NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION

 

NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION

Non-verbal communication is the process of communicating through sending and receiving wordless messages. Non-verbal communication can be divided into 4 parts namely body language (kinesics), eye contact (oculistics), touch (haptics), body distance (proxemics), paralangue, and turn taking.

There are many non verbal communication. They are?

A. Body Language (Kinesics)

Body language is a significant aspect of modern communications and relationships. Body language, and more technically the study of body language, is also known as kinesics, which is derived from the Greek word kinesis, meaning motion. This includes body movement, body position, facial expression, as well as dress.

O.K Gesture: When you put your index finger on your thumb, in America and England it means everything is well or good. In Latin America, Germany, Middle East, and France, it is a sign of insult.

Thumbs Up: In America or Europe, it's a sign of approval or hitchhiking. In America when a person stands near the road and uses this sign, it means s/he wants to take a free ride in your car, so you will stop and pick up the person. But in Iran police advises people not to pay attention to signs like this. In Asia and Islamic countries, it is considered rude.

V-gesture: With the palm facing forward this gesture is seen as positive and meaning victory. During the 1960's and early 1970's it became a symbolic gesture of the "alternative" and "anti war" hippie movement and became to mean "peace".

With the palm facing inward this gesture in Japan is seen as negative or insulting.

Facial Expressions

Facial expressions usually communicate emotions. The expressions tell the attitudes of the communicator. It is now generally accepted that certain basic facial expressions of human emotion are recognized around the world - and that the use and recognition of these expressions is genetically inherited rather than socially conditioned or learned.

Turn - taking

In normal, civilized Western-type of conversation, speakers do not speak all the time; they wait for their ‗ turn‘. But, how do people go about allocating turns to each other or themselves? This is the mechanism of turn taking. On the one hand, there are natural breaks in every conversation; a speaker has to pause for breath, or runs out things to say, or simply declares his or her contribution to be finished.

Paralangue

It is not only words that convey message, but also a range of other factors, such as : vocal characterizers -laugh, cry, yell, moan, whine, belch, yawn- send different messages in different cultures. For example, in Japan, giggling indicates embarrassment, and in India, belch indicates satisfaction. vocal qualifiers such as volume, pitch, rhythm, tempo, and tone have different meaning. Loudness indicates strength in Arabic cultures and softness indicates weakness. In German, it indicates confidence and authority. Meanwhile in Japanese, it indicates indicates loss of control. Generally, one learns not to ―shout‖ in Asia for nearly any reason. vocal segregates such as ―uh-huh, shh, uh, ooh, mmmh, humm, eh, mah, nahh‖ indicate formality, acceptance, assent, uncertainty, and also controlling conversation.