Most nonverbal communication textbooks talk about time under
three main headings:
To these three, I’d like to
propose a fourth type of time. Since all of these dimensions refer to
interpersonal interactions,
interpersonal
time seems an appropriate name. As with all aspects of interpersonal
communication, interpersonal time will be influenced by our psychology, our
biology, and our culture.
The stimulus for this actually
comes from the brief discussion of Burgoon, Guerrero, and Floyd (2010) in which
they identify punctuality, wait time,
lead time, duration, and simultaneity
and Andersen and Bowman (1999) who consider waiting-time,
talk-time, and work-time in their discussion of time and its relationship to
power. To these we add relationship
time, synchronicity-asynchronicity and
response time, the last two of which have taken on added importance due to
the frequency with which we communicate via some kind of computer connection. This post, then, is designed to re-balance
the little space given to these topics in our textbooks, to add a few more
dimensions, to fill in examples and implications, and to propose this general
heading of Interpersonal Time for
concepts we recognize as crucial in all our interpersonal communication
encounters.