Steve Andreas > Articles > Nonverbal (Contextual) Implication

Summary

These different aspects of nonverbal implication, or what might better be called contextual implication, have been presented separately for clarity of understanding, but of course they can be used together. They can also be combined with verbal implication and presupposition, to elicit a stronger response, and this will usually be the case with behavioral elicitation, as in the last example given above.

Contextual implication will actually be a factor in every moment of therapy; since the therapist's office, clothing, and especially nonverbal behavior—speech, pauses, tonal patterns, posture, gestures, etc.—all provide a context for the meaning of what the therapist says.

There is yet another aspect of implication, how to create intensity of response to an implication through drama or suspense. Let's take another look at the last example. Erickson apologizes for not looking at her, which she will certainly interpret as a response to her ugliness. He then follows with five more statements that she will surely interpret in the same way—each of which will confirm and intensify her unpleasant response. Then he suggests that she do what she is already doing, "Perhaps you can find the explanation," confirming her interpretation yet again, followed by a meandering sentence with five more phrases that seem to confirm her ugliness. Only after this build-up and suspense does he deliver his alternate explanation, which offers her a surprising, and much more pleasing, way to reinterpret the entire situation.

If Erickson had said something about her being sexually attractive without this hour-long nonverbal buildup and suspense, it would have had very little impact, and would probably be understood as yet another confirmation of her ugliness: "Oh, he's just trying to make me feel better because I'm so ugly." How to create this kind of intensity of response will be the topic of a subsequent article.