Non-Verbal Communication Essay, Research Paper

Non Verbal Communication

By: Erin Daniels

Electronic mail: silent09 @ aol.com

How Does Nonverbal Behaviors Effect A Person? People communicate everyday of their lives, but we seldom notice the gestural portion of communicating and how of import it is to the significance of the message. Facial looks, position, organic structure motions, tone of voice and touching are all portion of gestural communicating. Often when people communicate they contradict the verbal and gestural messages, therefore the receiving system of the message receives a message with a dual significance and interprets the message less accurately. Gestural messages affect a individual in a positive and negative manner. Understanding the manner gestural behaviours affect a individual can assist in bettering communicating accomplishments. In my research paper I will look into how gestural behaviours consequence a individual in a acquisition environment, and in interpersonal relationships. And I will inquire how a individual can better his or her gestural behaviour. Section 1: Effectss on Cognitive Learning and Interpersonal Relationships The usage of a instructor & # 8217 ; s gestural behaviour strongly effects the pupil & # 8217 ; s cognitive acquisition and the quality of the instruction environment. Surveies have shown that instructors with high gestural immediateness have high degrees of cognitive acquisition ( McCroskey Et Al 209 ) . The pupils have reported the instructors with high degrees of gestural immediateness have a more interesting category environment and the pupils enjoy go toing category ( McCroskey Et Al 209 ) . Gestural behaviours that have the most consequence on pupils are varied tone of voice, oculus contact, and smiling ( McCroskey Et Al 210 ) . Smiling, oculus contact, and vocal assortment boost a positive affect toward the instructor, and stuff being Daniels 2 studied ( Guerrero and Miller 33 ) . Engagement and colloquial accomplishments: immediateness, expressiveness, smooth interaction direction, and calm are some elements correlated with gestural behaviours in instructors ( Guerrero and Miller 32 ) . Immediacy cues such as regard and smiling simulate psychological and/or physical intimacy and communicate interpersonal heat ( Guerrero and Miller 32 ) . Expressiveness involves vocal, facial, sign life, laughing, and position motions ( Guerrero and Miller 32 ) . Smooth interaction direction incorporates colloquial scene, turn-taking, punctuation forms that satisfy the people involved ( Guerrero and Miller 32 ) . Composure is the deficiency of tenseness, anxiousness, and negative emotions in the category room ( Guerrero and Miller 32 ) . These surveies have all shown that instructors with good gestural accomplishments and engagement will increase the pupils instruction and the degree of involvement in the class of survey. Gestural interactions between twosomes in their relationships have a strong consequence on the quality and possibly the length of the relationship in the hereafter. Most gestural behaviours are knowing or inadvertent, most normally gestural behaviours are inadvertent. Gestural behaviours are really of import to communicating because they can alter the significance of the message. Facial looks can portray & # 8220 ; a wealth of information about our interior feelings & # 8221 ; ( Coats and Feldman ) . Development and care of relationships, gestural behaviours are really of import ( Coats and Feldman 1 ) . In developing relationships being sensitive and supportive can increase the quality of the relationship. Many things can be communicated through touching. Stroking, fondling, or snuggling a individual conveys love, engagement, concern, duty, tenderness, and consciousness of the demands and/or exposures of the other individual ( Carr 106 ) . Touching a individual shows them that you care about them and hold concern for their jobs. A simple touch can assist the release of certain suppressed feeling that the other Daniels 3 individual may hold jobs pass oning. Showing a individual you care helps them let go of personal ideas because possibly they fear to be criticized. Each of us needs to touch and to be touched. Eye contact is besides of import facet of communicating in relationships with people. Eye contact is besides an intimate signifier of gestural communicating. Your eyes don & # 8217 ; t merely receive messages, they besides send messages every bit good ( Carr 109 ) . Communicating with your eyes is besides a manner to convey your feelings without stating a verbal word. Eyes express many things such as laterality, engagement, and attitude towards others ( Carr 109 ) . Many people are non cognizant of how they use their eyes. Where you place your eyes can take to assorted messages formed by the receiving system. For illustration, disinterested people don & # 8217 ; Ts make changeless oculus contact, but the individual may really be interested in what the individual is stating although because of his/her indirect oculus contact the transmitter receives a message of neutrality ( Carr 109 ) . There is no regulation of when and how to utilize your eyes, you merely hold to be cognizant of how and when you use them. Assorted messages can be sent verbally and non-verbally. Often we become detached with our feelings and emotions, therefore we can state one word and another with our organic structure ( Carr 122 ) . We are normally non witting when we send these assorted messages. For illustration, & # 8220 ; a married woman may desire to be kissed ; yet when her hubby approaches her she stiffens. If he interprets the stiffening as rejection, he may in bend reject his married woman. Or he may coerce the issue and snog her anyway. If he is sensitive

