The Importance Of 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.

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

Our textbook describes the communicative value of nonverbal communications as communication by nonlinguistic means, whether visually, physically, or vocally: another meaning involves messages expressed without words. Nonverbal communication involves messages expressed without words. Nonverbal resembles verbal communication in some ways and is quite different from it in others

amount of touching can accumulate pieces of information to the closeness of your connections. In short, we agree with Morreale, Spitzberg, and Barge when they write, “people use nonverbal cues to define the social and emotional nature of their relationships and interactions” (Larry, 2010, pp. 245). nonverbal communication is vital as it oversees creating impressions such as an interview or anniversary date. You make judgments about other individuals such things as the color of their skin, sexual orientation, outward appearance, the way of dressing, complement. Your nonverbal activities, regardless of whether purposeful or accidental, offer you and your accomplice pieces of information about your discussion.

The instance when two people look at each other’s eyes at the same time is a communication event that I find particularly mysterious. My fascination lies in that different messages can be communicated through the eyes alone. Whether we are talking about direct or indirect gaze, duration, direction or expression, the moment of eye contact between two people can serve to make a great connection or a disastrous one. This is of particular importance to me personally because I have tend to have an empathetic interest in people I meet and find that this form of non-verbal communication can add an additional facet to understanding them. Beyond being mysterious, I also feel that the more that is known about this form of nonverbal communication, the more effective you can be in life. This is also an area that I would like to better understand due to the fact that my personal strengths lie in the area of non-verbal communication, and I think it would be helpful in my professional life. However, in order to attempt to understand how people communicate through eye contact, it is imperative to have a good understanding of the communication theory that goes along with this non-verbal communication event.

Non-verbal communication is communication that occurs without words which is continuous.   It is not what is said with words but how it is said and expressed.  There are many types of non-verbal communications like eye contact, hand movements, facial expressions, touch, gestures, etc.  Non-verbal communication is different from person to person and especially from one culture to another. Cultural background defines their non-verbal communication as many forms of non-verbal communications like signs and signals are learned behaviour.

Non-verbal Communications. Non-verbal Communications is an essential aspect of cross-cultural business communication is non-verbal communication. Non-verbal communication used more often than verbal communication, as approximately seventy percent of our conversation is non-verbal. Non-verbal communication can take the form of eye contact, the firmness of a handshake, the speaker distance, facial expressions, touching and hand gestures are all critical factors to consider when approaching international business assignments (see Appendix B). A non-verbal behavior can cause mixed signals and misunderstandings, which do not reflect well on a representation of the company. Eye contact and eye movement have very different meanings across cultures. In North America when doing business with a client, it is courteous to establish eye contact, which shows the client you are listening to his opinions and proposals (Sweeney & Hua, 2010). However many cultures differ in the way eye contact is considered respectable. Various researchers have conducted to identify the different methods that should intertwine within the speech, gestures, facial expressions, and body language. In Mexico, for example, looking someone in the eye can be regarded as aggressive (especially among males), and flirtatious when made between men and women. In Mexico, look at clients near the eye, but not actually in the eye (Mintu-Wimsatt et al., 2002). Many North Americans who do not understand this cultural

Our body language is one that can also cause for confusion, misunderstanding, or even be helpful in making our verbal communication more impactful. Body language, in my opinion, is one of the most subconscious ways we communicate nonverbally. Our facial gestures, our hand gestures, our posture are all things we intrinsically pick up through our life experiences. Facial features are one of the most easily understood, and are universally recognized [7.]. The facial feedback effect is an interesting twist on facial features. The facial feedback effect states that our facial muscle triggers corresponding feelings. Essentially, nonverbal communication can communicate feeling or dictate them. Eye-contact provides information about the emotional state of a person. When someone is not able to look you in the eye when they are being asked incriminating questions, one may be interpreted as a liar, or making eye contact could make you appear more truthful. Another example of eye contact importance is when someone does not make eye contact when expressing emotion, they may be interpreted as sad or afraid. Posture, gesture, and movement also convey a lot of information. The way a person stands, holds themselves in different situations, and the way they walk can convey information about mood and confidence [1, 2]. Even the way a person dresses and the objects they carry with them are often used to convey messages about who they are and how they perceive themselves to others [2].

The movement of the body or kinesics behavior understands in a characteristic way the gestures, the bodily movements, those of the extremities, the hands, the head, the feet and the legs, the facial expressions (smiles), the behavior of the eyes (flicker, direction and duration of the gaze and dilation of the pupil, and also the posture). frowning, dropping shoulders, or tipping the head are all behaviors included in the field of Kinesics. Obviously, there are different types of non-verbal behavior. Some non-verbal cues are very specific and more general. Some have intentions to communicate, others are merely expressive. Some provide information about emotions while others give personality traits or attitudes. In an effort to orient themselves in the relatively unknown world of non-verbal behavior, Ekman and Friesen developed a system declassifying non-verbal behaviors. The following categories include:

Eye contact is used to make sure that the message was understood or to show that you are paying attention (eye contact)

Theorists view body language, gestures, symbols, tones, language, and more to figure out human conversations. Although they may be subtle and unconscious, they are important. Analyzing how a married couple communicates and resolves problems reflects many aspects of communication. In the show, Law and Order: Special Victim's Unit, season 19, episode 1, this is done with the use of powerful and powerless language, communication accommodation theory, and nonverbal codes in the characters of Karla and Frank. This married couple has a distinct conversation that makes it significant to analyze for this paper. When her rapist is caught after six years of looking for him, Karla is asked by the special victims unit if she is willing to testify against him in court. She is excited to put her rapist in jail; however, her husband, Frank, has something else in mind, and he does not care about Karla’s traumatizing experience at all. Throughout this interaction, the usage of verbal and nonverbal communication within the couple establishes what type of relationship they have because of the way he speaks with Karla, giving off the impression of an unhealthy relationship.

Nonverbal communication includes all intentional and unintentional stimuli between communicating parties. An example of intentional nonverbal communication is when you observe a friend approaching, and you offer a broad smile as part of your greeting. Another example would be waving at another person in another car who let you in their lane during heavy traffic, as a means of saying thank you. An example of unintentional nonverbal communication is frowning because the sun is in your eyes making someone mistakenly believe you’re unhappy to see him or her. Also touching someone’s hand for an extended amount of time could cause that person to think you are flirting when really it was an unintentional nonverbal communication.

John Warren Stewig in an article published in the professional journal Language Arts provides an excellent commentary on nonverbal communication. His article is an exceptional example of academic writing that has been formatted as a primer or tool to be used by other educators. Professor Stewig provides a breakout of how much of a given message can be considered verbal and how much nonverbal. He also introduces the term kinesics and divides kinesics into two categories: personal and professional gestures. He closes his article by consulting the reader of their obligation to improve a child 's appreciation of the total range of message sending and their effectiveness as communicators.

Throughout the semester, my skills that needed improvement were to work of my nonverbal communication, how to perceive others, and how to present the self. In the skill of nonverbally communicating, I needed to work especially on my facial expressions, so people can better understand me. The skill of perceiving others would have benefitted me because often, I cannot tell or fail to notice other people’s thoughts or emotions. Lastly, I needed to work on presenting myself, I need to feel more comfortable and confident in myself, while being with others.