The Silent Language
Thesis:
Human communication is enhanced by the messages exposed through nonverbal communication.
Abstract:
The silent language will discuss the importance of nonverbal communication in the process of human communication. The Silent Language will discuss nonverbal communication in the business and personal world as well as the effects technology has on interpretations of nonverbal communication.
Communication vs. Human Communication:
When defining communication I think of the transfer of information between a sender and receiver over a chosen channel. Human communication encompasses the transfer of emotions along with the information. One of the most effective ways to demonstrate these emotions are through nonverbal actions.
What is Human Communication:
Nonverbal communication focuses on the messages people and to each other that do not contain words, such as messages sent through body motions, vocal qualities, and the use of time, space, artifacts, dress and even smell. (Neulip, 2008 p. 286). The passion that transpires through human contact is sometimes only demonstrated through nonverbals. For example, CICS professor Dr. Jay Gillette starts off his human communication class with the first day simply screaming “A bai le roi!” Nobody knew what he was trying to say. We were desperately seeking for the right answer to give him. The words he spoke were meaningless to us but the tone and volume of his voice coupled with the foot stomping and fiery look in his eyes gave off one message: fear me. Through his use of nonverbals, Dr. Gillette was able to set a tone for the class without the added gestures he would have never gotten his point across.
A Basic Understanding on nonverbal communication:
Nonverbal communication is so telling because often times we cannot control it. Ekman and Freisen developed the leakage hypothesis as a way to determine human deception. “Deception is an emotionally charged activity accompanied by physiological arousal of the deceiver.” (floyd, Guerro, 2006 p. 167). This hypothesis is based on the face that you cannot control what “leaks” out of you. For example, perspiration when your nervous or sweaty palms. In that respect, nonverbal communication is the most honest form of communication because you cannot control it.
Nonverbal Codes:
Judee Burgoon described nonverbal codes as “clusters of behaviors used to convey meaning.” (Littlejohn, Fos 2008 p. 108) Nonverbal actions analogic, typically have universal meaning, are spontaneous and represent our most automatic response.
Kinesics:
Kinesics is “a systematic study of the relationship between nonlinguistic body motions and communication.” (Mirriam Webster, 2007 p. 697). The edimology of the word comes from the Greek wod kensis meaning motion. Ray Birdwhistell is known as the father of kinesis and felt that all body movements have meaning and nonverbal language can be analyzed as similar to spoken or written language.
The Impact of nonverbal communication:
My classmate Daniel Laatz says, “the meaning of communication is extended and enhanced by physical gestures and actions by the communicator.” Linguist Deborah Tannen estimates that close to 90 percent of human communication is expressed by nonverbal actions, (Canfield, 2002) While this statistic seems staggering, think about the effort it takes to have a serious face-to-face conversation, especially when discussing feelings and emotions. The act of saying “I love you” is a representation of one of the most powerful things a personal can experience. Wh you say that phrase and really mean it, you should see it in the expressions. The idea that you can see a person’s soul through their eyes expressed just how much emotion your body can give off.
Nonverbal Communication in the Workplace:
Tom Peter’s handbook to management “Thriving on Chaos” dedicates a section to listening and celebrating and recognizes employees. “Develop formal and informal devices aimed at spurring intense, proactive listening.” (Peters, 1987 p. 366). Anyone who has ever tried talking to a bad listener understands how crucial nonverbal actions are to expressing interest in what the speaker is saying. When you listen to your employees as a manager, show it with your body. Position yourself in a non-defensive pose, facing the speaker. Keep eye contact, nod your head and show you are processing what they want to get across.
Factors of nonverbals at work:
Author Heather Wanish-Rothbauer published an article about the four most important nonverbals in the workplace: eye contact, posture, appearance and time. (Wanish-Rotherbauer, 2009). My teammate Michael Wulff agreed with that especially concerning posture. “Something as simple as putting your hands on your hips and bending over someone is a nonverbal for superiority. It is often seen from a boss to his underlying.”
