Kinesics of affective instability

K i n e s i c s o f A f f e e t i v e I n s t a b i l i t y

Nasim Dil

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

ABSTRACT

The content of this paper is organized to include (a) the need and rationale to study kinesics of affective instability, (b) the description of the phenomenon of affective instability, (c) the role of kinesics in the overall process of communication, (d) a descriptive analysis of three cases of affective instability, and (e) a few con- cluding comments related to future directions of research and intervention. Some of the important ideas discussed are: (1) Each participant, during social interaction, contributes to the communicative act within which affective meanings are attached; (2) All nonverbal or kinesic acts have message values for encoding and/or decoding, which makes affective aspects integral parts of all communication; (3) In severe cases of affective instability, where kinesics is the primary mode of expression and little or no verbal expressive language is available, to comprehend and infer the intention of the participant is a very complex process. Meaning may get attached to irrelevant kinesics; the more relevant and significant acts may escape notice resulting in extremely erroneous conclusions; (4) Communication is the sum total of a series of interactio- hal feedback loops of verbal and kinesie acts: (5) Each inte/actional feedback loop can be isolated as a unit or a frame for the systematic analysis of communication patterns.

I N T R O D U C T I O N

The focus o f this paper differs from o the r "sign language" papers in

terms o f its perspective o f " k i n e s i c s . " By the term kinesics, I refer to the s tudy o f the language o f the whole body which a child learns as part

o f the social izat ion process. Body language is an intergral part of 'every-

day communica t ion , ye t i t is no t taught systemat ical ly or in tent ional ly ,

nor is audi tory abili ty loss impl icated in any sense. Sign language, on

the o ther hand, is pr imari ly based on gestures; i t may be taught inten-

t ionaUy; and systemat ic learning o f it is essential for communica t ion

wi th individuals w h o may or may no t have hear ing loss.

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KINESICS

The content of this paper is organized to include a brief rationale, a description of the phenomenon of affective instability, explication of the integral role of kinesics in the overall process of communication, the descriptive analysis of kinesics to a few cases of affective instability selected from the general literature and from my own work in the field for the past ten years, some of my concerns regarding prevailing uncertainties both in theoretical and applied dimensions in the area of kinesics of affective instability, and observations about future directions for research and intervention. The scope of the paper is limited to the pragmatic aspects of nonverbal communication. The purpose is to study the reciprocal impact of individuals upon their mutual communication.

RATIONALE

Kinesics is a relatively new area of scientific study. In spite of this, a gogd number of scholars from different disciplines, i.e., anthropology, linguistics, sociology, communications, clinical psychology, and psychiatry, in a number of countries around the world have made valuable contributions witlfin a short time. Some examples of contributions to kinesics and related areas are: the analysis of kinesics analogous to the structural analysis of linguistics (Birdwhistell 1970; Key 1975); kinesics of social and cultural organizations, i.e., territoriality, bonding, dominance and submission, and the regulatory nature of kinesics (Scheflen 1972); different possible methods of nonverbal communication (Ruesch & Kees 1974); facial expressions (lzard 1971, Ekman, Friesen & Ellsworth 1972); Ekman & Friesen 1975);gestures (Efron 1972; Saitz & Cervenka 1972); proximics (Hall 1959); differential male and female kinesics (Key 1975; Birdwhistell 1970);posture (James 1932; Knapp 1972, Scheflen 1972; Key 1975); gaze direction (Cranach 1971; Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1972); and body movements in psychotherapy (Ekman & Friesen 1967, 1968, Dittman 1972). The contributions of these many specialists now need to be coordinated to study the kinesic behavior patterns of affective instability.

Attempts to study the kinesic of affectively unstable individuals are very few. Grant (1972: 352-353) of the University of London studied the nonverbal behaviors of mentally ill individuals. He reports that

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LANGUAGE SCIENCES, VOLUME 1. NUMBER 2 (1978-79)

there are only a very few units of behavior observed in the mentally ill which are not seen in the normal population. On the other hand, "...only one behavior pattern recorded in normal individuals was not recorded in a particular group of mentally ill. This was shrugging of the shoulders and was never shown by individuals classified by medical staff as schizophrenic." But, he concludes that "...non-occurrence of an event in a finite series of observations is in any case not definite evidence of its non-occurrence in the population. In general, we can say that the normal vocabulary of nonverbal communication as used in face-to-face social meetings is also available to mentally ill."

Grant's (1972) findings suggest that the study of various groups of affectively unstable individuals according to a comprehensive list of isolated units of kinesics is time.consuming, cumbersome, and relatively unproductive. Extensive research of this nature, with more careful planning, may yield information that certain groups of tile affectively unstable either demonstrate or do not demonstrate the existence-of certain kinesic acts. It does not, however, provide information related to the effect which the presence or absence of such kinesic behaviors has on others.

