chapter 3 - Pearson Learning Solutions

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In cultures that value promptness, one of the questions raised about time centers
on the person who is constantly late. What does habitual tardiness reveal about
the person? Chronic lateness, in a formal-time culture, may be deeply rooted in a
person’s psyche. Compulsive tardiness is rewarding on some level. A key emotional
conflict for the chronically late person involves his or her need to feel special. Such
a person may not gain enough recognition in other ways; people must be special
in some way, so the person is special by being late. Other reasons include needs
for punishment or power or as an expression of hostility. 94 Tardiness can be a sign
that a person wants to avoid something or that the activity or person to be met
is not important enough to warrant the effort to be on time. Procrastinators are
often not valued in a linear time–focused culture.
Olfactics: Smell as Communication
Chapter 3 Nonverbal Communication 79
Olfactics is the study of smell. We communicate through our smells. Our sense of
smell is extraordinarily precise. Growing evidence also suggests that we remember
what we smell longer than what we see and hear. 95 Our sense of smell is very selective
and helps us reach conclusions. We are attracted by the scents of certain colognes
and repulsed by others. Some people find certain body odors offensive. This is
especially true in a country such as the United States, where we have been taught by
advertisers and medical people to wash off natural odors and replace them with
neutral, fragrance-free, or substitute smells. This is not the case in other cultures.
We often make decisions without realizing that these choices are based on
odors. Several phenomena provide insight into how smell serves as a nonverbal
communication tool: smell blindness, smell adaptation, smell memory, smell overload,
and smell discrimination. 96
Each person has a unique ability to identify and distinguish smells. Smell
blindness occurs when a person is unable to detect smells. It parallels color blindness
or deafness because it is a physiological blockage. It accounts for the fact that
some people do not smell their own or others’ body odors or detect the differences
in the odors of various foods. Because smell and taste are so closely aligned, this can
explain why people who are smell-blind may also have taste-identification difficulties.
Smell adaptation occurs when we gradually lose the distinctiveness of a particular
smell through repeated contact with it. When you walk into a bakery, you
may be aware of the wonderful odors. The clerks who work there, however, may
have become so used to the odors that they are not aware of them. The speed at
which the odor message is adapted to depends on the strength of the odor and
the length of time we are in contact with it.
If during your childhood, your grandmother baked your favorite dessert, walking
into someone’s home years later and smelling that same odor may cause you to
flash back to memories of your grandmother. This ability to recall previous situations
when encountering a particular smell associated with them is smell memory. Smelling
a crayon may trigger flashbacks to experiences you had in kindergarten, the odors of
a dentist’s office may cause your teeth to ache, or passing a perfume counter with
samples of a cologne a former lover wore may trigger intrapersonal smell memories.
Have you ever entered an elevator and been bombarded by the heavy dose of
perfume of another passenger? Onions in a salad are fine, but slicing several at the
sink may cause you to cry. These are both examples of smell overload. Smell overload
takes place when an exceptionally large number of odors or one extremely strong
odor overpowers you. Walking down a detergent aisle in a supermarket or standing
in a small room with several people who are smoking can trigger smell overload for
some people.
Communicating: A Social and Career Focus, Tenth Edition, by Roy M. Berko, Andrew D. Wolvin, and Darlyn R. Wolvin. Published by Allyn & Bacon.
Copyright © 2007 by Pearson Education, Inc.