Non-Verbal Communication
Non-Verbal Communication
The study of nonverbal communication started in 1872 with the publication of "The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals" by Charles Darwin. Darwin began to study nonverbal communication as he noticed the interactions between animals such as lions, tigers, dogs, etc. and realized they also communicated by gestures and expressions.
Nonverbal communication (NVC) is the transmission of messages or signals through a nonverbal platform such as eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, posture, and the distance between two individuals. It includes the use of visual cues such as body language (kinesics), distance (proxemics) and physical environments/appearance, of voice (paralanguage), and of touch (haptics).[1] It can also include the use of time (chronemics) and eye contact and the actions of looking while talking and listening, frequency of glances, patterns of fixation, pupil dilation, and blink rate (oculesics). Nonverbal communication involves the conscious and unconscious processes of encoding and decoding.
Encoding is the act of generating information such as facial expressions, gestures, and postures. Encoding information utilizes signals which we may think to be universal. Decoding is the interpretation of information from received sensations given by the encoder. Decoding information utilizes knowledge one may have of certainly received sensations. For example, in the picture above, the encoder holds up two fingers, and the decoder may know from previous experience that this means two. According to some authors, nonverbal communication represents two-thirds of all communications. Nonverbal communication can portray a message both vocally and with the correct body signals or gestures. Body signals comprise physical features, conscious and unconscious gestures and signals, and the mediation of personal space.
The wrong message can also be established if the body language conveyed does not match a verbal message. Nonverbal communication strengthens the first impression in common situations like attracting a partner or in a business interview: impressions are on average formed within the first four seconds of contact. Humans utilize facial expressions as external evidence of their internal state. Although The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals was not one of Darwin's most successful books in terms of its quality and overall impact in the field, his initial ideas started the abundance of research on the types, effects, and expressions of nonverbal communication and behavior.
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