Research Into the Pragmatics of Human Communication
This article surveys recent research on interpersonal communication conducted by the Victoria Group and organizes the findings according to the "axioms" proposed in Pragmatics of human communication (Watzlawick, Beavin, Jackson, 1967) The topics include: establishing when a nonverbal behaviour is a nonverbal communication; investigations of "one cannot not communicate," including disqualified (equivocal) communication; studies of the communicative context in psychological research; verbal and nonverbal relationship level communication; analogically encoded nonverbal acts; and interpersonal systems. Some of the original propositions have been supported, others modified, and some substantially changed. The relation of research to clinical practice is discussed.