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Non-Verbal Communication | SkillsYouNeed

When we talk about ‘communication’, we often mean ‘what we say’: the words that we use. However, interpersonal communication is much more than the explicit meaning of words, and the information or message that they convey. It also includes implicit messages, whether intentional or not, which are expressed through non-verbal behaviours.

Non-verbal communication includes facial expressions, the tone and pitch of the voice, gestures displayed through body language (kinesics) and the physical distance between the communicators (proxemics).

These non-verbal signals can give clues and additional information and meaning over and above spoken (verbal) communication. Indeed, some estimates suggest that around 70 to 80% of communication is non-verbal!

Using Non-Verbal Communication

Learning the

Language

Many popular books on non-verbal communication present the topic as if it were a language that can be learned, the implication being that if the meaning of every nod, eye movement, and gesture were known, the real feelings and intentions of a person would be understood.

This, of course, is absolutely true.

Unfortunately interpreting non-verbal communication is not that simple.

As our Interpersonal Communication page, non-verbal communication is not a language with a fixed meaning. It is influenced and driven by the context in which it occurs. This includes both the place and the people concerned, as well as the culture.

For example, a nod of the head between colleagues in a committee meeting may mean something very different from when the same action is used to acknowledge someone across a crowded room, and again when two people are having a social conversation.

Non-verbal communication may also be both conscious and unconscious. Facial expressions are particularly hard to control, because we cannot see ourselves to know what we are doing. We may, therefore complicate communication by trying to convey one message consciously, while in fact conveying quite another unconsciously.

Interpersonal communication is further complicated because it is usually not possible to interpret a gesture or expression accurately on its own. Non-verbal communication consists of a complete package of expressions, hand and eye movements, postures, and gestures which should be interpreted along with speech (verbal communication).

Non-Verbal Communication in Writing

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Over the years, many people have argued that written words also contain non-verbal communication. Your handwriting can give clues about how you were feeling when you wrote a note, for example, and nowadays, your choice of font and colour also says something about you.

However, it is now generally agreed that these forms of non-verbal communication are pretty unreliable indicators of character. They convey far less information than the non-verbal communication that is part of face-to-face interactions.

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The Cultural Context

The good news is that most of us learn to interpret non-verbal communication as we grow up and develop. It is a normal part of how we communicate with other people, and most of us both use it and interpret it quite unconsciously.

This can make it harder to interpret consciously. However, if you stop thinking about it, you will probably find that you have a very good idea of what someone meant.

The bad news is that non-verbal communication can be very culture-specific.

Examples of culture-specific non-verbal communication

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1. The popular stereotype of Italians, involving big gestures, lots of hand-waving, and plenty of loud and excited shouting, may be a stereotype, but it exists for a reason. In the Italian culture, excitement is shown a lot more obviously than in the UK, for example. Non-verbal communication tends to be a lot more obvious. This can make it much harder for Italians to interpret non-verbal communication in the UK or USA, where it is more subtle. However, even in Italy, there are geographical variations.

2. The thumbs-up gesture, which generally signals approval in English-speaking countries, is considered offensive in other countries, including apparently Greece, Italy and some parts of the Middle East.

3. Making a circle with your thumb and forefinger like this means OK in Western cultures. It is used in particular by divers in this way. In Japan, however, it is reputedly the sign for money, and in Arabic countries, it is a threat.

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It’s worth being careful how you use gestures and body language!

For more about this, see our pages on Intercultural Communication and Intercultural Awareness.

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The Importance of Non-verbal Communication

It is essential to remember that non-verbal cues can be as important, or in some cases even more important, than what we say.

Non-verbal communication can have a great impact on the listener and the outcome of the communication.

Warning!

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People tend to have much less conscious control over their non-verbal messages than of what they’re actually saying.

This is partly because non-verbal communication is much more emotional in nature, and therefore much more instinctive.

If there is a mismatch between the two, therefore, you should probably trust the non-verbal messages, rather than the words used.

A lack of non-verbal message may also be a signal of sorts, suggesting that the speaker is carefully controlling their body language, and may be trying to hide their true emotions.

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Types of Non-Verbal Communication

There are many different types of non-verbal communication. They include:

• Body movements (kinesics), for example, hand gestures or nodding or shaking the head, which are often the easiest element of non-verbal communication to control;

• Posture, or how you stand or sit, whether your arms are crossed, and so on;

• Eye contact, where the amount of eye contact often determines the level of trust and trustworthiness;

• Para-language, or aspects of the voice apart from speech, such as pitch, tone, and speed of speaking;

• Closeness or personal space (proxemics), which determines the level of intimacy, and which varies very much by culture;

• Facial expressions, including smiling, frowning and blinking, which are very hard to control consciously. Interestingly, the broad facial expressions that show strong emotions, such as fear, anger, and happiness, are the same throughout the world; and

• Physiological changes, for example, you may sweat or blink more when you are nervous, and your heart rate is also likely to increase. These are almost impossible to control consciously and are therefore a very important indicator of mental state.

There is more about all of these types of non-verbal communication on our pages on Body Language and Face and Voice.

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Further Reading from Skills You Need

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Our Communication Skills eBooks

Learn more about the key communication skills you need to be a more effective communicator.

Our eBooks are ideal for anyone who wants to learn about or develop their interpersonal skills and are full of easy-to-follow, practical information.

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In Conclusion…

Non-verbal communication is an extremely complex yet integral part of overall communication skills. However, people are often totally unaware of their non-verbal behaviour.

A basic awareness of non-verbal communication strategies, over and above what is actually said, can help to improve interaction with others. Knowledge of these signs can be used to encourage people to talk about their concerns and can lead to a greater shared understanding, which is, after all, the purpose of communication.

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4.1 Principles and Functions of Nonverbal Communication – Communication in the Real World

Learning Objectives

1. Define nonverbal communication.
2. Compare and contrast verbal communication and nonverbal communication.
3. Discuss the principles of nonverbal communication.
4. Provide examples of the functions of nonverbal communication.

As you’ll recall from our introductory chapter, a channel is the sensory route on which a message travels. Oral communication only relies on one channel, because spoken language is transmitted through sound and picked up by our ears. Nonverbal communication, on the other hand, can be taken in by all five of our senses. Since most of our communication relies on visual and auditory channels, those will be the focus of this chapter. But we can also receive messages and generate meaning through touch, taste, and smell. Touch is an especially powerful form of nonverbal communication that we will discuss in this chapter, but we will not get into taste and smell, which have not received as much scholarly attention in relation to nonverbal communication as the other senses.

To further define nonverbal communication, we need to distinguish between vocal and verbal aspects of communication. Verbal and nonverbal communication include both vocal and nonvocal elements, and Table 4.1 “Vocal and Nonvocal Elements of Communication” shows the relationship among vocal, nonvocal, verbal, and nonverbal aspects of communication. A vocal element of verbal communication is spoken words—for example, “Come back here.” A vocal element of nonverbal communication is paralanguage, which is the vocalized but not verbal part of a spoken message, such as speaking rate, volume, and pitch. Nonvocal elements of verbal communication include the use of unspoken symbols to convey meaning. Writing and American Sign Language (ASL) are nonvocal examples of verbal communication and are not considered nonverbal communication. Nonvocal elements of nonverbal communication include body language such as gestures, facial expressions, and eye contact. Gestures are nonvocal and nonverbal since most of them do not refer to a specific word like a written or signed symbol does.

Table 4.1 Vocal and Nonvocal Elements of Communication

	Verbal Communication	Nonverbal Communication
Vocal	Spoken words	Paralanguage (pitch, volume, speaking rate, etc.)
Nonvocal	Writing, sign language	Body language (gestures, facial expressions, eye contact, etc.)

Source: Adapted from Owen Hargie, Skilled Interpersonal Interaction: Research, Theory, and Practice (London: Routledge, 2011), 45.

Principles of Nonverbal Communication

Nonverbal communication has a distinct history and serves separate evolutionary functions from verbal communication. For example, nonverbal communication is primarily biologically based while verbal communication is primarily culturally based. This is evidenced by the fact that some nonverbal communication has the same meaning across cultures while no verbal communication systems share that same universal recognizability (Andersen, 1999). Nonverbal communication also evolved earlier than verbal communication and served an early and important survival function that helped humans later develop verbal communication. While some of our nonverbal communication abilities, like our sense of smell, lost strength as our verbal capacities increased, other abilities like paralanguage and movement have grown alongside verbal complexity. The fact that nonverbal communication is processed by an older part of our brain makes it more instinctual and involuntary than verbal communication.

Nonverbal Communication Conveys Important Interpersonal and Emotional Messages

You’ve probably heard that more meaning is generated from nonverbal communication than from verbal. Some studies have claimed that 90 percent of our meaning is derived from nonverbal signals, but more recent and reliable findings claim that it is closer to 65 percent (Guerrero & Floyd, 2006). We may rely more on nonverbal signals in situations where verbal and nonverbal messages conflict and in situations where emotional or relational communication is taking place (Hargie, 2011). For example, when someone asks a question and we’re not sure about the “angle” they are taking, we may hone in on nonverbal cues to fill in the meaning. For example, the question “What are you doing tonight?” could mean any number of things, but we could rely on posture, tone of voice, and eye contact to see if the person is just curious, suspicious, or hinting that they would like company for the evening. We also put more weight on nonverbal communication when determining a person’s credibility. For example, if a classmate delivers a speech in class and her verbal content seems well-researched and unbiased, but her nonverbal communication is poor (her voice is monotone, she avoids eye contact, she fidgets), she will likely not be viewed as credible. Conversely, in some situations, verbal communication might carry more meaning than nonverbal. In interactions where information exchange is the focus, at a briefing at work, for example, verbal communication likely accounts for much more of the meaning generated. Despite this exception, a key principle of nonverbal communication is that it often takes on more meaning in interpersonal and/or emotional exchanges.

Nonverbal Communication Is More Involuntary than Verbal

There are some instances in which we verbally communicate involuntarily. These types of exclamations are often verbal responses to a surprising stimulus. For example, we say “owww!” when we stub our toe or scream “stop!” when we see someone heading toward danger. Involuntary nonverbal signals are much more common, and although most nonverbal communication isn’t completely involuntary, it is more below our consciousness than verbal communication and therefore more difficult to control.

The involuntary nature of much nonverbal communication makes it more difficult to control or “fake.” For example, although you can consciously smile a little and shake hands with someone when you first see them, it’s difficult to fake that you’re “happy” to meet someone. Nonverbal communication leaks out in ways that expose our underlying thoughts or feelings. Spokespeople, lawyers, or other public representatives who are the “face” of a politician, celebrity, corporation, or organization must learn to control their facial expressions and other nonverbal communication so they can effectively convey the message of their employer or client without having their personal thoughts and feelings leak through. Poker players, therapists, police officers, doctors, teachers, and actors are also in professions that often require them to have more awareness of and control over their nonverbal communication.

Have you ever tried to conceal your surprise, suppress your anger, or act joyful even when you weren’t? Most people whose careers don’t involve conscious manipulation of nonverbal signals find it difficult to control or suppress them. While we can consciously decide to stop sending verbal messages, our nonverbal communication always has the potential of generating meaning for another person. The teenager who decides to shut out his dad and not communicate with him still sends a message with his “blank” stare (still a facial expression) and lack of movement (still a gesture). In this sense, nonverbal communication is “irrepressible” (Andersen, 1999).

Nonverbal Communication Is More Ambiguous

In Chapter 3 “Verbal Communication”, we learn that the symbolic and abstract nature of language can lead to misunderstandings, but nonverbal communication is even more ambiguous. As with verbal communication, most of our nonverbal signals can be linked to multiple meanings, but unlike words, many nonverbal signals do not have any one specific meaning. If you’ve ever had someone wink at you and didn’t know why, you’ve probably experienced this uncertainty. Did they wink to express their affection for you, their pleasure with something you just did, or because you share some inside knowledge or joke?

Just as we look at context clues in a sentence or paragraph to derive meaning from a particular word, we can look for context clues in various sources of information like the physical environment, other nonverbal signals, or verbal communication to make sense of a particular nonverbal cue. Unlike verbal communication, however, nonverbal communication doesn’t have explicit rules of grammar that bring structure, order, and agreed-on patterns of usage. Instead, we implicitly learn norms of nonverbal communication, which leads to greater variance. In general, we exhibit more idiosyncrasies in our usage of nonverbal communication than we do with verbal communication, which also increases the ambiguity of nonverbal communication.

Nonverbal Communication Is More Credible

Although we can rely on verbal communication to fill in the blanks sometimes left by nonverbal expressions, we often put more trust into what people do over what they say. This is especially true in times of stress or danger when our behaviors become more instinctual and we rely on older systems of thinking and acting that evolved before our ability to speak and write (Andersen, 1999). This innateness creates intuitive feelings about the genuineness of nonverbal communication, and this genuineness relates back to our earlier discussion about the sometimes involuntary and often subconscious nature of nonverbal communication. An example of the innateness of nonverbal signals can be found in children who have been blind since birth but still exhibit the same facial expressions as other children. In short, the involuntary or subconscious nature of nonverbal communication makes it less easy to fake, which makes it seem more honest and credible. We will learn more about the role that nonverbal communication plays in deception later in this chapter.

Functions of Nonverbal Communication

A primary function of nonverbal communication is to convey meaning by reinforcing, substituting for, or contradicting verbal communication. Nonverbal communication is also used to influence others and regulate conversational flow. Perhaps even more important are the ways in which nonverbal communication functions as a central part of relational communication and identity expression.

Nonverbal Communication Conveys Meaning

Nonverbal communication conveys meaning by reinforcing, substituting for, or contradicting verbal communication. As we’ve already learned, verbal and nonverbal communication are two parts of the same system that often work side by side, helping us generate meaning. In terms of reinforcing verbal communication, gestures can help describe a space or shape that another person is unfamiliar with in ways that words alone cannot. Gestures also reinforce basic meaning—for example, pointing to the door when you tell someone to leave. Facial expressions reinforce the emotional states we convey through verbal communication. For example, smiling while telling a funny story better conveys your emotions (Hargie, 2011). Vocal variation can help us emphasize a particular part of a message, which helps reinforce a word or sentence’s meaning. For example, saying “How was your weekend?” conveys a different meaning than “How was your weekend?”

Nonverbal communication can substitute for verbal communication in a variety of ways. Nonverbal communication can convey much meaning when verbal communication isn’t effective because of language barriers. Language barriers are present when a person hasn’t yet learned to speak or loses the ability to speak. For example, babies who have not yet developed language skills make facial expressions, at a few months old, that are similar to those of adults and therefore can generate meaning (Oster, Hegley, & Nagel, 1992). People who have developed language skills but can’t use them because they have temporarily or permanently lost them or because they are using incompatible language codes, like in some cross-cultural encounters, can still communicate nonverbally. Although it’s always a good idea to learn some of the local language when you travel, gestures such as pointing or demonstrating the size or shape of something may suffice in basic interactions.

Nonverbal communication is also useful in a quiet situation where verbal communication would be disturbing; for example, you may use a gesture to signal to a friend that you’re ready to leave the library. Crowded or loud places can also impede verbal communication and lead people to rely more on nonverbal messages. Getting a server or bartender’s attention with a hand gesture is definitely more polite than yelling, “Hey you!” Finally, there are just times when we know it’s better not to say something aloud. If you want to point out a person’s unusual outfit or signal to a friend that you think his or her date is a loser, you’re probably more likely to do that nonverbally.

Last, nonverbal communication can convey meaning by contradicting verbal communication. As we learned earlier, we often perceive nonverbal communication to be more credible than verbal communication. This is especially true when we receive mixed messages, or messages in which verbal and nonverbal signals contradict each other. For example, a person may say, “You can’t do anything right!” in a mean tone but follow that up with a wink, which could indicate the person is teasing or joking. Mixed messages lead to uncertainty and confusion on the part of receivers, which leads us to look for more information to try to determine which message is more credible. If we are unable to resolve the discrepancy, we are likely to react negatively and potentially withdraw from the interaction (Hargie, 2011). Persistent mixed messages can lead to relational distress and hurt a person’s credibility in professional settings.

Nonverbal Communication Influences Others

Nonverbal communication can be used to influence people in a variety of ways, but the most common way is through deception. Deception is typically thought of as the intentional act of altering information to influence another person, which means that it extends beyond lying to include concealing, omitting, or exaggerating information. While verbal communication is to blame for the content of the deception, nonverbal communication partners with the language through deceptive acts to be more convincing. Since most of us intuitively believe that nonverbal communication is more credible than verbal communication, we often intentionally try to control our nonverbal communication when we are engaging in deception. Likewise, we try to evaluate other people’s nonverbal communication to determine the veracity of their messages. Students initially seem surprised when we discuss the prevalence of deception, but their surprise diminishes once they realize that deception isn’t always malevolent, mean, or hurtful. Deception obviously has negative connotations, but people engage in deception for many reasons, including to excuse our own mistakes, to be polite to others, or to influence others’ behaviors or perceptions.

The fact that deception served an important evolutionary purpose helps explain its prevalence among humans today. Species that are capable of deception have a higher survival rate. Other animals engage in nonverbal deception that helps them attract mates, hide from predators, and trap prey (Andersen, 1999). To put it bluntly, the better at deception a creature is, the more likely it is to survive. So, over time, the humans that were better liars were the ones that got their genes passed on. But the fact that lying played a part in our survival as a species doesn’t give us a license to lie.

Aside from deception, we can use nonverbal communication to “take the edge off” a critical or unpleasant message in an attempt to influence the reaction of the other person. We can also use eye contact and proximity to get someone to move or leave an area. For example, hungry diners waiting to snag a first-come-first-serve table in a crowded restaurant send messages to the people who have already eaten and paid that it’s time to go. People on competition reality television shows like Survivor and Big Brother play what they’ve come to term a “social game. ” The social aspects of the game involve the manipulation of verbal and nonverbal cues to send strategic messages about oneself in an attempt to influence others. Nonverbal cues such as length of conversational turn, volume, posture, touch, eye contact, and choices of clothing and accessories can become part of a player’s social game strategy. Although reality television isn’t a reflection of real life, people still engage in competition and strategically change their communication to influence others, making it important to be aware of how we nonverbally influence others and how they may try to influence us.

Nonverbal Communication Regulates Conversational Flow

Conversational interaction has been likened to a dance, where each person has to make moves and take turns without stepping on the other’s toes. Nonverbal communication helps us regulate our conversations so we don’t end up constantly interrupting each other or waiting in awkward silences between speaker turns. Pitch, which is a part of vocalics, helps us cue others into our conversational intentions. A rising pitch typically indicates a question and a falling pitch indicates the end of a thought or the end of a conversational turn. We can also use a falling pitch to indicate closure, which can be very useful at the end of a speech to signal to the audience that you are finished, which cues the applause and prevents an awkward silence that the speaker ends up filling with “That’s it” or “Thank you.” We also signal our turn is coming to an end by stopping hand gestures and shifting our eye contact to the person who we think will speak next (Hargie, 2011). Conversely, we can “hold the floor” with nonverbal signals even when we’re not exactly sure what we’re going to say next. Repeating a hand gesture or using one or more verbal fillers can extend our turn even though we are not verbally communicating at the moment.

