Nonverbal communication

Nonverbal communication (NVC) is usually understood as the process of sending and receiving wordless messages. Such messages can be communicated through gesture; body language or posture; facial expression and eye gaze; object communication such as clothing, hairstyles or even architecture; symbols and infographics; prosodic features of speech such as intonation and stress and other paralinguistic features of speech such as voice quality, emotion and speaking style.

Scholars in this field ususally use a strict sense of the term "verbal", meaning "of or concerned with words," and do not use "verbal communication" as a synonym for oral or spoken communication. Thus, sign languages and writing are generally understood as forms of verbal communication, as both make use of words — although like speech, both may contain paralinguistic elements and often occur alongside nonverbal messages. Nonverbal communication can occur through any sensory channel — sight, sound, smell, touch or taste. Nonverbal communication is also distinguished from unconscious communication, which may be verbal or non-verbal.

Studying nonverbal communication

The first scientific study of nonverbal communication was Charles Darwin's book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872). He argued that all mammals show emotion reliably in their faces. Studies now range across a number of fields, including kinesics, linguistics, semiotics and social psychology. Proxemics refers to how people use and interpret space.

While much nonverbal communication is based on arbitrary symbols which differ from culture to culture, a large proportion is also to some extent iconic and may be universally understood. Paul Ekman's influential 1960s studies of facial expression determined that expressions of anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness and surprise are universal.

Object communication

The most common form of object communication is clothing. The types of clothing that people wear are often used to determine their personality traits, though this is considered a form of stereotyping. Social groups often use a common form of clothing to set themselves apart from other, presumably unaligned social groups. A good example of clothing as object communication is the uniform.

Object communication extends beyond clothing to other body adornments, such as wedding rings or bindis to indicate marital status, tattoos, piercings, and brands. Also included in object communication is anything used as a status symbol

Haptics

Haptics is the study of touching as nonverbal communication. Touches that can be defined as communication include: Handshakes, holding hands, kissing (cheek, lips, hand), back slap, "high-five", shoulder pat, brushing arm, etc. Each of these give off nonverbal messages as to the touching person's intentions/feelings. They also cause feelings in the receiver, whether positive or negative.

Oculesics

Oculesics is the study of the role of eyes in nonverbal communication. This includes the study of eye gaze and pupil dilation. Studies have found that people use their eyes to indicate their interest. This can be done through eye contact (or lack thereof). For example, when a professor is giving a lecture and you read a magazine instead of looking at him/her and giving your full attention, this would indicate to the professor that you are disinterested in his/her lecture.

Vocalics

Vocalics is the study of nonverbal cues of the voice. Things such as tone, pitch, accent, and volume can all give off nonverbal cues. It's possible to learn about an individual's personality, mood, and culture with the information given by their voice.

Suprasegmentals

A segment in spoken language is an individual consonant, vowel, tone, or stress that makes up a word. An utterance is made up of both segments and supra-segmental features. These are broadly divided up into prosody and paralinguistics. Prosody refers to pitch, loudness, duration, intonation and tempo. Paralinguistics, which is much more difficult to measure, refers to expression of voice quality, emotion, speaking style and speech clarity. These nonverbal or suprasegmental elements of a speech utterance constitute a significant part of it's meaning.

External links

The Nonverbal Dictionary of Gestures, Signs, and Body Language Cues, David B. Givens
The silent language of the gestures: Nonverbal communication on the Philippines
Body language - The language everybody speaks
Facial Expression Resources Page Links to research groups and other resources concerning facial expression perception, recognition and synthesis.
Asemic Magazine is an Australian publication devoted to nonverbal forms of writing.