Grant (1972: 350) describes the reactions of "normal" individuals when they are faced with "abnormals": "...the response evoked is aversive, tending to increase the social distance between the individuals, or forcibly restrictive, trying to reduce the normal output." It seems, at this stage in the literature, that kinesics of affective instability is a promising field of systematic study and research. Kinesics could be used to explore, with considerable precision, tile reciprocal impact of interactions between affectively stable and affectively unstable individuals, both for their theoretical and practical importance.

Affective instability, irrespective of tile diverse theoretical points of view concerning its causes, is initially inferred from the expressive behaviors rather than the receptive skills of individuals. At least five groups of individuals can be identified based on their expressive skills who may be classified as affectively unstable. The first is a group of infants who do not acquire verbal expressive language skills until they reach a certain delayed age level. During this time interval, their pri. mary mode of communication is nonverbal. A second group includes those children who have problems of speech and whose verbal expres-

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five language is delayed. This deficit naturally extends considerably in time their nearly exclusive usage of nonverbal language. A third group includes those individuals who are institutionalized or hospitalized because of different problems of affective instability. It has been generally reported about many of them that their verbal language expressions are limited or, in some instances, reduced to a minimum. They may then resort to a nonverbal channel in order to maintain whatever level of communication is possible. A fourth group of individuals possesses expressive verbal language skills, and these persons do use these skills; however, their nonverbal expressions, (i.e., hyperactivity, aggression, destruction, and hostility) interfere with their verbal expressions and may even obscure the meaning of their verbal expressions. A fifth group consists of those passive and quiet individuals who possess verbal expressive skills, but who avoid social interactions and do not use those skills. Consequently, their withdrawn behavior becomes the central point of others' attention. The foregoing examples suggest tile primary importance of nonverbal language in the life of all these individuals who are considered affectively unstable. Moreover, it may be assumed that more affective communication could be established with these individuals if more comprehension of"kinesics of affective instability" is developed.

AFFECTIVE INSTABILITY

The terms "affect" and "emotion" and "affective" and "emotional" have been used synonymously in this paper. Stability is an organized and ordered condition in which equilibrium or balance is maintained in the face of various types of stress. Affective stability describes certain organized and ordered patterns of behavior which indicate a person's stable balance in normal life situations in which communication of affect is typically in progress. "Affective instability" thus refers to a disordered, disorganized, :imbalanced way of communication of affects which may create problematic situations for the people involved. The nature of such affective behavior can be the lack of or over-expression of affect(s) or the expression of normal affect(s) at inappropriate occa- sions or for unusually sustained periods. In other words, the term "affective instability" has been substituted in this paper for the familiar and commonly employed term "emotional disturbance" used in mental

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LANGUAGE SCIENCES, VOLUME 1, NUMBER 2 (1978-79)

health and special education literature. The use of the term "mental illness" has been reduced considerably, but it is still used in common parlance as well as in some professional sectors across the globe to the same phenomena.

Considerable vagueness and uncertainty still prevails, and there is little agreement about any one overall definition of affective instability. However, it is possible to infer from available literature that children who are identified as affectively unstable differ from other children in the expression of their affect (Dil 1976). The most common denominator of their behavior is reported to be their inability to establish and maintain successful and meaningful interpersonal relationships (Bower 1959, 1969; Kirk 1962; Bandura & Waiters 1963;Haring & Phillips 1963; Pate 1963; Quay 1963; Despert 1965; Ullman & Krasner 1965; Kessler 1966; ttewett 1968; Dupont 1969; Glavin & Quay 1969; Haring 1974; and Reinert 1976). Their affective expressions are judged by significant others in their environment as bizarre, eccentric,- and negative behaviors which di.srupt the normal anticipated flow of communication and, as a consequence, sets the stage for the classification of these children as affectively unstable.

Generally, the adjectives which are used in the field to describe the phenomena of affective instability are: inappropriate, inconsistent, disturbing, distressing, disgusting, frustrating, unusual, strenuous, unpleasant, and unacceptable affective communication. Yet, specific norms for evaluating appropriate, accurate, proportionate, and other desirable levels of affective expressions are not clear, thereby resulting in numerous uncertainties of how to determine when unstable behavior occurs.

Some of the descriptors used to classify affectively unstable clfildren are: hyperactive, impulsive, obsessive-compulsive, excitable, hostile, aggressive, depressive, withdrawn, fearful, self-involved, nervous, neuro- tic, psychotic, schizophrenic, and autistic, all of which imply primarily nonverbal expressions. But there is a scarcity of reports or case studies in which interactional patterns of affective expressions are described precisely to guarantee correct identification of the affectively unstable. It has been observed in everyday life situations that a great majority of extremely hostile, aggressive, hyperactive, fearful, and depressive individuals are not only n o t classified as affectively unstable, but are, in many situations, reinforced for the display of those affective behaviors. In general, the experiencing and expression of fear, anger, or sadness is

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KINESICS

perfectly normal and healthy. The need still exists for empirical research to identify the conditions and levels at which these expressions are no longer regarded as normal. There is also a clear need to establish reliable and valid criteria to determine even the standards of"normali- ty."

