Non-verbal communication - Gustavo Andresen (8800)
Out of the immensity of super interesting things we discussed, analyzed and learned about throughout the seven classes, I decided to choose something that I have always been really interested in, which is the topic of non-verbal communication. In order to facilitate the creation of this blog post for someone like me who has no experience with this type of things, I decided to briefly introduce the topic, followed by asking myself a couple of questions which I attempted (and hopefully managed) to answer.
The topic of non-verbal communication has always captured my eye, because I have always been a big believer that non-verbal communication plays a really big part in how we have been and are able to communicate and understand each other all throughout the world, because although other types of communication like verbal communication are generally more noticeable and obvious, non-verbal communication is something that one generally does automatically because we tend to have some natural physical reactions to certain events, such as moving your hands when trying to explain something. Although it is sometimes natural and unplanned, there is a wide dimension of ways to do non-verbal communication purposely and in a planned way, which is what I’m going to be talking about.
· What are the channels of non-verbal communication?
· How can non-verbal communication benefit us?
The different channels of non-verbal communication
As I previously referred, non-verbal communication can be done in many different ways, being those ways generally called the 7 channels.
The first channel is facial expressions, which I personally believe can be a natural thing, as can they also be done on purpose. For example, we as humans tend to have a natural reaction to certain events such as crying when we get hurt, smiling when we are happy or something good happens, or even change our facial expression when we are confused. On the other hand, certain facial expressions can be done on purpose such as winking your eye at someone or giving a thumbs up sign for example.
The second channel is gestures, which is for example they way you move your hands as you talk or try to explain something in order to emphasize your message and attract attention, which is also something that is generally natural and not forced.
The third channel is body posture, which is something that plays a big part in the first impression you get of someone for example, because it is very easy to notice and depending on the type of body posture can give you a very different opinion about someone, as is someone is standing straight, for example, it can make that person get respect as if someone has a more slouched posture they might not be taken as seriously.
The fourth channel is looks. Looks just like posture are one of the main things you firstly notice in someone. Just like said before, looks can really tell people apart, as they generally are a way to show your personal characteristics and reflect who you are without saying anything.
The fifth channel is Haptics, which is a form of communication through touch between two people.
The sixth channel is Proxemic, which, according to Galvão, Paiva, Sawada, & Pagliuca (2006), is a neologism created by Eduard Hall in order to designate the set of observations and theories related to how man uses his space. It basically affirms there is a different distance man keeps between other humans, according to the situation and level of proximity.
The seventh and last channel is paralinguistics, which are generally referred as the aspects of s communication by speech that do not require words. It is often used to add emphasis to what people say. This is often described as being communication with no words.
How non-verbal communication can benefit us
Non-verbal communication can help us throughout our lifes because it helps us to convince other people, or even to sell for example.
I remember vividly one time I heard in person a speech by popular Portuguese motivational speaker Alexandre Monteiro, where he said that Donald Trump always uses a red tie because it is said that the color red transmits leadership and power (As shown in the picture below), as well as the fact that Donald Trump always puts his hand on the upper side when giving a handshake because it gives you the leadership over someone, which I found are great examples of two non-verbal communication channels I referred before, which are looks and haptics.
Resuming, I truly believe that if studied, non-verbal communication can help you have the upper hand in life.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Galvão, M. T. G., Paiva, S. de S., Sawada, N. O., & Pagliuca, L. M. F. (2006). Analysis of proxemic communication with HIV/AIDS patients. Revista Latino-Americana de Enfermagem, 14(4), 491–496. https://doi.org/10.1590/s0104-11692006000400004
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