to her, he may remember that when other people are around she feels uncomfortable about a display of affection. Yet she want others to know her husband loves her. He translates the mixed message: ‘My wife wants to be kissed, but feels uncomfortable when I kiss her in front of others’” (Carr 122). Sometimes clarification is required in situations when mixed messages occur. Daniels 4 At times we unaware that silence communicates. Silence in communication can be positive or negative. Silence can bring people closer or separate people. Intimacy can be communicated by silence and closeness (Carr 124). People in close relationships often do not need to use words to communicate. In communicating silence can hurt or heal a relationship. Not lashing out in anger can often save a relationship. When angry we may exaggerate the situation and it can sometimes hurt the person we love. Or when hurting someone, silence can at times help the healing process (Carr 124). The “silence treatment” is used to manipulate and punish someone. It can be interpreted as hostility, anger, coldness, rebellion, or hate (Manusov and Floyd 6). Using the “silence treatment” the issue may never be resolved because the issue may be forgotten or deleted from the memory. People use silence in many different way, it can help or cause problems in a relationship. In being able to communicate emotions it can decrease the probability of conflicts occurring. A person’s body movement also contributes to their nonverbal communication. The body movement of a person can often portray someone’s personality. A persons posture can also indicate his or her self-esteem. Carr explains this phenomenon by the study of “somatopsychic effects” (101). According to Carr, “somatopsychic effects” form from a persons subconscious mind. Basically a person’s posture and body position reflect their emotions and personality. For example, a person who walks with their back hunched conveys the image of a person with low self-esteem and perhaps lazy. All people that walk hunched don’t all have a low self-esteem, but according to Carr it portrays a persons true feelings about themselves. Body movement and posture are important nonverbal behaviors because they can illustrate many aspects of person and their feelings. Daniels 5 Section 2: How to Improve Nonverbal Behaviors Now that we know the effects of different types of nonverbal behavior on learning and relationships, it is necessary to understand how a person can change or improve his or her nonverbal behavior. The first step is to become aware of your current gestures and body movements. It is difficult to realize exactly how others see you but the best way to find out is by asking a person you are around frequently (Wiemann and Harrison 249). A person can ask how the other person perceives his or her actions. Another way to possibly change your nonverbal behavior is through the “Alexander Method” (Carr 112). This method is used to help people learn good use of the body by feedback from other people. It involves two people, where ones sits in a chair as he or she normally would and then the other person moves his or her partner into a proper position of the head and shoulders. The person in the chair then stands up and the partner tells him or her details about his or her body positioning. This feedback helps the person who sat in the chair realize his or her unconscious nonverbal behaviors (Carr 112). By using the Alexander Method a person can identify the nonverbal behaviors her or she possesses and usually will discover which behaviors he or she might want to change. One of the ways a person can change his or her nonverbal behavior is by “Functional Integration” (Carr 113). This is a way for a person to alter his or her usual body movements by basically re-training the body’s nervous system. The main mechanism to achieve this is by focusing on breathing. A person does this to sit quietly and “scan your body, beginning with your feet and moving up to your head” (Carr 113). While the person is observing his or her body, he or she tries to notice the way he or she is breathing without consciously controlling it. Then the person blows out short puffs of air and stops when the lungs are empty. After this, the person will simply “allow inhalation to happen on its own” (Carr 113). This procedure is done over about seven times. If done Daniels 6 successfully a person will have a new understanding and control over his or her body. The implications are that a person can therefore learn to alter and improve his or her unconscious nonverbal behaviors. In conclusion, I have learned that certain nonverbal behaviors by teachers increase cognitive learning and can occasionally alter the meanings of messages in relationships. I have also learned techniques to improve nonverbal behaviors. Every aspect of nonverbal communication plays a large role in displaying the correct meaning of a message. Not a word can be spoken, and facial expressions, touching, eye contact, body movement, and posture can all have meanings within themselves. Many people are not conscious of their nonverbal behaviors and what messages they are conveying. Perhaps the two ways to improve a persons nonverbal behaviors are useful in improving someone’s communication skills . In improving a persons nonverbal communication skills he or she can apply them to his or her interpersonal relationships and better the quality of it as well.