Concern has been expressed in the field related to a high incidence of false positives and false negatives in the assessment of affective instability due to the generality of tile terms used. Most of such contri- bution comes from the fairly large number of subjective and rather arbi- trary norms which are often operating during assessment. For a long time, teachers' judgements have continued to revolve around the activity level of children (Wickman 1928). They are known to have identi-

f ied the active types as affectively unstable and not to have noticed the quiet ones who were not disturbing the peace of their classroom. On the other hand, all this while clinicians have been focusing heavily on the passive, withdrawn types as affectively unstable. More recently, however, checklists and questionnaires have been developed which have emphasized tile importance of the identification of the problems of both active and passive coping styles (Quay, Morse, & Butler 1966; McCaffrey & Cumming 1967; Walker & Mattson 1967; Gotts, Adams, & Phillips 1968-69; Bower 1979). But the broad areas and imprecision of meanings associated with critical terms used in such instruments war- rants their further clarification.

There is one aspect of assessment and screening procedures which is especially crucial as it relates to affective behavior as compared to any other domain of human development-the determining of criteria for a cut-off point along the nominal scale to classify "haves" from "have nots." For example, in the case of verbal expressive language development, a child is identified as having no expressive verbal language if, in a given set of situations, the child does not say a single word or produce any speech sounds (all other extraneous factors excluded). But the moment the child says one or two words, he is included among the "haves." He hag language. He needs to make further progress and im- prove his status on the ordinal scale. In fact, there is no upper limit to his progress in this area. tie may surpass all the previous records established and achieve the highest rank order on the scale. The case, however, is not the same in the area of affective development. Cut-off points are needed for classification of affective instability at both ends

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of the scale. In terms of kinesics of affective instability, there is no such thing as no behavior. The lack of expression is expression. Total immo- bility, if at all possible, is considered postural silence; and too much mobility in the environment may be judged as hyperactivity. Lack of expression of affects suggest emotional disturbance labeled as "autism" and "schizophrenia"; and at the other end of the scale, the labels of "hostility" and "dependence" are given respectively for the expression of too much anger and attachment. Unfortunately, the criteria for the upper and lower limits which distinguish how much is "too much and how little is " too little" affective expression are not adequately stressed in the current literature. Both the highest and the lowest ranks on the ordinal scale indicate affective instability. Similarly, interval scale units for affective development are not as clearly stated as they are for verbal language or fine and gross motor skills.

The most challenging task that faces professionals in this area, therefore, is the specifying of norms, limits, and criteria to minimize errors in the assessment and diagnosis of affective instability or find an alter- native method of studying affective instability. The complexity of the task is so obvious that it discourages its undertaking, a circumstance which has contributed to the scarcity of specific knowledge in this area.

From the point of view of a special educator, it is not crucial only to classify and assign a label to an individual. The critical aspect and the urgency of the matter lies in providing intervention and/or prevention services to reducb problems to a minimum. It seems that this specific problem needs to be reviewed from a different perspective. The efforts have been, so far, to evaluate these individuals from a fit-misfit model. Those who perceive themselves to fit, identified the misfits. If dominance and submission roles were switched, the pattern of fit-misfits could change, contributing to the non-clarity of norms.

The focus of efforts to date has been to force everyone into the "normal" flow of communication even when emphasis has all too often proven disastrous. There are numerous illustrations where one group totally alienated another because of the fit-misfit, dominance- submission struggle. PaTents throught their children affectively unstable because children did not receive their messages accurately or conformed or agreed to what parents said. Children considered their parents affectively unstable, old-fashioned, and unable to understand the new

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KINESICS

and changed conditions of life. Men alienated women and vice versa. People of one culture thought others odd.

One feasible approach to finding a solution to these problems is to modify the uni-directional flow of communication by opening the channels of communication from both directions. For better understanding of affectively unstable individuals, the communication system needs to be looked at more critically through the perspectives of the so-called "affectively unstable." The first important prerequisite toward achieving such an understanding is to comprehend the details of the affective processes of individuals so that the incompleteness of the assessment and classification procedures and the inaccuracies involved in the misinterpretation of the messages during interpersonal communication are highlighted.

For the purposes of clarification, I have analyzed the affective process and identified the following eight components as presented in my paper (Dil 1976a): (1) affective stimuli; (2) sensory receptors; (3) neuro-physiological changes; (4) subjective experiences; (5) affective reactions; (6) affective behaviors; (7) cognition; and (8) time interval. Each of these eight components of the affective process contributes to the expression of affect. It is important to assess affective behavior as a totality of these eight components. A problem in one component is liable to influence the overall expression of affect.

