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NON-VERBAL
COMMUNICATION &
BODY LANGUAGE
THE IMPORTANCE OF NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION IN
EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION PROCESS
• “What is said” is not the most important part in
effective communication.
• In effective communication “how the message is
showed” is the important part.
In this regard non-verbal communication has a
considerable effect in human relationship’s success.
• While in communication, people not only convey
messages with words but also they convey their
feelings/thoughts without words. And the real
things that they wanted to say is hidden in those
non-verbal messages.
• Non-verbal communication is a kind
of communication which comes
through without words but with
body language elements.
• People communicate with all their
bodies and that’s why interpreting
the non-verbal messages is the most
important way to understand the
people’s thoughts and feelings.
• According to one of the foremost researchers in
N.V.C., Birdwhistell, the average person speaks
for only about ten or eleven minutes per day.
• He estimates that around two thirds of the social
meaning of an interaction is carried in the nonverbal channel.
• If he's right, then we would do well to pay more
attention to N.V.C. than we do to linguistic
exchanges, which receive most of the attention
in communication studies.
•Edward T. Hall, an anthropologist, claims
that 60 percent of all communication is nonverbal.
• We can use non-verbal communication
(N.V.C) instead of the spoken word or we
can use it at the same time as we are
speaking to reinforce our message.
•N.V.C. is the communication which passes
between individuals to replace or reinforce
the use of words.
This definition would include the
following:
•The use of visual forms of communication
like drawing, painting, architecture,
sculpture, decorative art.
•Movement and dance. Ballet and mime are
forms of non-verbal communication, and so
is instrumental music.
•The use of time. The ways in which people
or organizations use time may give clues
about them.
Body language
•Bodily contact
•Physical proximity
•Posture
•Gesture
•Facial expressions
•Eye contact
Bodily contact
Physical contact between people is one of the
most basic kinds of social act available to us. Who
we touch, and when, and in what way is
determined by:
•
•
•
•
Age
Sex
Relationships
Culture
Bodily contact
Touch is an especially important factor in the following
situations:
• Care of children, old people or invalids. Touch can be used
to bring comfort to someone we care for.
• Helping to establish friendly relationships.
• Aggression. Touch used to show aggression is frequently
strong and much more powerful, possibly involving
grasping, hitting or kicking.
We frequently make use of touch and the power of touch in
social situations, such as:
• Greetings and farewells.
• Congratulations.
• Gaining attention.
• Ceremonies and so on.
Physical proximity
The distance we feel necessary to keep
between ourselves and others. How much
space we expect to have around us can be
determined by:




The occasion
The status/relationship
Culture
Personality
Posture
The way in which an individual use and move
the whole body is called posture. The following
three factors may influence a person’s posture:
•
•
•
Cultural convention
Attitude to/of others
Emotional state
Gesture
•Posture describes the way in which we use
and move our whole body, gesture refers to
the use of part of body to communicate
with others.
•Like posture gesture may be conscious or
unconscious.
Facial expressions
•
•
Few other parts of the body can begin to
compete with the face when it comes to
non-verbal communication.
We send non-verbal signals using a wide
range of combinations: forehead,
eyebrows, eyelids, eye, nose, cheeks, lips,
tongue, chin.
Eye contact
•
•
Most facial expressions are dominated by
what the eyes are doing.
It is said that the eyes are the mirror of
the soul, so we can tell a great deal about
a person just by looking into their eyes.
Other ways in which non-verbal
communication takes place:
•Physical appearance
•Use of objects
Physical appearance
We can communicate a good deal about
ourselves without ever moving any body
parts at all:
• Our clothes
• Our use of cosmetics on face
• Our hair
• Even our physique
• Social norms in the form of fashion
• The desire to be sexually attractive
Use of objects
• The possession or use of an object or objects
by an individual may also communicate a
message to those nearby by non-verbal means.
• For some people a car is more than a vehicle
for moving around it, but has a symbolic
meaning.
• A car may be a symbol of power or status.
FUNDAMENTALS OF NON-VERBAL
COMMUNICATION
• Non-verbal communication is a continuous
process. Because; you can choose to stop
talking, but the body language continues to
talk and send messages.
• Non-verbal communication can occur not
only consciously, but also unconsciously.
• Non-verbal communication gives clues
about what will happen on the next step of
the process and opens the doors to
effective communication.
• As an example; the person can be bored in
the process and he/she can show this
feeling with his/her body language. At this
moment the communication can be
stopped, delayed or the subject of the
conversation can be changed.
EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION &BODY LANGUAGE
There are 3 main elements while
communicating effectively:
1. Choosing and using right words,
2. Adjusting the voice’s tone to the message
that want to be conveyed
3. Using and understanding the body
language and it’s elements truly
WORDS
%7
BODY
LANGUAGE
%55
VOICE TONE
38%
Understanding and using body language
can provide these advantages:
to produce a positive effect on the others,
to harmonize more easily in social
environments,
to understand what the other people actually
want to say,
with understanding the others much better;
and in this regard to communicate more
effectively.
BODY LANGUAGE AND CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
• Every nation has it’s own culture, cultural
values and signs. In this regard the usage
of body language can be different to
culture to culture.
• An individual starts learning body language
in babyhood and this learning process
continues from this period. Family is the
main instructive for the baby in that
period. And of course the family has a body
language knowledge which reflects it’s
own culture, so they convey this cultural
body language messages to his/her baby.
Universal Non-verbal signs
• Are no non-verbal signs
universal then? In fact,
it seems that some are.
It's pretty obvious all
over the world that the
face on the top
signifies happiness and
that the one on the
bottom signifies
sadness.
An individual’s body language messages
are mostly the same with the other
cultures but in some messages there are
little differences in the meanings.
• In Turkey, this gesture is usually done while
eating something and when the meal is defined
as delicious. In our whole country this gesture is
understood as something is “wonderful” and
especially “the meal is delicious”.
• In Cyprus this gesture shows anger,
• In Italy this gesture shows temper and the
researches has displayed that; when an Italian
football player gets angry to the other player or
to the referee, he shows this gesture while
talking.
• In Turkey and in Latin countries, this gesture
is understood as a swearing.
• In U.S.A. this gesture means “everything is
fine, okay, there is no problem”.
• In Japan, this gesture means “money”,
• In France, this gesture means “worthless”,
• But in every culture while scuba diving this
gesture means “everything is fine under
water”.
• In Turkey, Europe and in U.S.A. it
is a normal thing to touch and pat
a baby’s/child’s or an animal’s
head. That shows love, care or
tenderness.
• But in India and an Asian country
Sri Lanka, touching a human’s or
animal’s head is forbidden and
bad.
• Because in those countries they
believe that the soul lives in head
and touching head understood as
an insult to the soul.
THE MAIN ELEMENTS OF BODY
LANGUAGE
• POSTURE: People display themselves
to the other people with their posture.
A person’s mood can be understood
with only by looking to his/her posture
at that time.
• To understand the mood of a person by
looking posture is to look at his/her
openness of chest and shoulders.
INSECURE POSTURE
• In this kind of posture, shoulders and the head are
leaned down a little.
• In this posture, individual is closed himself to
environment and to the other people.
• The posture means that, the individual feels insecure,
sorry, troubled and uncomfortable. The individual could
be feeling disturbed from the other people or business
or events.
• When the individual is in this posture, the voice tones
gets lower, insecure and hesitant too.
• The researches have shown that, if something is
wanted from a person in this posture, mostly the
person can not say “No” to the request.
AGGRESSIVE POSTURE
• In this posture, shoulders are mostly at
backwards and the legs are open lopsidedly
with the body. The arms could be brought
together on the chest or the arms could be
open and backwards.
• The voice tone is mostly sharp and angry
• The posture means that the individual feels
aggressive and ready to argue.
• If this posture is used regularly, the individual
could be determined as “bothering person” by
the other people.
SECURE POSTURE
• In this posture the arms, shoulders and
head are proportional with the body.
• The person who has this posture all the
time means that the person is mostly has a
congruity with the others, feels secure to
him/herself and can build healthy relations
with the other people.
• The researches has shown that a person
can change his/her mood with changing
his/her posture. Because a person “can
feel like the way he/she acts”
• As an example; if a person feels insecure
he can change that insecure mood by
standing and acting in the secure posture.
GESTURES AND MIMICS (FACIAL
EXPRESSIONS)
Gestures and mimics are the visual signals that
conveyed to the others.
• Mimics are the usage of facial muscles for
expressing and communicating.
• To talk about a gesture or a mimic there must
be another person. Because the gestures and
mimics are for to express and tell something
with the body and if there is no person in front
of you, there won’t be conveying feelings.
MAIN GESTURES & MIMICS
Expression gestures
• These are biological and also
psychological facial expressions and
mimics to define the feelings and
they are always universal.
•HAPPINESS
•FEAR
•ANGER
•SUPRISED/
CONFUSED
•SADNESS
•ABOMINATION
SECONDARY GESTURES
&
MIMICS
•These gestures and mimics
appear unconsciously with
the reflexes of the feelings.
•Secondary gestures and
mimics gives clues about the
person’s mood.
•Example: yawning when
bored
SECONDARY ELEMENTS OF BODY
LANGUAGE
PALMS, HANDS & ARMS
•These are the most used body
parts of the people in their
everyday life.
