MC109/COMM100: NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
SULAY JALLOH
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NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
DEFINITION:
Nonverbal communication is communication without words. You
communicate nonverbally when you gesture, smile or frown, widen your
eyes, move your chair closer to someone, wear jewelry, touch someone,
raise your vocal volume, or even when you say nothing.
THE USAGE OF NONVERBAL COMM.
1- Nonverbal comm. Communicate ACCENT (to emphasize some part
of the verbal message). E.g.: Bang your fist on the desk to stress your
commitment.
2- Nonverbal comm. is used to COMPLEMENT (to add shade of
meaning not communicated by your verbal message). E.g: You might
smile when telling a story (to suggest that you find it humorous)
3- Nonverbal comm. is used to deliberately CONTRADICT your verbal
messages with nonverbal movements. E.g: by crossing your fingers or
winking, you indicate that you’re lying.
4- Nonverbal comm. is used to REGULATE or control the flow of
verbal messages, as when you make hand gestures to indicate that you
want to speak.
5- Nonverbal comm. is used to REPEAT or restate the verbal message
nonverbally. E.g: Follow your verbal "Is that all right?" with raised
eyebrows.
6- Nonverbal comm. is used to SUBSTITUTE or take the place of
verbal messages. E.g: You can signal "okay" with a hand gesture.
MC109/COMM100: NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
SULAY JALLOH
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THE CHANNELS OF NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
Nonverbal communication is probably most easily explained by
identifying the various channels through which messages pass. There are
ten channels: body, face, eye, space, artifactual, touch, paralanguage,
silence, time, and smell.
1.
THE BODY
Two areas of the body are especially important in communicating
messages. First, the movements you make with your body communicate,
and, second, the general appearance of your body communicates.
A) Body Movements
There are five major types of body movements:
(a) emblems.
(b) Illustrators.
(c) affect displays.
(d) Regulators.
(e) Adaptors.
(a)
Emblems are body gestures that directly translate into words or
phrases. E.g: "V" for victory. Emblems are culture-specific, so be
careful when using your culture’s emblems in other cultures.
(b)
Illustrators enhance (literally "illustrate") the verbal messages they
accompany. E.g: Using illustrators to communicate the shape or
size of objects you’re talking about.
(c)
Affect displays are movements of the face (smiling or frowning)
but also of the hands and general body (body tenseness or relaxing
posture) that communicate emotional meaning. They can be
conscious or unconscious.
MC109/COMM100: NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
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(d)
Regulators are behaviors that monitor, control, coordinate, or
maintain the speaking of another individual. E.g: When you nod
your head, you tell the speaker to keep on speaking.
(e)
Adaptors are gestures that satisfy some personal need. E.g:
scratching to relieve an itch or moving your hair out of your eyes.
a) Self-adaptors are self-touching movements. E.g: rubbing
your nose.
b) Alter-adaptors are movements directed at the person with
whom you’re speaking. E.g: removing lint from
someone’s jacket
c) Object-adaptors are those gestures focused on objects.
E.g: shredding a styrofoam coffee cup.
B) Body Appearance
Your general body appearance also communicates. E.g Tall presidential
candidates have a much better record of winning the election than do
their shorter opponents. Tall people seem to be paid more and are
favored by interviewers over shorter applicants . Attractive people have
the advantage in just about every activity you can name. They get better
grades in school, are more valued as friends and lovers, and are
preferred as coworkers.
2)
FACIAL COMMUNICATION
Facial movements express at least the following eight emotions:
happiness, surprise, fear, anger, sadness, disgust, contempt, and interest .
The emotions are generally called primary affect displays. They’re
relatively pure, single emotions. Other emotional states and other facial
displays are combinations of these various primary emotions and are
called affect blends.
MC109/COMM100: NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
SULAY JALLOH
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A) Facial Management Techniques
There are four facial management techniques:
a) Intensifying helps you exaggerate a feeling. E.g: Exaggerating
surprise when friends throw you a party to make your friends
feel better.
b) Deintensifying helps you underplay a feeling. E.g: To cover up
your own joy in the presence of a friend who didn’t receive
such good news.
c) Neutralizing helps you hide feelings. E.g: To cover up your
sadness so as not to depress others.
d) Masking helps you to replace or substitute the expression of
one emotion for the emotion you’re really feeling. E.g: To
express happiness in order to cover up your disappointment in
not receiving the gift you had expected.
3)
EYE COMMUNICATION
The messages communicated by the vary depending on the duration,
direction, and quality of the eye behavior. E.g: In every culture there
are strict, though unstated, rules for the proper duration for eye contact.
A) The Functions of Eye Contact and Eye Avoidance
Eye contact can serve a variety of functions.
a) To seek feedback.
b) To inform the other person that the channel of communication is open
and that he or she should now speak.
c) To psychologically lessen the physical distance between yourself and
another person. E.g: When you catch someone’s eye at a party, you
become psychologically close though physically far apart.
d) Eye Avoidance helps others to maintain their privacy. You might do
this when you see a couple arguing in public.
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e) Eye avoidance can also signal lack of interest though not always the
case.
4)
SPACE COMMUNICATION
Space communication speaks as surely and loudly as words and
sentences. E.g: Speakers who stand close to their listener, with their
hands on the listener’s shoulders and their eyes focused directly on those
of the listener, communicate something very different from speakers
who stand in a corner with arms folded and eyes downcast.
