Download General Learning Outcomes Nonverbal Communication

General
Learning
Outcomes
Nonverbal
Communication
1. We should learn that
nonverbal signals greatly
affect how an audience
interprets what we say.
2. We should learn
the major areas of
nonverbal
communication.
3. We should learn the
five major characteristics
of nonverbal
communication.
4. We should learn the
standards of appropriate
body action and facial
expression in
communication.
5. We should learn the
impact on communication
the nonverbal signals of
voice and articulation.
6. We should learn to make
practical evaluation of the
vocal and articulatory
processes and pronunciation.
7. We should learn that we
express attitudes through
body action, voice,
What we wear and own, and
our use of time and space
Importance of
Nonverbal
Communication
Do you realize that only
35 percent of
communication may be
verbal?
When you speak face-to-face with a person,
that person may be receiving 65 percent of
your message by means other than the
words you use – by your tone of voice,
Your gestures, even
By the way you stand and are dressed.
In one view, the relative
ability or impact of the facial
nonverbals may reach 55
percent and the vocal
nonverbals 38 percent.
It may be that the blending
of channels has more to do
with meaning than the
simple summing of all the
channels.
In other words, the
verbal is still critical to
how we interpret the
nonverbal.
When we find that a gesture
that means “come here” in
America means “go away” in
Italy, we begin to sense the
problem.
Perhaps a culture or
subculture creates its own
system of nonverbal
communication.
There is also evidence that
the senes differ in their
nonverbal behaviors,
And that they are in line with
societal role expectations.
When combined with the verbal
message, nonverbal signals are quite
effective in conveying ideas,
Particularly emotional concepts
such as love hate
People display quite
different nonverbal
responses to various
emotional situations.
One study found that some
people are more sensitive than
others to nonverbal signals, and
that such individuals tend to
function better socially and
intellectually.
The same study also
found that young people
were less sensitive to
nonverbal signals than
older people were,
No wonder that in some speech
communications our voices and
our actions speak so loudly that
our words are often unheard or
are not very persuasive.
Apparently, in the long run we
cannot avoid acting nonverbally,
and therefore we cannot avoid
communicating at least
nonverbally.
That our nonverbal behavior
may be unintentionally
contrary to our verbal
message should be
considered by speakers.
We express our attitudes through our
body action, our voice articulation
patterns,
The objects we wear or own,
Our use of time space, and Our
language and throughly prepared
messages.
The speech
communication act, then,
includes an almost
countless number of
channels.
Making the nonverbal
communication process
work for us by improving
our messages is the major
objective of this article.
Areas or aspects of
nonverbal communication
most relevant to speech
communication are:
1. Body communication (Kinesics),
2. Voice and articulation (Paralanguage),
3. Objects (Clothes things),
4. Space, and
5. Time
Of these, kinesics and
paralanguage are the
most important to
speakers.
Characteristics of
Nonverbal
Communication
Our nonverbals of what ever
kind, conscious or
unconscious, may be
characterized as follows:
1. They always communicate some thing.
2. They are bound to the situation.
3. They are believed.
4. They are seldom isolated.
5. They affect our relationships.
1. The always
communicate some
thing
Assuming some kind of human
interaction, one cannot not
behavior, and since behavior is
nonverbal communication – one
cannot not communicate.
A blank stare
communicates something
to the decoder, even if it is
just confusion.
This is not always
appreciated by less
sensitive
personalities.
These behaviors may be
consiciously or
unconciously conveyed,
but one way or another
they communicate.
2. They are
bound to the
situation.
The context or
situation makes a lot
of difference.
The baby’s smile might
indicate pleasare in one
situation or gas in
another.
A thumb in the air might
mean A – OK on the
launch pad or a request for
a fide on the high way.
When the context or
situation is not
appreciated or
considered,
Nonverbals can be
confusing indeed! When it
is obvious, our nonverbals
are most clear.
3. They are
believed
Perhaps they should
not be, but this
tendency exists.
Con men have taken
advantage of this fact
from the beginning
Perhaps nonverbals are
harder to fake for most of
us, but certainly not for
good actors.
When what you say
disagrees with how you
look or sound, people tend
to believe the nonverbals.
“She said no – no,
but there was yes –
yes in her eyes!”
4. They are
seldom
isolated
It is very difficult for most of
us to be boiling man and yet
control our actions and voice
so that we appear calm.