Nonverbal Communication Affects Relationships

To successfully relate to other people, we must possess some skill at encoding and decoding nonverbal communication. The nonverbal messages we send and receive influence our relationships in positive and negative ways and can work to bring people together or push them apart. Nonverbal communication in the form of tie signs, immediacy behaviors, and expressions of emotion are just three of many examples that illustrate how nonverbal communication affects our relationships.

Tie signs are nonverbal cues that communicate intimacy and signal the connection between two people. These relational indicators can be objects such as wedding rings or tattoos that are symbolic of another person or the relationship, actions such as sharing the same drinking glass, or touch behaviors such as hand-holding (Afifi & Johnson, 2005). Touch behaviors are the most frequently studied tie signs and can communicate much about a relationship based on the area being touched, the length of time, and the intensity of the touch. Kisses and hugs, for example, are considered tie signs, but a kiss on the cheek is different from a kiss on the mouth and a full embrace is different from a half embrace. If you consider yourself a “people watcher,” take note of the various tie signs you see people use and what they might say about the relationship.

Immediacy behaviors play a central role in bringing people together and have been identified by some scholars as the most important function of nonverbal communication (Andersen & Andersen, 2005). Immediacy behaviors are verbal and nonverbal behaviors that lessen real or perceived physical and psychological distance between communicators and include things like smiling, nodding, making eye contact, and occasionally engaging in social, polite, or professional touch (Comadena, Hunt, & Simonds, 2007). Immediacy behaviors are a good way of creating rapport, or a friendly and positive connection between people. Skilled nonverbal communicators are more likely to be able to create rapport with others due to attention-getting expressiveness, warm initial greetings, and an ability to get “in tune” with others, which conveys empathy (Riggio, 1992). These skills are important to help initiate and maintain relationships.

While verbal communication is our primary tool for solving problems and providing detailed instructions, nonverbal communication is our primary tool for communicating emotions. This makes sense when we remember that nonverbal communication emerged before verbal communication and was the channel through which we expressed anger, fear, and love for thousands of years of human history (Andersen, 1999). Touch and facial expressions are two primary ways we express emotions nonverbally. Love is a primary emotion that we express nonverbally and that forms the basis of our close relationships. Although no single facial expression for love has been identified, it is expressed through prolonged eye contact, close interpersonal distances, increased touch, and increased time spent together, among other things. Given many people’s limited emotional vocabulary, nonverbal expressions of emotion are central to our relationships.

“Getting Real”

Teachers and Immediacy Behaviors

A considerable amount of research has been done on teachers’ use of immediacy behaviors, which points to the importance of this communication concept in teaching professions (Richmond, Lane, & McCroskey, 2006). Immediacy behaviors are verbal and nonverbal behaviors that lessen real or perceived physical and psychological distance between communicators (Comadena, Hunt, & Simonds, 2007). Specific nonverbal behaviors have been found to increase or decrease perceived levels of immediacy, and such behaviors impact student learning, teacher’s evaluations, and the teacher-student relationship (Richmond, Lane, & McCroskey, 2006). Even those who do not plan on going into teaching as a career can benefit from learning about immediacy behaviors, as they can also be used productively in other interpersonal contexts such as between a manager and employee, a salesperson and a client, or a politician and constituent. Much of this research in teaching contexts has focused on the relationship between immediacy behaviors and student learning, and research consistently shows that effective use of immediacy behaviors increases learning in various contexts and at various levels. Aside from enhancing student learning, the effective use of immediacy behaviors also leads to better evaluations by students, which can have a direct impact on a teacher’s career. While student evaluations of teachers take various factors into consideration, judgments of personality may be formed, as we learned in Chapter 2 “Communication and Perception”, after only brief initial impressions. Research shows that students make character assumptions about teachers after only brief exposure to their nonverbal behaviors. Based on nonverbal cues such as frowning, head nodding, pointing, sitting, smiling, standing, strong gestures, weak gestures, and walking, students may or may not evaluate a teacher as open, attentive, confident, dominant, honest, likable, anxious, professional, supportive, or enthusiastic. The following are examples of immediacy behaviors that can be effectively used by teachers:

• Moving around the classroom during class activities, lectures, and discussions (reduces physical distance)
• Keeping the line of sight open between the teacher’s body and the students by avoiding or only briefly standing behind lecterns / computer tables or sitting behind a desk while directly interacting with students (reduces physical distance)
• Being expressive and animated with facial expressions, gestures, and voice (demonstrates enthusiasm)
• Smiling (creates a positive and open climate)
• Making frequent eye contact with students (communicates attentiveness and interest)
• Calling students by name (reduces perceived psychological distance)
• Making appropriate self-disclosures to students about personal thoughts, feelings, or experiences (reduces perceived psychological distance, creates open climate)

Teachers who are judged as less immediate are more likely to sit, touch their heads, shake instead of nod their heads, use sarcasm, avoid eye contact, and use less expressive nonverbal behaviors. Finally, immediacy behaviors affect the teacher-student relationship. Immediacy behaviors help establish rapport, which is a personal connection that increases students’ investment in the class and material, increases motivation, increases communication between teacher and student, increases liking, creates a sense of mutual respect, reduces challenging behavior by students, and reduces anxiety.

1. Recall a teacher you have had that exhibited effective immediacy behaviors. Recall a teacher you have had that didn’t exhibit immediacy behaviors. Make a column for each teacher and note examples of specific behaviors of each. Discuss your list with a classmate and compare and contrast your lists.
2. Think about the teachers that you listed in the previous question. Discuss how their behaviors affected your learning and your relationship.
3. How much should immediacy behaviors, relative to other characteristics such as professionalism, experience, training, and content knowledge, factor into the evaluation of teachers by their students, peers, and supervisors? What, if anything, should schools do to enhance teachers’ knowledge of immediacy behaviors?

Nonverbal Communication Expresses Our Identities

Nonverbal communication expresses who we are. Our identities (the groups to which we belong, our cultures, our hobbies and interests, etc.) are conveyed nonverbally through the way we set up our living and working spaces, the clothes we wear, the way we carry ourselves, and the accents and tones of our voices. Our physical bodies give others impressions about who we are, and some of these features are more under our control than others. Height, for example, has been shown to influence how people are treated and perceived in various contexts. Our level of attractiveness also influences our identities and how people perceive us. Although we can temporarily alter our height or looks—for example, with different shoes or different color contact lenses—we can only permanently alter these features using more invasive and costly measures such as cosmetic surgery. We have more control over some other aspects of nonverbal communication in terms of how we communicate our identities. For example, the way we carry and present ourselves through posture, eye contact, and tone of voice can be altered to present ourselves as warm or distant depending on the context.

Aside from our physical body, artifacts, which are the objects and possessions that surround us, also communicate our identities. Examples of artifacts include our clothes, jewelry, and space decorations. In all the previous examples, implicit norms or explicit rules can affect how we nonverbally present ourselves. For example, in a particular workplace it may be a norm (implicit) for people in management positions to dress casually, or it may be a rule (explicit) that different levels of employees wear different uniforms or follow particular dress codes. We can also use nonverbal communication to express identity characteristics that do not match up with who we actually think we are. Through changes to nonverbal signals, a capable person can try to appear helpless, a guilty person can try to appear innocent, or an uninformed person can try to appear credible.

Key Takeaways

• Nonverbal communication is a process of generating meaning using behavior other than words. Nonverbal communication includes vocal elements, which is referred to as paralanguage and includes pitch, volume, and rate, and nonvocal elements, which are usually referred to as body language and includes gestures, facial expressions, and eye contact, among other things.
• Although verbal communication and nonverbal communication work side by side as part of a larger language system, there are some important differences between the two. They are processed by different hemispheres of the brain, nonverbal communication conveys more emotional and affective meaning than does verbal communication, nonverbal communication isn’t governed by an explicit system of rules in the same way that grammar guides verbal communication, and while verbal communication is a uniquely human ability, many creatures including plants, birds, and mammals communicate nonverbally.
• Nonverbal communication operates on the following principles: nonverbal communication typically conveys more meaning than verbal communication, nonverbal communication is more involuntary than verbal communication, nonverbal communication is often more ambiguous than verbal communication, and nonverbal communication is often more credible than verbal communication.
• Nonverbal communication serves several functions.
• Nonverbal communication affects verbal communication in that it can complement, reinforce, substitute, or contradict verbal messages.
• Nonverbal communication influences others, as it is a key component of deception and can be used to assert dominance or to engage in compliance gaining.
• Nonverbal communication regulates conversational flow, as it provides important cues that signal the beginning and end of conversational turns and facilitates the beginning and end of an interaction.
• Nonverbal communication affects relationships, as it is a primary means through which we communicate emotions, establish social bonds, and engage in relational maintenance.
• Nonverbal communication expresses our identities, as who we are is conveyed through the way we set up our living and working spaces, the clothes we wear, our personal presentation, and the tones in our voices.

References

Afifi, W. A. and Michelle L. Johnson, “The Nature and Function of Tie-Signs,” in The Sourcebook of Nonverbal Measures: Going beyond Words, ed. Valerie Manusov (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2005): 190.

Andersen, P. A., Nonverbal Communication: Forms and Functions (Mountain View, CA: Mayfield, 1999), 17.

Andersen, P. A. and Janis F. Andersen, “Measures of Perceived Nonverbal Immediacy,” in The Sourcebook of Nonverbal Measures: Going beyond Words, ed. Valerie Manusov (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2005): 113–26.

Comadena, M. E., Stephen K. Hunt, and Cheri J. Simonds, “The Effects of Teacher Clarity, Nonverbal Immediacy, and Caring on Student Motivation, Affective and Cognitive Learning,” Communication Research Reports 24, no. 3 (2007): 241.

Hargie, O., Skilled Interpersonal Interaction: Research, Theory, and Practice, 5th ed. (London: Routledge, 2011), 47.

Guerrero, L. K. and Kory Floyd, Nonverbal Communication in Close Relationships (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2006): 2.

Oster, H., Douglas Hegley, and Linda Nagel, “Adult Judgments and Fine-Grained Analysis of Infant Facial Expressions: Testing the Validity of A Priori Coding Formulas,” Developmental Psychology 28, no. 6 (1992): 1115–31.

Richmond, V. P., Derek R. Lane, and James C. McCroskey, “Teacher Immediacy and the Teacher-Student Relationship,” in Handbook of Instructional Communication: Rhetorical and Relational Perspectives, eds. Timothy P. Mottet, Virginia P. Richmond, and James C. McCroskey (Boston, MA: Pearson, 2006), 168.

Riggio, R. E., “Social Interaction Skills and Nonverbal Behavior,” in Applications of Nonverbal Behavior Theories and Research, ed. Robert S. Feldman (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1992), 12.

Nonverbal Communication – Uses, Types, Importance And Role

The form of communication that occurs without using words is understood as Non-Verbal Communication.

Facial expressions, gestures, postures, tone and pitch of the voice, kinesics, proxemics, etc. play a key role in non-verbal communication.

As per the stats, more than 70 to 80% of the communication is nonverbal.

In businesses, nonverbal communication plays a crucial role in revealing who we are, plus it also impacts our interpersonal as well as business relations.

In this post, we will be covering the nitty-gritty of nonverbal communication and will try to understand how important it is in adept channelisation of a business. We will also delve into different types of nonverbal communication and their role in appreciating more favourable decisions.

So, without any further ado, let us start unfolding the critical concepts of nonverbal communication-

Table of Contents

Introduction

Nonverbal communication often called the dialect of the heart is the method of transmitting messages without using words.

Nonverbal communications have been regarded as a critical aspect of disclosure for the ages. It applies to gestures, facial expressions, tone of voice, a touch of the eye, the language of the body, stance and other ways of communication through which one puts different messages forwards without using the medium of language.

Such non-verbal signs can provide hints and context of spoken communication.

Yes, some estimates suggest that the most substantial portion of human conversations occur in the non-verbal fashion.

Interpersonal contact is much more than the explicit meaning of words and the message they convey. It also contains implicit messages that are expressed by non-verbal actions, whether intentional or not.

In many situations, we use behaviour classes to communicate information for nonverbal ways. For example, to suggest disapproval, we might combine a frown with crossed arms and unblinking eye gaze.

In the interviews or other sessions, HR managers analyse one’s personality through your nonverbal communication such as your way of talking tells how confident you are, plus, your gestures and postures play a significant role in the process.

In business dealings, incorporating the right nonverbal styles is also essential in ensuring favourable outcomes.

So, you can make the best impression by using your nonverbal communication skills.

It may seem unprofessional to have poor postures. Seeing downward or not maintaining eye contact gives the signal that you are either not confident or not entirely interested in the conversations.

You must incorporate the right nonverbal skills so that you can have the right impressions on your audiences. This will also increase the importance of your verbal communication.

Uses of Non-verbal communication

1) Reinforcement or modification of spoken words

You can nod your head when you give your consent for something to underline that you are in full agreement with the other individual. A wave with a sad look may mean that things aren’t excellent!

2) Expressing emotions

Your facial expression, vocal tone, and posture can often tell people exactly how you feel, even if you haven’t spoken a word.

Example:

“Are you fine? You look a little unwell.”

No one tells you that they are unwell, but from their non-verbal communication; you will get to know how people feel.

3) Defining relationships

You may have noticed that the body language of sisters, they tend to have a relationship without expressing it through verbal means, which is visible through their nonverbal communication.

The comfort or the discomfort, or way of communicating with each other, etc. are the traits that tell others about the relationship between two individuals.

4) Giving Feedbacks about different things

Smiles and expressions tell you that you’re listening and that you’re in agreement with what they’re doing. Movements and hand gestures can mean that you want to talk.

Your instant expression can tell people about your likings or disliking, and those who are supposed to make decisions as per the inclinations of their audiences always notice such gestures and postures.

5) Regulation of communication flow

We use a variety of signs to tell people that we’ve finished speaking or that we want to talk. For example, an emphatic nod and a firm lip closure suggest that we have nothing more to say.

Contacting the chair of a meeting with your eye and slightly nodding will indicate you want to talk.

Types of Nonverbal communication

1) Facial Expressions

They are responsible for an enormous proportion of nonverbal communication.

Consider how much information a smile or a frown can convey.

Although nonverbal communication and actions can vary dramatically across cultures, the facial expressions of joy, sorrow, frustration, and fear all over the world are identical.

While making any conversation with anybody, we always notice their facial expressions to gauge one’s inner feelings.

2) Gestures

Purposeful movements and indicators are an essential means of communicating meaning without using the verbal means of communication.

Common gestures include waving, pointing, and indicating numerical amounts using fingers. Some many other actions and gestures are arbitrary and they vary with different cultures.

Business communications, government offices, schools, meeting rooms, and professional gatherings, practise different types of gestures that play a significant role as the nonverbal communication medium.

 3) Paralinguistic

Paralinguistic applies to vocalisation that is distinct from the language itself.

This covers aspects such as your voice tone while talking to someone, the intonation, modulation or pitch of your voice tell some critical details about what is going on your head while speaking anything.

So, paying heed to the powerful impact on the interpretation of a sentence that the tone of voice can have is one crucial aspect of nonverbal communication.

Loud voice tone might interpret enthusiasm or dissent.

Similar words said in a hesitant voice might convey a lack of interest or disapproval.

So, it is all about the nonverbal representation of a language that plays the role of the deciding factors.

4) Body Language and posture

Body language can be seen as hand gestures or nodding or shaking of the head or the way you are sitting, how your hands are positions. Etc.

It is often the most accessible item to regulate in non-verbal communication.

Posture is the defined position in which we stand, walk or sit.

5) Eye contact or eye gaze

The degree of confidence in one’s speech, discussion or interview session is often measured by the kind of eye contact they have.

The eyes play a significant role in nonverbal communication, and effective nonverbal habits include things like gazing, concentrating and blinking.

The rate of blinking increases when people encounter people or things they like and pupils dilate. Looking at someone else may signify a variety of emotions like aggression, desire, and attraction.

We also use eye contact as a means of determining whether someone is honest.

Regular, constant eye contact is often taken as a sign that a person tells the truth and is trustworthy. But on the other side, duplicitous eyes and an inability to maintain eye contact are often seen as a sign of deception or being manipulative.

6) Closeness or Proxemics

This determines the closeness and intimacy and may differ from culture to culture, person to person and profession to profession.

It can also be referred to as personal space.

The kind of closeness, compassion or intimacy that you show towards others plays a crucial role in nonverbal communication.

For instance, when you have a casual conversation with someone, it is suggested that you can have a distance between 1.5 feet to 4 feet. While at the time when you speak to a crowd, it is advised to have a personal range of 10 to 15 feet.

7) Physiological Changes

When you’re anxious, you can sweat or twitch more, and your heart rate may also rise.

These are almost difficult to monitor and are thus a potent mental state predictor actively.

Different such sorts of signals act as the nonverbal means of communication, and it tells about the kind of discomfort one is going through in the process.

8) Artefacts

The use of different types of images or objects also plays vital roles as a powerful means of nonverbal communication.

They play a crucial role in your personality, brand tone, and other vital signals.

When you go to an office, the décor of the interiors or exteriors play a crucial role in impacting people’s subconscious and telling them about the kind of person you are.

Kind of images used on a website or one’s online profile tells a lot about one’s personality.

9) Appearance

How you appear yourself at any event, interview or occasion also plays a crucial role in nonverbal communication.

So, your clothing, choices of colours, hairstyles, etc. are some of the factors you need to pay heed to for making your presence more impactful.

Importance of Nonverbal Communication

The importance of non-verbal communications is that it is not generally faked and in most cases is instinctive and is used to show emotions like anger, happiness, sadness, pleasure, anxiety, annoyance, hurt, curiosity, interest, and hope. Sometimes it is not easy to interpret non-verbal signals because it does not have any fixed meaning and might differ from individual to individual.

Non-verbal communication has been described as an effectual process because the message is delivered and communicated more accurately than verbal communication. It is a fact that when a person speaks it is not just with words as his whole body is involved somehow or the other. Suppose you meet a friend then the smile on your face is more radiant but if you see someone you are not comfortable with then your fidgety behavior will show your unease.

The non-verbal communication is not always intended and in most cases is an automatic or instinctive reaction because people are also less conscious about it than the verbal one. The importance of non-verbal communication is that it gives credence to the verbal one if both are synchronized at the time of speaking.