By analyzing the affective process along the lines I have outlined above, it might become easier to pinpoint the specific nature of the problems associated with affective instability. For example, one source of the problems could be that hyperactive children are activated by too many affective stimuli at one time for a very brief time interval. As they respond to such stimuli, they make "too many" movements during that short duration without assessing the consequences and impact of their behavior on others. Autistic children, who may be described as showing a great imbalance between their intrapersonal and interpersonal communication systems, may be receiving a major share of stimulation from certain organic triggers; and as they are busy responding to that complex stimulation, they fail to give their normal share of eye- contact and smiles to others. The time between the onset of the affective stimulus and the display of affective behavior is too short in the case of impulsive children, and that could be the major problem they

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have. Schizophrenics are reported to have a different pattern of communication which is evaluated as sufficiently unexpected and unantici- pated by others. This pattern interrupts the normal flow of communication in social settings. The problem may be the lack of knowledge or deliberate or nondeliberate non-conformity to the social norms. For the purposes of intervention and]or prevention of affective instability, the knowledge of such specific details can simplify the procedures and by- pass a great deal of unnecessary and undesirable labeling work.

Cultural values, norms, and social display rules strongly control affective behavior. People do not always express the same affect that they experience. Based on the judgement of the social demands of the interactional situations and the evaluation of the consequences of the expression of certain behaviors, decisions are made to de-emphasize, over-emphasize, neutralize, or blend the affect with another affect (Goffman 1959; Ekman & Friesen 1969). Such deception is an integral part of affective expressions in most of the social settings. This does not mean, however, that the attempt at decqption is entirely successful. There are many nonverbal cues like facial expressions which provide leakage; and the perceptive capabilities of someone in the social setting facilitate the identification of the real affect experienced. Thus, knowledge of kinesics is crucial in the identification of the real affect experienced.

COMMUNICATION THROUGH KINESICS

The human body speaks a complex and structured language of its own, which is generally referred to in literature as body language or nonverbal language or, more recently, kinesics. This language is an essential and integral part of the interpersonal and intrapersonal interaction system. It follows predictable patterns and roles which yield information to those who understand it. Nonverbal language may com- plement, contradict or reiterate verbal language. Nonverbal signals affect meaning, emphasis, and other aspects of verbal language. Words and sentences can be meaningless by themselves while nonverbal messages are more meaningful and significant. A complete message can be communicated without speaking any words. Nonverbal cues generally give information related to the affective aspects of communication. In fact, most affects are expressed nonverbally.

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The media of nonverbal communication far exceed those of verbal communication which is exclusivelyreceived through auditory channels and expressed through speech mechanisms. In kinesics, hands, head, eyes, mouth, nose, forehead, face, body, and space are all potential contributors. Some of these, of course, are more powerful than others (e.g., face and body posture). In social settings, nonverbal communication is in progress even when there are no words spoken. One or a combination of these media is constantly engaged in sending or receiving messages. Thus, the appreciation of kinesics is based upon multiple sensory impressions that may impinge simultaneously. The activity level of the body, gestures, posture, head nodding, facial expressions, olfaction, and spacial distances set the tone for communication as pleasant, unpleasant, accepting, rejecting, approaching or avoid- ing.

With so many potent nonverbal media in operation all the time, social interaction is not a simple process dependent upon verbal language; conclusions can not be drawn that there is no communication because no one is talking. As Watzlawick, Beavin, and Jackson say, "one cannot not communicate" (1967: 48-51). In their opinion, behavior has no opposite, that is, there is no such thing as non-behavior. They believe that in an interactional situation, all behavior has a message value. Words or silence, activity or inactivity, all contain messages which impact upon others. For example, a person looks away to send the message that he wants to maintain psychological distance. The message may be received accurately, and the other person does not attempt to start or sustain a verbal conversation. The communication, however, has occurred. One feedback loop of communication is completed with. out any apparent conflict. But the communication circuit might not be that simple if the first message is not accurately decoded and attempts are made to engage the other person in conversation. A series of loops may follow taking different directions in the communication process, some of which may result in serious conflicts.

In view of the "impossibility of non-communication" presented by Watzlawick, Beavin, and Jackson (1967), it is important to consider any social interaction as a series of units of feedback loops. In each feedback loop, a message is encoded. It is then decoded, but it simultaneously acquires the properties to be encoded and then decoded by the

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original encoder. (Figure 1) Thus each feedback loop includes four units of encoding and decoding, all four of which may be nonverbal or a combination of nonverbal and verbal messages. The communication may be completed after one feedback loop, or it may contirtue to include more feedback loops.

Feedback Loops Social Interaction

1. X I I ( D ) . ( C )

I I I encodes decodes + (A) " ~ - - - - "~" (m

2. X Y decodes encodes (D) ~ ~ ( C )

qr

3. X

encodes decodes Communication S t a r t s ~ ( A ) ' ~ - - " ' - ~ ( B ) ]-

Y decodes encodes

4.

encodes decodes (A) ~ ~ (B)

Y decodes encodes (D),,..__._~_.....j.(C)

encodes decodes (a) f ~ (B)

X Y I decodes encodes I J (c ) to)...___

I I I I I I I

I ~ . I g

Ig.

