NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION

'Nonverbal communication' (NVC) is usually understood as the process of communication through sending and receiving wordless messages. Such messages can be communicated through gesture; body language or posture; facial expression and eye contact; object communication such as clothing, hairstyles 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.
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.
Nonverbal communication is distinguished from unconscious communication, which may be verbal or non-verbal.

Contents

Studying nonverbal communication

Object communication

Haptics

Chronemics

Oculesics

Paralanguage

References

External Links

See also

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.

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.

References

★ Burgoon, J. K., Buller, D. B., & Woodall, W. G. (1996), Nonverbal communication: The unspoken dialogue (2nd ed.), New York: McGraw-Hill

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