1. Helps in Better Understanding and Communication

Non-verbal mode of communication can exist with or without verbal communication and has a significant role in making a good impact. This interpersonal communication makes a strong and long-lasting impression that either compliments or can also contradict verbal communication with a glance or gesture.

The importance of non-verbal communication is that it begets a better understanding of individuals or even groups. Sometimes a person shows great self-confidence while talking verbally and it becomes impossible to determine any adverse nuances from his words. It is at this time that non-verbal communication proves a stroke of luck and helps the listener to come to a better understanding.

The posture of the speaker might be confident but he will leave certain signals showing his true intention, for instance, is there an eye contact and is his facial expression too calm and collected.

Is the non-verbal signals matching his verbal tone is an important question that the listener should pay close attention to if he is looking for the truth of the statements.

2. Helps in different processes in Business

It is a fact that non-verbal communication is mostly contextual in nature but without its help, verbal communication remains incomplete. In few cases, it is in itself a complete statement and you do not need words to put your thoughts across but mostly it is a companion of verbal communication so as to emphasize the importance of the situation. The business has numerous demands of its own and it is important for the owner or the management to have an upper hand in business dealings that can prove a blessing for them.

The importance of non-verbal communication is that it helps in numerous aspects of business for instance in the hiring process. During interviews, the human resource department can easily make assumptions during a face-to-face meet and determine which applicants they want to see in the next round.

Similarly, it is easier for the experienced managers or management team to decipher the expressions of other employees, for instance, are they maintaining eye contact or are squirming in their chair or is the employee showing an interest in the conversation or is he looking at his watch on a continuous basis? Non-verbal communication is a great indicator that depicts the truth about the intention and trustworthiness of an individual’s character.

3. Helps to emphasize your main points

Non-verbal communication is actually a silent form of sending a message to someone without using words or any form of speech. It is influential by nature and is often successful in grabbing the attention of its audience. When the non-verbal signal is contradictory to verbal communication remember it is the time to be cautious and to pay close attention to what is being said. It is a fact that even silence has a deeper meaning of its own.

A person can understand better if verbal communication is accompanied by non-verbal signals for instance when a person says he is having a headache it is natural for his hand to touch his forehead to indicate the extreme pain. Similarly, if a person is interested in pointing out to a certain part of a message he can deepen his tone and put a serious facial expression during that time to accentuate his point.

The importance of non-verbal communication during important conversations is that it can help to emphasize certain points that are vital to that conversation. Some signs like anger, smile or aggression can help a person in making a particular point easily.

4. It is important in the workplace

Depending upon the profession an individual has to spend a greater part of his day in his workplace. He has to take immense care of his non-verbal communication so that his actions or gestures are not taken otherwise. In order to maintain a cordial workplace relationship, a person needs to show his enthusiasm for the job through an exciting look instead of a monotonous facial expression.

Remember it is the non-verbal signal that actually gives out the accurate vibes about your feelings to others hence put a smile on your face while entering the workplace, nod when listening to others and maintain eye contact to show that you are interested in whatever is spoken to you.

The importance of non-verbal communication is that it is a great help in maintaining workplace efficiency.

5. It is important for babies and children

A child relies on non-verbal communication since the time of his birth. He does not know the language or has any verbal means to speak the words and tell about his wants and needs to his parents or people close to him. It is the non-verbal communication that is a godsend at this point in time. A child cries frequently to make his mother or caretaker signify that something is wrong.

He might have been bedwetting and the cry is for someone to change his diaper. When the child is hungry he cries until his hunger is satisfied. After some months he starts recognizing faces and smiles after seeing some of the familiar ones.

The cooing sounds that parents make while interacting with a small child do not have any meaning but signify a rapport and non-verbal communication to the baby. It is a fact that words are not needed to express emotions to children because a warm hug, a smile or a warm greeting are enough to make them feel secure. Even before we utter a word the baby or the child observes the body gestures and can interpret the meaning through facial expression.

A baby or a child trusts the non-verbal communication and believes then to be true and as the gestures and expression are mostly unconscious people tend to rely on them more than the words which can be meaningless.

6. Non-verbal communication reinforces the words

The symbolic messages attached to words are observed and interpreted by people even before they hear the actual words. For instance when a person is asking you something and you want to reply yes or no you will always nod your head to signify an affirmative or negative answer.

Suppose you see a friend and he looks tired to you. When you ask him how he is feeling he might reply ok but his sad and tired expression might indicate that he is not as fine as he is saying. The importance of non-verbal communication is that it gives credence to the words so that the listener can actually believe about the things that are said to him.

The tone of voice, expression, gestures like a sigh or a shrug and emotions like smile, warmth or angry face are all indicators of your true feelings. When movements are accompanied by words it helps the listener to identify the actual meaning because the action is reinforcing the validity of the statement.

Non-verbal communication can have a significant impact on the audience and interaction performance.

Nonverbal words depend upon the way one listens, looks, moves, and talks.

When the words you say suit your nonverbal signals, they improve confidence, understanding, and relationship. On the other hand, they can create tension, mistrust, and confusion if they don’t.

During interviews and networking sessions, most candidates carefully plan what they are going to say and how they are going to appear.

Knowing what you’re going to say is just part of the picture that you are going to create with your appearance.

It’s just as important to understand how thoughts can be conveyed through your body language. Your success in interviewing and networking will depend mainly on the impression people get from you and how they react to what you say.

Role of Nonverbal Communication

Repetition: It focuses on repeating and often confirming the message that you are verbally making.

Paradox: It might contradict the message that is being conveyed, thus making a doubt in the mind of the listener of whether one is speaking the truth or not. So it can work as a paradox as well.

Substitution: It can replace a verbal post. Your facial expression, for example, frequently conveys a meaning far more vivid than words can ever have.

Complementing: It can add to your verbal message or compliment this. As a manager, it can improve the impact of your message if you pat an employee on the back besides giving praise.

Accenting: It can highlight or simplify a verbal message. For example, pounding the table will highlight the importance of your message.

Workplace Nonverbal Communication Tips

1) When you are participating in low-risk conversations, the sound of your voice and body language will play a key role in supporting your words

2) While listening to others at your workplace, you need to pay attention to the nonverbal messages that you show with your actions

3) You should beware of the distracting and nervous habits, as this may dilute your intention

4) You should practice for the right gestures for business communications so that you can enhance the impact of your essential points

5) Managing emotions adeptly while communicating with someone so that you can make best out of essential conversations is also important

Nonverbal Miscommunication

How you express through the language of your body and nonverbal signals determines how others see you, how well they love and respect you, and whether they trust you or not. Sadly, without even realising it, often people are sending ambiguous or derogatory nonverbal signals.

When this occurs, partnerships and trust are harmed. It is crucial to understand how to use and perceive body language and develop your nonverbal communication skills if you want to communicate effectively, prevent misunderstandings, and maintain healthy, trusting relationships, both socially and professionally.

Improvement of Nonverbal communication

Nonverbal contact is a fast-flowing straight-and-forth process involving a full concentration on the perception of the moment. If you’re contemplating what you’re going to say next, checking your watch, or worrying about anything else, you’re almost sure you’re lacking nonverbal signals and not fully understanding what is being conveyed.

1. Managing stress: Stress affects your ability to speak. You are more likely to misread other people when you are stressed out, give contradictory or nonverbal signals off, and slip into inappropriate behavioural knee-jerk patterns. So remember: there are infectious feelings. If you’re upset, it’s likely to upset others, making a bad situation worse.
2. Emotional awareness: emotional awareness is significant to improve nonverbal communication skills. It helps to understand better and establishes the trust between two people stronger.

Conclusion

While the secret to success in professional and personal relationships resides in your ability to interact effectively, the loudest language is not the phrases you use, but the nonverbal signals or “body language.”

Body language is the use of body gestures, words, and mannerisms for nonverbal communication often performed unconsciously rather than intentionally.

There may be two different things that come out of your mouth and what you express through your body language. When you say one thing, then you mean something else in your body language, the audience will probably feel you’re dishonest. With the betterment skills of nonverbal communication, however, one can convey and connect with others in a transparent manner.

Non-verbal communication is an intricate and essential part of the overall communication competencies.

Individuals are often entirely unaware of their non-verbal behaviour, though.

In comparison to what is already spoken, a simple understanding of non-verbal communication techniques will help improve interaction with others. Knowing these signs can be used to encourage people to talk.

What are your thoughts about the importance of non-verbal communication in leadership and business management?

Did we miss any of the critical characteristics of nonverbal communication? Share with us in the comments below.

The importance of non-verbal communication

Human language is a remarkably complex form of communication, consisting of countless languages and ever growing dialects and colloquialisms. Despite the vast array of language differences, one constant persists – non-verbal aspects of communication remain stable and universal.

The ways in which your body either emphasizes or contradicts spoken words is just as important as the words you use, or even more so, in those moments when actions speak louder than words. This is known as non-verbal communication, non-verbal cues, or often described as body language (kinesics).

Non-verbal communication is information that is passed without the use of spoken or written words. The non-verbal platform includes eye contact (oculesics) or the lack thereof, facial expressions, gestures, posture, personal appearance, the physical environment and the artefacts/objects that compose it, touch (haptics), paralanguage (vocalics), the use of time (chronemics), and the distance between you and your audience (proxemics).

For example, when interviewing for a job, we might not realize that employers will evaluate what we do as much as what we say. Crossed arms can imply defensiveness, poor posture may seem unprofessional, and a downward gaze (avoiding eye contact) will draw away from the confident impression we want to give.

Verbal and non-verbal communication

Verbal and non-verbal communication occur simultaneously, with the latter generally being under less cognitive control and revealing more of what we actually think and feel. Body language, facial expressions and vocal characteristics are not easy to control, whereas verbal communication is done intentionally and is easier to manipulate. As a result, we have more faith in non-verbal cues than what is actually said. If a person says one thing, but sends a contradicting message non-verbally, the receiver is more likely to trust the non-verbal signal.

Therefore, having a conscious awareness of your non-verbal communication while verbally communicating can help others receive messages the way you actually intended to give them. Also, don´t be “all talk and no substance”. Next time you want to make a positive impression, make sure you have not only prepared what you are going to say, but that you have practiced conveying your messages through appropriate body language (practice makes interview perfect).

There is countless research regarding types, effects, and expressions of unspoken communication and behaviour. To narrow it down, we will repeat the basics offered by psychologists Paul Ekman and Wallace Friesen (1969), who identified six important ways how non-verbal communication can interact with our verbal discourse: repeating, conflicting, complementing, substituting, regulating and accenting.

What type of communication describes our body language?

• Repeating – using specific gestures to strengthen a verbal message (e.g. pointing to the object of discussion).
• Conflicting – when verbal and non-verbal messages within the same interaction send contradicting meaning. Conflicting messages often arise from feelings of confusion, indecision, or frustration (e.g. a friend saying how they had a great time during the party, but his voice sounds flat and his face lacks emotion).
• Complementing – the accuracy of understanding information is greater when the nonverbal and verbal complement each other. Messages have been shown to be correctly recalled to a greater degree when body language affirms the verbal exchange (e.g. saying you are happy and joyfully showing it too).
• Substituting – at times non-verbal behaviour is used as the sole channel for communication. A simple gesture can substitute words (e.g. shaking your head to say no).
• Regulating – we can use non-verbal signals to regulate speech. Called “turn-taking signals”, these gestures make it possible for us to alternate between speaking and listening (e.g. touching someone´s arm can signal that you want to talk next).
• Accenting – when we use non-verbal signals to emphasize our words. Good speakers will know when to use strong gestures, deliberate pauses, changes in vocal volume or speech rate, etc. (e.g. someone who is verbally expressing anger may accent the message by speaking very loudly).

Respectively, we can agree that spoken language is normally used for communicating information about events external to the speaker, while non-verbal communication is used to create and maintain interpersonal relationships.

Body language in business communication

Going a step further is the analysis of non-verbal communication in business. Since business often involves recurring human interaction, understanding the elements of non-verbal cues can be a great asset when working with colleagues, teams, competitors, and current/potential clients. Managers will use body language to effectively lead employees and team members. On the other hand, employees and team members will use their body language to send messages outside the business.

Within MIUC´s BA Psychology module “The Basics of Interpersonal Skills: Experiential Groups”, the first-year student Tapanga Jansen tackled the topic of “The Power of Non-Verbal Communication in Sales”. Tapanga presented the theoretical and practical aspects of body language, its importance in the sales process of any company, and how it has an impact on the decision making process. Moreover, in her presentation she highlights different aspects of non-verbal communication both from the client´s and seller´s aspect, how certain connections with people can create a trustworthy, professional and credible environment, and consequently, how body language can add interest, clarity and trust. For tips on non-verbal communication that can make or break a sale, watch the following link.

To conclude, it must be said that to build good habits one must practice non-verbal communication and know what gestures are likely to resonate with your speaker (clients and prospects), as to improve the chances of making a good impression. Practicing non-verbal cues will ensure your skills are up to par. The more often you instate adequate body language, the more likely it will become second nature, and you will feel comfortable while networking. So instead of clammy hands and a sweaty brow, aim for establishing credibility and trust in your non-verbal behaviour. The less nervous you are, the better communication you will have, both verbally and non-verbally.

Eva Berkovic
Student Counsellor and Lecturer, MSc Psychology

What Is Non Verbal Communication, And Why Does It Matter?

You’ve probably heard about the importance of your body language. There is a lot of information thrown around about this, especially when it comes to job interviews. However, it’s often unclear what it really is and why it’s important. Below you’ll find the answer to what nonverbal communication is and why it’s so important for you to understand.

In the past, there have been many mentions of a study showing that only seven percent of communication is verbal. While this “rule” has largely been disproven, there’s still a lot to be said for the importance of nonverbal communication. In many cases, it will not remove the need for verbal communication, but when used correctly, it can help convey a more explicit message. Below, you’ll see more information on why nonverbal communication can be so beneficial.

What Is Nonverbal Communication?

Take A Step Forward With Nonverbal Communication

Improve your communication skills in therapy

Put merely, nonverbal communication is precisely like it sounds. It is the way that people communicate without using words. This can include things like:

Posture – The way that you hold your body or the way that you stand can communicate messages to other people. For example, if you are very interested in a conversation, you may find that you lean in towards the person that’s talking. Reclining back in your chair can show that you are comfortable and relaxed. If you are fidgeting and restless, it could indicate that you’re nervous or that you are impatient.

Eye Contact – The amount of eye contact that you make with people can also communicate with them. For example, if you are intently listening to something that someone is saying, it can help to make eye contact with them, so they know that you’re paying attention. However, holding eye contact for too long and not looking away can cause people to feel uncomfortable.

Facial Expressions – There are many ways that your facial expressions can communicate the emotions that you’re feeling or the things that you’re thinking to the people around you. Smiling can let people know that you are happy or friendly. Frowning communicates that you may be sad or concerned.   Furrowing your eyebrows can make you look angry or like you’re deep in thought.

Gestures – The hand gestures that you make can also add to the conversation that you’re having. Conversely, they can allow you to communicate with someone without having to say anything at all. For example, you can point directions out to people, or you can use your hand gestures to add to the message that you’re trying to communicate. For example, when using American Sign Language, the way you gesture can communicate the emotion that goes along with the words that you are signing.

Space – The amount of space that you leave between you and someone else can communicate your feelings as well. When two people sit very closely together with little space between them, it can show that they have an attraction to one another or that they’re in a close relationship. Alternately, if a person purposefully puts a lot of space between them and someone else, it can show that they’re not comfortable with the other person.

Touch – Physical touch can communicate all kinds of emotions. You can show compassion and empathy for someone by giving them a hug when they are sad. You can give a high-five to someone to show that you support them and are celebrating with them. Or, you may notice that small children hit one another to show their frustration and anger with a situation or person.

Why Is Nonverbal Communication Important?

While the majority of communication may be verbal, nonverbal communication can work to support the message that you are trying to convey. Here are some ways that nonverbal communication is so important:

It Helps People Understand What You’re Saying

The use of nonverbal communication can be used to help people have a better understanding of the message you’re trying to share. For example, if you are saying something important and you are using serious facial expressions and direct gestures, it can help them to understand the importance of what you’re communicating. Or, doing things like smiling and nodding your head approvingly can help communicate that you agree with what someone is saying.

It Can Show Confidence

One example that is often given in conversations about nonverbal communication is how you can use your body language to convey confidence during job interviews. By keeping your shoulders back, your head up, and making eye contact with another person, you portray that you are a confident person. Even if you’re not feeling particularly confident at that moment, you can communicate that message to someone else by your nonverbal communication.

It Helps You Make A Good First Impression

It has been found that people make their first impression of you in the first seven seconds after meeting you. You may not have been able to verbally say anything in those first seven seconds of meeting someone. This means that they are making their judgment of you off of your body language and nonverbal cues. In some situations, it can be difficult to overcome a bad first impression. This is another reason why it’s important to pay attention to what you’re communicating non-verbally to others.

Learning To Read Nonverbal Communication In Others

It’s important to pay attention to what you’re communicating to others through your nonverbal communication. However, it’s also important that you learn how to read the nonverbal signals that you’re getting from others as well.

When people are talking to you, look for nonverbal cues as you listen. See if their facial expressions are communicating the same message that their words are. Pay attention to the position of their body and the eye contact that they’re making or not making with you. All of these things can help you get a clearer picture of the message that they are trying to convey to you.

Learning to read nonverbal communication can also help protect you in conversations where the other person may be trying to take advantage of you. By watching their nonverbal cues, you may be able to pick up on inconsistencies in what they’re saying to you.

How To Improve Nonverbal Communication

The good news is that just like learning to talk, nonverbal communication is a skill that you can learn and develop throughout your life. If you have had trouble with your body language in the past, here are some tips that can help you improve in this area.

Think About Your Physical Reactions

It’s helpful to pay attention to the physical reaction that you have as a result of your emotions. If you are under stress, you may not want to communicate that to the person that you’re talking to. However, you may scrunch your forehead or hold your body a certain way when you’re under stress. Learning how to recognize what your natural physical responses are can help you learn how to catch and correct them before communicating something that you don’t want to communicate with others.

Get In-Touch With Your Emotions

Getting in touch with your emotions can also help you to control your nonverbal responses. It’s hard to choose what the right body language is if you have a hard time understanding what emotion you’re experiencing at any given time.

The basic emotions include happiness, sadness, fear, and anger. Learning how to recognize these symptoms in different situations can help you learn how to better control your nonverbal communication.

Practice In Front Of A Mirror

If you haven’t really thought about what you’re communicating through your body language and nonverbal communication before, you may be unaware of the signals that you are sending to other people. You may find it helpful to practice important conversations or messages in front of a mirror so you can see what you’re communicating non-verbally.

