Information about Nonverbal Communication

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Nonverbal communication (NVC) is the process of transmitting messages without spoken words, sometimes called body language, messages can be communicated through facial expressions; gestures; gaze; and posture; Many include the space we use around us; object communication includes clothing, hairstyles, adornment, shoes, and other communicative props (Ottenheimer, 2007, p. 120-122), or even architecture; symbols and infographics; prosodic features of speech such as intonation and stress and other paralinguistic features of speech such as voice quality, emotion and speaking style. According to Guerrero and Floyd,2006, nonverbal communication is a subset of nonverbal behavior (p. 4).

Scholars in this field usually use a strict sense of the term "verbal", meaning "of or concerned with words," and do not use "verbal communication" as a synonym for oral or spoken communication. Thus, sign languages and writing are generally understood as forms of verbal communication, as both make use of words — although like speech, both may contain paralinguistic elements and often occur alongside nonverbal messages. Nonverbal communication can occur through any sensory channel — sight, sound, smell, touch or taste. However, many scholars argue that, because writing unlike sign language, represents words that could be spoken, writing should not be considered nonverbal, for example, some scholars include nonword sounds such as tsk-tsk and ooh (Ottenheimer, 2007, p. 122).

Nonverbal communication is distinguished from unconscious communication, which may be verbal or non-verbal.

Studying nonverbal communication

The first scientific study of nonverbal communication was Charles Darwin's book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872). He argued that all mammals show emotion reliably in their faces. Studies now range across a number of fields, including kinesics, linguistics, semiotics and social psychology. Proxemics refers to how people use and interpret space.

While much nonverbal communication is based on arbitrary symbols which differ from culture to culture, a large proportion is also to some extent iconic and may be universally understood. Paul Ekman's influential 1960s studies of facial expression determined that expressions of anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness and surprise are universal.

Object communication

The most common form of object communication is clothing. The types of clothing that people wear are often used to determine their personality, though this is considered a form of stereotyping. For example, it is common for people to give preference to those they consider attractive. A physically attractive person may be more likely to be hired for a job or to be helped than someone less attractive. A good example of clothing as object communication is the uniform.

Proxemics

Proxemics is the study of how people use and perceive the physical space around them. It was developed by Edward T. Hall starting during the 1950's and 60's. Hall's studies were inspired by earlier studies of animals and how they demonstrate their territoriality. The way people use and perceive space varies across cultures. There are four main categories of perceived space. These are; intimate, social, personal, and public space. For example, the average perceived personal space for Americans is about eighteen inches to four feet.

Haptics

Haptics is the study of touching as nonverbal communication. Touches that can be defined as communication include: Handshakes, holding hands, kissing (cheek, lips, hand), back slap, high five, shoulder pat, brushing arm, etc. Each of these give off nonverbal messages as to the touching person's intentions/feelings. They also cause feelings in the receiver, whether positive or negative.

Chronemics

Chronemics is the study of the use of time in nonverbal communication. The way we perceive time, structure our time and react to time is a powerful communication tool, and helps set the stage for communication. Across cultures, time perception has played a large role in the nonverbal communication process. Time perceptions include punctuality, willingness to wait, and interactions. The use of time affects lifestyles, daily agendas, speed of speech and movements and how long people are willing to listen.

Oculesics

Oculesics is the study of the role of eyes in nonverbal communication. Studies have found that people use their eyes to indicate their interest. This can be done through eye contact. For example, when a professor is giving a lecture, a student may communicate disinterest by reading a magazine instead of looking at the professor's presentation. Left sided gestures may indicate negative affect while right sided gestures indicate positive affect, and this orientation may alternate depending whether a person is right or left handed. This has yet to be proven and more research is needed on the topic.

Paralanguage

Paralanguage (sometimes called vocalics) is the study of nonverbal cues of the voice. Various acoustic properties of speech such as tone, pitch, accent, etc., collectively known as prosody, can all give off nonverbal cues. Paralanguage is important because it can help change the meaning of words. To break down vocalics we look at ((Trager's Classification System)). In this system there are the Voice Set, Voice Qualities, and Vocalization. This classification system is what gives each person a unique "voice print"(Guerrero, L.K.). The Voice Set is the context in which you are speaking. This can include the situation, gender, mood, age and a person's culture. The Voice Qualities is the detail used that is associated with language. These features give each individual a "voice print". These features include volume, pitch, tempo, rhythm, articulation, resonance, nasality, and accent. The third class in Trager's Classification System is Vocalization. Vocalization consists of three subsections which are characterizers, qualifiers and segregates. Characterizers are the emotions you are expressing while speaking like laughing, crying, and yawning. A voice qualifier is the delivery in which a person uses when sending a message. For example you could yell "Hey stop that!", or whisper "Hey stop that". When speaking to someone we may use vocal segregates such as "uh-huh" or any other phrase to notify the speaker we are listening. Vocalics is what part of communication that is universally understood. All cultures may not emphasize such things as the voice segregates, but we can understand a person's emotion by how they deliver their words.

Kinesics

Kinesics is the study of body movements, facial expressions, and gestures. It was developed by anthropologist Ray L. Birdwhistell in the 1950's (Ottenheimer, 2007, p. 129). Kinesic behaviors include, mutual gaze, smiling, facial warmth or pleasantness, childlike behaviors, direct body orientation, and the like (Guerrero and Floyd, 2006, p. 112). In addition, to relate kinesics to the structure of a phoneme, Birdwhistell proposed the term kineme as a minimal unit of visual expression, unlike a phoneme which is a minimal unit of sound (Ottenheimer, 2007, p. 129). According to Ottenheimer 2007, psychologists Paul Ekman and Wallace Friesen suggested that such gestures could be categorized into five types: emblems, illustrators, affect displays, regulators, and adaptors. Emblems are gestures with direct verbal translations, such as a goodbye wave; an illustrator are gestures that depict what is said verbally, such as turning an imaginary steering wheel while talking about driving; an affect display is a gesture that conveys emotions, like a smile; regulators are gestures that control interaction; and finally, an adaptor is a gesture that ficilitate release of body tension, such as quickly moving your leg (p. 130).

References

• Burgoon, J. K., Buller, D. B., & Woodall, W. G. (1996), Nonverbal communication: The unspoken dialogue (2nd ed.), New York: McGraw-Hill
• http://www.waveland.com/Titles/Guerrero-et-al.htmGuerrero, L. K., DeVito, J. A., Hecht, M. L. (Eds.)(1999). The nonverbal communication reader. (2nd ed.), Lone Grove, Illinois: Waveland Press.
• Floyd, K., Guerrero, L.K. (2006), Nonverbal communication in close relationships, Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
• Ottenheimer, H.J. (2007), The anthropology of language: an introduction to linguistic anthropology, Kansas State: Thomson Wadsworth

External Links

• "Credibility, Respect, and Power: Sending the Right Nonverbal Signals" by Debra Stein

See also

• Nonverbal Library The largest library on nonverbal communication on internet with more than 500 free available articles on this topic.
• Albert Mehrabian - for an explanation of the often quoted 7%-38%-55% rule of nonverbal communication
• Asemic Writing
• Body Language
• Intercultural competence
• Metacommunicative competence
• Neuro-linguistic programming
• Unconscious communication