OBJECTIVE To test the impact of nonverbal behaviour on the assessment of a clinician's level of empathic communication. METHODS One hundred volunteers were asked to assess a clinician's level of empathic communication using the Rating Scales for the Assessment of Empathic Communication in Medical Interviews (REM). Participants were randomly assigned to three groups differing with regard to th...

We review research on social communication occurring via nonverbal expressions of emotion. Early studies suggest that a small number of emotions are associated with distinct nonverbal expressions — including facial and bodily displays, and vocal bursts — which are reliably recognized and displayed across cultures. More recent work has sought to address the question of why these expressions exis...