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examBoard: AQA
examType: GCSE
lessonTitle: Non-verbal Behaviour as Adaptive
Have you ever wondered why we smile when we're happy or why we back away when someone stands too close? These non-verbal behaviours aren't random - they've developed over thousands of years to help humans survive and thrive. In this session, we'll explore how non-verbal behaviours serve as adaptive mechanisms that have evolved to help us communicate, form relationships and stay safe.
Key Definitions:
According to evolutionary psychology, many of our non-verbal behaviours evolved because they helped our ancestors survive. For example, being able to quickly recognise anger on someone's face might have helped our ancestors avoid dangerous confrontations. These useful behaviours were passed down through generations because they gave people a survival advantage.
Some non-verbal behaviours appear across all human cultures, suggesting they have deep evolutionary roots rather than being learned. Paul Ekman's research identified six universal facial expressions (happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, anger and surprise) that are recognised across different cultures worldwide.
Our faces are incredibly expressive, capable of communicating complex emotions without saying a word. From an evolutionary perspective, facial expressions have several adaptive functions:
Smiling signals friendliness and approachability. It helps form social bonds and alliances, which were crucial for survival in early human groups. A genuine smile (Duchenne smile) involves both the mouth and eyes.
An angry expression signals potential aggression. The narrowed eyes protect them during conflict, while the flared nostrils increase oxygen intake in preparation for possible physical action.
Wide eyes in fear increase peripheral vision to spot threats. The raised eyebrows and open mouth prepare the body for quick breathing and movement - helping with the 'fight or flight' response.
In the 1960s, psychologist Paul Ekman travelled to Papua New Guinea to study the Fore people, who had minimal contact with Western culture. He showed them photographs of facial expressions and asked them to match them with emotional scenarios. The Fore people correctly identified the basic emotions, supporting the idea that certain facial expressions are universal and biologically determined rather than culturally learned. This suggests these expressions evolved as adaptive mechanisms for human survival.
Humans, like many animals, have evolved behaviours related to personal space and territory that help maintain safety and social order.
Personal space - the invisible bubble we maintain around ourselves - serves several adaptive functions:
Anthropologist Edward T. Hall identified four distance zones that humans typically use:
Reserved for close relationships like family members and romantic partners. Invasion of this space by strangers typically causes discomfort or anxiety - an adaptive response that protects us from potential threats.
Used for conversations with friends and acquaintances. This distance allows for personal connection while maintaining some safety buffer - balancing social needs with protective instincts.
Our eyes and body posture communicate powerful messages that have evolved to serve specific adaptive functions.
Direct eye contact can signal different things depending on context:
These eye behaviours help establish social hierarchies and build cooperative relationships - both essential for survival in group-living species like humans.
How we hold our bodies communicates important social information:
These postures help establish social order and facilitate group cooperation without requiring verbal communication.
Amy Cuddy's research suggested that adopting "power poses" (expansive, open postures) for just two minutes could increase testosterone and decrease cortisol levels, potentially making people feel more confident. While later studies have questioned some of these physiological effects, the research highlights how deeply our body postures are connected to our psychological states. From an evolutionary perspective, displaying confidence through posture could have helped our ancestors establish social status without risky physical confrontations.
Hand gestures and other body movements have evolved as a sophisticated communication system that complements speech and sometimes replaces it entirely.
Different types of gestures serve various adaptive functions:
Gestures with specific meanings that can substitute for words (like thumbs up). These allow communication across language barriers or when verbal communication isn't possible - useful for hunting or in dangerous situations.
Gestures that accompany and reinforce speech. These enhance understanding and memory of information, making knowledge transfer more effective - crucial for teaching survival skills.
Self-touching behaviours often performed unconsciously when anxious or uncomfortable. These may help regulate emotional states and signal to others our internal condition.
Non-verbal behaviours aren't just random actions - they're sophisticated adaptive mechanisms that have evolved to help humans survive and thrive. From facial expressions that communicate emotions across cultural boundaries to personal space behaviours that protect us from harm, these non-verbal signals form an ancient communication system that predates language.
The evolutionary perspective helps us understand why certain non-verbal behaviours are universal and why they often occur automatically without conscious thought. While culture certainly influences how we express ourselves non-verbally, the core adaptive functions of these behaviours appear to be rooted in our evolutionary history as social primates who depended on group living for survival.
Understanding the adaptive nature of non-verbal behaviour not only helps us appreciate the complexity of human communication but also highlights how deeply connected we remain to our evolutionary past, even in our modern digital world.
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