NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION

Human beings communicate in many ways other than words.

Words often fail to convey the exact meaning. Therefore, pictures ,drawings, sounds , are often used to convey messages.

All these means used in communication are known as non-verbal communication.

Communication without using words is called non-verbal communication.

It is the most basic form of communication, includes all the clues, gestures, facial expressions, signs and symbols that enable people to communicate without words.

Non-verbal methods may be visual or auditory(aural).

Signs, pictures, color etc are visuals;Bells, horns, whistles are auditory.

For traffic signs and signals, non-verbal is absolutely necessary. It is the green or red color or pictorial presentation that tells the driver of the safety.

Every human being normally respond quickly to colors, pictures or sounds than to any language.

For ex: the news on the T.V is more interesting and more effective on the radio.

The only method to convey important information to the illiterate people is through non-verbal symbols.

Electric poles are marked with a skull and cross bones as caution.

These types of symbols are used to convey messages to those people who may not easily follow oral explanations.

Kinesics or body language Paralanguage Proxemics or space language Chronemics or time language

Human body and its various parts play an important role in communication.

The study of message conveyed by body movements is known as body language or kinesics.

Body movements, gestures etc are important for communication, they are being systematically studied as sub-area of non-verbal communication. It has been termed as kinesics which means body movements.

We can communicate or send the message by nodding the head, blinking our eyes, shrugging our shoulders or waving our hands.

(1) Head –There is an old saying ‘hold your head high’. It is a sign of honour ,self respect, and self confidence. A head bent low, on the other hand shows modesty, politeness and guilt.

(2) Face –face has been called the mirror of the mind because whatever a person feels deep inside is reflected on his face.

(3) Eyes – eyes communicate our deepest feelings.

(4) Gestures – gestures refer to the movements of our arms, legs, hands, etc.

(5) Body shape and posture- standing or sitting erect, leaning forward or backward, all convey meanings.

Facial expressions Personal appearance Posture Gestures Eye contact

Face is the index of mind, it reflects what is going on inside the speaker.

The facial expressions are associated with happiness, surprise, fear, anger and sadness.

The facial expressions like a smile, a frown, the raising of eyebrows or tightening of jaw muscles convey a lot in communication.

The Face

♦ Since face cannot be easily hidden, it is an important source of nonverbal information and communicates a variety of emotions.

♦In addition, eye contact, pupil size, and smile provide additional cues to inform observers.

Face is the most expressive part of our body.

A smile stands for friendliness, a frown for discontent, raised eyebrows for disbelief, tightened jaw muscles for antagonism.

People see you before they hear you. Personal appearance means external

appearance in which our dress, jewellery, and make up play a pivotal role.

One’s appearance may turn the audience resistant or hostile, inquisitive or indifferent, sleepy or active or receptive or participating in communication.

The audience judge us initially from our personal appearance-our physique, attractiveness, hair style etc.

Our dress should suit the occasion. We should be neat and clean if not attractive.

The actual physical appearance also depends on certain qualities like self- confidence and self- awareness.

A person well dressed up (suit, tie and polished shoes) conveys that he believes in formal or well structured programs.

Loose or casual dressing of a person conveys that he is quite informal or careless to many things.

Posture refers to the way one stands, sits and walks.

In face to face communication, or meeting or interview the way we hold our head is very important.

A head bend low, depending upon the situation would show modesty, politeness or diffidence.

The walking posture may convey how much confident or diffident or energetic or withdrawn a speaker is.

With the right posture we can impress the interviewer and the audience.

A person with good and appealing body shape but with bad postures and unfavorable image will communicate a negative image.

Being comfortably upright, squarely facing an audience, and evenly distributing your weight are all aspects of posture that communicate professionalism, confidence, attention to detail.

Bobbing the shoulders, fidgeting with notes, jingling coins create bad impression.

Slumped posture –low spirits

Erect posture—high spirits, energy and confidence

Lean forward—open, honest and interested

Lean backward—defensive or disinterested

Crossed arms– defensive and not ready to listen

Uncrossed arms—willingness to listen

Gesture is movement of the hand, head, body etc to express an idea, feeling, emotion etc.

They should be co-ordinated with proper intensity of speech.

Keep positive gestures, it indicates positive personality.

Adroit gestures can add to the impact of a speech.

Ungainly gestures (like playing with your key chain, or button) can mar the effectiveness of the message.

Gestures should not divert the attention of the listener and distract from your message.

Enumerative-- Numbers Descriptive—Size of the objects Symbolic—Abstract concepts Locative—location of an object Emphatic--Emphasis

Eye contact is a direct powerful form of non-verbal communication.

Eyes to cull information Prolonging the eye contact for 3-5 seconds

tells the audience that you are sincere in what you say and that you want them to pay attention.

Eye contact is specially important when you start the presentation.

Do not look outside the window, towards the roof or the floor, or at one particular section.

Establish eye contact with one and all.Avoidance of eye contact displays one’s

dishonesty, uneasiness and lack of confidence.It helps in taking feedback.

Proxemics or Space Language refers to the study of how we use space to communicate message.

It refers to the space between 2 persons engaged in the act of communication.

Proxemics is personal space language just as kinesics is body language.

When you have plenty of space to manoeuvre, move more boldly and expand your gestures.

When seated at a table use milder gestures.

1.intimate-physical contact to 18 inches.

2.personal-18 inches to 4 feet. 3.social-4 to 12 feet. 4.public-12 feet to as far as one can see

or hear

Halt Edward describes human relation in terms of 4

This zone starts with personal touch and extends just to 18 inches.

