Don't Stand So Close to Me: Unexpected Proxemic Violations

Sample

Nonverbal communication courses often highlight some basic principles about the distinctions between verbal and nonverbal messaging, and one of the more generally dismissed principles is one of the more important to understand across a variety of interpersonal contexts: that nonverbal behaviors can lead to either understanding or misunderstanding (Bowman, 2019; Burgoon et al., 1996). Whether one intends a focused stare at an unknown stranger from across the crowded room to be the initiation of a fight or the embarkation of a torrid love affair, nonverbal messaging is oftentimes more salient to the receiver and is, therefore, likely to arouse someone’s attention to a much greater degree than myriad verbal messages might prove to be.