Experimental Report in Psychology

Journal Homepage: www.rtu.edu.ph

VERBAL APPEAL AND BODY LANGUAGE

Margot Bicua, Dyna Dominguez, Kairo Guimba, Ruffa Pelea, Adrian Paolo
Soneres
Department of Psychology, Rizal technological University, Boni Avenue, Mandaluyong
City, Philippines

Keywords:
Verbal persuasion
Physical intimacy

ABSTRACT
In society we communicate with every
individual in terms of verbal persuasion and
physical intimacy to show the will of
communicating to a certain individual that these
tools of communicating may influence social
impression whether in positive or negative
outcome of the situation. In this experiment the
experimenters tested the effectiveness of social
interaction thru the use of verbal and non-verbal
expression by selling a product to random
individuals as they will interact to each other.
The results show that verbal persuasion is more
effective than physical intimacy (gesture) on
interacting to different individuals by selling a
product to them.

Introduction
Social ambiguity in
communication
may
be
reduced by delivering our
ideas clear and without
interference. Communication
is not only limited by words,
both body language and
verbal
appeal
can
be
identified as an essential and
basic
feature
in

communicating
in
our
everyday
lives.
Body
language is defined as the
process of communicating
nonverbally
through
conscious and unconscious
gestures.
For
example,
Speakers used a broad
pattern of nonverbal language
and it is obviously noticeable

they sometimes shrug, nod,

frown their eyebrows, they
sometimes show quizzical
expression when they do not
understand
something.
According
to
expert,
a
substantial portion of our
communication
is
taken
nonverbally.
As
far
as
technical studies on body
language concerned, perhaps
the most influential pretwentieth-century work was
the 1872 publication of
Charles
Darwin's The
Expression of the Emotions in
Man and Animals.
According to research there are
various types of nonverbal
communication; (A. Facial
Expression) facial expression
is said to be responsible for a
huge
proportion of our
nonverbal
communication,
consider
how
many
information is conveyed with a
single
smile
or
frown,
dramatically
nonverbal
expressions may vary from
cultures,
but
facial
expressions for happiness,
anger ,sadness and fear are
universal
throughout
the
world.
(B.
Gestures)
Deliberate movements and
signals are an important way
to communicate meaning
without
words.
Common
gestures
include
waving,
pointing, and using fingers to
indicate numeric amounts.
Other gestures are arbitrary
and related to culture. (C.
Paralinguistic) it refers to
vocal communication that is

separate
from
actual
language.
This
includes
factors such as tone of voice,
loudness, inflection and pitch.
Consider the powerful effect
that tone of voice can have on
the meaning of a sentence.
When said in a strong tone of
voice, listeners might interpret
approval and enthusiasm. The
same words said in a hesitant
tone of voice might convey
disapproval and a lack of
interest. (D. Body language
and posture) Posture and
movement can also convey a
great deal on information.
Research on body language
has grown significantly since
the 1970's, but popular media
have focused on the overinterpretation of defensive
postures, arm-crossing, and
leg-crossing, especially after
the publication of Julius Fast's
book ( Body Language). While
these nonverbal behaviors
can indicate feelings and
attitudes, research suggests
that body language is far
more subtle and less definitive
that previously believed. (E.
Proxemics) People often
refer to their need for
"personal space," which is
also an important type of
nonverbal
communication.
The amount of distance we
need and the amount of
space
we
perceive
as
belonging to us is influenced
by a number of factors
including
social
norms,
situational factors, personality
characteristics and level of
familiarity. For example, the

amount of personal space

needed when having a casual
conversation with another
person usually varies between
18 inches to four feet. On the
other hand, the personal
distance
needed
when
speaking to a crowd of people
is around 10 to 12 feet. (F.
Eye gaze) looking, staring
and blinking can also be
important
nonverbal
behaviors.
When
people
encounter people or things
that they like, the rate of
blinking increases and pupils
dilate. Looking at another
person can indicate a range of
emotions, including hostility,
interest and attraction. (G.
Haptic)
communicating
through touch is another
important nonverbal behavior.
There has been a substantial
amount of research on the
importance of touch in infancy
and early childhood. Harry
Harlow's classic monkey
study demonstrated how the
deprivation of touch and
contact
impedes
development. Baby monkeys
raised by wire mothers
experienced
permanent
deficits in behavior and social
interaction. Touch can be
used
to
communicate
affection, familiarity, sympathy
and other emotions. (H.
Appearance) our choice of
color, clothing, hairstyles and
other
factors
affecting
appearance
are
also
considered a means of
nonverbal
communication.
Appearance can also alter

physiological
reactions,
judgments and interpretations.
Just think of all the subtle
judgments you quickly make
about someone based on his
or her appearance. These first
impressions are important,
which is why experts suggest
that
job
seekers
dress
appropriately for interviews
with
potential
employers.
Humans primary difference to
other species is their use of
verbal appeal and body
language in communication.
The
use
of
this
is
indispensable to us humans.
The experiment shows and prove
how verbal and physical
intimacy
influence
social
impression. Evidences will
also provide to answer the
existing question on how does
physical intimacy and verbal
persuasion affects peoples
reaction and perception.
Participants
Fifty eight participants took part of
the experiment and 1 of them was
taken to be part of the experimenters
(Alexzander Galang) to help them
facilitate the groups. Twelve were
males and Forty five of them were
females. Ages ranged from 17 to 25
years old BS Psychology majors.
The experiment was conducted
inside the RTU campus namely in
the CEIT bldg, promenade canteen
area, quadrangle field and Old
academic bldg area.
Materials

