General Learning Outcomes

Nonverbal Communication

1. We should learn that nonverbal signals greatly affect how an audience interprets what we say.

2. We should learn the major areas of

nonverbal communication.

3. We should learn the five major characteristics

of nonverbal communication.

4. We should learn the standards of appropriate body action and facial

expression in communication.

5. We should learn the impact on communication the nonverbal signals of voice and articulation.

6. We should learn to make practical evaluation of the

vocal and articulatory processes and pronunciation.

7. We should learn that we express attitudes through

body action, voice,What we wear and own, and

our use of time and space

Importance of Nonverbal

Communication

Do you realize that only 35 percent of

communication may be verbal?

When you speak face-to-face with a person, that person may be receiving 65 percent of

your message by means other than the words you use – by your tone of voice,

Your gestures, evenBy the way you stand and are dressed.

In one view, the relative ability or impact of the facial

nonverbals may reach 55 percent and the vocal

nonverbals 38 percent.

It may be that the blending of channels has more to do

with meaning than the simple summing of all the

channels.

In other words, the verbal is still critical to how we interpret the

nonverbal.

When we find that a gesture that means “come here” in America means “go away” in Italy, we begin to sense

the problem.

Perhaps a culture or subculture creates its own

system of nonverbal communication.

There is also evidence that the senes differ in their nonverbal behaviors,

And that they are in line with societal role expectations.

When combined with the verbal message, nonverbal signals are quite

effective in conveying ideas,Particularly emotional concepts

such as love hate

People display quite different nonverbal responses to various emotional situations.

One study found that some people are more sensitive than

others to nonverbal signals, and that such individuals tend to function better socially and

intellectually.

The same study also found that young people

were less sensitive to nonverbal signals than

older people were,

No wonder that in some speech communications our voices and our actions speak so loudly that our words are often unheard or

are not very persuasive.

Apparently, in the long run we cannot avoid acting

nonverbally, and therefore we cannot avoid communicating at

least nonverbally.

That our nonverbal behavior may be unintentionally contrary to our verbal

message should be considered by speakers.

We express our attitudes through our body action, our voice articulation

patterns,The objects we wear or own,

Our use of time space, and Our language and throughly prepared

messages.

The speech communication act, then,

includes an almost countless number of

channels.

Making the nonverbal communication process

work for us by improving our messages is the major objective of this article.

Areas or aspects of nonverbal communication

most relevant to speech communication are:

1. Body communication (Kinesics),

2. Voice and articulation (Paralanguage),

3. Objects (Clothes things),

4. Space, and

5. Time

Of these, kinesics and paralanguage are the

most important to speakers.

Characteristics of Nonverbal

Communication

Our nonverbals of what ever kind, conscious or

unconscious, may be characterized as follows:

1. They always communicate some thing.

2. They are bound to the situation.

3. They are believed.

4. They are seldom isolated.

5. They affect our relationships.

1. The always communicate some

thing

Assuming some kind of human interaction, one cannot not

behavior, and since behavior is nonverbal communication – one

cannot not communicate.

A blank stare communicates something to the decoder, even if it is

just confusion.

This is not always appreciated by less

sensitive personalities.

These behaviors may be consiciously or

unconciously conveyed, but one way or another

they communicate.

2. They are bound to the

situation.

The context or situation makes a lot

of difference.

The baby’s smile might indicate pleasare in one

situation or gas in another.

A thumb in the air might mean A – OK on the

launch pad or a request for a fide on the high way.

When the context or situation is not appreciated or

considered,

Nonverbals can be confusing indeed! When it is obvious, our nonverbals

are most clear.

3. They are believed

Perhaps they should not be, but this tendency exists.

Con men have taken advantage of this fact from the beginning

Perhaps nonverbals are harder to fake for most of us, but certainly not for

good actors.

When what you say disagrees with how you

look or sound, people tend to believe the nonverbals.

“She said no – no, but there was yes – yes in her eyes!”

4. They are seldom isolated

It is very difficult for most of us to be boiling man and yet control our actions and voice

so that we appear calm.