You can practice working through situations that happened to you regularly to watch what your responses are. This can help you look for areas that you may need to tweak to improve your communication efforts.

Work With A Therapist

Take A Step Forward With Nonverbal Communication

Improve your communication skills in therapy

If you continue to struggle with your communication skills, you may benefit from getting some outside help. Talking with a therapist can help you improve your verbal and nonverbal communication skills.

A licensed therapist can help you learn to recognize inconsistencies that you have in your communication and what strategies you can use to improve it. They can also help you recognize nonverbal cues that you use that you may not be catching on your own. If you are only able to do virtual therapy, like that offered at BetterHelp, the use of video sessions can still help a therapist observe your nonverbal communication.

The way that you communicate with others, verbally and non-verbally, can play a large role in the relationships and situations in your life. If you are struggling in this area, you will most likely find it well worth the time that you invest in making improvements.

 

How Much of Communication Is Nonverbal?

We’ve all heard that 90% of communication is nonverbal, but is there any truth to this adage? When someone reads a transcript of a politician’s impassioned speech, are they really missing out on the majority of the message? While the audience may get the essence of what’s being said, there will always be something lost in translation when nonverbal communication isn’t conveyed. Conversely, nonverbal communication can shed light on the hidden truth within a message.

Information is no longer limited to print. It’s delivered through social media, television, blogs, and other channels of communication. Professionals interested in a communications career have to concern themselves with not only what’s being said but how it’s said. Let’s take a look at how much of communication is nonverbal and how professionals with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication can use nonverbal signals to better their personal and professional lives.

The 55/38/7 Formula

The 90% figure wasn’t plucked out of thin air. It was Albert Mehrabian, a researcher of body language, who first broke down the components of a face-to-face conversation. He found that communication is 55% nonverbal, 38% vocal, and 7% words only. This is where the idea that the vast majority of communication is nonverbal originated, but does this really mean that less than 10% of information is conveyed in spoken words?

It turns out that the above formula was developed with a specific purpose in mind: comparing facial and vocal components to decipher a person’s attitude. According to Mehrabian, “When there are inconsistencies between attitudes communicated verbally and posturally, the postural component should dominate in determining the total attitude that is inferred.” Is 90% of communication nonverbal? No, information is conveyed verbally, but in a face-to-face conversation, body language and facial expressions can have an incredible impact on how information is interpreted.

In “The Definitive Book of Body Language,” Allan and Barbara Pease analyzed thousands of recorded sales negotiations from the 1970s and 1980s and found that body language accounted for the majority of the impact made negotiating. They also considered how the person with the strongest argument usually wins in negotiations over the phone but not always in face-to-face conversations. Although the idea that 90% of communication is nonverbal can be put to rest, a person’s body language and our first impression of them can heavily influence our decision-making.

The Power of Body Language

Now that we know that we know the important role nonverbal signals play in communication, how can we use body language and tone to communicate more effectively? Perhaps more importantly, how can we prevent nonverbal forms of communication from falsely influencing our perceptions of others?

Making a Good First Impression

If you’re interested in a communications career, you’ll come to learn the true value of a first impression. Allan and Barbara Pease also assert that when we meet people for the first time, we make snap judgments about their friendliness, assertiveness, and appearance. Without a single word being spoken, without even realizing it, people use nonverbal communication to size people up.

According to the 55/38/7 formula, nearly 40% of a person’s attitude is conveyed vocally through tone and inflection, so try to ensure that your tone matches whatever message you’re trying to convey. You can also try speaking in a deeper voice. Research has shown that people who speak with a low-pitched voice are rated more authoritative and competent than those who speak with a higher pitch.

Although people are rarely conscious of their body language and facial expressions, there are a couple of behaviors a person can tweak to improve their communication skills. For instance, research has shown that it takes conscious effort for a person to frown when looking at someone smiling—a smile is literally infectious. Research also shows that both men and women are more attracted to people who make eye contact and smile more often. A smile and just the right amount of eye contact can help you effectively convey information during first impressions and long after.

Hand gestures can not only express your thoughts but also convey your enthusiasm and passion for a topic. According to body language expert Dr. Carol Kinsey Goman, “Gesturing can help people form clearer thoughts, speak in tighter sentences and use more declarative language.” As with tone, try to ensure that your hand gestures match what you’re saying, otherwise people will notice the mismatch and may be less likely to trust you.

Interpreting Body Language

Body language can also provide insight into a person’s emotional condition. For example, you likely already know that someone who crosses their arms is guarded or discontent even when they claim the contrary. Reading body language is like learning a second language and can help separate perception from reality.

According to Dr. Jeff Thompson, we can better decipher nonverbal signals by remembering the three C’s of nonverbal communication: context, clusters, and congruence. We’ve already covered congruence—comparing spoken words to body language and tone. Applying context means better understanding the setting. For example, knowing that someone has anxiety can explain why they appear tense during a fireworks display. Finally, using clusters means using not one but multiple expressions or movements to influence our interpretation of a person’s body language. 

There’s So Much More to Communication

How much of communication is nonverbal? It may not be exactly 90%, but nonverbal communication—eye contact, smiling, hand gestures—heavily influences how people interpret and react to information. This is an important lesson to learn for anyone interested in a communications career, and it’s only the tip of the iceberg.

The University of Texas Permian Basin offers an online BA in communication program that teaches theories on communication with regard to human interactions, groups and organizations, intercultural interactions, and mass and social media. Whether you’re working toward a career in journalism, speechwriting, or social media, our online program can empower you with the skills needed to convey your message clearly and profoundly.

Learn more about UT Permian Basin’s online BA in communication program.

Sources:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/beyond-words/201109/is-nonverbal-communication-numbers-game

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/attraction-evolved/201906/deep-impact-asserting-authority-low-pitched-voice

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/201206/there-s-magic-in-your-smile

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleystahl/2017/09/13/5-body-language-tips-for-success/#295ea5246419

Use of non-verbal communication at work. Article. All Trainings .ru

“The most important thing in communication is to hear what is not said” – Peter F. Drucker.

Non-verbal communication is a way of conveying feelings or information without the use of words. It works hand in hand with verbal communication, but there are some differences between the two.

Non-verbal communication includes:

• body language (posture, gestures, movements),
• eye contact,
• tone and timbre of your voice,
• distance between people,
• touch,
• appearance (colors, symbols, etc.).

These unspoken signals are important because they are 12 to 13 times more powerful than our words. This means that when your colleagues and co-workers are listening to you, your gestures, voice, posture and eye contact actually speak louder. People subconsciously use your non-verbal cues as a roadmap to learn your intentions and then form an opinion about you. In this case, after talking with you, people will feel positive, without even knowing why. This will help you establish positive relationships in the workplace and earn the respect of your employees.

The biggest minus of non-verbal language is that a person cannot fully control it, since it mostly manifests itself unconsciously. This is because, historically, people used non-verbal communication before language existed. Non-verbal is the first form of language we used to express our needs. Non-verbal language is natural for a person, while verbal language needs to be learned.

Have you ever caught yourself in the middle of a conversation thinking: “Oh, I must gesticulate to be more open” . Or “stop looking around the room and look at me!” This is correct, but there are many more nuances. First, you need to understand how non-verbal language works.

Functions of non-verbal communication at 3 key levels

1. Enhances verbal communication.

Nonverbal cues and gestures can complement or emphasize our verbal messages. For example, such a gesture as hitting a table with a fist along with a scream emphasizes the emotions of anger. Using your hands makes your words more memorable.

2. Replaces verbal communication.

You don’t always have to talk to say something. Facial expression is universal. You can read a person’s feelings and know when their smile is “fake”. Therefore, you should understand that the facial expression should be consistent with what you broadcast to the person. Otherwise, it will be difficult for you to gain the trust of people and lead them along.

Smile at employees in the morning when you come to work. You may not have time to talk, but people will know that you are happy to work with them. This will infect employees with positivity and help create a positive impression of you without saying a word.

3. Contradicts verbal communication.

Most importantly, our nonverbal cues can conflict with our verbal messages.

This is the one that managers should pay special attention to work on because conflicting communication breeds mistrust and encourages your employees to question your authority.

Nobody likes ambiguous messages, especially from a leader. It is the leader’s responsibility to communicate his message clearly. Saying one thing and doing another is a fairly common leadership mistake. If oral communication and body language are incompatible, listeners are more likely to respond to the latter.

When can non-verbal communication fail?

Non-verbal communication is a powerful way to express your feelings and emotions. However, it can mislead you:

• False interpretation. For example, if an employee rests his head on his hand during a meeting, you might think that he is bored, when in fact he may be thinking about something completely different. Maybe the person is tired, or this position helps them focus. This example shows how quickly we make assumptions and that sometimes it’s important to dig deeper than you think.
• Loss of trust. If your non-verbal language tells one story and your spoken language another, people may question your authority. For example, if you give positive feedback to an employee, but do it in a low monotone voice, they will probably not believe your words and lose confidence in you. Pay attention to how you communicate the news to your employees. If they understand that your words are sincere, they will be much more willing to do their job at the proper level.

Self-knowledge

Increasing your self-knowledge skills improves your non-verbal communication.

According to Harvard University, the core of high emotional intelligence is self-awareness : If you do not understand your own feelings and emotions, it is almost impossible to develop an understanding of other people’s feelings and emotions.

If you want to send the right non-verbal message, you first need to become aware of your emotions and understand how they affect you – inside and out. For example, we know that our internal stress affects our external body language. If we learn to understand how we feel and what causes stress, we can better control not only our emotions, but also our body. When emotions are activated, they are accompanied by bodily changes, such as rapid breathing, muscle tension, reddening of the skin, etc. Emotional self-knowledge is the knowledge of one’s own body.

Tip. Ask yourself: In what situations do you feel certain emotions? Does your body language change with this feeling? Try jotting down your emotions every day in a daily journal, and then look for repetitions. Understanding is the first step to improvement.

Your Self-Knowledge Benefits: You will be able to send non-verbal cues that match your verbal intent, resulting in better understanding and trust from employees. You will learn to read the non-verbal messages of your employees and better understand their feelings and needs.

4 non-verbal communication tips for managers

1. Watch your body language (gestures, posture, movements).

Your body language conveys an emotional message to your audience. It tells the recipient that you are open or closed to them. If you want to build positive, trusting relationships with your peers and co-workers, your body language should be a visual cue for that.

5 language tips for gaining trust:

• Lean forward when speaking or listening to show interest.
• Nod your head to show that you are listening.
• Sit up straight! The leaning back posture shows disinterest.
• Keep your arms uncrossed, turn your legs and torso towards the interlocutor to show that you are open.

2. Maintain eye contact.

It has long been known that “the eyes are the mirror of the soul.” We can actually feel people’s emotions through eye contact (or lack of it). Maintaining eye contact during conversations with colleagues or co-workers will help you build trust. This will allow them to understand that you are listening and you care. It may sound trite, but it’s easy for a person to get distracted and their eyes wander, so making an effort to maintain eye contact is a good start to building a good relationship.

3. Remember your voice (tone, intonation).

Your tone of voice can convey a wealth of information, from enthusiasm to anger. Pay attention to how your tone of voice influences other people’s reactions. Try changing the tone of your voice to emphasize the ideas you would like to convey. Speak calmly and confidently.

4. Keep your hands where people can see them.

The first thing people see when they look at you is not your face, it’s your hands. They say a lot about a person. For example, open arms are a sign of honesty, while crossed arms can give the impression that you have something to hide. In your daily work, whether it’s giving feedback to an employee or presenting a new business strategy to your team, it’s best to keep your hands where they can see them to spark interest and build trust.

Remember that becoming aware of your emotions and body language will help you improve relationships with your employees, partners, and clients.

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MEANS OF NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION IN INFORMAL INTERNET COMMUNICATION

BYADMIN

Non-verbal communication funds in informal Internet communication

Collection of materials of the Conference “Language and Law: Actual Problems of Interaction”, 2017

Styukova Margarita Alekseevna
Court Courts of the Institute of Philology, Journalism and Intercultural Communication of the Southern Federal Federal University (Rostov-on-Don, Russia)

Melikyan Anna Vasilievna
Associate Professor of the Department of ICC and MPI of the Institute of Philology, Journalism and Intercultural Communication of the Southern Federal University (Rostov-on-Don, Russia)

Non-verbal communication funds in informal Internet communication in the conditions Society communication has many means for implementation. This is explained by the fact that thanks to scientific and technological progress, new means of transmitting information appear every year. The key point in the definition of communication remains unchanged: communication is the exchange of information between people, carried out through a common system of symbols (https://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/fin_enc/24002). Symbols, in turn, are quite productive and can be interpreted differently by each participant in the conversation. The symbol is polysemantic and is able to evoke new associations in a person’s thinking, since each opponent is a unique bearer of his culture, and also has special knowledge thanks to the communities in which he is a member (Martyanov, 2001, 197). It follows from this that every symbol used in communication needs to be interpreted and clarified.

Direct participation in the conversation of all subjects implies the possibility of realizing a free information exchange, which makes it possible to correctly interpret the symbols and signs used in the course of communication. Communication at the present stage is faced with the problem that, firstly, a person is not always able to accurately interpret the information that he receives, and secondly, situations are possible when the interlocutor conveys a certain meaning that was not originally implied in speech. Both of these occur due to the fact that not all subjects of communication have sufficient knowledge about what semantics the symbols and signs used by them in communication can have. To successfully exchange information, it is necessary to have knowledge that can prevent misunderstandings in communication.

First of all, it is worth distinguishing between types of communication, each of which has its own purpose and expected results. A.P. Panfilova, exploring the psychological aspects of communication, identified five types of communication:

• cognitive;
• convincing;
• expressive;
• suggestive;
• ritual (Panfilova, 2013)

Cognitive communication aims to expand the information fund of the interlocutor, and the result of such communication is the assimilation of the acquired knowledge. This type of communication does not require an understanding of human psychology, does not imply complex interpretation, since there should be no ambiguity in the simple process of transferring and assimilation of information. However, other types of communication are endowed with more complex mechanisms. Thus, persuasive communication is necessary in order to evoke certain feelings and emotions in the interlocutor, form value orientations and make them like-minded people. Expressive communication evokes a person’s psychological and emotional mood, conveys feelings, and encourages action. Suggestive communication has a suggestion and influence on the partner, provokes a change in attitudes and behavior. Finally, ritual communication is able to consolidate certain relationships between subjects, preserve established traditions and create new rituals (https://studme.org/12041005/management/tipy_kommunikatsii).

Communication can be classified according to several criteria:

• by communication channels;
• according to the method of establishing contact;
• in the form of communication.

Considering communication from the point of view of information transfer channels, one can distinguish formal and informal communications (https://studme.org/60901/psihologiya/formalnye_neformalnye_kanaly_kommunikatsiy) . Formal communication is regulated, carried out within the organization and caused by its needs, directed not at the organization as a whole, but at its specific members. Informal communication is carried out without any regulations and restrictions, it does not have clear channels and models, and therefore it is complex in its structure; as a rule, this is a live communication between people, where each interlocutor has the right to express his feelings and emotions, which are additional sources of information.

According to the method of establishing contact, direct (direct) and indirect (indirect) are distinguished. Direct communication is carried out in the form of a conversation or public speaking, providing an emotional impact, since information is exchanged with the simultaneous use of verbal and non-verbal means of communication. On the contrary, mediated communication, as a rule, is one-sided and is implemented in the modern world with the help of mass media and technical means (Konetskaya, 1997, 304). However, two-way mediated communication, which involves the interaction of participants in communication, is no less common today. Moreover, bilateral interaction today can be realized instantly by sending messages in various instant messengers, forums and social networks, which brings indirect communication as close as possible to direct, with the exception of the personal presence of communication participants.

Finally, according to the form of communication, communication is divided into: 1) verbal, 2) non-verbal. Verbal communication is carried out with the help of language, in other words, it is speech itself. Speech is understood as a natural sound language, which, being a universal means of communication, allows you to preserve the meaning of communication as much as possible (Vishnyakova, 1999). It is verbal communication that is a universal means of communication, encoding and transmission of information (ttp://vjanetta.narod.ru/lekcia8.html). However, non-verbal communication is of greater interest for our study, which, in turn, is a behavior that signals the nature of the interaction and the emotional state of the interlocutors (Kondakov, 2000). Non-verbal communication causes significant difficulties in interpretation, which means that its study is relevant today.

In this study, we set ourselves the goal of finding out whether mediated informal communication is capable of having non-verbal means of communication, and if so, with the help of what they are expressed.

To do this, let’s turn to the definition of non-verbal communication in the narrow and broad senses. In a narrow sense, non-verbal communication means means of communication, a system of non-verbal symbols, signs, codes used to transmit information (Labunskaya, 1999, 16). In a broad sense, non-verbal communication is identified with the term “non-verbal behavior”, and in its structure the unconscious complexes of movements occupy a fundamental place, which express the personal uniqueness of a person.

Thus, we have studied the concept of communication, characterized its types and types, which allowed us to single out exactly those aspects of communication that are of interest to us in further research.

The problem of studying non-verbal communication in mediated communication is relevant for linguists. Repeatedly, as a means of non-verbal communication, researchers noted emoticons, or “smilies” (http://www.meteor-city.top/neverbalnie-sredstva-internet). Emoticons are a stylized graphic representation of a smiling human face. Traditionally depicted as a yellow circle with two black dots representing the eyes and a black arc representing the mouth. The word emoticon is often used as a general term for any emoticon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BA). An emoticon, in turn, is a pictogram depicting an emotion. Most often, emoticons are made up using typographic signs (Lebedev, 2017)

Consider emoticons as an example, which are a means of non-verbal communication in indirect communication.

• Emoticon “smile”. It has a different graphic image in social networks and instant messengers, but its meaning remains the same.

The smiley below is the first in the world, was invented by Harvey Bell at 1963 and was originally conceived as a logo for the State Mutual Life Assurance Company of America. A few months later, the smiling face was everywhere.

A recognizable symbol for a smile was invented, but on the Internet the first smiley appeared on September 19, 1982. Scott Elliot Fahlman, a professor at the private Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the USA, suggested using combinations of characters (colon, dash and closing bracket) to indicate a smile. This is what Scott Fahlman’s message looked like:

19-Sep-82 11:44 Scott E Fahlman “:-)”

From: Scott E Fahlman

I propose that the following character sequence for joke markers: I propose to use the following sequence of characters to designate humorous messages:

“:-)”

The “smile” emoticon does not need explanation, because it is easy to interpret and is perceived by the participants of communication in the same way. Its use is multifunctional: a “smile” helps to share a good mood, soften a serious conversation, or show your interlocutor your disposition. It proved Dr. Owen Churches, scientist at the School of Psychology at Flinders University in Adelaide, who has researched emoji perception. As a result of the study, it was found that a person who looks at a smiling emoticon activates the same parts of the brain as if he saw a real smiling face ( https://blog.bufferapp.com/7-reasons-use-emoticons- writing-social-media-according-science ) .