The experimenters tested how

the participants manage to sell their
merchandise to people on pursuing
the sale by means of employing
verbal
persuasion
and
body
gestures. The experimenters used
non-food item as a merchandise
(keychain, sanrio) to make the
negotiation more challenging, tally
sheets to note how they convinced
their customers whether if its by
gaze, gestures, or it may be by
verbal persuasion. Timer, to control
the time that has been given to spent
for the experiment.
Procedure
The participants were instructed to
sell their products to random persons
at the cost of 10 pesos and they
were designated into different
strategic places inside the RTU
campus. The experiment started at
10:30am, on their first trial they were
allowed to negotiate by employing
physical intimacy accompanied by
mild verbal communication and
following the same procedure but on
that trial theyve been more verbally
persuasive. On the second trial
same procedures were given but
different strategy, in this trial intense
verbal persuasion must be employed
accompanied with physical intimacy.
The experiment was expected to end
at 12:30pm, but fortunately the
participants were very assertive with
their objective.
Results/ Discussion
Group 1 first trial (Table 1)

The
group1
consists
of
19
participants. All of them were
participated well in the experiment.
They divided themselves into 4
groups to minimize the crowd. They
made it as their marketing strategy.
In the first trial the group1 got 13
customers where 9 (see table 1) of
them rejected the offer even if they
employed visual gaze and a mild
physical contact. They rejected the
offer because some of them were too
busy that they could not manage to
entertain the offer, and some were
not interested on the product that the
group was selling because it is nonfood. Therefore many customers
were refused than the customers
who took and bought the product.

Group 1 second trial (Table 1.1)

physical contact with mild verbal

approach.
Group 2 second trial (table2.1)

On the second trial the group1 got 6

customers. Only 2 of them rejected
the offer even if they employed visual
gaze and intense verbal persuasion.
As the same reason in the first trial
customer rejected the offer because
they have no time to entertain to
entertain the offer.
Group 2 first trial (Table 2)

On the last trial of the experiment, no

one rejected the request. All four of
the customers bought the products
when the participants used visual
gaze,
physical
contact
and
aggressive verbal approach.
Group 3 first trial (Table 3)

On the first trial we got 5 customers.

Only 1 rejected the offer even when
they employed visual gaze. They
rejected the offer because when the
participants approached them they
got startled and they started to avoid
them. Two of the buyers bought the
product by simply using visual gaze
of the participants and mild verbal
approach while the other two bought
the product after the participants
employed both visual gaze and

On the first trial 7 of the customers

were refused to buy products, even if

the participants strive to pursue their

products ,the observer concluded
that they were too crowded that the
customer became so anxious and
rejected the request. The four who
bought the product was thought to
be harassed by the participants, they
were very unorganized and do not
follow the rules of the experiment.
They do not even employ visual
gaze as instructed, therefore they
just caught their customers by
means of harassment.
Group 3 (table 3.1)

It can be therefore generalized here that

the verbal aspect in communication
greatly affects peoples perception,
Might as well gestures and physical
contact served as support system for
the
intense
persuasion
of
the
participants. Although many of the
respondents got harassed at some time
during
the
experiment,
verbal
persuasion was the best method in
dealing with the respondents, because
rejections on that part was minimized
compared to the first trial that do not
intensify the used of verbal persuasion.
They got plenty of rejection; therefore if
an individual is persuading, they can
convince the respondents or other
people though verbal aspect of
communication mode and the gestures
that should be executed in a certain
situation.
AUTHORS NOTE

On the last part of the experiment

only one refused the offer, it may be
for some reason that they approach
the customer in an appropriate
manner. Therefore the third group
was not properly controlled in this
experiment, this part is of the
experiment was voided.

Conclusion

The authors would like to thank the

participants for their cooperation with
this experiment; we achieved our
objective to get full attendance,
although there was a part of the
experiment where our participants
were not followed our rules because
they were deviated from the
standard procedure. We would also
like to thank Prof. Arby Casas for
shedding light when we are in the
gray area on conceptualizing our
experiment. And of course to Prof.
Rodrigo DP Tomas for helping us
uplift our personality and for
motivating us to make each of our
works go beyond mediocrity and
most important of all is for letting us
to explore on our own and for giving
us a chance to expose ourselves on
how experiments in experimental
psychology operates.
References

Types of nonverbal
communicationhttp://psychology.about.com/od/n
onverbalcommunication/a/nonver
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Color psychology
-http://communicationtheory.org/b
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Psychology of linguistic and body
languagehttp://www.psychologydegreeonli
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Expression of emotions in man
and animalshttps://archive.org/stream/expres
sionofemot1872darw#page/28/m
ode/2up