A glisten of perspiration,

A faster eye – blink,

A slight tremble,

A dryness in the voice – these and more give us away.

Even when you are laughing on the outside (and crying on the inside), the character of

your laughter probably gives you away.

These other nonverbals tend to be related,

consistent, and supportive of one another.

When they are not, suspicions about intent are raised.

Except in pictures or audio – tapes,

nonverbals are difficult to isolate.

5. They affect our relationships

We decide three important things about people largely on the basis of nonverbal

communication.

These are:

1. Personal liking or attraction,

2. Evaluation of power relationships,

3. Our feelings about the response we get from others.

Let’s review each of these as

nonverbal codes:

1. Sometimes by nonverbal cues alone,

we might feel attracted toward another.

That person seems a “likeable sort,” a “good guy” , and is easy to be

with.

That the opposite also happens is all too clear. More will be said about

attraction later on.

2. Power assessment is your evaluation of the other person’s status, influence, or clout.

Nonverbal cues become important, particularly in

the absence of verbal information.

Several of these will be discussed

shortly.

3. Another nonverbal area of this interpersonal decision making is your perception of a responsive listener, a person who can will

appreciate your position or your problem.

These three nonverbal decisions about people lead

us in and out of a lot of communication trouble.

Body Action Language (Kinesics)

Our audience interprets the total message that we present to them.

There fore , what they see may seriously affect how they interpret what

we say.

An actor’s clever pantomime is some times much cleaver and more emphatic than what the

actor says.

Body action language may therefore be important to the total impression made

by the speaker.

Unconscious Nonverbal

Communication

We use body action constantly in our

every day conversation.

It is a definite part of our communication

system.

The way a person walks or sits at a given moment may demonstrate that person’s

mood more adequately than her words do.

When we try to avoid looking awkward, it usually communicates even more awkwardness and looks unnatural and ridiculos.

In addition, such holding back may

lead to poor control of one’s emotions.

A lack of action often makes the

message less clear.

There is no point in trying to avoid body action; there are many good reasons to try to understand it, control it, and

use it.

Communication by stereotypes

The communication of stereotyped – stylized –

gestures and facial expressions has been

studied experimentally.

Landis performed an experiment designed to discover

whether subjects reported emotions are accompanied by definite and easily recognized

facial expressions.

His subjects were photographed while they were being exposed to

various emotional situations;They were not simply portraying

emotions, as an actor would.

After comparing the reactions of many subjects to these situations, landis

reported:

“with no verbal report of a given emotion did a muscle, group of

muscles, or expression occur with sufficient frequency to be considered

characteristic of that emotion.There is no expression typically

associated with any verbal report”

A more recent study by williams tolch indicated that there are two elements in the

perception of acted facial expressions: general evaluation

dynamism

By general evaluation they meant a viewer’s evaluation of those characteristics

of an expression that reveal such ethical qualities as goodness,

Gratefulness, Kindness , and

the like.

Dynamism is an evaluation of qualities such as

active or passive, fast or slow,

interesting or boring, and so on.

Acted facial expressions based on only these two

elements were differentiated successfully

by views.

However, an acted “no message- neutral” expression introduced into the study was usually seen as having both

evaluative and dynamic qualities.

Schlosbery suggests that facial expression can be evaluated in terms

of what he calls: pleasantness or unpleasantness,

steep or tension, and rejection or attention.

More and savage cut up pictures of stereotyped emotions (such as

terror , love and hate) and asked students to look at the hand

gestures and facial expressions separately.

Recognition of the emotion portrayed was better than chance in

both cases,

Indicating that there are stylized expressions of the hands as well as of

the face.

On the basis of these experiments, we can say that acted or stylized emotions can be identified with some reliability, whereas real

emotions can not be recognized with any certainty.

Good actors and capable speakers appear to

communicate emotions regularly.

The actor has the play, the set, the other actors, and

the stylized conceptions of the audience as aids.

If the cause of whatever emotion the actor is portraying

also is seen (for example , a gun fear), the communication is

easier to interpret.

