by contracting the muscles of the face.

14. Usage: The combined expressive force of our mobile chin, lip, cheek, eye, and brow muscles is without peer in the animal kingdom.
Better than any body parts, our faces reveal emotions, opinions, and moods. While we learn to manipulate some expressions (see, e.g., SMILE), many unconscious facial expressions (see, e.g., LIP-POUT, TENSE-MOUTH, and TONGUE-SHOW) reflect our true feelings and hidden attitudes.
Many facial expressions are universal, though most may be shaped by cultural usages and rules (see below, Culture).

15. Summary of facial expressions.
Nose: nostril flare (arousal).
Lips: grin (happiness, affiliation, contentment); grimace (fear); lip-compression (anger, emotion, frustration); canine snarl (disgust); lip-pout (sadness, submission, uncertainty); lip-purse (disagree); sneer (contempt; see below, Sneer).
Brows: frown (anger, sadness, concentration); brow-raise (intensity).

16. 4. Tongue: tongue-show (dislike, disagree).
5. Eyelids: flashbulb eyes (surprise); widened (excitement, surprise); narrowed (threat, disagreement); fast-blink (arousal); normal-blink (relaxed).
6. Eyes: big pupils (arousal, fight-or-flight); small pupils (rest-and-digest); direct-gaze (affiliate, threaten); gaze cut-off (dislike, disagree); gaze-down (submission, deception); CLEMS (thought processing). (NOTE: See individual entries elsewhere in The Nonverbal Dictionary.)