Now let’s turn to the most popular emoticon at the time of March 21, 2016, when one of the popular social networks Twitter celebrated its tenth anniversary and provided some statistics. Thus, the “tears of joy” emoji was typed 14.5 billion times on Twitter, which made it possible to single it out as the most used one (https://meduza.io/shapito/2016/03/21/15-milliardov). It is important to add that the same emoticon became the word of 2015 according to the Oxford Dictionary. Although the emoji had many “rivals” from various fields, it was chosen as the “word” that best captures the spirit, mood and concerns of 2015.

“Tears of joy” can be used to depict the highest degree of laughter as a response to a joke:

In addition, the smiley can have connotations of irony and self-irony:

There are also emoticons that cause difficulties in understanding. For example, three emoticons depicting monkeys, which is a reference to the Buddhist idea of ​​not doing evil and detachment from the untrue (Trubnikova, 2017). Obviously, in the direct meaning, the emoticons below are not used as often as in figurative meanings.

To be convinced of this, it is enough to consider as examples several speech situations where there is no reference to the Buddhist idea:

We find it expedient to find out the answer to this question from the users themselves:

An answer was received, with the help of which we can conclude that this emoticon is used to convey feelings of shame, embarrassment, embarrassment. Indeed, the smiley displays shame and embarrassment:

However, this interpretation does not fully reflect reality, since users often experience difficulties in establishing the meaning of a smiley:

the number and ubiquity of use allow them to be used as an expression of emotions in a variety of speech situations.

There are also “stickers” – graphic images that allow you to express emotions and convey mood. It is believed that stickers are a logical continuation of emoticons, but with a more colorful implementation.

Stickers express complex emotions that can detect words and even actions within mediated communication.

In addition to emoticons and stickers, there is such a means of non-verbal communication as a “meme”. The concept of a meme was proposed back in 1976 by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, who considered a meme as a unit of cultural information that can be expressed as any idea, symbol, manner or mode of action, consciously and unconsciously transmitted by people through speech, writing, video, rituals and gestures. Dawkins compared all cultural information, which, in his opinion, consists of memes, with biological information, which consists of genes, therefore, memes, like genes, are subject to natural selection, mutation, and artificial selection (https://ru.wikipedia.org /wiki/%D0%9C%D0%B5%D0%BC#cite_note-:1-1).

At the moment, memes have become an integral part of popular culture. It should be clarified that when talking about memes, or, as Internet users began to call them, “memas”, “memes”, it means not so much a cultural code as funny images with some kind of postscript. The use of memes is for entertainment purposes at the moment. Considering memes as a means of non-verbal communication, we mean those speech situations when a communication participant shares a graphic image (meme) that expresses some emotion, instead of formulating the same using speech. Also, memes can replace some replicas.

The last, most interesting, in our opinion, method of non-verbal communication is punctuation and graphic design of the text. We note right away that we consider this method of communication exclusively within the framework of informal communication. This clarification is important, since business correspondence exists for other purposes and sets itself other tasks; informal communication, unlike formal communication, does not have strict regulations, it serves for personal communication, in which the expression of feelings and emotions is permissible, which means that it is in informal communication that non-verbal communication can exist.

Punctuation in linguistics is its section, which studies, firstly, punctuation marks, and secondly, their arrangement in writing. The history of Russian punctuation on the issue of the purpose and basics of punctuation identifies three fundamental areas:

• logical;
• syntactic;
• intonation.

Academician F. I. Buslaev studied the logical direction of punctuation, according to whom punctuation marks have a double meaning:

• promote clarity in the presentation of thoughts, separating one sentence from another or one part of it from another;
• express the sensations of the speaker’s face and his attitude towards the listener.

In modern times, S. I. Abakumov and A. B. Shapiro were engaged in the logical understanding of the foundations of Russian punctuation. Abakumov believed that the purpose of punctuation is to divide speech into parts that are significant for expressing thoughts when writing. He believed that although the use of punctuation marks in Russian writing is regulated by syntactic rules, the meaning of the statement still lies at the basis. A. B. Shapiro found that “the main role of punctuation is the designation of those semantic relationships and shades that, being important for understanding a written text, cannot be expressed by lexical and syntactic means” (Shapiro, 1955).

The syntactic direction in the study of punctuation became known thanks to the practice of teaching the Russian language. The representative of this trend, J.K. Grot, believed that punctuation marks illustrate the connection between sentences and parts of speech, which simplifies the oral understanding of written speech.

The followers of intonation theory L. V. Shcherba and A. M. Peshkovsky believed that punctuation serves to convey the rhythm and melody of a phrase, which in most cases expresses not grammatical, but declamatory-psychological dissection of speech.

Considering all directions in the study of Russian punctuation, it can be established that punctuation marks can be a means of expressing non-verbal communication. This proves the opinion of the linguist B. A. Shapiro. Indeed, with the help of punctuation marks, it is now possible to give the written text additional connotations.

The following are interesting for analysis:

• end-of-sentence signs;
• Redundancy of exclamation and question marks.

A dot is understood as a punctuation mark that separates the finished part of the text, and is also used in abbreviated spelling of words. In modern Internet communication, the meaning of the point is rethought by users. In the Russian-speaking virtual space, there is a tradition to use emoticons at the end of a sentence in order to demonstrate one’s disposition to communicate. The same function of emoticons is most often replaced by brackets, also a punctuation mark, which is a simplified version of a smile.

The use of a bracket as a smile symbol has become commonplace, so the absence of one makes it difficult for users to understand. Messages devoid of a bracket are perceived as neutral, but the presence of a period instead of a bracket or a smiley can give the statement a connotation of aggression, resentment, unwillingness to talk.

The study of the dot as a means of non-verbal communication is necessary, since some users see it as a negative value, while the rest of the participants in the correspondence use the dot according to the rules of punctuation of the Russian language. This is the reason for the incorrect interpretation of written speech.

As for exclamation and question marks, if they are used excessively, it can be said that they are used for the sake of:

• to attract attention
• additional emotional coloring
• emphasis on content

In addition to punctuation, non-verbal punctuation is a means of graphic design of the text. By text decoration, we mean additional tools that can transform text, in particular, the use of upper case keyboards. Uppercase looks like writing all letters in lowercase. The use of upper case writing of all letters is possible by pressing the “Caps Lock” key. Many modern authors use uppercase in the design of literary texts, which, of course, helps to focus the reader’s attention on certain words. The same thing happens in indirect communication, uppercase is widespread in personal Internet correspondence.

Uppercase is usually used in two cases: to attract attention:

To imitate a scream during a conflict:

Having studied the actual means of non-verbal communication in indirect communication, we can conclude that over time they are transformed , acquire new values; their meanings in many cases are known to each participant in the conversation, however, thanks to the examples considered, we found that certain means of non-verbal communication are not always unambiguous and often need to be clarified.

References

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8. Lebedev A. Leadership – § 143. Punctuation marks in non-standard situations
9. Martyanov V.S. Symbol as the basis of communication in culture // Culture and Civilization. Materials of the All-Russian scientific conference. Yekaterinburg, 17-18 Apr. 2001.: At 2 hours – Yekaterinburg, 2001 – Ch2. pp. 197-199.
10. Meme [Electronic resource] – Material from Wikipedia – the free encyclopedia – Free access: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%B5%D0%BC#cite_note-:1-1 – Head. From screen
11. Billions of emojis, millions of hashtags. All the most popular on Twitter – for the 10th anniversary of the service [Electronic resource] – Electr. Meduza Magazine – March 2016 – Free access: https://meduza.io/shapito/2016/03/21/15-milliardov – Head. from screen
12. Non-verbal methods of influence in Internet communication [Electronic resource] – Electr. Article – Meteor City Magazine – Popular science magazine about human development – ed. Smagina E. S. – 2017 Popular science journal about human development – Free access: http://www.meteor-city.top/neverbalnie-sredstva-internet – Zagl. from screen
13. The Oxford Dictionary named a smiley as its word of the year. Not the word “smiley”, but a smiley [Electronic resource] – Electr. Meduza magazine – November 2015 – Free access: https://meduza.io/shapito/2015/11/17/oksfordskiy-slovar-nazval-slovom-goda-smaylik-ne-slovo-smaylik-a-imenno-smaylik – Zagl. from screen
14. Panfilova AP Psychology of communication: a textbook for students. medium institutions. professional education / A.P. Panfilova. – M .: Publishing Center “Academy”, 2013. – 368 p.
15. Emoticon [Electronic resource] – Material from Wikipedia – the free encyclopedia – Free access: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BA – Title From screen
16. Collection of sand and stones (Shasekishu) / Translated from Old Japanese by Nadezhda Trubnikova. – M., St. Petersburg: – TsGI, 2017. – 656 p.
17. Types of communication [Electronic resource]: Studio Portal. Educational materials for students – Electron. text data. 2013-2017 – Access mode: free https://studme.org/12041005/management/tipy_kommunikatsii – Head. from screen
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19. Shapiro A. B.: Modern Russian language. Punctuation – Academy of Sciences of the USSR, M, 1955

Peculiarities of non-verbal communication of Russian and Vietnamese peoples

Bibliographic description:

Stepanova, NA Peculiarities of non-verbal communication of Russian and Vietnamese peoples / NA Stepanova. – Text: direct // Topical issues of modern psychology: materials of the V Intern. scientific conf. (Kazan, May 2018). – Kazan: Young scientist, 2018. – S. 22-27. — URL: https://moluch.ru/conf/psy/archive/302/14110/ (date of access: 04.10.2022).



The ability to read is acquired by reading books, but a much more necessary skill – the knowledge of the world – can be acquired only by reading a person and studying his various editions.

Chesterfield. Letters to son

In social psychology, it is customary to consider communication as a special type of psychological activity, the result of which is education and changes in the cognitive, emotional sphere of the individual, changes in the field of its relationships and relationships, in the forms of behavior and ways of addressing other people.

People can exchange different types of information at different levels of understanding. It is known that communication is not limited to oral or written messages. Manners, gestures, emotions play an important role in this process. Psychologists have found that in the process of human interaction, from 60 to 80% of communication is carried out through non-verbal means of expression, and only 20–40% of information is transmitted using verbal ones. These data make us think about the meaning of non-verbal communication for mutual understanding of people, pay attention to the meaning of gestures and facial expressions of a person, and also gives rise to a desire to master the art of interpreting this special language.

“What is non-verbal communication?” – sometimes many have heard this phrase, but not each of us understands what it means.

Non-verbal communication is a non-verbal form of communication that includes gestures, facial expressions, postures, visual contact, voice timbre, touch, and conveys figurative and emotional content.

A feature of non-verbal language is that its manifestation is due to the impulses of our subconscious and the lack of the ability to fake these impulses allows us to trust this language more than the usual verbal communication channel.

As the researchers emphasize, non-verbal communication sometimes gives us much more information than words. And the famous French writer F. La Rochefoucauld, who lived in the 17th century, argued: “In the sound of the voice, in the eyes and in the whole appearance of the speaker, there is no less eloquence than in the choice of words.”

Recently, this area of ​​interpersonal communication has increasingly attracted the attention of scientists and specialists. The fact is that the effect of most messages is created by non-verbal information.

Scientists emphasize that verbal and non-verbal means are important integral parts of a single communication system.

Communication is a creative game of the interlocutors’ intellectual and emotional forces, mutual learning of partners, comprehension of new knowledge in the course of discussing the subject of the conversation.

Non-verbal language is much more unstable and variable than linguistic means. The study of the language of the body and its parts is engaged in a science called “kinesics”. The well-known American anthropologist R. Birdwistell is considered its creator. At times, more can be said through non-verbal means than through words. The Australian specialist in “body language” A. Pease claims that 7% of information is transmitted with the help of words, sound means (including tone of voice, intonation, etc.) – 38%, facial expressions, gestures, postures (non-verbal communication) – 55 %.

Therefore, one can come to the conclusion that it is important not what is said, but how it is said.

Since ancient times, body language has always received a lot of attention. Body language played an important role in social relations in the Middle Ages. It is no coincidence that the culture of the Middle Ages is sometimes called the culture of gesture, or gesture culture.

And now gestures play an important role in socio-political, business and private life. “As some events of modern history show,” writes G. E. Kreidlin, “it is often enough to perform such symbolic gestures as an outstretched hand for a handshake or a benevolent smile, a pose to bow your head or take off your hat in front of a grave, so that the forces that bring to desired concrete results.

Kinetic means include a wide variety of touches – handshakes, kisses, strokes, hugs, etc.

The most common business touch is the handshake. According to Erasmus of Rotterdam, the handshake was introduced at the end of the 17th century. This gesture was conceived as a greeting of equals in status, since gestures to bow or take off the hat had an undesirable coloring of inequality between the gesticulator and the addressee.

Posture contains significant information about the state of a person, about his relationship with the interlocutor. Experts name about 1000 different poses.

Etiquette norms for the use of different postures, as well as gestures, are largely determined by the cultural traditions of peoples.

Different attitudes are observed towards such a pose as a deep bow. For example, among Europeans and Americans, this posture is regarded as a sign of humiliation and servility. And in Vietnam it is a sign of respect and humility. Not to bow means to show impoliteness and impoliteness, to violate the ethical standards of behavior.

Observations show that in the processes of communication 60% – 95% of information is transmitted precisely with the help of the non-verbal system.

Facial expressions are very important in the practice of business interaction. It is the face that attracts our gaze, and the facial expression gives feedback.

Since the face is a kind of crossroads at which non-verbal features appear, facial expressions are the most expressive.

“The face is the bearer of the richest communicative potential. This is a tool for conveying emotional states, it reflects interpersonal relationships, it provides non-verbal feedback on the actions of others, some scientists call it the main source of information after speech.

According to A. Pisa, the problem with lies lies precisely in the fact that our subconscious mind works automatically and independently of us. This is why our unconscious gestures can give us away when we lie. During deception, our subconscious mind throws out a bundle of nervous energy, which manifests itself in gestures.

The main sound means of oral speech is the voice. It conveys information about the physical and emotional state of a person, the degree of his upbringing and education. The human voice has a huge number of shades.

In speech, a barely noticeable change in the technique of pronunciation can create a sound that is completely different in meaning and meaning. The voice materializes intonation, which is considered a mandatory characteristic of sounding speech. The emotional state of a person is expressed in the voice: indifference, surprise, joy, etc.

In other words, in many cases, how we speak is more important than the words we say. So, having accepted a business card from a Vietnamese, you should immediately read it. If you put it in your pocket, you thereby inform the Vietnamese that he is considered an insignificant person. Another example of cultural differences in non-verbal communication is the tendency of the Vietnamese to react with bewilderment to the “stony expression” of the interlocutors’ faces, while the smile does not often stay on the faces of Russians and Germans.

Most researchers share the opinion that the verbal channel is used to convey information, while the non-verbal channel is used to “discuss” interpersonal relationships. For example, a woman in Russia can give a man a murderous look, and she will clearly convey her attitude to him without even opening her mouth.

Women in Vietnam are more sensitive than men and this explains the existence of such a thing as female intuition. Women in Russia also have an innate ability to notice non-verbal signals, so few husbands can deceive their wives, and, accordingly, most women can find out a man’s secret from his eyes.

In Vietnam, most men put on their coats starting from the right sleeve, while most women start putting on their coats from the left sleeve. When a man passes a woman on a crowded street, he usually turns his body towards the woman as he passes; the woman usually walks away, turning away from him. Does she do it instinctively, protecting her breasts? Is this a woman’s innate gesture, or has she learned it unconsciously from watching other women?

Most non-verbal gestures are learned, and the meaning of many movements and gestures is culturally determined. All over the world, the basic communication gestures do not differ from each other. When people are happy they smile, when they are sad they frown, when they are angry they look angry. This happens both in Russia and in Vietnam.

All of the above allows us to conclude that if you want to achieve certain results in relationships with partners or just colleagues, you need to get acquainted and master the country’s culture, customs and habits.

Knowing the language of gestures and body movements allows not only to better understand the interlocutor, but also to foresee what impression he heard on him even before he speaks on this matter. In other words, such wordless language can alert you to whether you need to change your behavior or do something else in order to achieve the desired result.

By learning to “read” other people’s gestures, you can recognize whether they are sincere or deceitful, whether they are friendly or hostile to you. You also need to remember that your acquaintances can make similar observations on your own behavior.

Scientific research in the field of linguistics has shown that there is a direct relationship between the social status, power, and prestige of a person and his vocabulary.

A person at the top of the social ladder may use the richness of their vocabulary in the process of communication, while a less educated person will rely more on gestures rather than words in the process of communication.

The combination of the two main channels of communication, both verbal and non-verbal, is the key to successful interaction between partners and just interlocutors.

Literature:

1. Pavlova LG Fundamentals of business communication. – Rostov n / a .: Phoenix, – 2008. – 311 p.
2. Deryabo S., Yasvin V. — Grandmaster of Communication — Meaning, 2000
3. Knapp M, Hall D. Non-verbal communication. – Textbook 6th international edition – St. Petersburg, 2004
4. Labunovskaya V. A. Non-verbal behavior (social-perceptual approach). – Rostov: Publishing house 1986
5. Pease Allan. Body language M .: Eksmo, – 2006
6. Borozdina GV Psychology of business communication: Textbook. – 2nd ed. – M: Infra – M, 2003. – 295 p.

Basic terms (automatically generated) : Vietnam, gesture, non-verbal communication, woman, posture, Russia, non-verbal communication, non-verbal language, vocabulary, emotional state of a person.

“Non-verbal means of communication”. “Visual contact”. Recommendations for teachers and parents MBDOU

Developed by educator: Butolina Yulia Nikolaevna

Introduction

Non-verbal communication is a “gesture language” that includes such forms of self-expression that do not rely on words and other speech symbols.

There are two problems of understanding non-verbal communication:
• firstly, in linguistic and verbal communication, the process of transmitting and receiving information is realized by both parties, while in non-verbal communication it is carried out at the unconscious or subconscious levels – this introduces some complication in understanding this phenomenon and raises the question of the justification for using the concept of “communication”. Therefore, some consider it acceptable to use, when it comes to non-verbal communication, another concept of “non-verbal behavior”, understanding it as the behavior of an individual that carries certain information in itself, regardless of whether the individual is aware of it or not;
• secondly, in many scientific works there is confusion in the concepts of “non-verbal communication”, “non-verbal communication”, “non-verbal behavior”, most often used as synonyms. However, it is important to separate these concepts and clarify the context. According to the definition proposed by V. A. Labunskaya, “non-verbal communication is a type of communication that is characterized by the use of non-verbal behavior and non-verbal communication as the main means of transmitting information, organizing interaction, forming an image and concept of a partner, exercising influence on another person.” Therefore, the concept of “non-verbal communication” is broader than the concept of “non-verbal communication”.

