Download File - Dr. MaryAnn Seward

Nonverbal Messages
Nonverbal Communication
• Definition- A term commonly used to describe all human
communication events that transcend spoken or written words.
• Researchers have estimated as much as 65 percent of the social
meaning we convey in face-to-face interactions is a result of
nonverbal behavior.
Characteristics of Nonverbal Communication
Nonverbal Communication has five distinct characteristics.
Nonverbal communication can be Intentional or Unintentional.
Nonverbal messages are Primary.
Nonverbal behavior is frequently Ambiguous.
Nonverbal communication is Continuous.
Nonverbal messages are Multichannel.
Intentional and Unintentional
oSometimes we are aware of the nonverbal messages we are sending,
but most often we are not consciously aware of them.
oExamples include tapping your feet, speaking forcefully, or standing
tall
oMany people that we talk to interpret nonverbal cues as intentional.
Primary
• Nonverbal communication is primary, taking precedence over verbal
communication.
• Psychologist Albert Mehrabian (1972) found that about 93 percent of
the emotional meaning of utterances is conveyed nonverbally.
• Nonverbal messages are more believable than the verbal ones.
• “What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ambiguous
 Most nonverbal behaviors are not codified; there is no agreed on
lexicon of definitions for what it means to behave a certain way.
For example, the word “smile” means a pleasant facial expression. When we say, “she was smiling,” we are describing her
facial expression. But the nonverbal meaning of that smile is ambiguous.
 In short it is difficult to interpret nonverbal behaviors accurately,
especially when you don’t even know the person.
When we are in a relationship with someone, however, we learn to read and more accurately decode our partner’s nonverbal
behaviors.
http://youtu.be/3YxXsQMAvWg
Continuous
Verbal messages are bound by silence.
As long as you are in the presence of another person, your
behavior could be noticed or interpreted as a message.
You never stop communicating nonverbally.
Multichanneled
• When interpreting someone’s nonverbal behavior, we use a variety of cues or channels to make
sense of what is happening.
These cues include:
Vocal tone
 Body position
 Gestures
 Facial expressions
 General expressions
• We not only notice a variety of nonverbal behaviors together rather than in isolation.
• We interpret all these behaviors jointly with any verbal messages that accompany them to
determine the real meaning the speaker intended.
http://youtu.be/9T3X0hRbTek
Functions Of Nonverbal
Messages
Serves Five Primary Functions
• Provide Information
• Regulate Interactions
• Express or Hide Emotions and Affects
• Present an Image
• Express Status, Power, and Control
Providing Information
• Our nonverbal behaviors provides information by repeating,
substituting for, emphasizing , or contradicting our verbal messages.
• For example if you say no and shake your head at the same rime, your
nonverbal message repeats what you said verbally.
Regulate Interactions
• We manage a conversation through subtle and sometimes obvious
nonverbal cues.
• We use shifts in eye contact, slight head movement, posture changes,
raised eyebrow and nodding.
• We use those cues to tell another person when to continue, to
repeat, to elaborate, to hurry up or finish.
Express or Hide Emotions
• While we can easily hide from others what we are thinking, we can’t
hide the things we are feeling as we experience them.
• Our emotions are instantaneously conveyed by nonverbal behavior.
• For instance if you knit your eyebrows together, tighten your jaw, and
scream at your mother, I'm not angry, your emotional nonverbal
language drowns out your verbal message.
Presents an Image
• Much of our efforts to manage the impression that other from about
us are done with nonverbal cues and messages.
• People may carefully develop an image through the clothing,
grooming, jewelry, and personal possession they display.
• For example, when you see a man dressed in an expensive suit briskly
walking down the street sending a text message on his iPhone while
wearing a blue tooth headset what do you think? You might think he
is a successful business man.
Express Status, Power, and Control
• Many nonverbal behaviors are signs of dominance regardless of
weather the person displaying them intends to convey power and
control.
• Consider a high level manager conveys status and how employees
acknowledge that status through nonverbal behavior.
• The employee may show respect to the high level manger by using
eye contact and listening attentively when the manager speaks or by
not interrupting.
