Abstract
[Releasing Factors of Nonverbal Signals: An Ethological Perspective]
A critical review is made of the literature on human expressive movements as far as they are studied as dependent variables. Apparently, these movements facial expression, visual movements, gestures and postures are controlled by different aspects of the releasing situation and different operations by the human subject. Unitary models, which describe these movements either as emotional responses or as a particular form of linguistic behavior, are unable to match the complexity of the releasing factors. Recent ethological observations on social interactions of children are presented. It is suggested that from these observations a new paradigm is emerging to integrate new findings with previous results and methodology.