There is also new evidence that we tend to communicate

(nonverbally) more sterotypically when we know

we are not alone.

In review, research into the portragal and recognition of

emotions such as anger, love and fear has shown that we rely on

previous experience in interpreting these highly abstract messages.

As suggested earlier, certain cultures subcultures

stereotype patterns of body action in ways different from

our own.

In some cultures a smile does not always indicate amusement, but rather

politeness.

These observations lead to the question of how much

stereotyping a speaker should use.

One needs enough stereotyping to be

understood, not so much as to appear artificial.

One view tought that “every action of face or

hand … is simply an outward effect of an inward expression.

In other words, speaker should be so involved in

his/her subject that his/her expression is always

dynamic and spontaneous.

At present, we recognize that in our communicative body action,

we do rely on certain learned, general streotypes which we use

in natural and relatively spontaneous ways.

The conclusion of all this research is that “meaning” is in the eyes, ears, and other senses of the receiver, but even it is in the receiver’s

store of experience,

knowledge, attitudes,

and emotions.

Empathy

If your instructor runs his finger nails sharply across

the blackboard , you probably cringe and grit your

teeth.

If youlve ever seen a youngester take a violent and bruising fall, you probably “felt” the pain as you projected yourself into the

youngester’s situation.

This projection is the basis of empathy.

Empathy includes a muscular reaction: to an

extent, an audience imitates the actions of the

speaker.

When a speaker appears mortally afraid tense, the

audience dies a little .

When the speaker acts tired, the

audience feels tired or bored.

When a person paces the floor like a caged lion, the

audience usually tires before the speaker does.

The speaker should take the audience into account when considering body

action.

Attempt to use the kind and amount of action that

will help achieve the purpose of your speech.

Emotion one can drain pent– up tension by body action this is why some speakers

pace the floor or fidget constantly.

Instead of acting in distracting ways, try to use meaningful body action that will help you control

your speech fright at the same time that it helps communicate your

message.

General Impression

The general impression you create is a combination not only of all the signals that you communicate to your

audience,

But also of the things over which you may not always have control – for example, the lighting, the building, the platform, and the person who introduces you.

However, there are some relatively simple things over which you do have some control,

Things that may contribute much to the general impression you

make.

Dress is one of these. In considering

what to wear, the watch word is appropriate.

You don’t want to appear conspicuous , yet yout do wish to live up to your audience’s

expectations regarding the dress of its speakers.

Your physical and psychological

comfort affect your body action.

However, there’s a lesson to be learned if the audience remembers your leotard instead of your speech.

Another problem is whether to address the

audience from a sitting or a standing position.

You might feel awkward standing on a platform with

only 3 to 4 listeners at your feet, and some mall informal

audiences may prefer that you sit while speaking to them.

How ever , other small groups are

insulted if the speaker sits.

The impression they receive, apparenty, is that they are not considered important enough for a stand – up

speech.

Your decision depends a lot up on how well you

know the group and how well they know you.

As a general rule there is less risk in standing,

even before a very small group.

If the audience appears uncomfortable, it is much easier to sit down after a speech has started than to

stand up.

Whether you’re sitting, standing or walking, the

way you do it is revealing.

It can draw people to you or drive

them away.

All of the elements of body action contribute

to the general impression you create.

The Types of Bodily Action

In this section we shall discuss the patterns of physical behavior that

make up total body action.

Although these patterns most often occur at the same time, we are separating them here

for the purpose of explanation.

Pasture is an important part of the general impression you

make: it effects the empathy of the audience and what they

conclude from your signals.

The way you carry yourself tends to show

whether or not you have confidence in yourself.

Whether you slouch and cower or whether you stand with

military bearing affects your outlook and sense of power and

your control over yourself.

A slouching posture can tire the audience as quickly as it can the

speaker.

In general, good posture involves the distribution of your

body weight in a comfortable and poised way consistent with

the impression you wish to make as a speaker.

You should be erect without looking stiff, comfortable without

appearing limp.

