Body Posture And Nonverbal Communication

To me interpersonal communication describes the exchange of verbal and nonverbal messages between two different people. Joseph DeVito states that “interpersonal communication is inevitable, irreversible, and unrepeatable” due to these things effective communication is a necessary skill for us to function in our day to day lives (p. 20). Therefore, I have created a theory for interpersonal communication that goes as follows; To experience effective communication you must understand: your culture, the other person’s culture, and how to listen effectively. By knowing these three things you can consistently avoid misunderstandings and promote understanding in your interpersonal and intercultural relationships.

Non-verbal communication consists mainly of the things people do with their body language. There are times where words are expressed and non-verbal communication could help emphasize the message. A few examples of nonverbal communication are hand gestures eye contact, facial expressions as well as tone and volume. I was given this assignment to observe a situation and take note of the nonverbal communication that occurred. I also had to observe whether the non-verbals were able to execute the message and if the behavior was acceptable.

Body language plays a substantial role in the ways females and males differentiate from each other. One’s identity lies in the way in which one holds themself. McCloskey claims, “It’s hard to pass,” acknowledging that the body language one naturally acquires does not necessarily represent the character on the inside. McCloskey and Walker both address hip positioning when standing and walking. McCloskey claims that “Men walk from their shoulders and women

I decided to go to Panda Express at 5:30 pm for my observations, while there I was able to observe just how much people rely on nonverbal communications to get their point across. Although I witnessed several encounters of unique body language, there were also a few actions that reoccurred several times in several different people. For example, when a customer would approach the counter where employee served the food, the employee would raise her eyebrows and smile at the customer. The employee’s smile, however, did not reach her eyes suggesting that while it is her job to smile and be welcoming to the customer, she most likely did not want to be at work. Additionally, I noticed that when customers approached the counter about 90 percent of them had their arms crossed. The act of crossing ones arms usually means that a person is trying to put a barrier between them and a situation that they either don’t like, or are uncomfortable with. This may mean that the customers were displeased with having to wait in line to get their food, on the other hand it may be that they were simply comfortable folding their arms. Once they reached the front of the line, every customer pointed to the food they wanted along with verbally telling the employee. This made their communication more effective as it helped to overcome the barrier of sound because the restaurant was noisy.

Body movement and posture. The way people move, sit, cross their arms and legs can communicate many different emotions such as interest, boredom or concern.

William James believes that our emotions are caused by bodily reactions in which then promotes the mental feeling of the emotion. For example, James says that we feel sad because we cry, rather than we crying because we feel said (65). Too, James states that we are not born to be afraid, sad or anything, but as life progresses, humans and animals eventually discover these feelings toward a particular situation or object (68). It also occurs that even if a person does not express their emotion externally, their body tends to act in a way regardless of how the person expresses their emotions externally. An example of this is what James says when an individual is depressed, “the flexors tend to prevail” (69). Of course, In William James’ time,

Thesis Statement: Body language expresses emotions and actions unconsciously and differs between men and women depending on their brain type, emotional experience and culture.

It can show: Happiness, sadness, frustration, confusion, disbelief, nervousness, and if we’re fabricating a story or recalling a memory

Body language (the process of communicating nonverbally through conscious or unconscious gestures and movements). People all of the world use body language or gestures to communicate nonverbally. I personally think that nonverbal communication and body language are one of the biggest barriers in communication especially between one culture to other. Body gestures can be misinterpreted as rude or disrespectful depending on the country, region, or even the city you’re from.

I can see a young and confident man hovering proud amongst the powdered white lines on the grass. His sweat soaked body and open wounds are merely trophies on display for the witnesses of the battle just fought. This is where Amy Cuddy’s speech time warps me to as she discusses the history of the power pose. It is so easy to compare my competitive young self with these facts Amy shares. I would say that there is an undeniable truth that our non-verbal body language will stimulate others into forming judgements and opinions, or even share similar emotions.

Any communication interaction involves two major components in terms of how people are perceived: verbal, or what words are spoken and nonverbal, the cues such as facial expressions, posture, verbal intonations, and other body gestures. Many people believe it is their words that convey the primary messages but it is really their nonverbal cues. The hypothesis for this research paper was: facial expressions directly impact how a person is perceived. A brief literature search confirmed this hypothesis.

Over this summer course I have learned a lot about communication. I learned how significant nonverbal and verbal communication is, along with listening. I never fully understood how big communication is in our daily lives. I now realize that it is a huge aspect of how we continue in our lives. This course has showed me different levels of communication.

Almost every night, my parents would tell me to sit up straight when we were eating at the dinner table, and they would say it would help me digest. Also, in high school when I would walk through the halls between classes, many of my friends would compliment me on my posture. I thought it was the strangest thing to compliment someone on. The title “Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are,” brought back these memories; therefore, I was interested to see what Amy Cuddy had to say. Cuddy is a social psychologist and a business professor at Princeton. In the TED Talk “Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are,” Amy Cuddy discusses the reasons to use power posing, and it could affect the mind for better success in our lives.

Body language, while easily overlooked as a means of communication, is used every day when people interact with one another. We interact beyond words by using what we call nonverbal signals. According to many experts in this field, such as James C. McCroskey and Virginia P. Richmond, the authors of Nonverbal Behavior in Interpersonal Relations, body language makes a huge difference in our daily communication. For example, the way we pose, the expressions on our face, and even the tone of our speech, which are all nonverbal communication methods, change the volume of speech and thus have various impacts on the overall communication. Almost half of our communications involves people’s use of body language to convey their thoughts, whether or not those happen unconsciously or consciously; understanding body language is very important for daily communication with one another. Since Eastern University is a small Christian college, students and professors have the opportunity to have better and intimate relationships with each other. Therefore, professors should not only use more efficient body languages to interact with students individually but also use various types of body language to improve class atmosphere. Furthermore, the use of body language can help international students have a better understanding of the American education system.

“Systematic research on the role of nonverbal behavior in social interaction has been common only in the past 20 to 25 years.”(Edinger and Patterson, 1983, p. 30).because that statement was published in 1983, it is apparent that the study of nonverbal behavior has been around for roughly 50 to 55 years. However, that is still a relatively recent amount of time compared to research in other science fields such as chemistry or biology. Despite the fact that this field is relatively recent there are many theories about our interaction with others. This paper will discuss the nonverbal expectancy theory along with two other theories, and describe how these theories can work together.