A glisten of perspiration,
A faster eye – blink,
A slight tremble,
A dryness in the voice – these and more
give us away.
Even when you are laughing
on the outside (and crying on
the inside), the character of
your laughter probably gives
you away.
These other nonverbals
tend to be related,
consistent, and supportive
of one another.
When they are not,
suspicions about
intent are raised.
Except in pictures or
audio – tapes,
nonverbals are difficult
to isolate.
5. They affect our
relationships
We decide three important
things about people largely
on the basis of nonverbal
communication.
These are:
1. Personal liking or attraction,
2. Evaluation of power relationships,
3. Our feelings about the response we
get from others.
Let’s review each
of these as
nonverbal codes:
1. Sometimes by
nonverbal cues alone,
we might feel attracted
toward another.
That person seems a
“likeable sort,” a “good
guy” , and is easy to be
with.
That the opposite also
happens is all too clear.
More will be said about
attraction later on.
2. Power assessment is
your evaluation of the
other person’s status,
influence, or clout.
Nonverbal cues become
important, particularly in
the absence of verbal
information.
Several of these
will be discussed
shortly.
3. Another nonverbal area of this
interpersonal decision making is
your perception of a responsive
listener, a person who can will
appreciate your position or your
problem.
These three nonverbal
decisions about people lead
us in and out of a lot of
communication trouble.
Body Action
Language
(Kinesics)
Our audience
interprets the total
message that we
present to them.
There fore , what they
see may seriously affect
how they interpret what
we say.
An actor’s clever
pantomime is some times
much cleaver and more
emphatic than what the
actor says.
Body action language may
therefore be important to
the total impression made
by the speaker.
Unconscious
Nonverbal
Communication
We use body action
constantly in our
every day
conversation.
It is a definite part of
our communication
system.
The way a person walks or
sits at a given moment may
demonstrate that person’s
mood more adequately than
her words do.
When we try to avoid
looking awkward, it usually
communicates even more
awkwardness and looks
unnatural and ridiculos.
In addition, such
holding back may
lead to poor control
of one’s emotions.
A lack of action
often makes the
message less clear.
There is no point in trying to
avoid body action; there are
many good reasons to try to
understand it, control it, and
use it.
Communication
by stereotypes
The communication of
stereotyped – stylized –
gestures and facial
expressions has been
studied experimentally.
Landis performed an
experiment designed to discover
whether subjects reported
emotions are accompanied by
definite and easily recognized
facial expressions.
His subjects were photographed
while they were being exposed to
various emotional situations;
They were not simply portraying
emotions, as an actor would.
After comparing the
reactions of many subjects
to these situations, landis
reported:
“with no verbal report of a given
emotion did a muscle, group of
muscles, or expression occur with
sufficient frequency to be considered
characteristic of that emotion.
There is no expression typically
associated with any verbal report”
A more recent study by williams
tolch indicated that there are
two elements in the perception
of acted facial expressions:
general evaluation dynamism
By general evaluation they meant a
viewer’s evaluation of those characteristics
of an expression that reveal such ethical
qualities as goodness,
Gratefulness,
Kindness , and
the like.
Dynamism is an evaluation of
qualities such as
active or passive,
fast or slow,
interesting or boring, and so on.
Acted facial expressions
based on only these two
elements were
differentiated successfully
by views.
However, an acted “no messageneutral” expression introduced
into the study was usually seen
as having both evaluative and
dynamic qualities.
Schlosbery suggests that facial
expression can be evaluated in terms
of what he calls:
pleasantness or unpleasantness,
steep or tension, and
rejection or attention.
More and savage cut up pictures of
stereotyped emotions (such as
terror , love and hate) and asked
students to look at the hand
gestures and facial expressions
separately.
Recognition of the
emotion portrayed was
better than chance in
both cases,
Indicating that there are
stylized expressions of
the hands as well as of
the face.
On the basis of these experiments,
we can say that acted or stylized
emotions can be identified with
some reliability, whereas real
emotions can not be recognized with
any certainty.
Good actors and capable
speakers appear to
communicate emotions
regularly.
The actor has the play, the
set, the other actors, and
the stylized conceptions of
the audience as aids.
If the cause of whatever
emotion the actor is portraying
also is seen (for example , a gun
fear), the communication is
easier to interpret.