A) Spatial Distances (See Table 8.1)
There are four distances that define the type of relationship between
people and the type of communication in which they’re likely to engage.
a) Intimate Distance: ranging from actual touching to 18 inches, the
presence of the other individual is unmistakable. Each person
experiences the sound, smell, and feel of the other’s breath. You use
intimate distance for lovemaking, comforting, and protecting.
b) Personal Distance: refers to the protective "bubble" that defines your
personal distance, ranging from 18 inches to 4 feet. This imaginary
bubble keeps you protected and untouched by others. You can still
hold or grasp another person at this distance but only by extending
your arms.
c) Social Distance ranges from 4 to 12 feet; at this distance you lose the
visual detail you have at personal distance. You conduct impersonal
business and interact at a social gathering at this social distance. The
more distance you maintain in your interactions, the more formal
they appear.
d) Public Distance from 12 to more than 25 feet, protects you. At this
distance you could take defensive action if threatened.
MC109/COMM100: NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
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Influences on Space Communication
Several factors influence the way you relate to and use space in
communicating. They are as follows:
a) Status: Equal status maintain shorter distances between themselves
than do people of unequal status. When status is unequal, the
higher-status person may approach the lower-status person more
closely than the lower-status person would approach the higherstatus person.
b) Culture: Members of different cultures treat space differently.
c) Subject matter: Personal subjects you maintain shorter distances.
Also, you stand closer to someone praising you, than to someone
criticizing you.
d) Gender: Women generally stand closer to each other than men do.
Similarly, when someone approaches another person, he or she
will come closer to a woman than to a man.
e) Age: Children stand much closer to each other than do adults.
5)
ARTIFACTUAL COMMUNICATION
Artifactual messages are those made by human hands. Such as:
a) Color,
b) Clothing
c) Space decoration.
MC109/COMM100: NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
SULAY JALLOH
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TOUCH COMMUNICATION
Touch communicates a wide variety of messages. Here are five major
ones:
a) Touch communicates positive feelings such as support,
appreciation, inclusion, sexual interest or intent, composure,
immediacy, affection, trust, similarity and quality, and
informality.
b) Touch often communicates your intention to play, either
affectionately or aggressively.
c) Touch may control the behaviors, attitudes, or feelings of the
other person. E.g: You touch a person to communicate "move
over," "hurry," "stay here," and "do it."
d) Ritualistic touching centers on greetings and departures. E.g:
Shaking hands to say "hello" or "good-bye," hugging, kissing.
e) Task-related touching is associated with the performance of
some function. E.g: Checking someone’s forehead for fever.
7)
SILENCE COMMUNICATION
Like words and gestures, silence too communicates important meanings
and serves important functions. Silence allows:
a) The speaker time to think, time to formulate and organize his or her
verbal communications. E.g: messages of intense conflict, or those
confessing undying love.
b) Some people use silence as a weapon to hurt others. We often speak
of giving someone "the silent treatment."
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c) Sometimes silence is used as a response to personal anxiety, shyness,
or threats. You may feel anxious or shy among new people and prefer
to remain silent. By remaining silent you preclude the chance of
rejection.
d) Silence may be used to prevent communication of certain messages.
In conflict situations silence is sometimes used to prevent certain
topics from surfacing and to prevent one or both parties from saying
things they may later regret.
e) Like the eyes, face, and hands, silence can also be used to
communicate emotional responses. Sometimes silence communicates
a determination to be uncooperative or defiant; by refusing to engage
in verbal communication, you defy the authority or the legitimacy of
the other person’s position.
8)
TIME COMMUNICATION
Temporal communication (known technically as chronemics) concerns
the use of time—how you organize it, how you react to it, and the
messages it communicates. (SELF TEST)
The time orientation you develop depends on your socioeconomic class
and your personal experiences. Different time perspectives also account
for much intercultural misunderstanding since different cultures often
teach their members drastically different time orientations.
E.g.: members from some Latin cultures would rather be late for an
appointment than end a conversation abruptly or before it has come to a
natural end. So, the Latin sees this behavior as politeness. But, others
may see this as impolite to the person with whom he or she had the
appointment.
MC109/COMM100: NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
SULAY JALLOH
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SMELL COMMUNICATION
Smell communication, (olfactics), is extremely important in a wide
variety of situations. Here are some of the most important messages
scent seems to communicate:
a) Attraction messages: Humans use perfumes, colognes, and the like
to enhance their attractiveness to others and to themselves.
b) Taste messages. Without smell, taste would be severely spoiled. E.g:
it would be extremely difficult to taste the difference between a raw
potato and an apple without smell.
c) Memory messages. Smell is a powerful memory aid; you can often
recall situations from months and even years ago when you happen
upon a similar smell.
d) Identification messages. Smell is often used to create an image or an
identity for a product. Advertisers and manufacturers spend millions
of dollars each year creating smell for cleaning products and tooth
pastes.
CULTURE AND NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
Not surprisingly, nonverbal communication is heavily influenced by
culture. Although Americans consider direct eye contact an expression
of honesty and forthrightness, the Japanese often view this as a lack of
respect. The Japanese will glance at the other person’s face rarely and
then only for very short periods.
Folding your arms over your chest is considered disrespectful in Fiji,
pointing with the index finger is considered impolite in many MiddleEastern countries, and waving your hand can be considered insulting in
Greece and Nigeria.
MC109/COMM100: NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
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Touching varies greatly from one culture to another. E.g: African
Americans touch each other more than do whites. Similarly, touching
declines from kindergarten to the sixth grade for white but not for
African American children.
Similarly, Japanese touch each other much less than do Anglo-Saxons
who in turn touch each other much less than do southern Europeans.
Not surprisingly, the role of silence is seen differently in different
cultures.