Part 5 (2/2)

Dark-eyed people tend to prefer colors at the red end of the spectruht-eyed people at the blue end This is probably because of the presence of a pight shi+eld

Colors have symbolic associations, but these vary across cultures In the West, colors often have these ladness, hope and joyBlack wisdom, constancy, as well as evil, falsehood, errorWhite purity, truthBlue hope, faith, n andpeople take color seriously Color has symbolic value Color creates impressions Color can be est that color works in ravitas will not be affected by the particular hues in your tie

CONCLUSION

This chapter looks at hoe present ourselves, and in particular at hoe make statements with our clothes and our attempts to look more attractive The cosmetic and fashi+on industries are dedicated exclusively to serving modern humans' powerful needs to present theue that businesses exploits these e our clothing and our appearance regularly to send es Some people are more skilled at this than others It is not simply a question of style or fashi+on sense Many differences in this ability ste (some are more conscious of their appearance than others) as well as individual inclinations to follow the ”horde” or ”fit the bill” The entertain sure that people look right for their roles Politicians and high-flying executives are soiven advice on what and what not to wear: from color of tie to jewelry

Nevertheless, everybody acknowledges the communicative power of physical attractiveness It seeraphical and temporal borders Ancient Greek and Roman statues of perfectlyshaped male and feh many non-Western cultures have had different standards of beauty, these art works are still appreciated ide, and not the least for the attractiveness of the models Hence the atteues at work

4

COMMUNICATING ATtitUDES, EMOTIONS AND PERSONALITY

SHOWING EMOTIONS

Body language sends es about eued that it can shed new light on the dynamics of inter-fanal froe extent, we express our ee We do this partly because we cannot help it; we can ”do no other”, because strong states such as guilt, shaer, boredoical reactions We ”leak” our emotions because our central nervous syste, pupil dilations, changes in breathing and so on

We also express our emotions nonverbally because we do not always have the vocabulary to express theht into their emotions or feel the need to report them even if they wanted to do so Indeed, it has been reported that on occasion people notice their physiological reactions and nonverbal communication and infer their e, I conclude that I ae” experiment showed how easily we misattribute e e or a solid stable one and asked theave them her number to discuss the details of the study further if they wished to do so Not surprisingly, irl Walking on an unstable surface can be a tense experience even for the bravest aer, horht or flight” response However, sexual attraction produces similar kinds of bodily reactions: palms of the hands sweat, pupils dilate, and heartbeat intensifies Thereforeattracted to the researcher, not to their fear of walking over the bridge

Various body signals are related to the estures, posture and tone of voice all deliberately (or unconsciously) give clear i up in our culture we learn how to decode emotions in other people There are tests that allow researchers to investigate the accuracy and reliability hich people interpret a coust, fear, joy or surprise

EMOTIONAL LABOR

Are so hospitality industry, unique? Soible product, called service, and soy What does it take to succeed in the service industries?

Staff in people industries (customer service, hospitality) do have common features They are selected to be jolly, optimistic, attentive and empathic They have to be considerate ”people-people” Further, they need to have consistently high presentation standards

In the early 1980s, in a study of airline steward staff, a researcher, Arlie Russell Hochschild, wrote a book called The Managed Heart: Coued for a new concept: emotional labor She pointed out that many jobs require physical and mental labor, but some, uniquely, require emotional labor

The idea is simple: service staff are required to express emotions they do not necessarily feel They are required to smile, to be positive, to appear relaxed whatever they are actually feeling Hochschild called this surface acting However, in some jobs people are almost required to feel the emotions they are expected to display This is called ”deep acting” The idea is that (canny) customers can spot the false display of emotion, so service staff in these circumstances have to learn the ”inside-out smile”

So such service staff have to learn to become method actors They must really experience ely Karl Marx said that workers were alienated from the products of their labor Equally, Hochschild believed that service workers, whose eed and controlled” by their es The sorts of emotions shown are patience, friendliness, curiosity, while suppressing boredoer

Thus service staff have not to be inauthentic but (sort of) learn authenticity Hochschild believed this costs tooterm Yet there remains controversy, not so ing in the way it estranges workers fros

One way to control and aid expression of eh the use of scripts Service staff are encouraged to act to learn their lines; to portray a character This teaches them the appropriate emotions, which may, in ti new in scripts Sociologists in fact argue that they are a good thing, because they can both help workers to distance themselves from their ”perfor staff seem to like scripts They help in interactions with difficult and dees As they becoested) script with their own idiosyncrasies Staff believe scripts help and protect the

