Discussions in COMM11003 week 8, Term 1, 2015
----- written by JolleyNguyen ------
Communication
plays an important role in our life. It includes verbal and non-verbal
communication skills, but which one is more important? According to Mehrabian (cited
in Beebe, Beebe & Ivy 2013, p. 85) that people notice most about the emotional
information or movements of our body which takes 55 percent of total, the next one
with 38 percent is relevant to voice volume, pitch, rhythm and the rest with 7
percent comes from spoken words.
Fig1.1:
The percentage of communication
Non-verbal
communications consist of facial expressions, the rhythm, and pitch, tone of
the voice, gestures through body language and the physical distance between the
communicators. Clues, information as well as meaning can be given more through
these signs than spoken communication.
Therefore, interpersonal communication not only involves the explicit
meaning of words, the information or messages conveyed, but also refers to
unclear messages which are expressed through non-verbal behaviors. That is the reason why Eunson (2005, p.232)
thought, ‘nonverbal communication can be a very powerful tool in understanding
ourselves and others.’
There are some
examples for the non-verbal communication. However, it depends on personal
nonverbal communication which relates to an individual’s personal
characteristics and cultural non-verbal communication which refers to
characteristics that are common to a group (Dwyer 2009). In my case, I usually
don’t keep eye contact with my partner if I am wondering about what they say
or misunderstanding their meanings. Moreover, there are some gestures such as
curling your hair, biting your nails or lips show how nervous you are. These
gestures may depend on your characteristic in some ways. Many non-verbal
behaviors are world-known and certain expressions have the same meaning around
the globe such as a smile or laughter being a signal of positive emotions
(Adler & Rodman 2003, p.157).
Fig1.2 : The way people bow each other in Japan
In Japan or
Korea, instead of saying hello, hi or waving hands as in Australia, America,
etc, Japanese and Korean usually bow with each others. Moreover, when one bows
you first then the others have to bow lower than the priority to show their
respect. Otherwise, in Western society,
people divide into 4 types of distance to define what kind of relationship
between the communicators. There are intimate distance which is 45cm to define
that you are speaking to whom you do not have a close relationship, personal
distance which helps communicators get easier to see the other person’s
expression and eye contact, social distance which is the normal distance for
impersonal business, and public distance which is quite far and need help from
non-verbal communication.
In conclusion,
to help you know clearly about non-verbal communication and its examples, you
should spend a little time to watch this video:
References:
Pie Chart, viewed May 12 2015,
http://www.dennisgingerich.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Non-Verbal-Communication-Chart-Transparent1.png
Eunson,
B 2005, communicating in the 21st century,
1st edn, John Wiley & Sons Australia Ltd, Milton
Dwyer,
J 2009, Communication in business:
strategies and skills, 4th edn, Pearson Education, Frenchs Forest
Adler, RB & Rodman, G 2003, Understanding human communication, 8th
edn, Oxford University Press, New York
Olafson,
BT 2014, non-verbal communication
assumptions, viewed 12 May 2015, http://grow2.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/non-verbal-communication.html
Hall, V 2013, ‘ 8 types of nonverbal communication youtube’, viewed 12th
of May 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csaYYpXBCZg
So admirable :((
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