Dane Archer
Professor Dane Archer teaches at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Prof. Archer received his Ph.D. from Harvard University and his B.A. from Yale University, and he taught at Harvard before coming to the University of California. His research and books have been awarded the Prize for Behavioral Research from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and several other national awards. In addition, Prof. Archer has received both national and University of California awards for distinguished teaching.
Prof. Archer created the University of California video series on Nonverbal Communication, and there are now twelve films in the series. These films have been described as the “gold standard” in educational media, and they are widely acclaimed for being at once richly instructional and keenly enjoyable. Perhaps most important, students everywhere respond to and love these videos.
Some of the films examine specific “channels” of nonverbal communication, such as gestures, facial expressions, the voice and vocal “paralanguage,” personal space, and kinesics. Other videos focus on gender differences, cultural differences, and improving cross-cultural communication.
There are also two video “self-tests” (“The Interpersonal Perception Task” and “The IPT-15”) that give the viewer a chance to “read” nonverbal clues to try to answer a question about the people and relationships shown in the scenes. These two videos were produced by Prof. Archer with Prof. Mark Costanzo.
The Nonverbal Communication video series has been remarkably successful, and Prof. Archer’s films have been shown to millions of students at universities in all parts of the world. Prof. Archer has also written books about his research on nonverbal communication, including Sensitivity to Nonverbal Communication (with Robert
Rosenthal, and others) and Social Intelligence.
Because of the unique subject matter of nonverbal communication, however, he believes that the written word is of limited use.
Prof. Archer says, “I can write about the Nepal obscene gesture, or about the Japanese facial expressions that reveal agreement or disagreement, or about the American foods that can disgust visitors from other cultures, or about the very different ways that women and men listen to another person in a conversation. You can read about these differences, but your understanding will be very incomplete. It would be like trying to understand American society without ever visiting the U.S. or even knowing any Americans.”
Prof. Archer adds, “You really need to see these nonverbal behaviors, you need to hear important nonverbal nuances in vocal “paralanguage,” and you need to observe real cross-cultural differences in communication along with explanations provided by native members of those cultures. Only film and video can capture the power and subtlety of these nonverbal behaviors, and that is why I created our video series on Nonverbal Communication.
“Most of us have spent our lives diligently studying verbal communication — language, literature, vocabulary, grammar, writing, and speech. But even though we are surrounded by nonverbal communication every day of our lives, most of us have never had a chance to study the nonverbal “channels” of human communication. Our video series provides this chance, and I am always delighted when I hear from viewers who share our excitement about the extraordinary world of nonverbal communication.”
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Gender and Communication: Male-Female Differences in Language and Nonverbal Behavior
This provocative and richly discussible video explores the impact that gender has on both verbal messages as well as the nonverbal channels of communication such as vocal paralanguage, haptics, kinesics, proxemics and other “unwritten” languages.
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Gender and Relationships: Male-Female Differences in Love and Marriage
This often humorous, often poignant, and always profound video explores the differences in the ways that men and women experience the love relationship. It features men and women from a variety of cultural and social backgrounds who provide eloquent — and sometimes rueful — testimony on how gender differences affect love, courtship, “couplehood,” marriage, emotions, understanding, and sensitivity.
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The Human Body: Appearance, Shape and Self-Image
This often poignant and always compelling new video, by the noted producer, Prof. Dane Archer, examines with sensitivity and cross-cultural insight the variety, meaning, and importance of the bodies we inhabit. It explores 12 different facets of the human body, each of which impacts our preferences, our ideals, our attitudes, and — perhaps most important — our self-images.
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The Human Face: Emotions, Identities and Masks
The face is one of our most important and expressive means of communication. This outstanding video, by the noted producer, Prof. Dane Archer, explores the expressive power of the human face. It examines a wide variety of facial properties and demonstrates the importance of each.
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The Human Voice: Exploring Vocal Paralanguage
Every time we speak, our voice reveals our gender, age, geographic background, level of education, native birth, emotional state, and our relationship with the person spoken to. This acclaimed video, by the noted producer, Prof. Dane Archer, explores the power and importance of "vocal paralanguage" — the thousands of ways in which any given words can be said.
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The Interpersonal Perception Task
Unlike most videos, this study of nonverbal communication and social perception allows viewers to participate. It shows 30 brief scenes of common social interactions. Each is followed by a multiple-choice question, giving the viewer the chance to "decode" something important about the interaction. Only one answer is correct in each instance.
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The IPT-15
This version of The Interpersonal Perception Task shows 15 of the 30 scenes shown in the complete video. As always, each scene is followed by a multiple-choice question, giving the viewer the chance to "decode" something important about the interaction.
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Personal Space: Exploring Human Proxemics
Space is a silent language, and we all "speak" it, whether consciously or not. This fascinating and frequently funny video portrays the effects of space on everyday human behavior in an engaging and dramatic manner. Students from a variety of cultural backgrounds vividly demonstrate how our culture defines our use of space, territory, and touching.
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A World of Differences: Understanding Cross-Cultural Communication
When we encounter people from other societies or cultures, we may fail to understand them for many reasons, including differences in language, values, gestures, emotional expression, norms, rituals, rules, expectations, family background, and life experiences. This extraordinary video, by the noted producer, Prof. Dane Archer, shows that cross-cultural communication can be successful if we manage to understand the powerful differences that separate people who come from differing cultures.
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A World of Food: Tastes and Taboos in Different Cultures
This delectably engaging video explores the extraordinary variety of food likes, food dislikes, food taboos, and food rules around the world. It features frequently humorous and always compelling testimony from people representing a wide array of cultures.
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A World of Gestures
This often humorous and always entertaining video explores international differences in gestures, and cultural differences in nonverbal communication generally. As might be expected, this video is fascinating, provocative, and even outrageous.
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