7. Basic determinants of nonverbal communication
There are a lot of form of nonverbal communication and its varies by culture. A gesture or signal in Asean it could be differ in Europe. An american like to point something by using index finger whereas a Japanese is more like to point something with a hand, and we should appreciate this difference and respect other culture.(28) Apart from that, different in culture also can be seen during express the emotion. Some of the culture are more restrained and some are more vulnerable in display their emotion in public.(23) Another nonverbal behaviour that have different in culture is eye contact. In some country like America, prolonged gaze may showing a sign of interest in someone’s word but in certain
…show more content…
It is very important to know that our facial expression, our eye contact,posture and include our tone voices are the one which speak loudest. Someone who can understand and able to use nonverbal communication wisely can build a better relationship.As long as we interact wiht other people, we will continuously receives and give nonverbal signals. All the behavior we show,the eye contact we make, the way we dress up, the way we contro our voice, all of these can bring a very strong message to people surrounding us. And this message will not stop when we stop speaking, even we’re in a silent mode, nonverbal message will keep continuosly give a signal and message. There are a lot of functions of nonverbal communication especially it is one of the main tools to delivere a message. Apart from that, people also can express their intimacy as well as regulate the interaction with people surrounding. There will be a time when our speak with a body languange that we potray to people are two different things and not syncrhonise, when these two signals mixed up, people will tend to follow our nonbverbal message as it is a natural process, mostly occur out of our conciousness, and show our true feelings.(31) From personal point of view, sometimes nonverbal communcation can go wrong. All the nonverbal signals that we use will affect how others see us, and impression of people toward us. However, a lot of people nowdays keep sending a false and negative signals without even knowing what is the meaning behind it. Due to this, a lot of false interpretation can occur thus cause damage on relationship and trust of poeple on us.(31) A lot of nonverbal signal that has been used by our young generation to assault others, as this happened, the moral value among the youth will decrease. They falsely use the nonverbal signal and create a lot issues that can give harm to their social interaction in the
It’s important to study and understand a culture and its norms before assimilating yourself into it so that you do not break a serious social norm, whether it be verbal or nonverbal. According to our book, “Nonverbal communication is an ever-present form of human expression,” and you are always communicating messages even if they are not stated explicitly. Nonverbal cues are there for a reason and they help us to form relationships when we learn how to pick up on those cues commonly used by certain people in our interpersonal relationships. Nonverbal norms help to shape our society in deciding what’s acceptable, help us to establish interpersonal relationships, and help us form a part of our
Nonverbal behavior is channeled by norms and most of us abide by them without being aware of them. Physical appearance, gesture and body movement, face and eye behavior, vocal behavior, personal space, touch, scent/smell, and time are all forms of nonverbal communication behavior. Norms differ amongst various cultures, ethnic, and geographic groups. There are endless ways and forms to violate nonverbal norms, and by doing so can lead to a barrier in communication, which are problematic to distinguish.
In every society nonverbal communication is one of the most powerful tools that a person can use to interpret the message that is being delivered. Even though verbal communication is fairly straightforward, nonverbal communication allows others to sense the true emotions of the person that is expressing them. For example even though a person may say that they are not irritated, their usage of voice may display otherwise. Nonverbal communication not only reveals hidden messages, but it also complements, substitutes, and exaggerates verbal communication.
The presence of nonverbal messages in our communication is very important. Following the text, researchers have estimated it is up to “65 percent of social meaning we convey in face-to-face interactions is a result of nonverbal behavior” (131). The movie “Mrs. Doubtfire” is a typical example about the interactions among characters, also with audience. Several scenes in this movie show us the effects of nonverbal messages in communication, especially through the character Daniel, who disguises himself as a middle-aged British nanny in order to be near his children.
Closing the door on an individual is very frustrating and rude toward the person it is affecting. This assignment has taught me that I need to be aware of how I portray nonverbal communication because it can leave a negative impression on someone, and it can also can harsh relations with individuals’. As a result, I feel that I have bettered my nonverbal communication skills, and I am hoping that these skills will help me properly portray myself in a positive
In article 14 of Cargan and Ballantine’s text Sociological Footprints, they discuss the variable of nonverbal communication. Anyone can learn the words of a language but to understand the gestures and facial expressions is difficult unless raised in that culture. That is why understanding nonverbal communication is important, cause without this knowledge then outsiders would be confused and problems may occur.