I g i I I I I I I I I

1

Figure 1: Communication Feedback Loops

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A further analysis of each decoded message indicates at least five possibilities of its being decoded (Figure 2):

I. The message is decoded exactly and accurately the way it was intended at the time of encoding.

2. Tile message is decoded but totally inaccurately as to what was intended.

3. A part o f the intended message is decoded accurately and the rest is decoded inaccurately.

4. An incomplete message is decoded and the rest of the intended message escapes decoding.

5. A message is decoded which was not intended because of the attention being focused on irrelevant cues.

An interference with the normal flow of communication may occur if an inaccurate or incomplete message is decoded. However, if the message is decoded accurately, it does not guarantee that the receiver will agree or conform to it or feel obligated to respond. In fact, the receiver may deliberately decide to do the exact opposite o f what the expectation was. In any of these circumstances, communication may be So affected that the person involved is considered affectively unstable.

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Quality of Impact of Decoded Decoded Message Message

[ Encoding HDecoding~ -,.

Totally Accurate

Totally ~ a) Inaccurate

b)

Partially ~ Accurate c)

Incomplete ~ d)

Unintended~ j

Agreement and Conformity

Disagreement but conformity

Disagreement and Non-conformity

Agreement but Non-confomfity

Figure 2: Paradigm of Affective Communication

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KINESICS

KINESICS OF AFFECTIVE INSTABILITY: THREE CASES

Case One

For illustration purposes, I would like to present the social interaction of a young autistic child in terms of affective kinesics of instability as I have outlined above. I have taken the story o f a six-year. old autistic girl, Brenda, described by Oates (1972: 302-318). To avoid redundancy, I will skip over most o f the autisms of Brenda except what is necessary to illustrate the dynamics o f her social interaction. There is no indication throughout the story that Brenda has any expressive verbal language. She is reported to be always silent. She has by this time become a negative affective stimulus for her parents. They have not institutionalized her so far; but her father, though very gentle and protec- tive toward Brenda, experiences anxiety, tension, fear, and anger toward her. Wlfile interacting with Brenda he tries to talk to her or around her needs, but becomes very conscious of his own need to talk and feels that Brenda's silence is like heavy blocks which press his words from both sides. This realization adds to the already accumulated tension. Brenda's mother has started accepting her failure as a mother. She appears exhausted "even during her sleep." Both parents are now reacting very tensely toward each other.

The interaction I have selected for comment occurred on a certain day when the father was going to drive about fifty miles and take Brenda to an educational setting which applied intervention for a few hours per week.

- T h e first unit o f interaction ( I t ) between the father and the daughter is:

When father enters the room and greets Brenda- "Good Morning, honey," he said. lie came to her and put his arms gently around her, she stopped playing the piano but did not seem to notice him. In- stead, as if paralyzed by a thought that had nothing to do with him, she sat rigid, intense, staring at her fingers on the keyboard (Oates, 1972: 305).

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A B Analysis of I~ : Father f " - - - - - ~ Brenda

D .~____-C

A. AffeetivesStimulus (Encoding): Father Father provides sensory stimulation in three different way: 1. Visual, his physical presence in the room; 2. Auditory, "Good morning, honey"; 3. Tactile, puts his arms gently around her. Also, he reduces spatial distance by reaching her.

B. Affective Behavior (Decoding): Brenda 1. Stops playing piano (change in the movement of hands); 2. Sat rigid, tense (no change in posture, quality of posture); 3. Staring at her fingers on the keyboard (direction and quality

of gaze, position of hands maintaining contact with piano); 4. Did not seem to notice father (interpretation related to eye

kinesics); 5. Seemed paralyzed by a thought that had nothing to do with

father (interpretation related to postural silence). C. AffectiveStifnulus(Encoding): Brenda

Brenda does not provide any auditory or tactual stimulation. Visually, she stays at the same spot where her father found her at the beginning of tile interaction.

D. Affective Behavior (Decoding): Father Father decodes Brenda's silence and probably rejection.

The first communication feedback loop is completed. Brenda's responses reflect an affective instability if compared in form to that which characterizes standard greeting behavior in a particular culture. Sheflen (1972) describes the following behaviors which people generally display when greeting: turn face to each other; cover the distance, and if possible, come closer to each other; smile and show other facial expressions indicating recognition of each other, i.e., "eyebrow flash" in which eyebrows are raised and wide open eyes are shown; extend arms with palms up and embrace or handshake; kiss; vocalize and/or verbalize. Grant (1972) writes that the alteration of the direction of gaze relates directly to the flow of conversation which indicates the intention to communicate or greet.

