How Cultural Psychology Impacts Nonverbal Communication

By observing us children learn how to interact with others, accomplish goals, and get along in the world. We are the examples, and what many do not realize is that our non-verbal messages and actions are stronger than our verbal ones. Non-verbal communication consists of expressions, tone of voice, eye contact, and actions.  The way you listen, look, move, and react tells the other person whether or not you care, if you’re being truthful, and how well you’re listening. When your nonverbal signals match up with the words you’re saying, they increase trust, clarity, and rapport. When they don’t, they generate tension, mistrust, and confusion. There are many different types of nonverbal communication. Together, the following nonverbal signals and cues communicate your interest and investment in others.

Facial Expression: The facial expression such as happiness, sadness, anger and fear helps a lot in conveying a message. These facial expressions are similar all over the world but non- verbal communication and behaviour varies hugely between the cultures in the world.Since the look on a person’s face is noticed , before we hear ,facial expression contributes a lot in a successfully non-verbal communication .

Communication is everywhere. We, as interactive human beings, spend the majority of our time corresponding with others to satisfy our physical, identity, social, and practical needs (Adler, Rodman, & Sevigny, 2011). Often, this is consciously done; we search our minds for the accurate linguistic means to express our experiences, and use them to communicate with those around us. However, communication is not as straightforward and effortless as we may believe. It is, in fact, often unintentional, with 65% of it occurring as a result of non-verbal cues (Matsumoto, Shibata, Seiji, Mori, & Shioe, 2010). As mentioned by Marta Dynel (2011) in a study done on nonverbal communication, “Non verbal signs and signals ... are prevalent practically in

Communication involves more than exchanging words between people. Gestures, postures, facial expressions and even eye contacts are important during communication. Both verbal and nonverbal cues are important during communication and can help a person understand the speaker or listener’s emotions, attitudes or status. Understanding the existence of various cultures is necessary since different cultures have varying ways of communication (Lustig & Koester, 2012). Therefore, a communication style that is perceived as bad by a culture may be good in another culture. Besides, characteristics that may be essential for a particular culture may be quite irrelevant for another. In line with this dissimilarity, individuals need to adapt carefully and understand communication preferences and desires among cultures.

Facial expressions through non-verbal communication are a sufficient way in listening, expressing emotion and giving feedback. Non-verbal communication is a vital element of interpersonal communication as it helps express emotion and personality through the process of exchanging information (Eunson 2012). Non-verbal signals such as facial expressions can be defined as

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.

Nonverbal communication plays an essential role in any conversation. Individuals who are aware of nonverbal actions during conversations can more effectively interpret what is being communicated.

Chapter  4  –  Nonverbal  Communication 1. What  are  the  functions  of  nonverbal  messages? ● Substitute ● complement  verbal  messages:  adds  to  verbal  message,  improves  clarity  and  understanding ● contradict:  non  verbal  behavior  not  reflecting  verbal  message 2. Know  the  different  codes  (i.e.,  kinesics,  haptics,  proxemics,  vocalics,  chronemics,  and  self-­ presentation  cues). Code  1  -­  Kinesics  /  Use  of  the  body ● Gestures ○ Emblems  -­  gestures  with  explicit  meaning  and  dictionary  definitions ○ Illustrator  -­  gestures  that  accompany  verbal  message ○ Adaptors  -­  Touching  behaviors  that  reveal  internal  states  such  as  anxiety ■ self  adaptors ■ object  adaptors  -­  handling  of  objects ■ other  adaptors  -­  touching  other  people ● Eye  contact  /  Oculesics ○ both  people  are  looking  directly  into  each  others  eyes ● Functions ○ regulates  interaction ○ monitors  interaction ○ signals  cognitive  activity ○ expresses  involvement

There are eight key forms of nonverbal communications used on a daily basis. These forms can affect the way people view another person; however, without understanding the forms of nonverbal communication there is certain to be a lot of misinterpretations. Cultural and language differences are a common reason for miscommunication. When communicating with people in different cultures, a person should be extremely aware of the hand gestures and nonverbal communication tools they are using. Many of the hand gestures used in the United States that mean good things, mean offensive and profane things to other cultures. Nonverbal communication is described as body language, hand gestures, and facial expressions. It is known that people reveal more information through nonverbal communication, than words alone to get a point across. There will always be some interaction between two or more people that everyone’s

Nonverbal Communication is communication between individuals based on facial expression or bodily gestures rather than on languages. I noticed throughout the movie, all the characters used a lot of nonverbal communication with almost everyone. One example of this would be the scene where Peter expresses to his friends; Michael and Samir that he thinks his girlfriend is cheating on him. When Peter says this, the look on his friends face says, “You’re just finding out?” In this example, Samir and Michael were using nonverbal

While communication across cultures relies on speech to convey the messages of those living in the same society, usually the unspoken language has a larger role to play in delivering these messages. Similar to the country’s language being specific to the region it surfaces from, body language and facial expressions also have individual characteristics within a particular region. There are shared attributes of nonverbal communication across the world but these are commonly divided into high and low context cultures. This results from different cultural beliefs and attitudes within such societies and impact on the social norms of communication. In Japan, the citizens communicate with actions and gestures to a larger percent in comparison to their speech, as they are able to understand each other’s meaning without additional words. Due to it being a high context culture Japan relies heavily on its nonverbal communication for its society to function efficiently and for adequate comprehension to be achieved.

When most of us think about communication, many of us immediately imagine ourselves talking to someone or writing them a message. Most of us do not actively think about the equally or more likely, much more important nonverbal cues that are very much a part of how people perceive our chosen messages. The main types of nonverbal communication cues that I focused on while I was observing my subjects were:

Nonverbal communication is behaviors and characteristics that convey meaning with out the use of words. Sometimes accompanying verbal messages, to clarify or reinforce them. (Floyd, Communicating Nonverbally, 2013) It is said to be true that nonverbal communication sometimes gives more information that verbal communication. People’s facial expressions, gestures, and personal appearance are all forms of nonverbal communication and it relies on our sense of vision. For instance, when my sorority and I get together for a meeting and the president of our chapter stands up in front of everyone to share information, it is important that we let her know that we are interested by nodding our head in agreement, smiling at her, clapping our hands, and keeping eye contact with her so she knows our focus is on her. For our chapter it is important to reassure our president that we are listening and focused on what she has to say by using nonverbal behaviors. Without nonverbal communication, it would be hard to tell when someone is interested or not in a conversation. Nonverbal communication helps us maintain

In every society nonverbal communication is one of the most powerful tools that a person can use to interpret the message that is being delivered. Even though verbal communication is fairly straightforward, nonverbal communication allows others to sense the true emotions of the person that is expressing them. For example even though a person may say that they are not irritated, their usage of voice may display otherwise. Nonverbal communication not only reveals hidden messages, but it also complements, substitutes, and exaggerates verbal communication.

Nonverbal communication plays an essential role in any conversation. Individuals who are aware of nonverbal actions during conversations can more effectively interpret what is being communicated.