Nonverbal communication in romantic relationships - literature review - Essay Example

What individuals do is also reliable indicator of internal feelings. Four studies comprise this literature review. “Nonverbal Immediacy Behaviors and Liking in Marital Relationships” (Hinkle, 1999) measured the frequency of positive nonverbal behaviors in married couples and found a strong correlation with the subjects’ reported liking for one another. “Relational Messages Associated with Nonverbal Involvement, Pleasantness, and Expressiveness in Romantic Couples” (Le Poire, Duggan, Shepard & Burgoon, 2002) focused on vocal involvement, showing that partners perceived intimacy based on tone.

The results of “Patterns of Matching and Initiation: Touch Behavior and Touch Avoidance across Romantic Relationship Stages” (Guerrero & Anderson, 1994) indicated sex differences in the initiation of touch, with men choosing the dominant role of initiation early in the relationship and women becoming the initiators after marriage. “Adult Attachment Style and Nonverbal Closeness in Dating Couples” (Tucker & Anders, 1998) reported that secure attachment style resulted in more positive touching.

Although it may seem obvious that nonverbal communication—in general, a subconscious act—should correlate with relational satisfaction, researchers may take nothing for granted. Thus, the Hinkle study cited research that reported relationships have a greater success if the partners like one another. They also defined nonverbal immediacy as “behaviors such as touching, smiling, and making eye contact with another person” (Hinkle, 1999) and hypothesized that the more immediacy behaviors displayed by an individual, the more their partner liked them.

The focus of their research was related to the duration of the relationship. They found that correlation remained constant, but that liking behaviors were strongest in the first year of the marriage and after the twenty-fourth year (Hinkle, 1999). Guerrero and Anderson began with a