Nonverbal cues

Apart from alcohol s incapacitating effects, which impair motor functions and make it more difficult for a victim to resist unwanted advances, alcohol facilitates date rape in less obvious ways. For instance, attackers who ingest alcohol are more likely to misinterpret verbal and nonverbal cues from their victims.16 Similarly, alcohol also impairs a victim s ability to pick up cues and warning signs that might otherwise give some indication of a potentially dangerous situation.17 Additionally, when a victim consumes alcohol, it is much more likely that the rape will remain unreported. Many rape victims who themselves have consumed alcohol fear that the authorities will not believe that they were raped, or, worse, will place blame for what happened on the victim rather than the rapist. In the case of date rape, peers are more likely to blame the intoxicated victim for what occurred.18... 

In other words, an oral presentation is an interaction among people, not a performance. The atmosphere should not suggest an I the speaker/you the audience dichotomy but rather a we the communicators unity, reflected in part by the fact that the speaker literally says we more often than you . The audience members become co-communicators through their listening, their nonverbal cues, and perhaps their comments or questions. As a result, listening improves, rapport between the speaker and the audience increases, and speaker apprehension diminishes. 

Knowing how to read—and send—nonverbal cues can be extremely helpful in a situation where both interviewer and interviewee need to learn as much about each other as possible in a short period of time. You don t want to send the wrong message to an interviewer, so take the time to familiarize yourself with some of the more commonly used nonverbal cues. 

There are dozens of them But don t worry, you can think about and even practice most of them before going to an interview. An excellent way of seeing some of your unconscious habits is to ask a friend to videotape a rehearsed interview. It doesn t have to take long, and the family video-cam will do the trick. It is astonishing how unaware most of us are of our personal habits, posture, and gestures. Now is good a time to become familiar with them and make a few conscious changes. Exhibit 4r-3 lists some of the most common nonverbal cues of which you should be aware. 

The subject is shown seven cards, each with an unfamiliar symbol and a single digit, for 3 s each. The symbol is then presented as a cue, and the subject is asked for the corresponding digit. After each response the symbol digit pair is displayed for another 3 s. The test consists of three trials and generates a total score out of 21. It is a test of nonverbal associative learning. 

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