Seductive communication: Paradoxical Exhibition, Obliquity and Non Verbal Synchronization

Seductive interaction is here analyzed as a flexible plurality of behavioral patterns, corresponding to the variety of communicative intentions: exhibition, approaching the partner, deepening reciprocal knowledge, and reaching of a level of intimacy. The attention is moved from a structural analysis in which seduction is described as a timed flow of interactions characterized by different “steps”, to a complementary approach which analyzes the communicative seductive behavior in each phase and shows some of the time-related dimensions, such as sequence, frequency, synchronization and simultaneity, which are required to describe seductive communication behavioral patterns. It particularly makes it possible to analyze the connections between different systems of expression (verbal and nonverbal) and to describe several seductive strategies of obliquity and to disguise tactical communication, which are defined as miscommunication forms. These communicative strategies – paradoxical exhibition, forms of discursive obliquity, the multimodal message and nonverbal synchronization - are based on the “undefined content” of the message. It is because of this that seductive communication is tantalizing, leaving much to the partner’s imagination and promising her more than she has already seen. Moreover, the fact that the content is “undefined” allows the content itself to be adapted and modified to best suit the situation, thus lessening the risk of being too invasive and of being rejected. Secondly, it is shown how these strategies are carried out concentrating on the “undefined form” of the message, or rather, on the synergy between different expressive signals which make up the message.