The differential effects of three values of the nonverbal component of communication on the productivity of inner-city and suburban fourth graders are explored. Eight categories of nonverbal behavior were selected, and an experimental teacher trained to employ them in the classroom, while at the same time enacting either a positive, negative or neutral affect style. Three tasks were utilized: (1) accuracy in following directions; (2) accuracy in hearing and extracting information from a verbal context; and (3) amount of words produced in a required essay. Results show that: (1) the middle and lower-middle socio-economic children responded to all affect-styles with no apparent differences; and (2) the lower socio-economic class children responded differently from the other two on one of the tasks and under negative affect-style. A number of hypotheses based on the findings are generated. (TL)