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His wife (my aunt) and his children (my cousins) are around him more han I am, so if I notice it then they must be affected by it every day. I was interested in learning more about how alcohol can affect his relationships in regard to nonverbal communication. I first looked into decoding ability. Borrill, Rosen, and Summerfield (1987) conducted a study testing the ability to judge facial expression and emotion. The intoxicated participants were less accurate in their evaluations than the sober participants, as hypothesized.
It was found that “alcohol was associated with greater impairment of judgments of anger than of other emotions” (Borrill, Rosen, and Summerfield, 1987). The specific discover of the propensity to misjudge the anger emotion correlates with observations in my family. I’ve been in conversations with my parents and my aunt, and these findings support some of the problems she has with my uncle. She has said that he does not even recognize that she is upset with him a lot of the time.
She can be angry or hurt, and try to communicate that, but unless she is very clear about her feelings verbally, he usually will not pick up on it. Decoding of nonverbal cues is only one side of the situation though. I also wanted to explore how alcohol affects the use of nonverbal behaviors. Monahan and Samp (2006) conducted a study on the use of nonverbal behavior when sober and intoxicated. Participants were instructed to communicate different ideas, concepts, or actions nonverbally for a partner to decode.
They found that “drinkers were more expressive using their body, face, and hands, were more expressive vocalically, expressed more anxiety, and used more self-adaptors” (Monahan and Samp, 2006). I would have guessed that was all true, but did not think about the anxiety element. The statement that ‘the increased use of nonverbal behaviors among drinkers uggests that drinking encourages nonverbal actions that are not necessarily planned” (Monahan and Sampr 2006) instantly connected with me.
I have noticed my uncle make unexpected and unnatural gestures when communicating with me and with others. I usually try to act like he is not acting strange, as not to offend him or make him self-conscious. I now think that is because recognize his anxiety, which the researchers suggest is expressed more when intoxicated as compared to when sober. When people are sober, they “typically seek to conceal their anxiety from others; the fact hat drinking participants could not do so suggests that alcohol serves to reduce drinkers’ ability to control their behavior” (Monahan and Samp, 2006).
My uncle uses more exaggerated facial expressions, louder volumes of voice, and wider arm gestures than when he is sober. These exaggerations may be used to compensate for anxiety. I would also agree with the notion that he loses some ability to control his behavior. I think that nonverbal behavior is a large part of expressing emotion. Monahan and Samp (2008) conducted a study about the influence of alcohol n nonverbal behavior in romantic relationships. They state that “drinking is associated with expectations for heightened social and sexual pleasure compared when sober” (Monahan and Samp, 2008).
My uncle does seem to be happy when he is intoxicated, especially in a social setting such as a party with family and friends. He seems relaxed, friendly and to be enjoying himself. However, and my aunt would attest to this, the researchers state that when people are intoxicated and discussing serious relationship problems with their partners, they are “in fact less pleasant and less positive than those ngaged in a relational discussion while sober (Monahan and Samp, 2008).
So while he drinks and enjoys himself in social situations, he may not understand why that does not translate to all situations, and why he becomes less positive when discussing issues with his wife. The researchers had couples discuss a fictional relationship problem as realistically as possible, as if a specific incident had occurred the night before and they are now speaking about it for the first time. Some couples were both sober, and others consisted of an intoxicated male and sober female.
They observed that during he beginning of the discussion, there was little difference between the sober and intoxicated males, but then by the middle of the conversation, “males who have consumed alcohol exhibit several behaviors that can be considered to be less relational, and more anxiety-focused” (Monahan and Samp, 2008). This relates to the anxiety realizations I was able to come to from reading the previous study. Further, “intoxicated males exhibited more generalized anxiety by the middle of the conversation” (Monahan and Samp, 2008) when compared to the sober males.
Talking about relationship problems can be tressful and make anyone anxious, but this research shows that alcohol does not relax people in these instances, but actually makes the experience more negative. While know my uncle’s dependence on alcohol is difficult for my aunt, I am now more aware of the discomfort it puts him in as well. My aunt has every reason to be frustrated with his inability to decode her facial expressions and other nonverbal cues of her feelings. I want even more now for my uncle to become less dependent on alcohol so he can be a better husband and father, and so he can struggle less with anxiety and confusion.