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KINESICS

Brenda, as described by the author, does not express any of the kinesic signs of affection. No smiling face, no shining eyes, no change in the direction of head, gaze, or posture, no extended arms to give a hug to the father and no kiss. But, she expresses the kinesic signs of dominance and submission. She pays her respects to him, but her hands are the only active medium to acknowledge this bond. Obviously, it is not enough. Expectations demand active participation of most of the nonverbal and verbal modes of expression. In the absence of verbal language, most of the other media of kinesic expressions are expected to be engaged. To the extent that communication means giving one's share, Brenda contributed her share in tile communicative loop. But this share was too little and extremely insufficient when compared to what one would normally expect. Most probably, the father did not even notice Brenda's share in the situation.

- T h e second consecutive unit of interaction (I2) that I would like to analyze is when the father says to Brenda:

'You're all ready aren't you? Scrubbed and clean and ready for the trip?' She did not appear to have heard him (Oates, 1972:305).

Analysis of 12 : Father A P ~ B

Brenda D.,..__..~ C

A. Affective Stimulus (Encoding): Father Stimulation is auditory, which is heavily loaded with social standards and cultural values for grooming. "Scrubbed and clean" is expected to be ready to go out and is expressed clearly.

B. Affective Behavior (Decoding): Brenda 1. Total kinesic silence; 2. Complete grooming kinesics. In the beginning of the text, it

is written: "She had put her little white socks on perfectly. She wore a yellow dress, perfectly ironed by the laundry that did her father's shirts so meticulously, and her hair was a fine, dull gold, very neat. Everything matched." (p. 304)

C. AffectiveStimulus (Encoding): Brenda No auditory, tactile or any other kinesic movement.

D. Affective Behavior (Decoding): Father

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The second feedback loop is completed with the father receiving only Brenda's silence and probably adding one more instance of frustration to his already large accumulation. This interaction is initiated by him acknowledging Brenda's neat and clean grooming pattern, but it seems as if grooming is received more as a routine behavior than any attempt to regard it as a very well thought out response by Brenda to his previously expressed expectations and communication of social values related to dressing up.

- T h e third consecutive unit of interaction (la) again is initiated by father with the same response of silence from Brenda.

TII have some coffee, then we'll leave. Mummy's staying home today and l'm taking you. I thought we'd have a nice drive to school, then come back through the pa rk . . . I took the whole day off today. I hope the sun stays out.' (p. 305)

Analysis of I a : Father A...------~B

Brenda D . . _ . . . / C

Again, the father is the affective stimulus and Brenda's response is silence, which seems not unexpected by the father.

-The fourth consecutive unit of this interaction between the father and the daugh~r is very important in this sequence of communication. As soon as he leaves the room and enters the kitchen, he hears that she begins to play the piano where she had left off the time he had entered the room. Throughout this communication she had stopped playing the piano, but her fingers stayed on the keyboard. This expression seems very much similar to the behavior of a great majority of us when we are deeply involved in something and someone interrupts. We stop our work, acknowledge the person, but our thinking patterns are closer to the task we were involved in.

The social interaction of Brenda and father is comprised of only four communication feedback loops (Figure 3). But a certain pattern of Brenda's behavior becomes very obvious after this analysis; that is, she stops playing piano when father initiates interaction and starts playing it again as soon as he leaves her. In her own way, she did attempt to relate with her father. Is it possible that more effective com-

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KINESICS

munication could have been established if father had attended to the cues given by her rather than the one's he was focusing on?

I. FATHER BRENDA

I I I

2. FATHER BRENDA

I I I - '"x

3. FATtlER BRENDA

I I I t f

4. FATHER BRENDA

STOPPED PLAYING PIANO

STARTS PLAYING PIANO AGAIN

Figure 3: Pattern of Social Interaction Communication Feedback L o o p s

Autism is considered to be one of the most severe and baffling conditions of affective instability. Autistic children are described as living in a world of their own, more distant, more detached and oppressively silent. They lack social skills to establish and maintain interpersonal relationships. Generally, their speech patterns are unusual, and their verbal language is delayed and limited. Their nonverbal behavior is mostly incomprehensible which frightens other people in their environment who start regarding these children as negative affective stimuli. As a result of the negative characteristics which others attribute to these children, they are avoided and left alone as helpless cases by everyone

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except a few people in their immediate environment. In fact, the great majority of these children are hidden away in institutions.