•Because people are mostly
accustomed to use their palms,
hands and arms while
communicating, sometimes
they use these while they are
talking on the phone like there
is a person in front of them.
PALMS
• These are the body parts which are
mostly never recognized but handful
acts are the maybe the most
important body language elements.
• If palms are used correctly, with
them a person can have silent
authority on the other people.
• A person can use 3 main palm acts
while communicating and conveying
the feelings.
• Beggar position; is the best position for
effective communication. In this
position palms look up.
• This position represents accuracy,
honesty and the openness to
communication.
• The researches has shown that when a
person tries to tell the truth or tries to
tell that he/she is honest, he/she talks
with the others with open palms and
shows the palms to the others
unconsciously.
• And researches has again shown
that when a person lies, he/she
closes the palms or hides the
palms.
• If someone knows that open
palms represents honesty and try
to lie with open palms, he/she
gets failure. Because
unconsciously the palms get
closed while lying.
•Dictator position: In this position palms
look down to the floor.
•When a person uses this position, he/she
can be understood as an authoritative
person.
•The other people can feel themselves
under threat.
•Adolf Hitler could be an
example who used
mostly this position.
•A police who tries to
slow down a car or a
leader of a group who
tries to calm down the
environment can be
examples.
• Threat position: In this
position the palms are
closed, handfuls become a
biff and forefinger is on
forwards.
• Researches has shown that
this position is mostly used
by parents and teachers.
• This position gives a
feeling of being
threatened.
THE MESSAGES THAT
HANDSHAKING GIVES
• Handshaking style of a person
gives clues about that person’s
personality and hidden feelings
about the other person.
• In addition, handshaking style is so
important because when two
people meet each other at first in
their lives, they shake their hands.
So it is very important for first
impression.
•First feeling that handshaking
style gives is; dominance.
•If a person wants to give “I am
better than you” message,
he/she gives his/her hand from
upper side to the other person
and make the other’s handful
looks up and compressed.
•This means that “I am
better/successful/ascendant
than you”.
• The second feeling that comes
from handshaking style is;
submission.
• In this style the person feels
lower than the other and wants
to give the “You are better
than me, and I know it”
message. He/she gives the hand
from down side and lets the
other person compress his/her
hand.
• Third and the best style for
effective communication is the
handshaking style that gives the
feeling of equality and trust.
• Both people gives their hands
from the same level and shakes
the others hand with the same
power.
• In this style both the hands are
perpendicular.
BOTHERING HANDSHAKING STYLES
• English people call this style as “dead
fish” style because within this style the
others hand feels like you are holding a
sponge or a dead fish like there is nothing
in your hand.
• A person who uses this style is felt like
he/she feels uncomfortable, insecure,
powerless.
• Second bothering style is; “power testing”
style.
• Within this style the person squeezes the other
hands so hard that the other wants to get away
from him/her.
• This style contains feelings. The person who
squeezes the other’s hand wants to show a
hidden ascendancy on the other.
•In “fingertip” hand shaking style, the
person gives to the other his/her
fingertips instead of hand.
•The person who takes the fingertips feel
himself/herself worthless and
underestimated.
THE MESSAGES GIVEN WITH
TOUCHING TO OWN BODY
People mostly touch to other people for
a reason or on purpose and with
consciously.
But sometimes people touch
himself/herself unconsciously when they
feel nervous, tense and insecure.
•Touching to chin means that; the
person is thinking deeply and
trying to decide.
•The researches has shown that;
when a person finishes touching
his/her own chin, he/she tells his
decision or solution about the
situation.
•Scratching the neck or face
means that; the person is
suspecting something or isn’t
sure about the situation or the
person who is in
communication with.
•Also when a person scratches
his/her own neck/face that
means; the person tries to say
that “I don’t think like the way
you think, but I can not tell this
to you”.
• Hugging himself/herself
• Psychological researches has shown
that a person does that because
when he/she was a baby/child and
whenever feels insecure,
uncomfortable or fear, his/her
parents hugged the person to calm
down.
• Now the person is applying the
same calming down act to
himself/herself.
•Patting/touching hair act is
mostly done by woman and it
means that she is having stress
inside and tries to find a solution
to it.
•Also the woman touches and
plays with her hair while she is
trying to take attention of the
others.
EYES
•Eyes are the most important
part of body language because
they reflect the reality and real
feelings.
Pupil of The Eye
• Pupils of the eyes reflects the true feelings
because a person can not control its
movements.
• If someone likes a situation or someone,
unconsciously the pupils of the eyes starts
to get bigger.
• Also pupils of the eyes starts to get bigger
when the person gets frightened or
excited.