Sie clothes They can inform and protect They help to identify who is who Is a uniform a barrier? Does it mark people as servile and powerless? Much depends on how s, and who are the custo eternally polite, cheerful and courteous They have to cope with people being rude, dismissive or over-familiar Some have to deal with uninvited sexual innuendo

All service staff have a ”backstage” in the galley, the kitchen, even the cloakroom Here they can be themselves, let off steam, react in the way that they would naturally Behind the scenes they can et their own back and enjoy the camaraderie of the oppressed Rest breaks are times to become the real self; to take off thereduces the negative effects of emotional labor What is more, some people are clearly more suited in terms of their emotional ”make-up” for service jobs Emotional labor requirements also differ fro increasingly de-skilled? Evidently not, if social and e is as much nonverbal as verbal The office, certainly the shop, the restaurant and the hotel all represent a stage that requires a certain a

ABILITY, ACCURACY AND SKILL

Are some people simply better nonverbal communicators than others? Hohen and why have they acquired the ie and skill to be expert communicators?

Tests have been devised toseeood predictor of actual skill All too often, those with surprisingly little insight and skill believe they are very good nonverbal coe underestiood listener, which is deenuinely believe they can nearly always detect when people are lying to them, which is, undoubtedly, not the case Self-awareness of nonverbal sensitivity and flexibility is therefore not a very good measure of it

However, we do know that: 1 Gender: overall, females are better decoders than men They read eh it does see (and, perhaps, responding to) anger

2 Age: people get better as they get older, but this skill peaks around the ence: there is a very sence and nonverbal comht children are better at nonverbal communication, which may also help their achievements in school because it improves their relationshi+ps with teachers and peers

4 Personality: data from tests shows that people who are extroverts rather than introverts; stable as opposed to anxious; agreeable reeable; open rather than closed to experience; instrumental rather than fatalistic; and de and receiving nonverbal communication

5 Race: results are mixed, but it see the es of those of the same race

6 Mental patients: most psychotic patients have a particular difficulty with nonverbal coer syndroroup, it is their inability to read body language signals that most clearly defines their condition However there are some mental disorders, such as antisocial or narcissistic personality disorders, that ood at nonverbal communication There is also some evidence that neurotic people nals of others, but surprisingly unable to control their own

Those who decode well do not necessarily send well, though the two are closely related Being proficient at sending nonverbal s: experience and practice; knowledge and skill; motivation and confidence The issue lies mainly in self-awareness and emotional control

One characteristic that see Snyder (1974) ca, a personality trait that is veryis the tendency to notice (visual, vocal, verbal) cues for socially appropriate behavior and to ly (see Table 41) Individuals can be classified into two groups with regard to their level of self-hly on the trait of self- are characterized by sensitivity to social clues indicating socially appropriate behavior, and using those cues to ht to be relatively insensitive to social cues, and tend to maintain a consistent self-presentation across different situations High self-monitors e ”What role should I be playing in this situation?” Low self-monitors are more interested in their personal value systems and private realties The central question asked by the low self-monitors is ”How can I look like the person I truly a nonverbal cues and adjusting their behavior accordingly Socially, they are highly flexible and adaptable

Snyder (1987) distinguished between the hard and soft sell in advertising the for about quality (for example, intrinsic ued and dee-orientated advertise and effective, and would be willing to pay more for the product By contrast, low self-monitors reacted more favorably to product-quality orientated advertisements He also showed that the sa a person not to consu because of the consequences of bad breath and smelly clothes, while low self-monitors may be , sore throat)

TABLE 41 Self- consu car despite its possibly poor perfor characteristics, the ones who use the toothpaste that make their teeth look the whitest (even if it threatens the enamel of their teeth), and the ones who drink the ”super pre about its drinker's status (even if it tastes no better than the less expensive doh self-monitors clearly choose for consumers purchase the nutritious breakfast cereal (even if it isn't the one endorsed by the Olyold medal winner), the ones who use the mouthwash that is purported to kill the most bacteria (even if it does leave their breath with that faint y-efficient refrigerator (even though it's not available in the ner-styled finish) They choose function at the expense of form

Snyder (1987) published his shorttrait, which you are welcoht judge as being true or false of you Put a T if you agree with the stateainst the explanation provided below Test yourself!

1 I find it hard to imitate the behavior of other people