Nonverbal Communication in Everyday Interaction:
As a communication scientist, I like to consider myself a good communicator. This does not always mean I can clearly express my thoughts orally or written down. I think of myself as a communicator because when I talk, people understand what I am feeling and some of that is done solely through nonverbal communication. Animations from body movement and hand gestures are definite ways to ensure your audience knows your message. Credibility can also be gained through the successful use of nonverbal actions. “Competence, trustworthiness and dynamism are the three main components that make up credibility. Nonverbal communication is vital because these qualities are rarely stated directly. For example, people do not often say I am competent or trustworthy.” (Fatt, 1999). Reading peoples nonverbals can often give indictors of a person’s confidence in another. This stems from your “gut feeling” of reading people. I would be much more hesitant to trust someone with shifty movements and stormy, dark eyes.
Nonverbal Communication Globally:
As previously stated, nonverbal codes often have universal meanings. In some circumstances it is the only means of communication. When I was traveling through Tuscany this summer, the old Italian women wanted nothing to do with my English. There were some cities where exaggerated hand gestures and pleading eyes were the only way I could find a place to eat.
Nonverbal Communication and Technology:
The advancements society has made from a technical aspect are incredible. Messages are sent faster over greater distances more clearly than ever before. I consider most communication through a technical medium a communication transfer- not human communication. When using these technological tools- messages can often get misinterpreted of you want to express an emotion. Sarcasm and humor are two in particular that can cause confusion. “A great deal of communication depends not only on what is said, but also how it is said. Paralinguistic cues such as gesture, inflection, punctuation, fluency and tone are each important clues to a speaker’s meaning-and personality. As a result, impressions can be difficult to convey in electronic forms of communication.” (Kruger, Epely, Zhi-Wen, 2005) This problem has a huge impact on the younger generations. We have grown up with cell phones and computer and our lives revolve around them. Maybe this is why as a whole; our people skills are less developed? Are we able to sit down and simply talk to people of higher authority without our shield of technology to hide behind? It is an interesting question E-mail in particular is prone to communication problems. “Speech conveys not only what is said, but also how it is said. E-mail is limited to the former. As such, e-mail is an inherently more impoverished communication medium than voice or face-to-face.(Epley, Kruger, 2005 p. 926) The amount of work attempted to be accomplished through e-mail is staggering. There are even stories of upper management firing employees through e-mail. It all goes back to the sense of security we get through our technology tools. Firing an employee through a computer lets you miss all their nonverbal actions- anger, fear and hurt. Written words don’t have the same emphasis without the emotion.
Technology advancements to match nonverbal communication:
As we watch technology grow, I can notice a trend in working towards a more personal approach. We like to include “emoticons” in our text messages. The reassurance of a facial expression- even if it is digital gives us a sense of confidence that we are giving off a better message. There have also been new technologies to improve virtual face-to-face interaction. Skype is one example of web 2.0 technologies that incorporates video to allow us to see nonverbal codes during virtual communication. This issue of an overuse of technology really has people concerned. “Youth insert smiley faces into e-mail, but don’t see each others faces. They read comments on Facebook, but don’t read each other’s posture, hand gestures, eye contact, shifts in personal space and other nonverbal behaviors.” (Baverlein, 2009).
Final Thoughts:
Nonverbal communication is a necessary tool to achieve actual human communication. Can we communicate without it? Of course we can, but not as well. We distinguish good writing as something that “speaks to us” we can feel the emotion on the piece. Basically, the nonverbal actions are communicated to us. We like communicating through technology because it makes things easier for us. Sometimes it lets us cop out on a difficult task like a break-up, but inevitably most conversations that are human interactions about human communication we require a more personal meeting. In Tom Peter’s blog, he interviews his friends and others to get their thoughts and opinions. In this interview with Nick Morgan, I found a quite that encompassed my theory of human communication perfectly.
“There are two conversations going on in every face-t-face communication. There’s the content, which comes through e-mail or Twitter conversations. But there is also nonverbal communication, body language. Those two together are powerful. That’s the incredible part- were still hardwired, as a species to rate those things as important and care about them.” (Peters, 2009). Nonverbal communication may not be the only way to communicate, but in most cases, it certainly enhances the experience.