Chapter 18 Quiz
Instructions: Choose the best answer for each question. After completing the quiz, review the explanations for any questions you missed.
1. Albert Mehrabian's finding that "93 percent of communication is nonverbal" is best interpreted as:
a) A robust general principle applicable to all communication contexts b) A finding from a specific, narrow experimental paradigm that does not generalize broadly c) An underestimate of the role of nonverbal communication in everyday conversation d) Based on cross-cultural studies that replicated across multiple populations
Answer: b — Mehrabian's studies involved emotionally incongruent utterances in specific conditions. He himself has stated the 93% figure is routinely misapplied to general communication.
2. The "mutual gaze phenomenon" refers to:
a) The tendency for both people in a couple to adopt similar facial expressions over time b) A positive feedback loop in which sustained mutual eye contact increases feelings of connection and arousal c) The finding that people in love spend more time looking at each other's faces than at their bodies d) Eye movement synchrony during REM sleep in co-sleeping partners
Answer: b — Mutual gaze creates a feedback loop where each person's gaze signals attention and interest, reinforcing continued mutual gaze, which deepens the sense of connection.
3. Research on pupil dilation as an attraction signal best supports which conclusion?
a) People can reliably read pupil dilation in ordinary social interaction b) Pupil dilation occurs specifically in response to attractive stimuli and cannot be caused by other factors c) Some pupil response to attractive others occurs in controlled conditions, but dilation is affected by many variables and is not reliably readable in everyday situations d) Pupil dilation is the most reliable single nonverbal indicator of attraction
Answer: c — The basic finding of some attraction-related dilation has partial support, but pupil size is affected by lighting, cognitive load, anxiety, and other factors; it is not reliably readable as an attraction cue in ordinary conditions.
4. Edward Hall's concept of proxemics distinguishes between:
a) Cultural and biological determinants of personal space b) Conscious and unconscious uses of space c) Distance zones associated with different types of relationships (intimate, personal, social, public) d) The spaces used by men versus women in courtship contexts
Answer: c — Hall identified distance zones (intimate, personal, social, public) that carry different relational meanings, though he acknowledged these vary culturally.
5. The Duchenne smile differs from a non-Duchenne smile in that:
a) The Duchenne smile is slower to appear and disappear b) It involves contraction of both the zygomatic major (mouth) and the orbicularis oculi (eye) muscles c) It is unique to humans among primates d) It occurs only during genuine amusement, never in warm social regard
Answer: b — The Duchenne smile's defining feature is the involvement of the eye-crinkling orbicularis oculi muscle alongside the mouth-raising zygomatic major, producing the crow's feet effect associated with genuine positive affect.
6. The "chameleon effect" (Chartrand & Bargh, 1999) refers to:
a) The ability of skilled social actors to mimic others' facial expressions deliberately b) The tendency to unconsciously mirror others' postures and gestures, which increases liking c) The way people adapt their personality to different social contexts d) The finding that attractive people are perceived as more socially flexible
Answer: b — The chameleon effect is the documented tendency for people to unconsciously mimic others' body postures and gestures, which, when it occurs, increases mutual liking and the sense of smooth interaction.
7. Which of the following is the best-supported popular body language claim?
a) Foot direction reliably indicates subconscious attraction b) Eye direction (up-left vs. up-right) reliably indicates whether someone is lying c) Open body posture is modestly associated with positive affect and accessibility d) Touching one's nose indicates deception
Answer: c — Of these options, the association between open posture and positive affect has the most consistent empirical support, though it is context-dependent and modest in magnitude.
8. Research on gender differences in nonverbal courtship signals has found that:
a) Men invariably initiate courtship in all cultures studied b) Women perform more courtship solicitation behaviors (smiles, glances, positioning) while men perform more approach behaviors, on average, in heterosexual Western contexts c) There are no meaningful gender differences in nonverbal courtship behavior d) These patterns are identical across all cultural contexts studied
Answer: b — Observational research has documented this average pattern in Western and some cross-cultural samples, though individual variation is large and context matters enormously.
9. Cross-cultural research on nonverbal courtship signals suggests:
a) Eye contact duration norms are essentially the same across cultures b) The Duchenne smile as a positive affect signal is culturally specific to Western populations c) Some signals (genuine smile, open posture) are broadly recognizable, while norms for eye contact, distance, and touch vary substantially across cultures d) Touch norms are universal because touch is biologically rather than culturally organized
Answer: c — The honest empirical picture is partial universality: some signals are broadly recognizable while others vary considerably, making cross-cultural nonverbal communication genuinely more difficult.
10. The NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) claim that eye direction reveals memory access versus information construction:
a) Has been replicated in multiple independent studies b) Has been specifically tested and failed to replicate in controlled research c) Is supported by neuroimaging studies of memory retrieval d) Works only for right-handed individuals
Answer: b — This claim has been specifically and rigorously tested (including by Wiseman et al., 2012) and found no empirical support. It remains one of the most thoroughly debunked popular body language claims.
11. Behavioral synchrony in courtship is best understood as:
a) Primarily a cause of attraction that can be manufactured deliberately b) Primarily a consequence of genuine connection and engagement, which tends to increase as rapport builds c) A reliable indicator that two people are sexually attracted to each other d) Found consistently in all cultures but absent in online communication
Answer: b — While synchrony can affect connection, the research most strongly supports it as a consequence of positive rapport rather than a technique for producing it. Deliberate excessive mirroring tends to be noticed and reads as strange.
12. The most important methodological point about interpreting nonverbal behavior is:
a) Always look for the single most prominent behavior to identify the dominant message b) Accurate interpretation requires knowing the individual's baseline, reading across multiple channels, and being sensitive to context c) Cultural background can be safely ignored once you know the universal signals d) Microexpressions are the most reliable source of information because they are involuntary
Answer: b — The chapter consistently emphasizes that single-cue, context-free interpretation is unreliable. Accurate nonverbal reading requires baseline knowledge, multi-channel attention, and contextual sensitivity.