• Oppositely pupils of the eyes starts to get
smaller when a person gets angry or feels
negatively about something.
Eye Contact
• Eye contact is a necessity for effective
communication.
• Researches have shown that if a person
continues talking with eye contact, the
others feel that person close and trustable.
• For effective communication the suggested
eye contact time is %75 of the
communication process.
• If a person tries not to get eye contact all
the time, the others won’t feel comfortable
with him/her.
• A person tries not to get in eye
contact with 3 reasons:
• He/she is lying and doesn’t want to
get caught,
• Feeling guilty,
• Feeling powerless and defective
near the other person.
• Eye contact time changes to culture
to culture.
• Arabian people doesn’t like eye
contact.
• Japanese people thinks that long
eye contact time is disrespect.
• European and American people
thinks that eye contact is a
necessity.
Look Types
•There are 2 main types of
looks and the first one is
the communication look or
social look.
•This type looks at a triangle
between eyes and mouth.
•Mostly the people who
know each other should
use this look.
•The second one is the formal
look or business look.
•This look is should be used
when the two people are in
a formal relationship or they
think that they shouldn’t be
so intimate with each other.
•The eyes focuses only on the
other person’s eyes and
forehead.
LEGS AND SITTING STYLES
•Legs crossed sitting, is the most
simple sitting style and to
understand the person’s
feelings/mood from this sitting
we must look at the person’s
mimics, gestures or eyes.
•In unsatisfied sitting; there is
simple legs crossed sitting style
but the arms are crossed on the
chest.
•When a person sits like that,
he/she feels unsatisfied about
something and it is suggested
not to ask for something from
that person at that time.
Because the answer won’t be
positive.
•In “4” or American style
sitting; the legs make a
“4” with the body.
•The style means that there
is a hidden competition.
•Ankle locking position; means that
the person is feeling negative
about situation.
•In woman this sitting style means
that the woman is trying to hide a
feeling or fear.
•When a man sits like that; he also
grabs something with two hands
and it means that he is tensed from
anger.
•Foot locking sitting style is
usually used by woman.
•The style means that; the
woman doesn’t want to
communicate at that
moment and she closed
herself to the others.
BODY LANGUAGE AND LIES
•In their daily lives people try
to hide their real feelings but
sometimes and in some way
they get caught.
•The perceptions of a careful
eye can help understand
whether there is a lie or not.
•The hand gestures starts
decreasing when a person starts
telling lies.
•He/she can attempt to hide the
hands like; putting them in
pockets or sitting on them or
holding one hand with the other.
•Holding one hand with the other
happens because of the need of
relaxing by touching to the own
body.
•Touching the face or face area. Gestures
start to increase when telling lies.
•These can be; holding the chin, repressing
the lips, hiding the mouth, touching the
cheeks, touching the nose, scratching the
nose, touching or scratching the ear and
touching the hair.
Why Do People Touch The Mouth
Area While Lying?
• People subconsciously know that the words are
not showing the truth while lying so they strive
to hold the mouth because, they can’t help it.
• Touching the mouth area can happen in these
ways:
-Fingers can touch the lips like playing drums
-Forefinger can stand on the lips.
-Hands can stand on the mouth or near the mouth.
Why Do People Touch The Nose
While Lying?
• The main reason to touch the nose while lying is
physiologic.
• Because a lying person becomes tense and that
makes lots of physiologic changes in human body.
These changes are; the increase level of blood
pressure, the increase level of heart beat number and
the increase level on sweat gland actions.
• But the most importnant change is the itchy feeling
on nose. And that’s why they have made the
Pinocchio story.
•When a person starts lying there is an
increase on the body movements.
•Especially it can easily be seen when the
lying person is sitting.
•He or she can starts moving to right-left
or back-front on the chair.
•Because he/she subconsciously wants to
tell the lie and go from away from that
environment.
But the most important part in the face
that shows the lie are the eyes. Because
the lying person mostly can not look
directly to the other person’s eyes.
AS A CONCLUSION:
•For effective communication;
• Posture is very important and it will be
better to be in secure posture.
• Palms must be open towards the other
person.
• Handshaking must be trustable and equal.
• Touching the own body always sends
insecure and uncomfortable messages so it
must be applied minimally.
•For effective communication;
• Eye contact is very important for effective
communication so it must be done % 75 of the
communication process. It mustn't be
forgotten that a person who avoids eye
contact could be lying or hiding something
and untrustable.
• The arms shouldn’t be crossed when sitting.
•For effective communication;
• The most important thing in interpreting
body language messages is to examine the
whole body language, not one by one and
have a decision about the person.
• Because body parts doesn’t have a meaning
alone.
Having skills is important,
but trying to be a genius is
useless. The more precious
thing is to communicate
‘truly’.