The Confirmation of Interactive Gestures

―The Relationship between Interactive Gestures and Family Therapy―

Abstract

　　This study confirms a new division of illustrators, into topic and interactive gestures, and the function of interactive gestures proposed by Bavelas et al. (1992, 1995). So, the present study carried out four experiments on Japanese university students. In Experiment 1 and 2, to classify illustrators and specify interactive gestures, the same task was assigned to both dyads and individuals : In Experiment 1, dyads had a higher rate of interactive gestures than did individuals, but topic gestures were not significantly affected by condition. In Experiment 2, topic gestures were increased by instruction, but interactive gestures were not.

　　In Experiment 3 and 4, we mentioned the functions of interactive gestures. In Experiment 3, we manipulated visual availability : The rate of interactive gestures was higher for partners interacting face-to-face than for those who could not see each other, but the rate of topic gestures was not changed by condition. In Experiment 4, to examine whether interactive gestures are uniquely affected by the requirement of dialogue, we compared dialogue with sequential monologues: Dialogue had a higher rate of interactive gestures, but rate of topic gestures was not changed by condition. These results supported the theory proposed by Bavelas et al..

　　Finally, the relationship between this study and family therapy was discussed.