If someone from another culture smiles at you and you don’t return a smile, what impression are you giving? That you are unfriendly, uncaring, or self-absorbed? Is this the impression that we want to give people of different cultures? We usually interpret crying with sadness or loss. How would you react to someone crying? Empathize and try to comfort or ignore them as if you did not see them? Sometimes we respond to these non-verbal cues the way that we would want someone to respond to us. Non-verbal communication can also be shown as symbols or signs. Universal signs and symbols can be valuable to many cultures. The stop sign is an example of a universal sign. Most people understand it’s meaning. Another universal sign is a hand to the throat that is used as a symbol for someone that is choking. If someone from another culture used the non- verbal cue that they were choking, would you attempt to help? Or would you pretend you didn’t see their distress signal? I can only say what I feel is right in each of situations; a smile warrants a return smile, someone crying deserves my empathy, and someone choking would definitely
Culture has always been a driving force in understanding nonverbal communication as nonverbal communication is highly influenced by the cultural differences as the context of the culture defines how the communication/message is interpreted in certain cultures. “Communication occurs within a context but the context is particularly important in relation to non-verbal communication” (Tyler, Kossen & Ryan, 2005, p.185). Culture defines the messages perceived by the non-verbal communication. For instance, proxemics. “Proxemics refers to the spatial relationship or how we use space.” (Tyler, Kossen & Ryan, 2005, p.190) Culture plays an important role in defining the use of one’s personal space in the nonverbal communication process. For example, in North America people usually remain at a distance from one another when talking while Latin American people stay very close when talking. (Wood, 2009). This defines the use of the privacy or personal space in two different cultures. H...
Nonverbal cues involve everything but the spoken word which includes: body posture and facial expressions, gestures, eyebrows, eyes, tone of voice, speed of delivery, inflections, volume, and proximity. Even one's attire sends messages to others. Each area of the nonverbal has the power to send a message; combined they tell the listener what is meant and what is felt. The power of the nonverbal cannot be over-rated; it will almost always ...
Savvy nonverbal emotional communication is also an extremely important resource for managing and avoiding conflict. No part of nonverbal communication speaks louder than your emotions – and nothing can have greater influence over others.
The first point I would like to illustrate is the way body language can have different effects on people. For example, in England the use of hands when you are speaking is quite rare, the odd movement of the hand may be seen but the most common use of hand signals or motions is when someone is making an insult. I will use the Italians as an example of at times exaggerated and frequent use of hands. The Italians often use their hands as a way of secondary communication. As they speak they dramatise their conversations which can be mistakenly perceived by some people as confrontation when in fact they are having a simple conversation. This is where the lack of knowledge of a culture can cause a misunderstanding. Another example of communication which can cause raised eyebrows is the way the French acknowledge one another is doing something called the “bises.” This is where they give a kiss on each cheek. (Depending on the region this could be two, three even four kisses.) It is considered rude to just verbally greet someone so the “bises” is the norm for them. However when they are out of their country they could receive strange looks because people don’t understand their reasons and therefore could be perceived that French m...
During conversations, I have to put extra effort to maintain eye contact. One of the most important aspect of nonverbal communication is eye contact. The use of eye contact can be one of the most crucial and influential feature of our face. In America eye contact is essential “eye contact serves as a signal of readiness to interact and the absence of such contact, whether intended or accidental, tends to reduce the likelihood of such interactions”(Ruben & Stewart, 2015, 34). Eye contact shows that the person is interested in communicating with you, and has respect and appreciation for you. It gives the conversation a sense of flow. However the lack of eye contact can often seem disrespectful across culture. It is due to cultural comparison present regarding nonverbal communication. Every culture has its own altered
I learned a lot about Human Communication in this class when I read the chapter about Nonverbal Communication. Nonverbal Communication is the process of using messages that are not words to generate meaning. I learned that it happens every day. I also learned that is very hard to read or understand depending on the person you are speaking to or with. Verbal and Nonverbal codes work in conjunction with each other. The words we speak or say are used in conjunction six different ways: to repeat, to emphasize, to complement, to contradict, to substitute, and to regulate. I never knew until reading this chapter that we do these things all most every time we communicate. These are things I took for granted until now. I now know that I will pay
A modern culture is one whereby people tend to create uniformity in their behavior so as to avoid intercultural clashes and barriers. The nonverbal aspect of communication is an important part of intercultural communication. Non-verbal communication can be narrowly used to refer to intentional use, as in using a non-spoken symbol to communicate a specific message. In its accurate sense “non-verbal behaviour’ refers to actions as distinct from speech. It thus includes facial expressions, hand and arms gestures, postures, positions and various movements of the body or the legs and feet. Nonverbal behavior includes also paralinguistic or vocal phenomena, such as fundamental frequency range and intensity range, speech errors or pauses, speech rate and speech duration (Mehrabian, 1972: 1). Through traveling, interaction and media, the urge of understanding, learning and inculcating the different nonverbal languages of other cultures has become stronger which is eventually molding a new modern
...tention to how people react to one another’s comments, guessing the relationship between the people and guessing how each feels about what is being said. This can inform individuals to better understand the use of body language when conversing with other people. It is also important to take into account individual differences. Different cultures use different non-verbal gestures. Frequently, when observing these gestures alone the observer can get the wrong impression, for instance, the listener can subconsciously cross their arms. This does not mean that they are bored or annoyed with the speaker; it can be a gesture that they are comfortable with. Viewing gestures as a whole will prevent these misunderstandings. Non-verbal gestures are not only physical, for example; the tone of voice addressing a child will be different from the way it is addressed to an adult.