The nonverbal affective behaviors of autistic children, commonly described in very general terms in the published literature, include: lack of eye-contact and smiling; staring blankly into space or at a speck of dust or a tiny particle for hours; looking through, rather than at, other persons; twirling, rocking, and awkwardly running around; nailbiting, hand biting, and spinning fingers in front of eyes, slapping their own face, banging heads, and displaying other forms of self-destructive behavior. They resist change and show persistence rather than obsession for some things; they may hypnotically spin some objects for hours; they show preoccupation with mechanical objects, especially those which require fine motor manipulation; they show skillful perfomlance abilities in music; they show outstanding abilities to recall minute details of their environment; they are repulsed by human contact, will not allow anyone to touch them, and may even scream like a "wounded animal" when someone approaches them; they show fear of strangers and strange situations; and their bodies are generally tense and rigid. (Kanner 1943; Rimland 1964; Rutter 1969; Wing 1972; Delcato 1974; Everard 1976; Ritvo 1976).

Delcato (1974: 44) reports that whatever the form of their particular variety of autism, most children carry out their apparently random repetitive movements at the same rate and speed. He further speculates that through the orchestration of their movements, they are desperately trying to communicate and make understood their messages which others in the environment often fail to understand. If this speculation is true, it makes it even more crucial to analyze their communication patterns closely according to the method suggested above and discover meanings in their movements so that the hidden messages are received accurately.

Case Two

For the purpose of extending the applicability of my model, at tiffs stage I would like to bring an illustration from fearful children who form a large subgroup of the affectively unstable population. In fact, fear has been described as a major contributing factor toward affective instability. Social norms in some societies consider one's accepting the

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fact that one is afraid as taboo. Children, in those societies, therefore, learn from a very early age to mask their affective reactions of fear. Fearful children may be active or passive. Both types, as a typical response to such affective stimuli, avoid tense or fear provoking situations. In their avoidance, the active types do not hide in isolation. Being alone frightens them even more. They prefer to stay with groups. They initiate interaction and activities which are not necessarily posi- tive. In an effort to cover their feelings o f fear, they display high levels o f excitement, aggression or destruction which is frightening for others and results in avoidance of these children. Passive children, on the other hand, either avoid all tense situations and become isolates or approach others to the point of clinging and are thus avoided by those to whom they cling, who are generally significant others in their environment. In this case, others are afraid o f their clinging, dependency or lack o f communication because of total withdrawal and isolation.

My illustration of a frightened child is taken from Stephen Joseph's Children in Fear (1974: 88), with my brief comments identifying each experience and the related affective expressions:

It was when Sally's parent's marriage was breaking up that she began to laugh all the time, a bit hysterically. One day, she came to school rigid with fear, her eyes staring open, the pupils shimmying from side to s ide . . , as she lay on the mat in the book corner, rigid as a soldier at attention, I stroked her hand and talked softly toher. Every few minutes, a convulsion shook her body. She was terrified beyond crying, frozen with fear. Suddenly, she hit me and began to laugh.

Frame 1 :

Comment :

" I t was when Sally's parent's marriage was breaking up that she began to laugh all the time, a bit hysterically." Affective simulus is breaking up of parent's marriage.

Affeetive behavior is laughter, which is an indicator o f affect happiness. The blend of two affects-fear and happiness, one o f which is negative and the other posi- tive, contributes to the over-expression of the affect which is used for masking purposes, and she laughs all the time. Obviously, it does not fit the expected pattern o f Sally's usual behavior or the demands of the

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situation. This attracts the attention of the person who has the capability to receive such nonverbal messages.

Frame 2 : "One day, she came to school rigid with fear, her eyes staring open, the pupils shimmying from side to side."

Comment : The intensity of experience is communicated through nonverbal media of posture, eyes, movement of pupils and width of eyes.

Frame 3 : "As she lay on the mat in the book corner, rigid as a soldier at attention, I stroked her hand and talked to her. Every fewminutes a convulsion shook her body. She was terrified beyond crying, frozen with fear."

Comment : Most of the information is sent through posture, which is rigid, alert, and frozen.

Frame 4 : "Suddenly, she hit me and began to laugh." Comment: Fear is masked by two affects in succession. First,

anger, and second, happiness. Arms are used to express anger; mouth for happiness..

Joseph (1974) has extended our understanding of this domain by identifying several of the stimuli for fear like, fear of death, God, sins, ghosts, monsters, robbers, thieves, muggers, child abusers, drug addicts, strangers, violence, dreams, fantasies, imagination, the whole world around them, touching a hot stove, running out into the traffic and getting run over by cars, wars, bombs, making mistakes, daddy who beats morn, and morn who is an alcoholic, and other endless stimuli of fear for both children and adults. A comprehensive knowledge of the kinesic expressions related to fear may facilitate the identification of this affect in spite of all efforts to mask it.

