Interpersonal Communication- A Mindful Approach to Relationships, 2020a

Dysfluencies, Vocal Fillers, or Verbal Surrogates
Dysfluencies, vocal fillers, or verbal surrogates are sounds that we make as we attempt to fill dead air
while we are thinking of what to say next. In the United States, “um” or “uh” are the most commonly
used dysfluencies. In conversation, these dysfluencies may pass unnoticed by both the sender or receiver,
but consider how the recognition of dysfluencies increases when listening to a speaker who says “uh” or
“um” during a speech. When giving a presentation, the speaker may even call attention to dysfluencies
by speaking of them directly, and audience members may become distracted by dysfluencies. One of the
author’s classmates used to count the number of “ums” used by a particular professor who was known
to frequently use “um” when teaching. Though focusing on dysfluencies may be common, it is best for
the speaker to attempt to reduce an excessive amount of dysfluencies and for listeners to focus on the
meaning rather than the “ums” and “uhs.”
Kinesics, first coined by Ray Birdwhistell, is the study of how gestures, facial expression, and eye
behavior communicate. Gestures can generally be considered any visible movement of the body. These
movements “stimulate meaning” in the minds of others.
Facial expressions are another form of kinesics. Paul Eckman and Wallace V. Friesen asserted
that facial expressions are likely to communicate “affect” or liking. 10 Eckman and Freisen present
seven emotions that are recognized throughout the world. These emotions are often referred to by the
acronym S.A.D.F.I.S.H. and include surprise, anger, disgust, fear, interest, sadness, and happiness.
Facial expressions are especially useful in communicating emotion. Although not all facial expression
is “universally” recognized, people are generally able to interpret facial expressions within a context.
We generally consider happiness is indicated by a smile. Smiling might, however, also communicate
politeness, a desire to be pleasing, and even fear. If an individual attempts to use a smile to diffuse a
volatile interaction where the individual fears being attacked verbally or physically, then the smile may be
an indication of fear. In this case, the smile cannot be accurately interpreted outside of the context.
In a study investigating preferences for facial expressions in relation to the Big Five personality traits,
it was found that most participants showed the strongest preferences for faces communicating high levels
of agreeableness and extraversion. Individuals who are high in openness preferred a display of all faciallycommunicated
Big Five personality traits. In relation to females who report being highly neurotic, they
preferred male faces displaying agreeableness and female faces communicating disagreeableness. Male
faces communicating openness were preferred by males who were higher in neuroticism. Interestingly,
males reporting higher levels of neuroticism had a lower preference for female faces communicating
openness. 11 This study underscores the importance of facial expressions in determining who we prefer.
Oculesics is the study of how individuals communicate through eye behavior. Eye contact is generally the
first form of communication for interactants. Consider when a stranger speaks to you in a grocery store
from behind you with a question such as, “Can you reach the Frosted Flakes for me?” When a general
question such as this is asked with no eye contact, you may not be aware that the question was meant for
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Interpersonal Communication