Free Essay On Nonverbal Communication

Chapter six discussed non-verbal communication in detail. It talked about the characteristics of non-verbal communication, types of non-verbal communication, and influence on non-verbal communication. This was an important lesson since it emerged that to effectively communicate, and to accurately interpret communication, one needs to have a good understanding of non-verbal communication. Often, people do not pay attention to non-verbal communication, and only focus on the words that they speak. Non-verbal actions may speak even louder than the words used by a speaker. This lesson was very important as it somehow made communication more complete, and more effective. The text used in the course also offers detailed notes on the theory of non-verbal communication.
The role of communication is to effectively pass messages, and interpret received messages with accuracy. In one on one communication, non-verbal communication is an important compliment to verbal communication. When one is deliberate on their use of non-verbal communication, they are better understood. Being unaware of how verbal communication might lead to misinterpretation of messages. Among the functions discussed in the chapter include avoidance of repetition, clarifying messages, giving additional information, substituting them for words as appropriate and for emphasis, among others (Adler, Rosenfeld & Proctor, 2004). These functions bring out the importance of non-verbal action as a tool of communication. It was interesting to learn just how much can be achieved through simple actions.
The characteristics of non-verbal communication as given are also enlightening. Some of the characteristics include, being constantly in use even when one is not talking, they are relational; varying from one audience to another, conveys emotion, etc. (Adler, Rosenfeld & Proctor, 2004, 188). What was more surprising is the difference in how gender and culture influence communication. Men are portrayed as being more laid back in their use of non-verbal communication, as compared to women who are more intimate (p.195). Different cultures use different types of non-verbal communication and interpret them according to the culture. For this reason, one can only imagine the misunderstanding that would occur when one is unaware of the other cultural practices. In can impact relationships in a major way. This, therefore, means that to effectively communicate, one needs to be aware of the common non-verbal communication styles of a particular culture.
Non-verbal culture therefore requires both the sender and the receiver of the information to able to decode the information that is relayed. However, from my experience and observation, interpretation of non-verbal communication usually happens involuntarily and does not usually require much effort in most cases. This however is still subject to misinterpretation if the source and recipient come from different cultures. Non-verbal communications can be analyzed from both behavioral and functional aspects as there is an aspect of psychological influence and functionality as a communication tool. The psychological disposition of a source determines the tool they use to pass the information while the meaning that they want to put across and the desired effect also play a role.

References

Adler, R., & Proctor, R. (2014). Looking out, looking in. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.186-214.