There is also new evidence
that we tend to communicate
(nonverbally) more
sterotypically when we know
we are not alone.
In review, research into the
portragal and recognition of
emotions such as anger, love and
fear has shown that we rely on
previous experience in interpreting
these highly abstract messages.
As suggested earlier, certain
cultures subcultures
stereotype patterns of body
action in ways different from
our own.
In some cultures a smile
does not always indicate
amusement, but rather
politeness.
These observations lead to
the question of how much
stereotyping a speaker
should use.
One needs enough
stereotyping to be
understood, not so much
as to appear artificial.
One view tought that
“every action of face or
hand … is simply an
outward effect of an
inward expression.
In other words, speaker
should be so involved in
his/her subject that his/her
expression is always
dynamic and spontaneous.
At present, we recognize that in
our communicative body action,
we do rely on certain learned,
general streotypes which we use
in natural and relatively
spontaneous ways.
The conclusion of all this research is that
“meaning” is in the eyes, ears, and other senses
of the receiver, but even it is in the receiver’s
store of
experience,
knowledge,
attitudes,
and emotions.
Empathy
If your instructor runs his
finger nails sharply across
the blackboard , you
probably cringe and grit your
teeth.
If youlve ever seen a youngester
take a violent and bruising fall,
you probably “felt” the pain as
you projected yourself into the
youngester’s situation.
This projection is
the basis of
empathy.
Empathy includes a
muscular reaction: to an
extent, an audience
imitates the actions of the
speaker.
When a speaker
appears mortally
afraid tense, the
audience dies a little .
When the speaker
acts tired, the
audience feels tired
or bored.
When a person paces the
floor like a caged lion, the
audience usually tires
before the speaker does.
The speaker should take
the audience into account
when considering body
action.
Attempt to use the kind
and amount of action that
will help achieve the
purpose of your speech.
Emotion one can drain pent–
up tension by body action
this is why some speakers
pace the floor or fidget
constantly.
Instead of acting in distracting
ways, try to use meaningful body
action that will help you control
your speech fright at the same time
that it helps communicate your
message.
General
Impression
The general impression you
create is a combination not
only of all the signals that
you communicate to your
audience,
But also of the things over which you
may not always have control –
for example,
the lighting,
the building,
the platform,
and the person who introduces you.
However, there are
some relatively simple
things over which you
do have some control,
Things that may
contribute much to the
general impression you
make.
Dress is one of these.
In considering what to
wear, the watch word is
appropriate.
You don’t want to appear
conspicuous , yet yout do wish
to live up to your audience’s
expectations regarding the dress
of its speakers.
Your physical and
psychological
comfort affect your
body action.
However, there’s a lesson to
be learned if the audience
remembers your leotard
instead of your speech.
Another problem is
whether to address the
audience from a sitting or
a standing position.
You might feel awkward
standing on a platform with
only 3 to 4 listeners at your feet,
and some mall informal
audiences may prefer that you
sit while speaking to them.
How ever , other
small groups are
insulted if the speaker
sits.
The impression they receive,
apparenty, is that they are
not considered important
enough for a stand – up
speech.
Your decision depends a
lot up on how well you
know the group and how
well they know you.
As a general rule there
is less risk in standing,
even before a very
small group.
If the audience appears
uncomfortable, it is much
easier to sit down after a
speech has started than to
stand up.
Whether you’re sitting,
standing or walking, the
way you do it is
revealing.
It can draw people
to you or drive
them away.
All of the elements of
body action contribute
to the general
impression you create.
The Types of
Bodily Action
In this section we shall
discuss the patterns of
physical behavior that
make up total body action.
Although these patterns most
often occur at the same time,
we are separating them here
for the purpose of
explanation.
Pasture is an important part of
the general impression you
make: it effects the empathy of
the audience and what they
conclude from your signals.
The way you carry
yourself tends to show
whether or not you have
confidence in yourself.
Whether you slouch and cower
or whether you stand with
military bearing affects your
outlook and sense of power and
your control over yourself.
A slouching posture can
tire the audience as
quickly as it can the
speaker.
In general, good posture
involves the distribution of your
body weight in a comfortable
and poised way consistent with
the impression you wish to
make as a speaker.
You should be erect
without looking stiff,
comfortable without
appearing limp.