Associated with this problem are both well-established truths and questions that are still unanswered. It has been established that non-verbal ways of communication have two types of source of origin:
• biological evolution;
• culture.

Why do we need non-verbal means of communication?

Non-verbal means of communication are needed in order to:
1) regulate the process of communication, create psychological contact between partners;
2) to enrich the meanings conveyed by words, to guide the interpretation of a verbal text;
3) express emotions and reflect the interpretation of the situation.

Australian specialist A. Pease claims that 7% of information is transmitted with the help of words, 38% of sound means, facial expressions, gestures, postures – 55%. In other words, it is not so important what is said, but how it is done.

And although the opinions of experts in assessing the exact figures differ, it can be said with confidence that more than half of interpersonal communication is non-verbal communication. Therefore, listening to the interlocutor also means understanding sign language.

Charlie Chaplin and other silent film actors were the founders of non-verbal communication, for them it was the only means of communication on the screen. Each actor was classified as good or bad based on how they could use gestures and other body movements to communicate. When sound films became popular and less attention was paid to the non-verbal aspects of acting, many silent film actors left the stage, and actors with pronounced verbal abilities began to predominate on the screen.

Learning to understand nonverbal language is important for several reasons.
First, words can convey only factual knowledge, but to express feelings, words alone are often not enough. Feelings that are not amenable to verbal expression are transmitted in the language of non-verbal communication.
Secondly, knowledge of this language shows how much we can control ourselves. Non-verbal language tells us what people really think of us.
And, finally, non-verbal communication is especially valuable because it is spontaneous and manifests itself unconsciously. Therefore, despite the fact that people weigh their words and control their facial expressions, it is often possible for hidden feelings to leak through gestures, intonation and voice coloring. That is, non-verbal communication channels rarely provide false information, as they are less controllable than verbal communication.

Classifications of non-verbal means of communication.

In socio-psychological studies, various classifications of non-verbal means of communication have been developed, which include all body movements, intonation characteristics of the voice, tactile impact, spatial organization of communication.
It should be noted that the non-verbal behavior of the individual is semi-functional. Non-verbal behavior

• Creates an image of a communication partner;
• Expresses the quality and change in the relationship of communication partners, forms these relationships;
• Is an indicator of the actual mental states of the individual;
• Acts as a clarification, change in the understanding of the verbal message, enhances the emotional richness of what was said;
• Maintains an optimal level of psychological closeness between communicating;

Acts as an indicator of status-role relations.

The effectiveness of communication is determined not only by the degree of understanding of the interlocutor’s words. But also the ability to correctly assess the behavior of the participants in communication. Their facial expressions, gestures, movements, posture, gaze orientation, that is, to understand the language of non-verbal (verbal – “verbal, oral”) communication. This language allows the speaker to express his feelings more fully. Shows how the participants in the dialogue control themselves, how they really relate to each other.

What non-verbal elements should be paid attention to during communication.

Visual contact.
Of exceptionally great importance in communication is the look – a complex that includes the state of the pupils of the eyes (constriction or dilation), eye color, shine, cornea, position of the eyebrows, eyelids, forehead, duration and direction of the gaze. Psychologists have shown that the gaze of a communicating person is closely connected with the process of thought formation (R. Axline, L. Wintere). The birth of a thought is a difficult and very intimate process, so a person looks away when a thought is just being formed, and when it is ready, then the look is directed at the interlocutor. The speaker looks less at the partner – only to check his reaction. The listener in this sense is more active: he sends feedback signals to the speaker. If there is visual contact between the partners, there is a disposition to communicate, if not, it is worth considering whether it makes sense to continue it. To build a good relationship with the interlocutor, your gaze should meet his gaze for about 60-70% of the total time of communication. In business communication, you should not use dark glasses, as your partner will definitely have the feeling that you are looking at him point-blank. This will cause embarrassment and irritation, and the positive atmosphere of communication will be broken.

The most accurate signals about a person’s condition are transmitted with the help of the eyes, since the expansion or contraction of the pupil with constant illumination is beyond the control of consciousness. Excitement, interest, high spirits give the expansion of the pupil four times against the usual state. Depression, melancholy cause the pupil to narrow, and at the same time, “beady eyes” or “snake” eyes are obtained. By carefully observing the gaze of a partner, we can choose the most favorable moments for communication. Chinese and Turkish merchants successfully used this feature when negotiating the price of goods: if the buyer gets what he wants, his pupils expand. The success of famous poker players is based on observing the opponent’s pupils: dilated pupils signal the receipt of an excellent card, constricted pupils indicate bluffing.

In communication, the direction of the gaze is also important, that is, the part of the face or body to which it is directed.
With the help of the eyes, you can convey a variety of expressions, thanks to them we can carry out the process of managing the course of a conversation, provide feedback in human behavior. The look helps in the exchange of remarks, since most statements without the participation of the eyes would be meaningless.
Even interlocutors on the Internet need a variety of emoticons, which are a substitute for such a means of non-verbal communication as the exchange of views, facial expressions. After all, without seeing each other, it is much more difficult to convey the feelings experienced. Developers of instant messaging programs, improving their program characteristics, are trying to include and expand the function of eye expression, general facial expressions and various hand gestures. And, as practice shows, the demand for such programs like ICQ is very high. People crave full-fledged communication on the Web. And the appearance of video calls in cell phones and the installation of video equipment on a computer that allows you to communicate in an interactive mode, contemplating each other, is precisely the answer to the need for live communication at a remote distance.
Also, the look takes part in the expression of intimacy, frankness. With it, you can set the degree of proximity to a person.
In communication, the gaze, as a rule, performs an information search, for example, the listener looks at the speaker, and if he paused, silently expects to continue without interrupting eye contact; gives a signal about a free communication channel, for example, speaking with an eye sign, reports that the conversation is over; helps to establish and maintain social relationships when we are looking for a person’s gaze to enter into a conversation.

Views.

In psychology, there are several types of views, each of which carries very significant information about a person’s thoughts:
1. Business look – when we look at the forehead and into the eyes of the interlocutor. Often we behave this way when meeting with unfamiliar people, leaders and bosses.
2. Social gaze – when we direct our eyes to the area of ​​a person’s face in the area of ​​the mouth, nose and eyes. It is typical in situations of easy communication with friends and acquaintances.
3. Intimate gaze – passes through the interlocutor’s eye line and descends to a level below the chin, neck to other parts of the body. There may be dilation of the pupils, as a foretaste of pleasure.

It is more difficult for men to deceive their wives, girlfriends, as women can expose lies much faster by reading their eyes. How do they do it? First of all, according to the characteristic changes in the eyes due to contraction of the eye muscles. When trying to deceive, it is difficult for a person to withstand a gaze, he blinks and looks away. These signs can also be present with sadness, shame, disgust. If he experiences suffering, tears flow from his eyes, but they also appear with laughter and joy.

In any case, for the correct interpretation of non-verbal gestures, we take into account the environment, the context of circumstances. One thing can definitely be stated for sure: the expansion or contraction of the pupils, which occurs as a response to excitation, occurs involuntarily, without taking into account consciousness, the autonomic nervous system is involved in this. If the direction of the gaze can still be somehow controlled, then changing the pupils is beyond our control. When we talk about a person: “he has expressive eyes”, “she has an evil look”, “she jinxed me”, then we mean exactly the information obtained through non-verbal communication when observing a person’s pupils. Children abandoned by their parents have a dry, distant look, filled with the pain of loneliness, which gives them an adult expression. On the contrary, beloved and caressed babies look at the world in a completely different way.

Longitude of gaze can indicate the degree of interest. Staring, inseparable will tell you about the intention to find out some information from you or force you to obey. For couples in love, such a look serves as a signal to begin active courtship. If a close look is directed at a sleeping person, subconsciously he may experience anxiety, even wake up. Interestingly, in the animal world, a gaze serves as a signal for an impending attack, so there is nothing surprising when, feeling such a signal from an unfamiliar person, you experience anxiety and a desire to hide. With peripheral (lateral) vision, we are able to see objects and the environment around us, analyze the degree of danger.

Serial killers and maniacs look very different from the look of an ordinary person. All the previous behavior of a person up to a given point in time, the situations that he solves and the methods that he uses in eliminating problems – everything leaves an imprint on the expression of his eyes. A tired mother after a sleepless night with a baby, a pensioner living on crumbs, a student who did not receive a scholarship that he was counting on – everyone has peculiar expressions in their eyes. If, for example, you are in a close relationship with such people, you will definitely understand the reason for such a view.

The psychological essence of eye contact as an important element of non-verbal interaction can change under the influence of many variables, but it remains unshakable that eye contact indicates the types of certain relationships:
. “Distance”, positive pole – “inclusion” (relations of attachment, interest, acceptance). It corresponds to frequent, intense visual contact, obeying the rules in accordance with the role of the communicator and the recipient. The negative pole is “off” (detached, autonomous, alienated relationships). It corresponds to infrequent, non-intense or completely absent eye contact.
. “Position”, one pole of which consists of relations of “control” (dominance, power, suppression). These relationships correspond to such parameters as the intensity and duration of looking at the partner, especially at the moment of active communication or at the moment when the interlocutor states negative, but emotionally significant facts for him. “Position” is also represented by the pole “submission”. Relations that form this pole are characterized by “folded” eye contact, frequent and quick glances at the partner, as well as a rather persistent search for the partner’s gaze (looking into the eyes when the other does not want to make visual contact).
. “Valence”. On its positive pole there are relations of “emotional closeness” (goodwill, sympathy, friendship, disposition), and on the negative – relations of “emotional coldness” (hostility, negativism, suspicion, hostility). The relations of the “valence” group are transmitted through the intensity, frequency, duration of eye contact, but mainly the modality of the gaze and its psychophysiological characteristics testify to these relations. Hostility is transmitted not only through a gaze, but also through such indicators as coldness, harshness, etc., and friendliness is expressed through warm, affectionate eyes.

Conclusion.

There is even a special science – oculesics, which studies the language of the eyes and the visual behavior of people. This form of non-verbal communication takes place when two people look into each other’s eyes at the same time. Of course, eye contact can be interpreted differently in different cultures, but in general, eye contact is considered one of the most effective tools for establishing a connection between two people.

Eye contact is a science, which means that we can learn to control our gaze, its duration and frequency, but there are things that are beyond our control – the size of the pupils. At 19In 75, psychologist Eckhard Hess, founder of the unusual science of pupillometry (the science of measuring pupil dilation) – found out that pupils can respond to more than just light. When we are interested in the person we are talking to or the subject of the conversation, our pupils dilate. When we are bored, the pupils get smaller. To prove this, the next time you go out with a friend, talk about a topic that your friend is interested in, and then suddenly change the topic of conversation and start talking, for example, about the unemployment rate in Papua and Guinea. Watch how his pupils react.

By mastering the basics of the psychology of eye contact, you will be able to successfully establish both personal and professional relationships. Do not neglect the power of eye contact, but, on the contrary, you need to use it as much as possible.

References.
1. http://yandex.ru/yandsearch? clid=1972090.
2. boltyan.ru›lib_va/nayka/psih_ypr/0003_5.htm.
3. do.gendocs.ru›docs/index-359218.html…
4. boltyan.ru›lib_va/nayka/psih_ypr/0003_5.htm
5. http://yandex.ru/clck/jsredir?from= yandex.ru4.4740

Means of non-verbal communication and their use in the activities of the investigator

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Magomaev Khasan Said-Selimovich, master student
Saratov State Law Academy
Institute of Magistracy

Annotation . This article discusses the concept of non-verbal means of communication. These include gestures, movements of body parts, facial expressions, eye contact, and the position of the subject in the environment. which may indicate the falsity of the information provided by the person. Some tactical and psychological techniques used by the investigator in the course of investigative actions are being investigated. Non-verbal communication is the most ancient form of human communication. In interpersonal communication, non-verbal communication conveys 65% of all information. This is due to the fact that for successful communication, information is important not only of a representative nature (about objects, their location, ideas, phenomena of a given time), but also information of an evaluative nature, which makes it possible to determine the attitude of the interrogated person to the information transmitted to them.

Keywords : investigator, false testimony, non-verbal gestures, tactical and psychological techniques, investigative actions.

Criminalists have repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that the communication process during investigative actions is not limited to the verbal channel of information transfer. A significant part of the information needed for an investigation can be transmitted non-verbally. Non-verbal communication is understood as the exchange of messages using non-linguistic means, including gestures, movements of body parts, facial expressions, eye contact, and the position of the subject in the environment. Scientists have identified more than a thousand non-verbal signals. Thus, the psychologist Albert Meyerabyan found that the process of transmitting information occurs through verbal means (verbal form), in the amount of 7%, through sound means, including tone of voice, intonation of sound, -38%, and through non-verbal means – 55%.

When conducting investigative actions from the point of view of non-verbal behavior, the scene is based on two aspects. First, what is a person as a socialized person. Secondly, how and in what way this person reacts to the created investigative situation. In the course of investigative actions, the investigator and the psychologist analyze the oral speech of the participants in the process and receive important background information.

As the practice of communicating with persons under investigation shows, some signs of a person’s voice may indicate an attempt to give false testimony. At the same time, there is a very low emotional and informational background. This is directly related to the fact that the very process of giving false testimony cannot reflect the emotional experiences that he should have experienced, since they simply did not exist before. The investigator must understand that the perjurer is in a low emotional state, in contrast to the high significance of the information he provides. Although it is not necessary to unambiguously draw a conclusion about the falsity of the testimonies of the interrogated, since his behavior during the interrogation may be associated with psychological arousal.

Often, if there is time, some people who are preparing to give false testimony in advance will deliberately write their version. And when they testify, signs of memorization of the verbal formulation of allegedly truthful testimony are clearly revealed. Such oral speech can be unnaturally clear, with elements of a bookish style. When establishing such a sign of a lie, it is necessary to correlate it with other scientific methods for diagnosing lies, as well as with the language of subconscious gestures [1]. Further, in the system of non-verbal means, when giving evidence, clothes are of great importance, since when dressing, a person may not be aware of what information his appearance will convey. This external attribute can tell the investigator some psychological personality traits: well-bred tastes and habits, age, social circle, etc. [2]. The most important sources of non-verbal information include: the position of the hands, head and gestures associated with the touch of hands on various parts of the human body.

Thus, gestures associated with touching hands on different parts of the body, faces, can be interpreted as deception, indicating the speaker’s uncertainty. “Protecting the mouth with the hand clearly indicates that the person is not telling the truth. The nose touch is a veiled version of the previous gesture. Ear scratching indicates that the person wants to isolate himself from unpleasant words. Pulling back the collar indicates that the person is lying and suspects that his deceit has been discovered. Arms crossed on the chest indicate that a person is trying to isolate himself from undesirable circumstances. Rubbing his eyelids, a person who tells a lie tries not to look into the eyes of his interlocutor. At the same time, non-verbal information can be minimized by misleading the interlocutor with special gestures or the absence of such gestures” [3].

It is noted that the gestures listed above require careful preparation on the part of the person and cannot be controlled for a long time. Lies in such cases can be seen in micro movements that are poorly controlled by the person himself, but are clearly visible to others. In order to minimize errors in the interpretation of information obtained from the analysis of gestures, it is necessary to take into account all non-verbal means of the complex” [4]. Investigators need to remember that in order to fully control a person’s non-verbal behavior, it is necessary to put him on a chair and create good lighting in the room. A person’s non-verbal behavior may be due to the fact that he is fighting with himself on a subconscious level. At the same time, on the one hand, he understands that he needs to tell the investigator the truth. On the other hand, the interrogated person is aware that giving truthful testimony can create very unpleasant consequences for him.

And that is why a person’s lack of ability to get out of this situation is expressed in involuntary gestures. As soon as he begins to lie, his body reflexively makes certain movements, with the help of which he can be caught in a lie. “This is due to the fact that when a person lies, his subconscious sends nerve impulses that appear as a gesture and contradict what was said by the person” [5, p. 55].

During interrogation, there should be no artificial barriers between the investigator and the person giving evidence. For example, if the interrogated person was sitting at a table opposite the investigator, it would be easier for him to withstand the influence of the investigator. And if the interrogated person sits in a chair with his back to the front door, this, on the contrary, will increase the likelihood of a verbal impact on this person. In practice, to expose a lie, such a tactic as “invasion of a private zone” is recommended. Scientists believe that “each person considers the space around him with a radius of 50-60 cm. The investigator can approach the person being interrogated, breaking the line of this zone, asking questions. The investigator’s walk around the office in the immediate vicinity of the interrogated person, his personal zone, causes increased interest, attention to the words of the investigator” [6].

All these psychological-tactical techniques can be used by experienced investigators, for example, in conditions of severe conflict during the interrogation of a suspect. And their use must be strictly in accordance with the law. Their only main goal is to establish the truth in a particular case. So, in Art. 164. Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation p.4. it is clearly stated that in the course of investigative actions, the use of violence, threats and other illegal measures, as well as the creation of a danger to the life and health of persons participating in them, is unacceptable. At the same time, we must not forget that the investigator himself is a source of non-verbal information. Therefore, he must control both his verbal and non-verbal reactions. The investigator must in every possible way encourage the frankness of the interlocutor, the desire to convey to the investigation the facts of interest to him, the circumstances of the crime with all his appearance, gestures and remarks. The openness and goodwill of the investigator involuntarily give rise to goodwill and a desire to cooperate in response, and vice versa [7] non-verbal information coming from the subject has no evidentiary or procedural value. This information guides and determines the tactics of investigative actions. From the foregoing, we can conclude that it is necessary to carefully study the non-verbal behavior of persons involved in a criminal case as suspects or other status.

References

1. Lutsenko.O.A. The value of non-verbal communications in the investigation of crimes // Scientific notes. Collection of scientific papers.2015
2. Lutsenko O.A., Verbal and non-verbal communications in investigative actions//Scientific notes. Collection of scientific works.-2014.
3. Panasyuk A.Yu. What is in his subconscious? (12 lessons on psychotechnology of penetration into the subconscious of the interlocutor). M. Delo, 2016.
4. Protasevich A.A., Obraztsov V.A. Disclosure of murders: non-traditional methods, techniques, recommendations. Essays on the theory and practice of investigative work. Irkutsk. From IGEA, 2018.
5. Katsia T.V. Improvement of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation in the Aspect of the Doctrine of Abuse of Law // North Caucasian Legal Bulletin. 2009.
6. Issues of improving justice in Russia / Yu. A. Lyakhov, Yu. B. Chupilkin.// North Caucasian legal bulletin. -2008. – No. 4. – P. 24 –
7. Zinchenko S.A. Methodological approach in the concept of improving the general provisions of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and the status of legal entities // North Caucasian Legal Bulletin. 2009. No. 4.

