[Understanding implicit behavior]

The point of departure of the present paper is the comprobation that the visible behaviour of an individual conveys information about his internal state to others, yet the description of this information transfer is limited by an insufficient conceptual framework. The most important historical approaches to the field of expressive behaviour are discussed. The peculiarity of language in information transfer as an "explicit" system of rules is constrasted with all the other kinds of behaviour which also play "informative" and "communicative" roles. For these the concept of "implicit" system is proposed and discussed. It is further shown that a strict distinction between "implicit" and "explicit" is not possible for behavioural manifestations, but rather they constitute poles of a continuum in which all communicative modes could be incorporated. Dichotomies most commonly used in human and animal communication and interaction researach are compared with the presented implicit - explicit dichotomy. The advantages of the latter are seen in the semantic clarification it could provide, thus leading to a somewhat clearer approach to different forms of behaviour research.