Your bearing should
be alert, self –
possessed, and
communicative.
Good posture and
poise reflect a kind
of cool unconcern.
The great danger, as with
all stylized body action, is
appearing artificial, overly
noticeable or out of place.
A satisfactory standing
position should be a
balanced one: it should allow
you t recover quickly if you
were suddenly pushed:
Your feet should be
fairly close
together,
General
Learning
outcomes
1. We should learn the
fundamental importance of
language habits and semantics
as they relate to meaning and
one’s total communication
effectiveness.
2. We should learn about the
sensitive nature of words and
language segments and their
impact upon human behavior
and understanding.
3. We should learn
that language habits
affect and reflect our
personality.
4. We should learn that
unless we become aware
of abstraction,
generalization, and
semantics,
We are not meeting the
ethical responsibilities
of an educated
communicator.
Language
Habits
Code and
symbol
It is in the use of oral
language that we
need our most
rigorous training,
For there is an infinitely
larger number of oral
means available to the
listener than to the reader.
This is because of the
concomitant signals – those
that accompany and operate
at the same time as the
words.
Your voice, for example, is a
wonderfully sensitive instrument
with a powerful influence upon the
meaning the listener attaches both to
your words and to you , the speaker.
Your correct use of
your voice and your
articulation is thus
very important.
The appearance of the speaker –
dress, movements, facial
expressions, and gestures – is
another signal that affects the
decoding by the listener.
Another, less obvious
point to be made is that
these codes signals
affect one another.
Some times they work
together and strengthen
the meaning intended
by the speaker.
At other times, however, they
conflict with one another and
distort the intended meaning to
the point at which the listener is
confused, suspicious, or
frustrated.
Consider the sloppy student
presenting a speech on the value of
personal neatness, or the professor
with a frozen grin discussing the
possibility of a student’s failing
his/her course.
We often act in a way
contrary to what we
really intend.
The cause may be tension,
emotional involvement, or
simply poor speech
training.
Let’s turn now to the all – important
symbols we call word’s remembering
that the codes and symbols previously
discussed will affect their intended
meaning in ways other than those
described here.
Words are symbols
which are
conventionally used to
represent certain things.
They are convenient
labels which help us
to classify things.
It is obvious that there are
more things concepts in
the world than there are
words. So you think a rat
is a rat.
Try the definitions in figure 1.
As another example, if
each chair in the world
had its own label, we
would have to have
dictionaries of chairs.
Even with the general
classifying word chair, we have
developed a ge vocabulary of
chair – words (for example,
windsor, Hitchcock, Stuffed,
Swivel, rocking).
In short, if we did not use a
limited number of words to
represent an infinite number
of things, we could
communicate hardly at all.
Despite our useful and
necessary dictionaries, no
word has real meaning
except in the particular
context in which it is used.
The meaning of a word is never
quite the same from one
occasion to another, although
the variation in meaning may
not always be great.
Word meanings change when we
take words for granted and think of
them as actual things rather than as
what they really are – representation
of things.
A
good speaker must always ask,
“what dose this word mean
to this audience, in this
situation, in this context, as
used by this speaker at this
time?”
A word may be considered,
then, as a representation or
generalization with its
meaning matching its
context.
When we arrange words into
the context of a sentence that is, when we create
syntax – we are really fitting
generalization together.
The meaning of an English
sentence is determined not
by its words alone but by the
whole arrangement and
sequence of the words.
Even this meaning may be
vague if the relationship
of the sentence to the
paragraph or chapter is
not known.
In one sense, the
communication pattern of a
sentence is the systematic
exclusion of meanings the
listener might attach which are
not intended by the speaker.
In short, the sentence
may define meanings
not intended.
Ever – changing black slang
is a good example of how
words can be confusing if
you are not familiar with
them.
Try yourself on some of the these.
Bad: bad or good (used to mean good)
bleach bribe money
down home: jail or prison (used to mean
the south)
early: late
stay: go
q: rescue, barbecue, etc. (q sound)
In light of the above, it is not
difficult to understand why there are
sensitivities to certain words and
why people may sometimes react
negatively to words not intended to
be derogatory.
Were confucius alive
today, he might well be
pained by our fascination
with slang.
He once said ,”the first
step in finding out the
truth is to call things by
their right names.”
Verbal
obscenity