Many of the theories discussed so far implicate a strong biological influence. Several theories also add psychological and sociological components in the form of affect, needs, expectations, and norms. What sets these theories apart from the preceding ones is the increasing emphasis on behavior as communication and on the functions and meanings that such behaviors entail. Functional and meaning–centered perspectives permeate many contemporary approaches to the study of interpersonal and nonverbal communication generally. We therefore review the more salient critical attributes of these perspectives before examining particular theories.

A FUNCTIONAL PERSPECTIVE

A functional approach to interaction adaptation acknowledges that interactions are multifunctional: Interactants bring multiple goals, objectives, needs, and wishes to be accomplished through communication. Among the “functions” that communication serves are message production and processing (also labeled information exchange or message transmission), identification and identity management, impression formation and management, relational communication and relationship management, emotion expression and management, conversation structuring and management, social influence and control, and personal resource management (see, e.g., Argyle, 1972; Burgoon, 1994; Burgoon & Saine, 1978; Dillard, Segrin, & Harden, 1989; Ekman & Friesen, 1969b; Goffman, 1959; Graham, Argyle, & Furnham, 1980; Patterson, 1983, 1990, 1991). Interactants must encode comprehensible messages (the message production function) and attend to, interpret, and evaluate the partner's messages (the message processing function) in the process of conducting a conversation.