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On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic. The new physical distancing rules have had many consequences, some of which are felt throughout the justice system. Courts across the world limited their operations. Nonetheless, given that justice delayed is justice denied, many jurisdictions have turned to technologies for urgent matters. This paper offers an evidence-based comment and caution for lawyers and judges who could be inclined, for concerns such as cost and time saving, to permanently step aside from in-person trials. Using nonverbal communication research, in conjunction with American and Canadian legal principles, we argue that such a decision could harm the integrity of the justice system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses a new systems model of dyadic nonverbal interaction. The model builds on earlier theories by integrating partners' parallel sending and receiving nonverbal processes into a broader, dynamic ecological system. It does so in two ways. First, it moves the level of description beyond the individual level to the coordination of both partners' contributions to the interaction. Second, it recognizes that the relationships between (a) individuals' characteristics and processes and (b) the social ecology of the interaction setting are reciprocal and best analyzed at the systems level. Thus, the systems model attempts to describe and explain the dynamic interplay among individual, dyadic, and environmental processes in nonverbal interactions. The potential utility and the limitations of the systems model are discussed and the implications for future research considered. Although the systems model is focused explicitly on face-to-face nonverbal communication, it has considerable relevance for digital communication. Specifically, this model provides a useful framework for examining the social effects of mobile device use and as a template for studying human–robot interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The articles in this special issue provide important, new insight into the evolutionary roots of expressive behavior. Across the three articles, a strong argument is made for behavioral mimicry, expressivity, and laughter providing adaptive value to ancestral humans that is still reflected in our modern world. The place of an evolutionary analysis in the development of a broader functional approach to nonverbal communication is described and discussed. Each article proposes specific dynamics through which expressive behaviors predispose receivers to respond in a manner benefitting the sender. The mediating mechanisms advanced in the articles are examined more closely and modifications in the proposed processes are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compared the accuracy and confidence of Japanese and American participants on the Interpersonal Perception Task (IPT-15). The IPT contains 15 brief, real-life scenes on videotape for which there are objectively correct answers about relationships and deception. A total of 344 participants were run in a 2 (Japanese vs. American participants) × 2 (Audiovisual vs. Visual-Only presentation) × 2 (Sex of participant) design. Support was found for the hypothesized greater accuracy of Americans over Japanese, but a Culture × Presentation Modality interaction qualified the main effect of culture. Specifically, Japanese and American participants had virtually identical scores on the IPT-15 in the Visual-Only condition, but Americans' scores increased while Japanese scores decreased in the Audiovisual condition. Analyses of the confidence measures indicated that American participants were much more confident than the Japanese participants, but this difference was larger in the Audiovisual condition than in the Visual-Only condition. In addition, the prediction that women would be more accurate on the IPT, but still report lower confidence than men, was also supported. Finally, Japanese participants with moderate proficiency in spoken English were more accurate on the IPT than those with low English proficiency. The likely processes underlying these differences and the possible directions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the relationship between accuracy and confidence on the Interpersonal Perception Task (IPT-15). This version of the IPT contains 15 brief, real-life scenes on videotape for which there are objectively correct answers to questions about status, intimacy, kinship, competition, and deception. A total of 241 participants were run in a 2 (high vs. low cognitive demand) × 2 (first impression vs. nonverbal cues strategy) × 2 (sex of participant) design. Overall, no significant relationship was found when accuracy scores were correlated with two between-participant measures of confidence. There was, however, a significant relationship within-participants between accuracy and confidence. Thus, participants' rated confidence for each of the 15 scenes did predict accuracy in judgments about the scenes. In addition, a 2 × 2 × 2 ANOVA on participants' transformed accuracy-confidence correlations revealed a small, significant effect of strategy. Specifically, the accuracy-confidence correlations were higher when participants were instructed to attend to specific nonverbal cues in making their judgments than when they were told to rely on their first impressions. Although there were no differences between men and women in either their accuracy or their accuracy-confidence correlations, men rated their confidence significantly higher than did women. The factors affecting the accuracy-confidence relationship and their role in automatic judgments are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined the effects of cognitive demand and judgment strategy in performance on the Interpersonal Perception Task (Costanzo & Archer, 1989). The Interpersonal Perception Task (IPT) contains 30 brief, real-life scenes on videotape for which there are objectively correct answers to questions about status, intimacy, kinship, competition, and deception. A total of 142 participants were run in a 2 (high vs. low cognitive demand) × 2 (first impression vs. nonverbal cues strategy) × 2 (audiovisual vs. visual only modality) design. A significant Cognitive Demand × Judgment Strategy interaction supported the hypothesized benefit of a first impression strategy when participants experienced high, rather than low, cognitive demand. In contrast, participants receiving the nonverbal cues strategy had higher accuracy under low, rather than high, cognitive demand. The conditional effects of cognitive demand on person perception are considered and the larger role of cognitive resources in interaction is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Develops a parallel processing model of nonverbal communication that emphasizes the interdependence of behavioral and person perception processes from a functional perspective on social interaction. Utility of the theory in integrating behavioral and person perception processes into a single system.

Examines the effect of cognitive demand on a different kind of social inference, specifically, interpersonal sensitivity in initial interactions between unacquainted subjects. Role of cognitive demand on accuracy in person perception; Impact of impression-management task on interpersonal perception.