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Non-verbal aspects of therapeutic communication | Journal of Practical Psychology and Psychoanalysis

Annotation

The article discusses the components of non-verbal communication, as well as the signals and meanings that they may have in the interaction of a psychotherapist and a client.

Key words: non-verbal communication, body language, psychotherapy.

Introduction

Non-verbal communication is a fundamental skill of effective human communication and a basic component of the therapist-client interaction. Non-verbal communication plays an important role in establishing contact with the client during the first meeting and in maintaining contact throughout the therapeutic interaction. The client’s non-verbal expressions reveal genuine emotions and interpersonal responses, the adaptive expression of which is an important part of therapeutic change. The nonverbal expressions of the therapist are equally important; they may encourage openness and exploration of the client’s problems, but may also lead to distrust and avoidance of the therapeutic interaction.

Non-verbal manifestations are more spontaneous than verbal ones and more difficult to control. Body language not only conveys what we want to express, but also betrays what we would like to hide. Through body language, which we use to a large extent unconsciously, the human personality, its needs and attitudes are expressed more directly and truthfully. “Indeed, when what a person expresses with the help of language (verbal communication channel) does not correspond to what he expresses with the body (non-verbal communication channel), his interaction partner pays more attention to non-verbal messages. This is likely because body language can be directly observed, is on the surface, and is harder to hide. Body language is more persuasive than words because of its natural spontaneity and resistance to falsification” (Cozzolino, 2009).

Non-verbal communication provides a number of important functions during the very first encounters between people. Three functions are central to establishing rapport: gathering information about each other; manifestation of intention to cooperate and friendliness and regulation and influence on interpersonal involvement (Tickle-Degnen & Gavett, 2003). In other words, the client is looking for information to answer the question: “Is this person kind; those whom I can trust; who will understand me; who can I work with and who can help me?” The therapist, in turn, is looking for an answer to the question: “Is this person someone I can appreciate; whom I can understand; those who trust me; who can I work with and who can I help?” The therapist also asks the question: can the other be a source of personal threat to him? In other words, both therapist and client, before they begin to work together on therapeutic goals, must very quickly achieve some initial understanding of the stranger in front of him. This largely hidden process of mutual cognition occurs largely at the level of reading non-verbal cues.

One of the main functions of non-verbal communication is the external manifestation of emotion. In non-verbal communication, important clues about the client’s true feelings can be found more quickly than in words. It happens that clients communicate the main message only non-verbally, sometimes without realizing it, and in doing so, they expect us to be insightful and involved. It is important for the therapist to be able to “read” both the client’s non-verbal behavior and their own non-verbal signals. Tracking non-verbal cues during a conversation allows you to reveal the meaning hidden in them. In dealing with internal reactions, the therapist is faced with conflicting demands: to be open to one’s own feelings and at the same time to refrain from their direct external expression. It is a difficult but worthwhile task.

The components of non-verbal communication, the signals and the meanings they can have in therapeutic interaction, will be considered next.

Components of non-verbal communication

Visual contact

The eyes are known to be the mirror of the soul, therefore visual contact is a key element of non-verbal communication. As K.S. Stanislavsky, “a look is a direct, direct communication in its purest form, from soul to soul” (quoted from: Labunskaya, 1999).

Gaze is an important element in establishing relationships and shaping the emotional involvement of the interlocutor. To meet eyes means to openly show interest, attention, understand, establish contact. According to Cozzolino (2009), in social listening situations, a person uses the gaze to supplement what they see with the information they hear. A person looks at the interlocutor more often (about 2 times) when he listens than when he speaks himself. At the end or when changing statements, the views of the interlocutors become more frequent. This is due to the need to determine how interested and attentive the interlocutor is. Also, visual interaction tends to become more intense towards the end of a conversation.

“Eye contact is the main element that creates the intimacy of a relationship, along with closeness in space, a smile and a tone of voice. Factors such as dependency and needs for attachment, acceptance and approval are expressed through communication patterns characterized by an increase in the frequency of the subject’s gaze at the interlocutor from whom such an attitude is expected . .. How others look at us, for how long and how often, affects our emotional and behavioral response” (Cozzolino, 2009).

We all know from everyday communication that eye contact is easily maintained when discussing a pleasant topic, but the interlocutors usually avoid it when it comes to emotionally affecting or unpleasant issues. When two people discuss an intimate topic, they look at each other less than when they talk about a neutral topic. If the speaker alternately looks into the eyes, then looks away, this usually means that he has not finished speaking yet. At the end of his message, the speaker, as a rule, makes this known by looking directly into the eyes of the interlocutor, as if thereby requesting a response and reading the very first, immediate reaction.

“People who do not recognize the influence of other people try to avoid eye contact. Eye avoidance has also been associated with negative emotions such as shame, embarrassment, and anxiety. However, this behavior also appears when a person wants to hide something from others” (Cozzolino, 2009). However, Cormier and Cormier (1998) note that “unfortunately, often counselors believe that avoiding eye contact indicates disrespect, embarrassment, lying, or depression; for some clients, less frequent eye contact is typical of their culture and is not evidence of any of the above.”

According to Sommers-Flanagan and Sommers-Flanagan (2006), too much staring makes many people feel uncomfortable and can be interpreted as a threat. “Imagine that the interlocutor is staring at you while you tell something deeply personal or cry. Eye contact is essential, but too much of the clinician’s gaze can be overpowering” (Sommers-Flanagan, Sommers-Flanagan, 2006). “The results of studies of visual behavior show that two interlocutors spend between 30 and 60% of the total interaction time exchanging glances, and that from 10 to 30% of this time is accounted for by simultaneous glances that last from 1 to 7 seconds” (Cozzolino, 2009). The ability to maintain eye contact until the other looks away is a trait that some people pride themselves on; there are those who immediately look away when the duration of eye contact is a little more than “permissible”. Eye contact for more than 7 seconds is rare and usually carries some important message: interest, desire for closeness, manifestations of participation and care, challenge, demonstration of power and dominance, manifestation of disagreement, stubbornness or arrogance. With different clients, the therapist may encounter all these manifestations, and in order to deal with them, not to succumb to difficulties, the therapist must be ready for continuous visual contact. It’s not about the game “Who will look over whom?”. But it is important for the therapist to be able to maintain direct eye contact for a sufficiently long time despite increasing discomfort. In this case, you can turn to the client with the question “What do you want to tell me with your look?”, thereby showing him that you are ready to face the tension that has arisen in your relationship. Any words from the therapist, such as “You don’t seem to agree with me” or “Are you mad at me?” – can be perceived quite differently, depending on whether the therapist maintains eye contact with the client at the time of their expression or looks away.

Some people find it difficult to make direct eye contact and therefore avoid it, some are afraid of expressing an idea or emotion and discussing certain topics and avert their eyes as soon as a frightening or painful topic is brought up in a conversation. The therapist can comment on the change if he feels it would be helpful to address the topic directly, and the client can deal with the increased anxiety. Difficulties in eye contact make sense as a potential source of information about the client and the therapeutic relationship.

Any couples usually “agree” on how much and when to look at each other, and such an agreement is carried out without words, at an unconscious level. The therapist may rely on his own automatic adjustment to establish the appropriate visual contact, but it is also useful to consciously evaluate the nature of the visual interaction from time to time.

Hill and O’Brien (1999) note that a lack of eye contact can cause the client to feel that the therapist is not interested, while too much eye contact can make the client feel uncomfortable, experience the other side is an attempt at dominance, control, infiltration and even absorption. This requires observation and tactful exploration from the therapist. Thus, for example, if the client avoids direct gaze, averts his eyes, and occasionally casts a sidelong glance at the therapist, then an examination of this fact may reveal that when his father scolded him for wrongdoings in childhood, he also demanded that he look him directly in the eyes. Some clients avoid eye contact during a conversation, but may still seek eye contact or pierce a goodbye when entering the office. Exploring the feelings behind such behavior can be an important focus of therapeutic work.

Facial Expression

Charles Darwin (Darwin and Ekman, 2013) believed that before prehistoric humans acquired language, facial expression was the means of expressing greeting, threat, and submission. It is this heritage of humanity, in his opinion, that explains why people of different cultures express basic emotions through similar facial expressions.

However, a person does not always want to show his true feelings for another person, so we all learned in due time to track and control our facial expressions. However, the manifestation of spontaneous feelings or strong emotions is very difficult to contain. In their initial form, against our will, they can, like a running line, flash across our face, and here it depends on the observation of the interlocutor and his skill to read from the first flashes of emotions, what remains hidden and what becomes obvious. If a person catches that he missed an unwanted reaction, then another facial expression may immediately follow, complementing the first facial expression. For example, after expressing anger or sadness on the face, we may immediately smile, as if to say, “I won’t go too far” or “I can handle it.”

Since it is precisely the mimic reactions of the interlocutor that clearly testify to his emotional response, let’s look at some of the manifestations of facial expression.

Angled brows by themselves usually convey disapproval, but if the listener occasionally wiggles his brows, he can thereby inform the speaker in a very economical way that he does not understand what was said. Clenched jaws can indicate firmness and confidence, as well as an aggressive attitude. Chin movements are associated with a person’s ability to assert-dominate. When a person tries to achieve respect for himself and to be appreciated, he tends to push his chin forward.

Fear, delight, or surprise can cause the listener to open their mouth, as if these feelings have no place inside. And a person with tense nostrils and lowered corners of the lips might say: “I breathe this air and I am near you, but I do not approve of this air or you.” The mouth opens partially or completely when there is a great desire to learn something, to understand, to talk, the same thing happens in a situation of surprise. But when we experience rejection, anger and unwillingness to perceive anything, our mouth closes, and our lips narrow and tighten. The defensive stance and reticence is often accompanied by tense lips.

“A smile is the key to mental well-being for those who give and receive it. In this sense, a smile is a kind of gift that people can exchange for their own pleasure” (Cozzolino, 2009). A smile has a multiple communicative function in human communication. A smile can express a desire for rapprochement or reconciliation. “Smiling tends to convey friendliness, but excessive smiling often reflects a need for approval… A forced smile in an unpleasant situation betrays feelings of apology and concern… A smile accompanied by raised eyebrows indicates submission, while a smile with lowered eyebrows expresses superiority “(Evsikova, 1999). In addition, a smile is often designed to hide something. So, for example, the client may feel anxious, but try to suppress its expression through a smile. To the sensitive observer, a hidden alarm can be revealed through a false smile.

“Women smile more often than men and thus stimulate positive reactions in other people. But the smile does not leave their face even when they feel uncomfortable or when they are excited (timid and shy women generally smile a lot). Men, on the other hand, when they are nervous, become restless and almost incapable of smiling” (Cozzolino, 2009).

“Some facial manifestations are associated with the communicative situation, others are more stable and permanently inherent in a person, regardless of the current situation. In this case, it is more about acquired facial expressions. The so-called wrinkles of bad mood around the mouth or wrinkles of sadness can also be found in those people who are not aware of such a state of their soul … There is a facial expression typical of a person, which arose as a result of experienced relationships and feelings and then became fixed as a stable expressive model. Constant facial expressions indicate the state of mind of a person in which he is most often ”(Cozzolino, 2009).

The therapist’s monitoring of mimic reactions (both his own and the client’s), understanding their significance can significantly enrich the process of therapeutic communication. Lee McCullough (1997) has proposed an ingenious way of addressing the perception of the therapist’s facial expressions as a corrective emotional experience for patients who have difficulty taking care of themselves and have a distorted perception of how other people treat them.

Client: It seems to me that you think that there is no good in me and that you do not have a very high opinion of me. [This reflects the distortions caused by past relationship patterns carried over into the present.]

Therapist: Did I do anything that left you with that impression? [Carefully begins to give a real perspective to counter the distortion.]

Client: No, I can’t think of anything. It just seemed that way to me.

Therapist: When you look at my face, do you think I think bad of you?

Client: No, your face doesn’t look like that at all. I think you don’t really… look down on me… but…

Therapist: Look at my face. What do you think I feel for you right now?

Customer: [glancing nervously at me] I have no idea!

Therapist: Maybe you don’t, but if you let your eyes linger on my face for a moment, you might feel something different. What do you think is coming from me now?

Client: [looks at me again] Your face looks a bit sad. Perhaps you are a little sad for me.

Therapist: Well, you told me a sad story, didn’t you?

Customer: Yes. And I would be sad too if someone told me this

(McCullough, 1997).

Non-verbal aspects of speech

The voice is an important means of expressing a whole range of subjective feelings and meanings. “Although humans perceive emotions through all of the senses, some research suggests that hearing provides more accurate discrimination of emotions than sight. This fact highlights the importance of vocal characteristics in the expression and perception of emotions… Competent clinicians use their vocal characteristics to strengthen emotional contact, interest in communication and empathy in order to place the accents of a conversation in a certain way ”(Sommers-Flanagan, Sommers-Flanagan, 2006) .

Of course, what the therapist says in response to what the client says is important, but how it is said is just as important. The most empathic and meaningful remark of the therapist can be ruined by a tone and intonation that does not correspond to the attitude conveyed. Voice characteristics are of particular importance in such a form of psychological assistance as telephone counseling, as well as during the first telephone conversation with a client. If your first telephone conversation with a client is not conducted in a calm and confident voice, but with interspersed with uncertainty or irritation, then the first meeting will most likely not take place. The client has every right to show in a telephone conversation the so-called signals of excitement – hitches, omissions of letters or words, repetitions, incompleteness of the phrase, while the therapist, as a rule, does not forgive manifestations of anxiety.

One and the same phrase, depending on intonation, can take on a different meaning. You can speak confidently and achingly, acceptingly and apologetically, jubilantly and dismissively. The pace of speech can tell a lot about the emotional state of a person. As a rule, the speed of speech increases when the speaker is excited, agitated or worried. The one who tries to convince his interlocutor also speaks quickly. Slow speech can indicate depression, arrogance, or fatigue. However, this may also indicate the opposite. Thus, therapists often deliberately speak slowly, carefully choosing their words and emphasizing their meaning. The client’s reaction to the therapist’s statements is largely related precisely to the non-verbal aspects of speech, so the therapist must constantly strive to expand the range of intonational expressiveness.

Fine and Glasser (2003) provide an example of how a slight accent can affect the client’s perception of the therapist’s opening question. See what happens to the meaning when the logical stress changes:

What brought you here? (What problem are you in?)

What brings you here? (Never thought you needed a therapist.)

What brings you here? (To a psychiatrist, just think) (Fine, Glasser, 2003).

Researchers of non-verbal aspects of speech distinguish such paralinguistic properties of speech as laughter, crying, yawning, grumbling, sighing, pauses and sounds like “uh”, “hmm” (Cozzolino, 2009). Perhaps the most relevant aspects of non-verbal communication in the therapeutic situation are pauses, crying, sounds like “hmm”, although in some cases laughter, yawns, sighs and grumblings of the client may be of particular importance.

Pauses and silences

“In ordinary conversations, people often become impatient and interrupt the interlocutor to express sympathy, advice, value judgments, or to share their own experience. Communication with a psychotherapist differs from this type of interaction, in particular, the importance of pauses and silence during the conversation. The silent pause and involvement of the therapist emphasizes the opportunity for the client to express himself more fully.

Pausing is one of the basic communication skills of a therapist. By pausing, the therapist gives the client the opportunity to speak. The presence of pauses creates a sense of slowness in the conversation, the thoughtfulness of what is happening, so you should not be too hasty to ask questions or comment on what the client said. The pause gives the client the opportunity to add something to what has already been said, to correct or clarify the message. Sometimes people need a long enough silence to “digest” what happened or cry before they start talking again. Another reason for silence may be the desire of both participants to stop for a while to comprehend and summarize what was previously said.

If the client falls silent, in most cases, the therapist should allow him to continue and express what was not said. Or, for example, if the client only non-verbally responded to what the therapist said, it is also worth maintaining silence, giving him the opportunity to think about what he heard and respond. We can say that a short pause is appropriate after almost any statement of the client, except for those that contain a question addressed to the therapist. The therapist’s silence can convey the following messages: “I want us to move a little slower” or “I want you to think more about what you just said” or “At this moment I am very attentive to your feelings.” The client, in turn, may pause to convey to the therapist a message: “I am approaching a topic that scares me and needs support” or “I am independent and do not need your sympathy.”

In many situations, the therapist’s silence is golden, but not always. Do not forget that the pause time is perceived in a special way in a conversation. An excessively long pause can cause anxiety and irritation. The acceptable duration of the pause depends on the client’s condition and the stage of psychotherapy. Despite the value of silence, we do not advise over-reliance on it until the therapeutic relationship is well established and the client has an understanding of the therapeutic process. At the initial stage of psychotherapy, the client may feel paralyzed if he does not know what the silent therapist expects from him.

The client’s silence may be resistance to inner work, evidence of a desire to hide, isolate and protect himself from other people, but avoiding silent pauses may also be an avoidance of immersion inward. “Silence is the most transparent and frequent form of resistance in psychoanalytic practice. This means that the patient is consciously or unconsciously reluctant to communicate his thoughts and feelings to the analyst… Sometimes, despite silence, the patient may involuntarily reveal the motive or content of the silence by his posture, movements and facial expression. Turning the head away, avoiding looking, covering the eyes with hands, hunched body posture on the couch, blushing face, may indicate embarrassment. If the patient at the same time absent-mindedly removes the wedding ring from her finger and then passes her little finger through it several times, she may be confused by thoughts of sexuality and adultery. Her silence shows that she has not yet become aware of these impulses and that there is a struggle between the urge to reveal and the opposing impulse to hide these feelings. Silence, however, can also have other meanings. For example, silence can be a repetition of a past event in which silence played an important role” (Greenson, 2003).

For novice counseling psychologists and psychotherapists, silence can be seen as something threatening, demonstrating their professional incompetence. This is how beginning therapists often describe periods of silence. As a result, there is a desire to say or ask at least something, just to break the silence. Usually in such cases, the therapist asks not the best question, which, as a rule, does not develop the course of the conversation. This situation arises whenever the therapist takes responsibility for the absence of pauses in the client’s speech. As if speaking is the only evidence that the client is doing important psychological work, and silence is just a waste of time.

Silence often has a similar effect on clients. They also feel the need to speak and feel the need to respond by filling in the gaps in the conversation. In this regard, there may be a collusion between the therapist and the client to fill the gaps with speaking. Realizing this, the therapist can correct the situation by inviting the client to be silent during the next pause and focus on internal experiences. Thus, silence can take on a different meaning. Focusing on inner experience (sensations, feelings, images, fantasies), a kind of silent focusing, takes time, and a pause in this situation is the most appropriate response of the therapist.

