Communication, Ethics, And Misinterpretance Of Nonverbal Communication

Few people would argue that nonverbal language, including vocal tones and physical expressions, is negligible when deciphering just what another person’s message really means. Recent research over nonverbal communication has emphasized just how important this subset of behaviors is towards understanding meaning and maintaining civility in daily interactions. Individuals today should seek to improve their knowledge about nonverbal behaviors so they may handle future communications with fewer conflicts and misinterpretations.
Nonverbal communication makes up the majority of all meaning gathered and interpreted by other individuals. According to Carmine Gallo, research has claimed that “55% of communication is visual (body language, eye contact)

For instance, using immediacy behaviors “communicate[s] respect, responsibility, and caring,” and these three qualities are the central tenants of being civil and ethical (Lane 7). Communicators should smile, give compliments, employ confident and relaxed postures, use confirming responses when listening, etc. Confirming responses include letting the speaker know that the listener is paying attention to what he or she has to say, asking questions, paraphrasing, and showing concern to the speaker (“Confirming and Disconfirming Responses”). These considerations show “openness to the other person, helping that person to feel acknowledged and appreciated” (Lane 85). Another way of considering these behaviors is labelled by Dr. Jeff Thompson as the three “C 's of Nonverbal Communication: context, clusters, and congruence.” These refer to considerations individuals should take when interpreting a message. The individual should remember contexts like the relationship with the other person and their role in the conversation; the individual should cluster the nonverbal signals being received, so no single cue is being given unrealistic proportion and causing conflict; the individual should seek congruence between the words in the message, and the physical characteristics perceived (Thompson). These three C’s also show respect and care

Conversations are filtered through both verbal communication, where we explain about our self to another person, and through nonverbal communication, where factors like facial expressions, gestures, paralinguistics, body language and posture, proxemics, eye gaze, haptics, and appearance convey our thoughts to others (Cherry). Misinterpretations may arise from one assuming that their conversational partner is being rude, and this can create conflicts and false accusations that can negatively affect a relationship. A key aspect of interaction management is to make eye contact with the person who is speaking (Lane 76). However, this is not practiced in many Middle Eastern and Asian cultures: in these cultures, eye contact is regarded as either unnecessary or even inappropriate (“The Role of Eye Contact…”). Thus, one must attempt to understand how their nonverbal behaviors may be interpreted, in order to respect another person in case cultural differences arise. Individuals should take the responsibility to check their perception of another’s nonverbal behavior. For example, when another is asked how their day went, and he responds with “It went great” but with a bitter, sharp tone of voice, be careful not to immediately assume that the other is upset and leap to the defense (“Geez, sorry I asked”). What you must do is check that the