Nonverbal Communication
Lecture
What Is Nonverbal Communication?
Nonverbal communication is the process of using wordless messages to generate meaning. Nonverbal communication includes nonword vocalizations such as inflection and nonword sounds such as “ah” and “hmm.” Communication is complex. We cannot quantify the relative contribution of nonverbal communication to verbal communication (Lapakko, 1997), but nonverbal communication often provides much more meaning than people realize. Indeed, when we are not certain about another person’s feelings or our feeling about him or her, we may rely far more on nonverbal cues and less on the words that are used (Grahe & Bernieri, 1999; Vedantam, 2006).
You know the importance of nonverbal communication in your own life. Imagine how difficult communication would be if you could not see the people with whom you are communicating, hear their voices, or sense their presence. Actually, this is what occurs when you send e-mail or instant messages or chat with others online. As electronic forms of communication have become more prevalent, people have found creative ways to communicate feeling and emotions. Emoticons are sequences of characters composed in two-dimensional written formats for the purpose of expressing emotions. The most common example of the emoticon is the “smiley” or “smiley face.” Emoticons are a form of nonverbal communication, and they illustrate the importance of this means of communication, no matter the context.
How are Verbal and Nonverbal Communication Related?
Both verbal and nonverbal communication are essential for effective interactions with others. How are the two related? Nonverbal communication works in conjunction with the words that we utter in six ways: to repeat, to emphasize, to complement, to contradict, to substitute, and to regulate. Let us consider each of these briefly.
Repeating occurs when the same message is sent verbally and nonverbally. It consists of using gestures to strengthen a verbal message, such as pointing to the object of discussion.
Emphasizing is the use of nonverbal cues to strengthen your message. Hugging a friend and telling him that you really care about him is a stronger statement than using either words or bodily movement alone.
Complementing: Nonverbal cues can be used to elaborate on verbal messages to reinforce the information sent when trying to achieve communicative goals; messages have been shown to be remembered better when nonverbal signals affirm the verbal exchange.
Contradicting occurs when your verbal and nonverbal messages conflict. Often this occurs accidentally. If you have ever been angry at a teacher or parent, you may have stated verbally that you were fine—but your bodily movements, facial expression, and use of space may have “leaked” your actual feelings. Contradiction occurs intentionally in humor and sarcasm. Your words provide one message, but your nonverbal delivery tells how you really feel.
Substituting occurs when nonverbal codes are used instead of verbal codes. You roll your eyes, you stick out your tongue, you gesture thumbs down, or you shrug. In most cases your intended message is fairly clear.
Regulating occurs when nonverbal codes are used to monitor and control interactions with others. For example, you look away when someone else is trying to talk and you are not finished with your thought. You walk away from someone who has hurt your feelings or made you angry. You shake your head and encourage another person to continue talking. While verbal and nonverbal codes often work in concert, they also exhibit differences that we will consider next.
You shake your head and encourage another person to continue talking. While verbal and nonverbal codes often work in concert, they also exhibit differences that we will consider next.
Why are Nonverbal Codes Difficult to Interpret?
Nonverbal communication is responsible for much of the misunderstanding that occurs during communication. Just as people have difficulty interpreting verbal symbols, so do they struggle to interpret nonverbal codes. The ambiguity of nonverbal communication occurs for two reasons: People use the same code to communicate a variety of meanings, and they use a variety of codes to communicate the same meaning.
One Code Communicates a Variety of Meanings
The ambiguity of nonverbal codes occurs in part because one code may communicate several different meanings. For example, the nonverbal code of raising your right hand may mean that you are taking an oath, you are demonstrating for a cause, you are indicating to an instructor that you would like to answer a question, a physician is examining your right side, or you want a taxi to stop for you. Also consider how you may stand close to someone because of a feeling of affection, because the room is crowded, or because you have difficulty hearing.
Although people in laboratory experiments have demonstrated some success in decoding nonverbal behavior accurately (Horgan & Smith, 2006), in actual situations receivers of nonverbal cues can only guess about the meaning of the cue (Motley & Camden, 1988). Several lay authors have been successful in selling books suggesting that observers can learn to easily and accurately distinguish meaning from specific nonverbal cues. Unfortunately, these authors have not been able to demonstrate any significant improvement among their readers. Single cues can be interpreted in multiple ways.
