Nonverbal Communication People have the strangest facial expression or use odd gestures while they’re talking at times. It makes you wonder why they are moving the way they are or what is going through their mind to put that look on their face. Understanding others messages and signals as well as sending out your own messages and signals is nonverbal communication. In the book Communication in Everyday Life Steve Duck and David T. McMahan define nonverbal communication as “any symbolic activity that communicates a message other than words.
” 1* We can’t help but to wonder what symbolic activities mean and what messages you are sending out nonverbally as well. We will first we go back to where we learned these different activities and ways to communicate without words; which goes back to whoever raised us. Growing up for me was with my mother and father and my sister who was five years older than me, so not only did I learn from my parents but I learned a lot from my sister as well. When it comes to my parents, my mother has all the facial expressions and not as many physical gestures or movements in her nonverbal communication. The gesture I remember most growing up was her crossing her arms, she used this as a “wall” or a sign saying she was closing herself off or didn’t want to be bothered. However, my father is the opposite; he will be more active with what he is saying and provide many gestures and movements instead of facial expressions.
He is also a good example of how much verbal and nonverbal communication interconnect; which the two interconnect in many ways. In my father’s example he repeats his verbal communication with his nonverbal communication as the two correspond with each other 2*. For a better example, when he . .es that you have to figure out if someone is lying or being honest, are the happy or sad, or what is going on with them in general that the person isn’t telling you verbally. Nonverbal communication is key in these situations because many times it can give you more information than someone is willing to give you verbally.
But you have to know how to understand the nonverbal messages being communicated with you. Gestures, facial expressions, tone of voice, etc. can all help you figure out different sensitive triggers that people have and what makes them nervous, happy, or upset. This communication can give you answers that you’re looking for but the person communicating with you isn’t actually giving you the information straight up, or it can help you to know what direction you need to go with the conversation to get the answers and information you are looking for.
