Chapter 4 Nonverbal Communication 99Creating Immediacy
Nonverbal communication can also create immediacy, a feeling of closeness,
involvement, and warmth between people (Andersen, Guerrero, & Jones, 2006;
Prager, 2000). Such behaviors include sitting or standing close to another person,
turning and leaning toward the individual, smiling, making eye contact, and
touching appropriately (Andersen, 1998; Andersen, Guerrero, Buller, & Jor-
gensen, 1998). Even adding “smiley face” emoticons to your e-mail messages has
been found to increase perceptions of immediacy and liking (Yoo, 2007).
Immediacy behaviors help you form and manage impressions, particularly if
you want to have more social influence. The implications for interpersonal relation-
ships are clear: physical contact, eye contact, smiling, and other gestures tell your
romantic partner, your family members, and close friends that you love and care
for them and that you want to be near them. In the professional world, multiple
studies find that physicians, nurses, and staff who engage in immediacy behaviors
have patients who are less fearful of them and more satisfied with their medical care
(Richmond, Smith, Heisel, & McCroskey, 2001; Wanzer, Booth-Butterfield, &
Gruber, 2004). And if you are a supervisor at work, combine positive messages with
immediacy behaviors to enhance your likeability and credibility (Teven, 2007).
Deceiving Others
In the historical drama Argo, Central Intelligence Agency officer Tony Mendez res-
cues six American agents stranded in Tehran, Iran, during the 1979 Iranian hostage
crisis. Mendez executes his rescue without a single weapon. Rather, he deceives
Iranian officials by having the agents pose as a Canadian movie crew scouting loca-
tions in Iran (Dargis, 2012). Mendez and the hostages (both in the film and in real
life) pulled off their deception by carefully learning their “roles” in the fabricated
story and by consciously monitoring their nonverbal communication to reveal
confidence and poise.
Although most of us will never engage in such a dramatic example of
deception—the attempt to convince others of something that is false (O’Hair &
Cody, 1994)—we will admit to occasionally engaging in it (if we’re being hon-
est). Sometimes we deceive to protect others, as when you tell your friend that no
one noticed her torn slacks. Other times, we deceive out of fear, as when victims
of abuse blame their injuries on falls or accidents. However, deception can have
MENDEZ AND THE
OTHER agents had to develop
detailed backstories in order to
pull off their plan: to convinc-
ingly pose as a Canadian film
crew in Iran. © Warner Bros. Pictures/
Courtesy Everett Collection