Case Three

At this stage I would like to link the theoretical and applied dimensions of the problem by presenting a case study. Bobby, a four-year-old child with a middle class background was admitted in our experimental preschool with a diagnostic label of severe autism. The policy of the program was to avoid personal biases by not providing diagnostic labels to the members of the staff. Interestingly, within one week, which was also the initial observation and assessment period, most of the members of the staff expressed frustrations at their inability to work with

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Bobby. They reported that Bobby was seriously emotionally disturbed and autistic and belonged in the state institution for the emotionally disturbed rather than in a preschool. He was said to be running around aimlessly and awkwardly, would scream at the slightest hint of a touch, and his total lack of eye contact made it impossible to teach him anything: "Nothing motivates him. He is not interested in anything," and so on. After listening to these outbursts, plans were made to observe Bobby objectively. One of the instructions given to the observers was to watch the direction of Bobby's gaze. Very soon, it became obvious to everyone that he did not look straight at others, but for a fraction of a second, he would look through the corners of his eyes which escaped everyone's notice. But in that one look Bobby obviously managed to get a quick survey of the room. He would start running in his jumpy and awkward style-and reach in close proximity to an adult in that room and display some body movements like twirling, getting hit by a piece of furniture or pushing the pile of blocks with his hands. Before anyone actually realized, Bobby was running again, apparently "self- involved" and with "no awareness of the environment" only this time the adult was running after him. Bobby would either run out into the hall or go outside in the playground. In the hall, he would come close to the water fountain, push the wooden stool which was placed there for young children to reach the level of the water, press the button to draw out the water, sip the water and refuse to leave the fountain for some time. During this activity, his face was relaxed indicating slight traces of pleasure and possibly mischief, with his brief slant gazes directed toward the adult. Meanwhile, the adult would stay with the child trying desperately to take him back to the classroom.

If Bobby would run outside in the playground, he would rush straight to the swing. With his arms extended upwards, heels raised he would make "strange" postural movements. The adult, embarrassed at not knowing how to deal with Bobby, would assist him to be seated on the swing and push the swing. Bobby would refuse to come down for at least half-an-hour, and his facial expressions were almost similar to when he was at the water fountain'.

A few additional observations were made which were interesting and rewarding. No screaming occurred at all when an adult picked Bobby up to put him on the swing or stool. The tactual con'tact, in this case,

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was much more close, firm, and tight as compared to the light touch of hand in other situations where Bobby would scream to the point of terrifying others.

Two intervention strategies were planned for immediate implementa- tion. Lack of direct eye-contact seemed to be the major problem which alienated most adults. They felt rejection and frustration because: "Bobby does not even look at us; how can we teach him anything?" So, the first intervention plan taken in hand was to develop eye contact behavior in Bobby. Instructions were given to disregard Bobby's chro- nological age and treat him like an infant who is in the process of first learning to develop eye contact. A real life situation was simulated in which the significant adults in the life of the infant approach him from all sides, talk to him, hold his face in both hands and repeatedly say: "Look at me! Johnny, look at me." In Bobby's case, he was observed to look through peripheral vision. The adult face was brought closer to his from sides. As soon as the eye met, a faint smile appeared on his face. Within one month Bobby was a different child, smiling and giving direct eye contact.

The second plan which was simultaneously implemented aimed at developing in Bobby tolerance for touch because of its primary importance as a sensory receptor for young children. After regular intervals, some adult would offer to take Bobby to the swing or water fountain. They would hold his hand on the way and while he was drinking water or swinging, they would place their hand(s) softly on his back or shoulders. At the end of this first month, he was seen sitting in the laps of those adults who had worked closely with him. The most significant symptom of autism, that is, inability to develop interpersonal relationships was dispelled. Bobby had also started responding to other Ieaming activities. By the way, he was a very handsome child. After his first month with us, almost everyone recognized how cute he was!

CONCLUSION

Each participant, during social !nteractions, contributes to the process of communication to which affective meanings are attached. All verbal or kinesic acts have message value for encoding or decoding, which makes the affective aspect an integral part of all communication. The concept that intention is essential for communication is disregard- ed in this paper. In severe cases of affective instability where the pri-

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mary mode of expression is nonverbal and little or no verbal expressive language is available, comprehending and inferring the intention of the participant is a very complex process. Meanings may get attached to the irrelevant expressions and attributes and the most relevant and significant kinesic acts may escape notice resulting in extremely erroneous conclusions.

Communication is a sum total of a series of interactional feedback loops of verbal and kinesic acts. Each interactional feedback loop can be isolated as a unit or a frame for analytical study. The descriptive analysis of the interaction of three cases of affective instability, frame by frame, according to the analytical model of affective process, elaborates the importance and feasibility of this approach. Brenda's and Sally's cases are derived from literature. But Bobby's case is a real one. The analytical approach toward the identification of his problem and providing intervention accordingly proved to be effective.

The field of kinesics of affective instability is almost unexplored and open for scientific study and research. The descriptive analysis of individual cases is a very basic and essential approach, but is expected to yield useful information upon which other experimental research can be based.

Acknowledgements are due to Dr. Edward Earl Gotts,.Director, Division of Childhood and Parenting, Appalachia Educational Labora- tory, Box 1348, Charleston, West Virginia 25325, for the critical review of this paper for its final format.

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Kinesics of affective instability