Presentation Overview
•What is Nonverbal
communication
•How the body communicates
•Types of Nonverbal
communication
•Quiz /Tasks based on
Nonverbal Communication
What is communication?
•At its simplest a process
through which thoughts or
ideas are exchanged from a
source to the receiver
•Communication can be verbal or
nonverbal
BUT…what we are trying to deliver to the one whom we are
communicating through verbal means, might not be exactly
similar to the one which we are delivering from our non-verbal
means.
When does communication
become effective ?
•When the reveiver interprets
and understands the
sender’s message in the same
way the sender intended it.
Fluency
Clarity
Accuracy
Logicality
Style
Facial expression
Eye contact
Gesture
Posture
BODY LANGUAGE
Two main aspects of communication
What is Nonverbal Communication?
•It is the way people:
• Reinforce the spoken word
• Replace the spoken word using
their bodies to make visual signals
or their voices to make oral but
non-verbal signals
What do studies say about
communication of messages?
Nature of Nonverbal Communication
•Most nonverbal communication is
unconscious or subconscious
•Occurs mostly face-to-face
Types of Non-verbal
Communication
Kinesics
Paralanguage
Proxemics
Haptics
Oculesics
Olfactics
Chronemics
Chromatics
Silence
Sign language
Kinesics
(the study of body movements,
gestures, facial expressions, etc., as
a means of communication)
Everything
except
the words!
Everything
except
the words!
Kinesics: facial expression
•Birdwhistle (1970): the face is
capable of conveying 250,000
expressions
Paralinguistic features Paralinguistic features
Vocal cues Vocal cues - all the oral aspects of sound- all the oral aspects of sound
ParalanguageParalanguage
except words themselves, except words themselves,
which include...which include...
pitch, rate, inflection,pitch, rate, inflection,
volume, quality, soundsvolume, quality, sounds
& silence, pronunciation,& silence, pronunciation,
articulation, & enunciationarticulation, & enunciation..
Proxemics-Space Language
study of distance individuals maintain
between each other while interacting and
its significance)
•Refers to communicating through the use of
bodily contact. When used properly, touch
can create feelings of warmth and
•Avoiding eye contact considered as insecure,
untrustworthy
•Direct eye contact may be misinterpreted as
hostility, aggressiveness
Eye Expressions
A prolonged gaze or stare in considered rude in
most cultures
•It refers to the study of sense of
smell
•Someone’s smell can have a
positive or negative effect on the
oral message.. People in European
countries respond negatively to
body odors, Arabs are comfortable
with natural body odors.
the study of the use of time in nonverbal
communication.
•Attitudes toward time vary from
culture to culture. The Americans,
Germans and the Swiss for example
value punctuality. Being late for
meetings is viewed as rude and
insensitive behavior; tardiness also
conveys that the person is not well
organized. The Arabs have a causal
attitude towards time
•Communication of messages
through colours…The connotations
colours have may be positive or
negative depending on the culture
•In America it is common to wear
black when mourning, in India
people prefer white for mourning.
Colour Influences Communication
Yellow cheers
and
elevates moods
Red excites
and
stimulates
Blue comforts
and
soothes
In some
cultures
black suggests
mourning
In some
cultures
white suggests
purity
•When we are silent, we are also
communicating! What we
communicate depends on what kind
of silence it is.
•The more emotionally loaded subject
is, the more silence we need