Children's Verbal and Nonverbal Congruent and Incongruent Communication During Parent-Child Interactions

Abstract

While the field of verbal and nonverbal congruent and incongruent communication has gained increasing interest in recent years, research in this area regarding children has received considerably less attention. This article presents diverse patterns of children's verbal and nonverbal interrelationships of congruent–incongruent communication. The study used a mixed multivariate design to analyze parent–child interactions (n = 160) in structured joint game sequences, filmed in their homes. The findings explain children's incongruent communication patterns (ICP) and reveal the effects of social and situational factors, including child's and parent's gender, socioeconomic status, and task difficulty. The study expands the theoretical and methodological research regarding ICP. The proposed model provides composite theoretical perspectives regarding children's congruence–incongruence interconnections of verbal and nonverbal communication.

An Advanced Framework for Verbal Communication and Nonverbal Gestures in Parent–child Interactions

“…The current study contributes by comparing VCNGs across parent-child interaction tasks of varying types and difficulty. Examining interactions of different levels of difficulty enables the observation of patterns of communication that do not otherwise occur (Grebelsky-Lichtman, 2014b). In particular, high levels of difficulty force participants (parents and children) to use VCNGs to manage the challenge (Ekman & Friesen, 1969;Rogers & Sawyers, 1990).…”

Verbal versus nonverbal primacy

“…However, when executing a complex task, the difference between the parent and the child gains importance. In this situation, the parents’ social role positions them as guides and mentors, while putting the children in the position of listeners and executors (Grebelsky-Lichtman, 2014b). In the course of the difficult task, children are more attentive to parents’ instructions on how to perform the task, as the verbal channel gains dominance.…”

“…This pattern of children’s incongruent communication is expressed more toward mothers, who exhibit greater incongruence (Barton & Tomasello, 1994; Grebelsky-Lichtman, 2014b; Neill, 1991). Children observe their mothers as a model and acquire general patterns of communication that refer to the relationship between verbal and nonverbal channels.…”

“…Incongruence, or problems of assembly, represents a child’s communicative behavior in which the outcome expression lacks coherence or appears disjointed (Greene, 2007). On the basis of AAT, high-SES children should exhibit greater cognitive skills of assembling verbal and nonverbal messages through congruent expressions, while low-SES children will exhibit greater incongruent expressions (Grebelsky-Lichtman, 2014b). We hypothesize: H3c: A reciprocal pattern of incongruence is expected in low-SES children’s responses to parental incongruent communication. …”

Drawing Performance in Relation to Motor Skills and Zinc Level of Primary School Children in Benha City

“…Drawings are accepted to be all inclusive specialized devices and are one illustration of non verbal estimation. Portrayals of the human figure specifically are well known as a nonverbal specialized instrument [1].…”