Your bearing should be alert, self – possessed, and

communicative.

Good posture and poise reflect a kind of cool unconcern.

The great danger, as with all stylized body action, is appearing artificial, overly noticeable or out of place.

A satisfactory standing position should be a

balanced one: it should allow you t recover quickly if you

were suddenly pushed:

Your feet should be fairly close together,

General Learning outcomes

1. We should learn the fundamental importance of

language habits and semantics as they relate to meaning and

one’s total communication effectiveness.

2. We should learn about the sensitive nature of words and language segments and their impact upon human behavior

and understanding.

3. We should learn that language habits affect and reflect our

personality.

4. We should learn that unless we become aware

of abstraction, generalization, and

semantics,

We are not meeting the ethical responsibilities

of an educated communicator.

Language Habits

Code and symbol

It is in the use of oral language that we

need our most rigorous training,

For there is an infinitely larger number of oral means available to the

listener than to the reader.

This is because of the concomitant signals – those that accompany and operate

at the same time as the words.

Your voice, for example, is a wonderfully sensitive instrument

with a powerful influence upon the meaning the listener attaches both to your words and to you , the speaker.

Your correct use of your voice and your articulation is thus

very important.

The appearance of the speaker – dress, movements, facial

expressions, and gestures – is another signal that affects the

decoding by the listener.

Another, less obvious point to be made is that

these codes signals affect one another.

Some times they work together and strengthen the meaning intended

by the speaker.

At other times, however, they conflict with one another and

distort the intended meaning to the point at which the listener is

confused, suspicious, or frustrated.

Consider the sloppy student presenting a speech on the value of personal neatness, or the professor with a frozen grin discussing the possibility of a student’s failing

his/her course.

We often act in a way contrary to what we

really intend.

The cause may be tension, emotional

involvement, or simply poor speech training.

Let’s turn now to the all – important symbols we call word’s remembering that the codes and symbols previously

discussed will affect their intended meaning in ways other than those

described here.

Words are symbols which are

conventionally used to represent certain things.

They are convenient labels which help us

to classify things.

It is obvious that there are more things concepts in the world than there are

words. So you think a rat is a rat.

Try the definitions in figure 1.

As another example, if each chair in the world had its own label, we would have to have

dictionaries of chairs.

Even with the general classifying word chair, we have developed a ge vocabulary of chair – words (for example, windsor, Hitchcock, Stuffed,

Swivel, rocking).

In short, if we did not use a limited number of words to represent an infinite number

of things, we could communicate hardly at all.

Despite our useful and necessary dictionaries, no

word has real meaning except in the particular

context in which it is used.

The meaning of a word is never quite the same from one

occasion to another, although the variation in meaning may

not always be great.

Word meanings change when we take words for granted and think of them as actual things rather than as

what they really are – representation of things. A good speaker must always ask,

“what dose this word mean to this audience, in this

situation, in this context, as used by this speaker at this

time?”

A word may be considered, then, as a representation or

generalization with its meaning matching its

context.

When we arrange words into the context of a sentence -

that is, when we create syntax – we are really fitting

generalization together.

The meaning of an English sentence is determined not

by its words alone but by the whole arrangement and sequence of the words.

Even this meaning may be vague if the relationship

of the sentence to the paragraph or chapter is

not known.

In one sense, the communication pattern of a sentence is the systematic exclusion of meanings the

listener might attach which are not intended by the speaker.

In short, the sentence may define meanings

not intended.

Ever – changing black slang is a good example of how words can be confusing if you are not familiar with

them.

Try yourself on some of the these. Bad: bad or good (used to mean good) bleach bribe money

down home: jail or prison (used to mean the south) early: late

stay: go q: rescue, barbecue, etc. (q sound)

In light of the above, it is not difficult to understand why there are

sensitivities to certain words and why people may sometimes react

negatively to words not intended to be derogatory.

Were confucius alive today, he might well be

pained by our fascination with slang.

He once said ,”the first step in finding out the

truth is to call things by their right names.”

Verbal obscenity