Nonverbal Communication And Its Effects On The Understanding Of Individual Cultures

Non Verbal Communication: includes gestures, facial expressions, and body positions (known collectively as “body language”), as well as unspoken understandings and presuppositions, and cultural and environmental conditions that may affect any encounter between

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.

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

Non-verbal communication: ways of communicating without using words (for example, through body language such as gestures, eye-contact and touch)

Nonverbal communication or body language makes up 55% of effective communication. This plays the biggest part in communication, and it shows the client or colleague more information than words alone ever could. Nonverbal communication includes facial expressions, body movement and gestures, head movements, eye contact, posture, and the use of distances and space. Understanding and using nonverbal communication can enhance the connection between you and others, navigate challenging situations and well as expressing interest in the conversation. this can also established effective rapport between you and the client or colleague.

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.

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

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

One fine afternoon there was a girl at a panda express creepily watching people and taking notes. You guessed it, that girl was me, and during my subtle note taking on the nonverbal communications between the people at panda I witnessed 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 general body language actions that reoccurred several times in several different people. For example, when a customer would approach the counter where employees served the food, the employee would raise their eyebrows and smile at the customer. The employee’s smile, however, did not reach their eyes meaning while it is th9er job to smile and be welcoming to the customer no one likes to serve food all day and she probably wanted to go home. Additionally, I noticed that when customers approached the counter about 90 percent of them had their arms folded. The act of crossing your arms means that people are trying to put a barrier between themselves and a situation that they either don’t like or are uncomfortable with. This may mean that that they were displeased with having to wait in line to get their food or are uncomfortable with making the decision of which kind of meat to get, on the other hand it may mean nothing at all and they are simply comfortable folding their arms. Once they reached the front of the line, every customer pointed to the food they wanted along with

In Business Communication for Success, Scott McLean described nonverbal communication as the process of conveying a message without the use of words. People say they can read my body language well. On the other hand, I have never been one to interpret a person’s body language. That was very evident when watching my character, Katie Otto, in “American Housewife.”

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 is the act of communicating without speaking, and instead involves the use of gestures, facial expressions and body language and is an important part of how people communicate, sometimes more powerful than verbal interaction, and makes up a large portion of daily interpersonal communication. Most acts of nonverbal communication are learned behaviour and are done unconsciously. What is considered acceptable nonverbal communication differs from culture to culture – hand and

Before going over the slides and watching the documentary on nonverbal communication I never knew how important it is in our everyday life. I was aware of general signs like eye rolls, smiling, looking down, but I never realized things such as handshakes and back pats had such an impact on the message being portrayed. This chapter had definitely taught me some things that will benefit me immensely in my future career as well as my everyday life from now on.

Boose, G., Jaffe, J., Segal, J., & Smith. M. (2013). Nonverbal communication. Retrieved from https://classroom.phoenix.edu/afm214/secure/view-thread.jspa?threadID=58196411