NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION

submitted by rija

• We’ve all heard and said “actions speak louder than words.”

• In other words, the meaning we assign to any communication is based on verbal message and on our non-verbal behavior that accompanies and surrounds the verbal message.

NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION

• When we interact with others, we continuously give and receive wordless signals. All of our nonverbal behaviors—the gestures we make, the way we sit, how fast or how loud we talk, how close we stand, how much eye contact we make—send strong messages. These messages don't stop when you stop speaking either. Even when you're silent, you're still communicating nonverbally.

• Sometimes our body language don’t match with our verbal message then the listener has to choose whether to believe our verbal or nonverbal message, and, in most cases, they're going to choose the nonverbal because it's natural and it reflects our true feelings and intentions.

Types of Nonverbal Communication

• There are a variety of types of nonverbal message through which we display ourselves.

• These include kinesics• vocalics/paralanguage• space and time as well as self-presentation cues.

Kinesics

• Kinesics is the non-verbal behavior related to movement, either of any part of the body, or the body as a whole.

• These include gestures, eye contact, facial expression, posture, and touch.

Gestures

• Gestures are the movements of our hands, arms and fingers to describe or emphasize a point.

Eye Contact

• Eye contact is an especially important type of nonverbal communication. You can read a person’s emotion through their eyes, and many times it’s not the same emotion as their words are saying.   

Facial expression

• Through face we are able to  express countless emotions without saying a word.

• The facial expressions for happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, fear, and disgust are the same across cultures.

Posture

• The position and movement of the body.• Through our body movement, people decide

how attentive, respectful and dominant we are.

Haptics(touch)

• Communicating through touch is another important nonverbal behavior.

• Touch can be used to communicate affection, familiarity, sympathy, and other emotions.

Vocalics

• Vocalics is concerned with the use of the voice in communication.

• Vocalics consists of several features such as:

• Pitch• Rate• Volume• Quality• Intonation• Vocalized pauses

Proxemics

• Proxemics is the personal space around you, the physical spaces that you control and occupy, and the things you choose to decorate your space.

Chronemics

• Chronemics, means the study of the use of time in non verbal communication.

• In direct communication, the use of time can convey a powerful nonverbal message.

Self-presentation Cues

• presenting oneself to another through nonverbal attributes like appearance.

• Physical appearance can be used to develop judgments about people based on how they look, what they wear, and their level of attractiveness, among other things.

How we improve our Nonverbal communication?

• To improve nonverbal communication, it is necessary that your nonverbal cues don’t distract from your message and be conscious about your behavior that you are displaying.

• Make sure that your nonverbal communication match your verbal messages, and adopt nonverbal behavior to the situation.