| dc.description.abstract | Former studies on nonverbal behaviors (NBs) in a clinical setting have mainly examined them on a macro-level, and less is known about micro-level NBs. This thesis was a pilot study for a concurrent project examining which positive micro-level behaviors (positive facial expressions, positive body movements, or positive tone of voice) have the highest effect on treatment outcomes. The overall aim of this study was to test the validity of these videotaped NB scenarios. Thus, two separate studies were conducted.
Firstly, 15 coders rated the videos after receiving training, and these ratings were then analyzed and compared using intraclass correlation (ICC) and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The results indicated high reliability and validity across the videos and actors.
To further test the validity of the videos, samples of these NB scenarios were shown to untrained participants to assess the videos’ perceived positivity and to test the mediating effects of personality. Thus, an online survey was conducted in which 80 participants filled in the BFI-10 personality scale, watched the videos, and rated the experimenter’s positivity on the I-PANAS-SF scale. A parallel mediation multiple regression was then conducted to test whether personality mediated the relationship between micro-level NB and the perception of positivity. The overall model explained 19% of the variation in the positivity ratings, in which only the positive facial expression scenario was a significant predictor. None of the personality dimensions mediated this relationship. Overall, it was concluded that the videos were valid and that positive facial expressions might be the most important channel in positivity perception. | |