Family members, lovers, spouses, relatives, friends fall under this category.

The best relationship is mother- child relationship.

Other individuals come close for a brief period of time and only under special circumstances

When they want to congratulate you, sympathesize with you or console you.

Hand shake, pat on the back, or a hug

This zone stretches from 18 inches to 4 feet. Colleagues, close friends, peers fall in this tier. Instead of whispering or utter silence, normal

talking takes place.

Social event takes place in this radius of 4 feet-12 feet.

Relationships are official. This space is mostly used for formal purposes. Here the number of people decide whether it

should be sitting-sitting or sitting-standing position.

If the number of people is less and you can maintain eye contact, you could go for a sitting position.

If you have to be authoritative and the audience is large, you can go for the standing position.

This zone starts from 12 feet and may extend to 30 feet or to the range of eye sight and hearing.

Here the degree of detachment is very high. The audience is free to do whatever it feels. Public figures have to maintain this distance

for security reasons.

It is non-verbal because it does not involve use of words. But it is like verbal communication because it is related to the way words are spoken.

Para means ‘like’ hence paralanguage literally means like language.

Sounds are the basis of paralanguage

Paralanguage includes tone of voice Power or emphasis Pitch Rhythm Volume Pause Speed in delivery Loudness or softness

1.Voice – voice can be clear or unclear, pleasant or unpleasant, cultivated or musical and so on. It tells us many things like-sex, background, education, temperament.

The more clearer the voice the more effective it conveys the message or meaning.

Quality Volume Pace/ rate Pitch Articulation Pronunciation Voice modulation Pauses

Quality of one’s voice may be rich, soft and alluring, thin and nasal, hoarse and husky or harsh and irritating.

It can not be changed but can be trained for optimum impact.

Volume is the loudness or the softness. If your volume is too high you may sound

boorish (ill-mannered). If your volume is too low you may convey an

impression of timidity; which has no place in business world.

It gives the impression that you lack confidence to express yourself.

Make your voice audible and clear.

Number of words which you speak per minute.

The normal rate is 120-150 words. Slow and monotonous speaker is

considered to be a dull speaker. A fast speaker also causes discomfort

because the listeners don’t get time to grasp the thoughts .

Pitch refers to the number of variations per second of your voice.

The rise and fall of the voice conveys various emotions.

Inflections give warmth, lusture , vitality and exuberance (enthusiasm).

Lowness indicate sadness, shock, dullness, guilt.

Avoid raising the pitch of your voice as you end a sentence.

Use a variety of pitch to hold your listener’s attention.

It makes your remarks sound tentative or unfinished.

Speakers should be careful not to slop, slur, chop, omit sounds between words or sentences.

Utter the sounds properly, otherwise it deters the listeners from grasping the meaning of the message.

Speak distinctly without causing any obfuscation (confusion).

Produce the sounds in crisp and lucid (clear) manner.

Pronunciation requires us to speak sounds in a way that is generally accepted.

Don’t be taken by the fancy that you know the correct pronunciation of all the words.

Whenever there is confusion always consult a good dictionary.

It will be better understood-

I do not know and I want to go than I dunno and I wanna go.

COMMON ERROR CORRECT PRONUNCIATION

Ar-tic Ges-ture 3-tyre Jai-jan-tic

Arc-tic Jes-ture 3-tear Jai-gan-tic

Flexibility and vitality to your voice. Word stress and sentence stress play an

important role in voice modulation. If your voice is flat, you emerge as a

languid (lacking spirit ) speaker with no command over your voice.

A pause helps you to glide from one thought to another.

Do not prolong the pauses as they will hinder the flow of your speech.

Vocalized pauses or vocal segregates like uh, ah hm, ahem, a, aah, should be substituted by silent pauses.

Vocalized pauses make the speech sound evasive (vague) and untruthful.

Repetitive phrases like-I mean, well, ok, got it, actually etc sweep away the good impression.

Thoughtfully use the pauses and time them as they exhibit confidence and self control.

Use pauses at the end of certain thought units to let the audience fully absorb the information.

There is a saying" Time is money”. Under time language we send out signals indicating the importance of time to us.

Time management has become a very important part of business management.

When you are late people react negatively.

If you arrive early you are considered either over eager or aggressive.

Completion of task within a specific time span recommended, communicates sincerity, hard work, loyalty and reliability.

Frequent late coming and absenteeism may communicate unreliability, laziness and disinterestedness of the person.

We must reach for presentation at right time.

We have to respect the limit of time allowed for the presentation.

The speaker should not encroach upon the time for questions too.

Rehearsals can help us in management of time.

Sign language involves-1.Audio 2.Visuals signals

Drum beating is to make important announcements and to tell people to assemble at a specified place. Several types of alarm signals are used to caution people.

Fire alarm, accident alarm, VIP motorcade alarm etc. A clock alarm is used to make us aware of our time.

1.Very fast- sound signals convey the message very quickly.

2.Managing time- sound signals are very useful for managing time.

3.Helps in smooth working-the working of an organization can be streamlined with the help of buzzers and such other sounds signals.

Visual signals such as pictures, posters, drawings, cartoons, photographs, etc are used to convey messages for general information and education.

Traffic lights and lights at railway stations and airports convey relevant information to people.

1.Easy-visuals signals like pictures and posters convey the message very easily and economically.

2.Intresting and motivating-colourful photograph and paintings make communication interesting and motivating.

3.Educating people-posters and paintings are useful for informing and educating people.

4.Advertising –posters are an effective means of advertising.

Thank You