What is Communicative Intelligence

Human beings are social animals inhabiting a world where unspoken, nonverbal body language dominates the perception of the listener. It has been shown that nonverbal behaviors effect perception more intently than verbal communication. Police-citizen interactions are a complex process where verbal and nonverbal interactions are occurring simultaneously and interpreted immediately, leading to multiple chances for misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the officer's intent. With little research on the actual techniques to create the perception of police legitimacy, the authors intend to link communicative intelligence to the verbal and physical behaviors officers should engage in to enhance procedural justice and improve police legitimacy. They posit that the citizen's perceived level of police fairness is derived from the officer's treatment of the citizen which is significantly influenced by how the officer communicates with the citizen.