Nonverbal Communication (The Silent Language): Messages of Action, Space, Time and Silence

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Nonverbal Communication (The Silent Language)
Messages of Action, Space, Time and Silence
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Nonverbal Communication

• Usually responsible for first impressions
• Doesnt lie (a clenched jaw shows youre
  angry or stammering speech shows that youre
  nervous)
• Is culture bound

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Nonverbal Communication

• Two General Classifications1. Those primarily
  produced by the body (appearance, movement,
  facial expression, eye contact, touch, smell,
  and paralanguage)
• 2. Those combined with setting (space, time and
  silence)

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Nonverbal Communication

• There is a story about the presidential debate of
  Nixon and Kennedy in 1960 where people listening
  via radio awarded the victory to Nixon while
  those watching the debate on television awarded
  the victory to Kennedy.This was explained by the
  fact that though President Nixon had very
  persuasive words during the debate, he was tense,
  sweating and seemed quite uncomfortable. On the
  other hand, President Kennedy was relaxed and
  able to convey a positive and convincing body
  language during the debate. Since that incident,
  researchers have demonstrated that a message is
  perceived in 3 different ways

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Nonverbal Communication

• Body Language (kinesics)
• Kinesics are the physical cues that are visible
  and send a message about 1) your attitude toward
  the other person, 2) your emotional state, 3)
  your relationship with the environment
• Kinesics includes body posture, body motion,
  gestures, facial expressions, eye contact.

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Nonverbal Communication

• Eye Contact
• In American culture, we reveal whom we like and
  dislike just by the amount that we look at them.
  We generally look most at those whom we like . In
  general, people avoid looking at someone they
  dont like. 
• As people increase their liking for one another,
  they increase the amount of mutual gazing that
  they do. (Mutual gaze is when two people are
  looking into each other's eyes). The most obvious
  example of this occurs along the continuum of
  relationships. Romantic relationships have the
  highest amount of mutual gaze.What about other
  cultures?
• .

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Nonverbal Communication

• Sense of Touch (haptics)
• Who can touch whom, where, when and how

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Nonverbal Communication

• Physical Appearance
• Body artifacts (clothing, piercings, tattoos)
  and attractiveness

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Nonverbal Communication

• Environmental Factors
• Elements of setting that affect how we feel and
  act (color, temperature, lighting, room design)

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Nonverbal Communication

• Space and Distance (proxemics)
• Personal space (intimate, personal, social and
  public
• Seating
• Furniture arranging

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Nonverbal Communication

• Time (chronemics)
• Informal time (how late is late?)
• Perceptions of past, present and future
• Monochronic (fixed) and polychronic (holistic
  time) (Edward T. Hall)

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Nonverbal Communication

• ParalanguageParalanguage are the sounds that
  dont have written form that modify meaning or
  convey emotion.
• Includes rate, sounds, murmurs, gasps, volume,
  pitch, inflection, laughing, high speed

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Nonverbal Communication

• Silence East vs. WestWhat is real is, and
  when it is spoken it becomes unreal. (Buddhism)
• The squeaky wheel gets the grease. (American
  saying)

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Nonverbal Communication

• Artifacts
• Elements of the environment that communicate by
  virtue of peoples use of them.

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Nonverbal Communication Exercise

• Split into small culture groups and discuss one
  of the elements of nonverbal communication.