A study examined whether a perceiver would distinguish between nonverbal messages sent with greater or lesser intent and the extent to which this correlated with the messages' general affect. Sixty-two students were recruited from communication courses at a large southwestern university to participate in a "conversation study." None had taken a course in nonverbal communication. Each student participated in a two-person interview in which a confederate, whom students thought was merely another participant, was instructed to manipulate both the intent and the valence of his or her nonverbal messages. Results indicated that participants saw most negative messages as intentionally sent while positive messages were seen as more unintentional. Positive behaviors were also viewed as directed toward the perceiver and resulted in more socially favorable evaluations of the message sender. Likewise, intent did not affect the readability of nonverbal messages, and perceivers were able to distinguish equally between positive and negative messages that were encoded with greater or lesser intent. Individuals sending positive messages, however, were interpreted as being more competent and evaluated more favorably than those sending negative messages. Intent had no significant impact on social perceptions. (Forty references are attached.) (Author/KEH)