YouTube Clip
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkYyNOYezYM
Everyday we respond to thousands on nonverbal cues and behaviors
including
postures, facial expressions, eye gaze, gestures, and tone of voice.
From our handshakes to our hairstyles, nonverbal details reveal who we are
and impact how we relate to other people.
Scientific research on nonverbal communication and behavior began
with the 1872 publication of Charles Darwin’s; The Expression of the
Emotions in Man and Animals.
Since that time, there has been an abundance of research on the types,
effects, and expressions of unspoken communication and behavior.
While these signals are often so subtle that we are not consciously aware of
them.
 BY: Kendra Cherry, Psychology Expert
Facial Expressions
Facial expressions are responsible
for a huge proportion of nonverbal
communication.
Consider how much information
can be conveyed with a smile or a
frown.
Gestures
Deliberate movements and
signals are an important way to
communicate meaning without
words.
Common gestures include:
 Waving
 Pointing
 Using fingers to indicate
numeric amounts.
Other gestures are arbitrary
and related to culture.
Spatial Usage
The way we use the space that surrounds us during an interaction sends nonverbal
messages to our partners.
We send nonverbal messages by the way we use our Personal space, Acoustic space of
the setting, our Territory, and the objects or Artifacts we use to adorn our space.
http://youtu.be/vicuZS0ChYQ
Personal Space
 Intimate distance, up to 18 inches,
is comfortable spacing for private
conversations among intimates.
 Personal distance, from 18 inches
to 4 feet, is comfortable spacing
for casual conversations with a
normal amount of background
noise.
 Social distance, from 4 to 12 feet, is
comfortable spacing for impersonal
or professional interactions, such
as a job interview or team meeting.
 Public distance, anything more than
12 feet, is comfortable spacing for
people in a public forum where
interaction and conversation is not
desired.
Acoustic Space is the area over which
your voice or other sounds can be
comfortable heard.
• Competent communicators
adjust the volume of their voices
so that their conversations can
be easily heard.
• Speaking too loudly or too softly
can annoy both your
conversational partner and those
around you
• Mobile phone conversations and
excessively loud car or
headphone music can be see as
an acoustic invasion of space
Territory
• Is the space over which we claim ownership.
• We expect others to respect this territory.
• It can also have a power dimension to it. For instance,
higher- status people generally claim larger, more
prestigious, and more protected territory.
Artifacts
• Artifacts are the objects we use to adorn our territory.
• As a result, other people looking at these artifacts come to
understand something about us.
• Objects can include homes, cars, phones, and colors.
Self-Presentation Cues
• Physical appearances which can include your race, gender, body type,
facial features, clothing, personal grooming, and body art.
• Use of time
• Use of smells and scents
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvEci5Bjgd4
The use of body motions, as well as the meanings they convey, differs among cultures
and by gender.
Several cultural differences in body motions are well documented.
Sign Language,
Eye Contact
Talking through hands.
Watching you lips move.
Only for deaf or physically wont talk.
Eye contact to make sure they understand.
Learning Sign Language
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMQHd1UBkeI
Other Culture Facts about eye contact!
In UK, USA, Australia and Western Europe Eye contact is expected in Western
culture, it is a basic essential to a social interaction which shows a person’s
interest and engagement with your conversation.
In Middle Eastern Cultures Eye contact is less common, and considered less
appropriate than in Western cultures. There are strict gender rules, whereby
women should not make too much eye contact with men as it could be
misconstrued as a romantic interest.
Asian Cultures eye contact is not considered an essential to social interaction,
instead it is often considered inappropriate.
African and Latin American Cultures In many circumstances intense eye
contact is seen as aggressive, confrontational and extremely disrespectful.
Citations
• http://kingpinlifestyle.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/verbal.gif
• http://academic-views.ro/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Non-VerbalCommunication-Chart-Transparent1.png
• http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/n/nonverbal_communication.asp
• http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/n/nonverbal_communication.asp
• http://psychology.about.com/od/nonverbalcommunication/a/nonver
baltypes.htm
• Oxford University Press.
http://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites
• http://blog.joytours.com/2012/12/20/the-role-of-eye-contact-indifferent-cultures/
• www.youtube.com