Tears and Crying

Psychoanalyst Sheldon Roth (2002) remarked: “Among the items included in the psychotherapist’s toolkit, the box of tissues comes first.” Many psychotherapists, especially those involved in long-term therapy and crisis intervention, will agree with this judgment. Clients are different: there are those who do not allow themselves to shed a tear and look disapprovingly at a box of tissues, those who start to sob in the first session and continue to do so for many months, there are those who, after several years of psychotherapy, can afford only an almost imperceptible moistening of the eyes, but then they pull themselves together and ask for an apology. Tears and crying are, of course, not an end in themselves, but these manifestations rather accompany the process of alleviating mental pain and healing.

If the client does not allow himself to cry in the session, even when it comes to painful and sad things, then most likely there is an internal prohibition against expressing such feelings. A study of this may, for example, reveal that even at the very first meeting, paying attention to the napkins in the office, the client said to himself: “Well, no. This will never happen”.

The recognition of one’s own limitations and the experience of hardships and losses are impossible without experiencing sorrow and tears, i.e. without the so-called work of grief. Tears help the client express pain and accept painful reality.

Laughter and humor

A sense of humor and infectious laughter are qualities that are highly valued in human communication. Jokes and laughter are rare in psychotherapy, but quite possible, especially at its final stage, because humor is one of the mature defenses and can reflect progress in treatment.

“Dostoevsky, that subtle researcher of human nature, aptly remarked: “A person’s laughter can tell much more about his character than a boring psychological examination.” It is noteworthy that it is not so easy for a neurotic to laugh heartily. He can afford a sardonic smirk or ironic smirk, such as a provincial actor playing a villain in an old play, because with such facial expressions the corners of the mouth still remain lowered. Sincere laughter is a sign of mental health, an invitation to friendliness, direct evidence of an open attitude to life” (May, 2012).

Humor gives a person the opportunity to create a distance in relation to anything, including in relation to oneself (Frankl, 1990). “Humor carries an element of forgiveness, as well as recognition of natural forces that are beyond our control … Humor helps to make the unbearable bearable, which, ultimately, is the main content of the psychotherapy process” (Rout, 2002). In addition, as Freud (1999) noted at the time, “wit is an outlet for feelings of hostility that cannot be satisfied in any other way . .. A joke allows us, by using something funny in our enemy, to express what we could not in the power of certain obstacles to express openly and consciously. A joke allows you to bribe the listener with the lure of pleasure, so that he, without delving into the problem, accepts our point of view.

Roth gives the example of a patient who at the beginning of the analysis said: “Psychoanalysis is like a marriage. I want it to be once in a lifetime!” “This remark was indicative of his hopes for his marriage and hinted at an emerging strong transference. At the same time, it spoke of his anxieties about the fact that he would need a long and difficult analysis for both of us … A sense of humor was discovered by his observing Ego, which was at some distance from his experiencing Ego and suggested that he had the ability for reflective self-observation ”( Roth, 2002).

Sometimes at the first consultation, you can ask the client about his favorite joke, which may reveal something important about him. I recall one client who came to counseling with a problem related to excessive drinking, but denied that he had an alcohol addiction. A few minutes later, he remembered and told the following joke: “When I drink one hundred grams, I become a different person, and he also wants to drink.” In every joke, as you know, there is some truth.

The presence of laughter and humor in the therapeutic relationship in moderate doses is a sign of a good atmosphere. In some situations, laughter is the best way to relieve tension. At the same time, we should not forget that such words as “ridicule” and “mock” reflect the negative side of this phenomenon. Laughter can have many meanings. Analyzing the client’s use of humor in the context of the therapeutic relationship can be an important source of information about the client.

Yawning

Yawning is evidence of a lack of interest and/or fatigue, hidden or overtly shown by the interlocutor. It can also express other feelings such as boredom, irritation, or neglect.

By yawning in your face, the client may express his attitude, but perhaps he just came to you just very tired. In some cases, yawning can become a serious obstacle to work. I remember a client who, at a moment when it was difficult to approach significant material, suddenly yawned and thus moved away to a safe distance from painful feelings. He himself later compared this moment with rebooting the computer, after which the process of turning inward had to be started all over again.

With some clients, it seems impossible to avoid feeling bored, and therefore, alas, some non-verbal manifestation of it. Thus, for example, with clients who start from afar and “beat around the bush,” the urge to yawn may be caught halfway through, but what has happened becomes obvious to the patient, unless, fortunately for the therapist, he does not look the other way.

Only those therapists who take their first steps in the profession do not feel bored and never yawn; they are all overwhelmed with anxiety. When communication with clients is no longer particularly disturbing to the therapist, when he sees a number of clients, especially one after another almost without interruption, and fatigue sets in, non-verbal manifestations of boredom are possible, although, of course, highly undesirable. If the emerging feeling of boredom becomes not a rare, fleeting phenomenon, but a stable experience with some particular client, then the therapist is faced with the task of dealing with his own countertransference. The psychoanalyst Wilfred Bion once remarked about this: “There are many ways in which a patient can bore you, understanding any of them is a very exciting undertaking.”

Space and distance in interaction

Space and distance in the process of interaction with another person is a living space filled with meanings that change depending on individual, interpersonal and sociocultural characteristics.

There are four distance zones: intimate, personal, social and public. “For every type of interaction between two people, there is some optimal distance, determined by the proportion of warmth and hostility in their relationship. About half a meter around our body is an intimate area intended for lovers, spouse, children and close family members. At this distance, we can touch another person, kiss, smell his body, see the pores and defects of his skin. When talking with friends and acquaintances, we are usually at a distance of half a meter to 1 m 20 cm from them. More formal business and social interactions occur at a distance of 1 m 20 cm to 2 m 75 cm. In even more formal situations ( for example, when negotiating with important persons or when addressing the public), distances of more than 2 m 75 cm are used” (Wilson, 2001).

Disrespect for another person’s personal space may be experienced as a violation of personal safety. The discrepancy in the participants’ assessment of the appropriate distance leads to the experience of discomfort, although sometimes people do not immediately realize what caused this. Being acquired in the course of learning, these patterns of regulation of personal space, as a rule, are beyond the scope of conscious control.

Generally, personal and social distancing are appropriate for seating arrangements in a therapist’s office, but this may vary from person to person. The therapist’s attention here should be directed, first of all, to individual differences in the perception of the boundaries of personal space. Some therapists place seating close enough, others far enough away. When the sofa is a place for the client, it allows him to choose exactly where and at what distance to sit. If the therapist is working with couples and families, there should be sufficient seating, and the way family members sit in relation to each other can signal tension between partners and coalitions between family members.

The initial arrangement of the chairs at a certain angle and at a certain distance sets the subsequent possibilities for the regulation of the contact boundary by both participants, so usually the chairs are placed at a distance of 1. 5–2 meters at a slight angle. There are three position options that allow both participants to adjust the physical distance: both sit, leaning on the back of the chair; one sits leaning on the back of the chair, and the other leaning forward; both therapist and client sit leaning forward towards each other. Depending on what happens during the session, there can be numerous changes in these positions, initiated by one or another side of the communication.

The therapist’s gentle and slight leaning forward can be experienced by the client, immersed in painful feelings, as support from the therapist, and vice versa, leaning back as a withdrawal and unwillingness to deal with his feelings. Too fast, sudden tilting by one of the participants sharply reduces the distance, which may be perceived by others as a challenge. So, for example, the therapist might say, “Well, I have listened to your complaints, and now I would like to know what you see as the causes of these difficulties?”, while leaning forward sharply. Such non-verbal behavior can lend undesirable meaning to a perfectly relevant question by the therapist. Conversely, if after this phrase the therapist deviates sharply back, the client may perceive this as an unwillingness to listen to his complaints and neglect to explain their reasons.

Separately, I would single out the position in which one of the participants sits on the edge of the chair and at the same time leans forward. This may be experienced by others as a strong shortening of the distance and a violation of personal boundaries, especially if this posture is maintained for a long time. I remember the initial consultation with the client, who settled down on the couch so as to be as close to me as possible, sat on the edge and, leaning forward, sat there for the entire time of the conversation. It is also characteristic that he immediately said that 50 minutes is too little time to tell his story. He wished to begin his story with prehistory – facts from his childhood. He spoke in a hurry, almost never pausing, while maintaining active, almost continuous eye contact. This caused me discomfort, which I tried to cope with by adapting to the distance set by the client, which I could not even temporarily reduce. I restrained my reactions, but apparently some of the discomfort I felt could be seen in my non-verbal reactions, but this did not lead to a change in the posture and manner of interaction on his part. At the same time, the client talked about his relationships with significant others, in which the topic of violation of personal boundaries was clearly sounded. Notable was his behavior after the completion of the consultation and agreement on the next meeting; standing at the door of his office, he turned to me three times with a question, which was preceded by the words “And now the very last question.”

A good therapist respects the psychological boundaries of the other person; he is mindful of physical distance and psychological intimacy that is comfortable for the client, and uses his own reactions as a source of information about the client’s characteristics.

Gestures

A gesture is an action by which a person signals to another person about his attitude and intentions. Most often, the gesture is made with the hands or the head, less often with other parts of the body. Active gestures in human communication often reflect positive emotions and are perceived as a sign of interest and friendliness.

The results of the analysis of a gesture as a means of expression show that: 1) a gesture is a silent action that does not interrupt speech and does not interfere with it; 2) with the help of a gesture as a single movement, a person can convey such an amount of information that he could not convey with a single word, but only with the help of a large number of words; 3) it takes a person much less time and cognitive effort to prepare a gesture than to prepare the corresponding verbal expression; 4) with the help of a gesture, you can express feedback to the sender of the message without interrupting it and without claiming the right to speak; 5) a gesture can clarify the potential ambiguity of the statement, explaining what exactly is being said; 6) with the help of a gesture, it is possible to express elements of experience or experience that are difficult to adequately convey in words.

Ekman and Friesen (1984) identified the following types of gestures.

Expressive gestures, or indicators of emotional state. These are gestures of contact, with the help of which a person shows his feelings and attitude towards the interlocutor.

Regulatory gestures. The sender and receiver use regulatory gestures to keep up the conversation, to determine the order of statements, or to control the interlocutor for one reason or another.

Illustrative gestures. With their help, a person explains, supplements what he expressed in words, places accents, emphasizes the main thing or strengthens the verbal statement.

Gestures of adaptation or self-control. The control of various parts of one’s own body or an external object, whereby a person unconsciously seeks to adapt to an unusual situation. These gestures are acquired mainly in childhood and constitute the repertoire of means of human self-regulation.

Client gestures may have hidden meanings that need to be unraveled. For example, Volkan (2012) cites the case of a patient who, during a certain period of analysis, before getting up from the couch, made an unconscious hand gesture from top to bottom. “I gradually figured out that he “magically” actuated the flush tank, as if my interpretations were feces that needed to be flushed down the toilet. This magical gesture was a direct expression of his resistance” (Volkan, 2012).

The extent to which gestures are used in therapeutic interactions with clients depends on the expressiveness of psychotherapists. A training film comes to mind in which Carl Rogers, Fritz Perls, and Albert Ellis conduct therapy interviews with the same client, Gloria. Carl Rogers throughout the conversation sat leaning forward and nodding his head often, in a way that probably no one else can. Fritz Perls reacted to the client’s words more directly, for example, spreading his arms to the sides and at the same time turning his head, expressed disagreement with the client. In addition, he repeatedly focused on the gestures of the client herself, for example, encouraging her to directly express her disagreement and aggression towards him. At one point, he “captured” her fleeting hand gesture with an index finger, repeated it himself, encouraging the client to use it: “Do this, and now talk to me like that.” Albert Ellis, on the other hand, accompanied his persuasive speeches with no less convincing hand gestures, as if by doing so he “hammered” his ideas into the client’s head.

Head nods

Head nods are a good way to show the client that you are listening. Nodding is direct confirmation to the client that you are following him step by step and understand what is being said. Appropriate use of nods allows the client to feel that the therapist is listening and following the flow of his reasoning. This simplest skill, if used consistently, begins to function as a feedback. The absence of nods communicates to the client a lack of understanding and the need for clarification, while their appearance indicates an understanding of what the client is trying to express. However, Sommers-Flanagan and Sommers-Flanagan (2006) emphasize the need for moderation in the use of head nods: “Too much head nodding can irritate the client. After a while, he starts to look away just to avoid seeing the interviewer’s constant nods. One younger client commented, “It looked like her [interviewer’s] head was attached to a spring rather than her neck.” So, head nods require a measure, if there are too many of them, they are more likely to annoy and confuse than to promote dialogue.

Postures

A posture is a position of the body that a person takes consciously or unconsciously, thereby showing his attitude towards other people and his own individual characteristics.

The emotional state affects the posture a person takes, since, on the one hand, emotions directly affect the physiology and bodily manifestations of a person, forcing him to involuntarily take one or another position, and on the other hand, a person can specifically take one or another pose to symbolize, to show their inner emotional states (Cozzolino, 2009). Of course, a person can also deliberately adopt a certain posture to hide their feelings.

Significantly simplifying the state of affairs, traditionally there are open and closed postures. An open posture is thought to be indicative of the therapist’s openness, receptivity, and acceptance. A closed posture, the obvious markers of which are crossing legs or arms, indicates less involvement in the conversation, may indicate a distance from another person or express a need for protection.

Claiborn (1979) found in a study that therapists’ expressive non-verbal behavior significantly increased clients’ assessments of their attractiveness and professional competence. Some forward leaning and open posture, with no crossed arms and legs, is the bodily posture that is generally recommended by counselors and therapists as optimal. An open position does not imply that, having taken it, the therapist will keep it unchanged throughout the session. An open posture will only make the right impression when it is relaxed and natural. The ideal situation can be considered when the adoption of an open posture is a natural, authentic behavior for the therapist. The typical choice is between an open, but to some extent uncomfortable, unnatural posture and a comfortable, but to some extent closed posture. In a situation where the therapist strives to maintain an uncompromisingly open posture, but at the same time all his attention is focused on the discomfort he experiences from this, it is perhaps better to take a closed but comfortable posture and concentrate on listening to the client.

Interaction synchrony

coordination of movements of people in the process of interaction. Synchrony can manifest itself as a similarity of movements, for example, when both people change position at the same time, as if in a mirror, or when people speak at the same speed. Being intensely involved in a conversation, you may suddenly notice that the body posture of the person with whom you are communicating is a mirror image of your own posture. Awareness of this mirroring phenomenon can also occur when a change in posture by one of the participants leads to a change in the posture of the interlocutor, a kind of unconscious following. This is easy to verify, for example, by deliberately yawning in a conversation with a friend, after which he is very likely to immediately follow you. Such a “bodily attunement” usually indicates a deep contact between two people. This alignment of non-verbal behavior in a couple occurs at an unconscious level.

Successful attunement of the therapist to the affective state of the client can lead to the involuntary emergence of the phenomenon of interaction synchrony as a consequence of genuine emotional contact between them. In addition, this phenomenon can be used consciously by therapists to attach to the client, induce trance and influence his state (as in Ericksonian hypnosis and NLP), but this requires a high mastery of this technique. According to Sommers-Flanagan and Sommers-Flanagan (2006), “The overuse or inept use of the mirroring technique can cause enormous harm.” The authors give an example of a psychiatrist who used this method with patients in a neuropsychiatric dispensary. Sometimes the results have been incredibly successful; in other cases, patients became angry and aggressive because they felt that the therapist was mimicking them. “Similarly, clients sometimes worry that the interviewer is using some kind of secret method to gain control over their psyche. They may notice that you are trying to imitate their movements and think that you are using a special psychological technique to manipulate their minds” (Sommers-Flanagan, Sommers-Flanagan, 2006).

Types of non-verbal messages

Non-verbal communication components are part of a wider communicative repertoire. Through non-verbal manifestations, a person can consciously or unconsciously supplement and modify his verbal message. Knapp (Knapp, 1978) identified 4 types of non-verbal messages that complement or modify verbal communication.

(1) Confirmation and repetition. Non-verbal behavior can confirm and repeat what was said in words. For example, if after the phrase “That’s enough for me,” the client decisively turns his head from side to side, then he gives more weight to his words and, as it were, repeats them. Or, if in response to the client’s expression of feelings related to the memory of a painful situation from the past, the therapist slowly nods his head with an empathic facial expression: “I understand how difficult it was for you at that moment,” then he nonverbally confirms the message of sympathy and understanding.

(2) Denial or obfuscation. Non-verbal behavior can negate or confuse the verbal message. If, in response to the question addressed to him, “It seems that I offended you with my criticism?” the person replies “No” in a trembling voice, then his non-verbal message denies what he said. An example of confusion is when a person says that he is angry with someone, but at the same time he smiles. In this case, the non-verbal response confuses the other. Smiling in this situation can mean: “I’m angry, but I’m very uncomfortable talking about it.”

(3) Reinforcement and emphasis. Non-verbal behavior can reinforce and emphasize what is said, i.e. increase the intensity of what was said and give it some emotional coloring. For example, if the therapist asks, “Did you tell her about this?” the client replies, “I can’t even imagine it,” covering their eyes with their hands. Or, for example, if the therapist refuses advice to a client who is trying once again to shift responsibility onto his shoulders, and at the same time stares at him with a frown, then he gives him to understand that he is adamant in his position.

(4) Control and regulation. Non-verbal messages are often used to regulate the process of interaction and control the behavior of another. For example, the slightly furrowed eyebrows of one of the participants in the conversation can serve as a signal to the speaker that his thought is not entirely clear and needs clarification. Conversely, the therapist’s nods indicate agreement and consistent understanding. In both cases, the pace of the story is regulated.

Several attempts have been made to isolate the most important non-verbal components of the psychotherapist-client interaction. So, Walters (Walters, 1980) singled out the following elements of the clinician’s positive body language:

– slight inclination of the torso towards the client;

relaxed but attentive posture;

– the position of the legs, which is not striking;

– unobtrusive and smooth gestures;

– minimization of other movements;

– facial expressions correspond to the feelings of the therapist or client;

– placement at arm’s length from the client.

Egan, 1994) proposed the acronym SOLER to describe the basic components of non-verbal behavior that primarily determine the quality of the therapist’s presence, namely: face straight (squarely), take an open (open) posture, lean (lean) towards the client, maintain a moderately consistent visual (eye) contact and strive to be quite relaxed (relaxed) and natural.

Conclusion

The above aspects of non-verbal communication, despite their apparent simplicity, require quite a lot of time for their practical development and conscious application in practical activities.