Is Communication Essential Everyday Life? Essay

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.

Nonverbal communication is is defined as “messages expressed by non linguistic means”(Adler 188). This includes verbal cues that do not involve words such as: sighs, laughs, throat clearings, and other noises. Nonverbal communication also includes nonlinguistic dimensions of the spoken word such as volume, rate, and pitch. It also includes abstract factors such as physical appearance, the environment, and how far we stand away from each other and the way we use time. Nonverbal is also the factors that we think of, body language, facial expressions, and eye contact. Some studies show that 93 percent of the emotional impact of a message comes from nonverbal cues, while others show that the figure is closer to 65 percent. Nonverbal communication plays an important role in how we make sense of one another’s behavior (Adler 188). There are many influences that contribute to the way we communicate nonverbally. A few of those influences include: gender, culture, and age.

Our society also relies on language as its major bases for communication. Our ability to communicate apart from our words plays an important part in our daily lives. We often disregard the power of body language and our facial gestures. We are expected to portray our body language and facial gestures

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

There are many levels and moving parts in communication. We rely on both verbal and non-verbal forms of communication in order to send, receive, translate and respond to each other (Cheesebro, O’Connor, Rios, 2010). The spoken or written word only comprises of about 7% of our communication with each other. The other 93% is made up of voice quality and non-verbal communication (Heathfield, 2011). Non-verbal communication or demonstrative communication comes in many forms. It includes body language, facial expressions, eye contact, posture, touch and tone of language.

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

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.

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.

Understanding different cultures is not the only important aspect of cross-cultural communication. One needs to be able to have an understanding of basic communication techniques. There are two main aspects of communication, comprising of verbal and nonverbal interactions (Chiesa, Scott and Hinton, 2012). Nonverbal communication encompasses co-speech hand gestures, facial expressions and general body language. According to Chiesa, Scott and

Communication is essential to everyday life. Everyone is performing some form of communication daily whether it be through face to face interaction, online, video conference, non-verbal cues, or writing. According to the National Communication Association, communication is defined as “…how people use messages to generate meanings within and across various contexts, cultures, channels, and media. The [communication] discipline promotes the effective and ethical practice of human communication.” The definition of communication has evolved over time with the rise of digital platforms, thus, introducing a new way of communication called “digital communication.” Though this evolution may seem like a recent development, research conducted back in the 1940s has greatly influenced the digital era and communication strategies today.

Communication is a part of everyday life. Not only is it present in our personal lives, but in the