순서-고난도

We use space, eye contact, and touch to communicate positive and negative attitudes toward others. These signals can reflect and regulate the intimacy in a relationship. In one interesting application of this idea, researchers found that nonverbal intimacy regulation even occurs when people interact with others via avatars in online environments.
(A) When people become comfortable with each other, they may become more selective in their use of nonverbal immediacy signals, using them during a personal crisis, after a fight, on special occasions, at particular social gatherings, and the like. They may also adopt other more idiosyncratic ways of showing their affection ─ a unique gesture or a special touch, for instance ─ and they may feel less obliged overall to display their affections in public.
(B) But we should keep in mind what communication scholar Mark Knapp has pointed out: These stereotypical immediacy behaviors ─ close distances, eye contact, touch, body lean, and so forth ─ are more evident during the early stages of intimacy than they are during later stages.
(C) As in face-to-face encounters, people typically respond to decreased distances by compensating with reduced gaze.