Body Language And Its Effects On Communication

Nonverbal communication is an essential yet an involuntary form of communication. Many of us are not aware of our nonverbal signals, facial expressions, gesture, body language, etc. Our body language helps communicate our thoughts, but it can sometimes contradict what we say, like when we lie. Throughout my paper I will discuss body language and it 's effects on communication, how we can recognize positive and negative forms of body language, and involuntary microexpressions. Body language is a form of nonverbal communication, that allows us to express or translate the intentions of the speaker or the person exhibiting the language. Body language is often confused with sign language, sign language is a form of spoken language, whereas body language varies based on different circumstances; giving it no specific meaning, grammar, or rules. It is important to keep in mind that body language is a modern field of study, in fact, it is believed that the awareness of nonverbal communication began with actors in silent films during the 19th century. Actors in the silent films had to learn how to mimic and portray feelings, in order for the audience to understand the show; forcing the actors to study different emotions and their effective portrayal. Now actors in silent films, merely expressed awareness of nonverbal communication, so who discovered it? Body language has been around for as long as humans have, we see it in art from a hundred years ago, descriptions in biblical Get more content

What Is Body Language? Essay

What Is Body Language? The Missing Ingredient

By Paulus Harrison

| Submitted On July 22, 2012

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Expert Author Paulus Harrison

"What do you read my lord?" "Words," said Hamlet. Methinks he should hath answered "body language." Where many of us are obsessed with words, always thinking of what we 'll say next, we pay comparatively little attention to our body language. Strange given that 55% of communication is conveyed through body language and only 7% involves words.

Take a moment to consider that fact. 7% of communication is words. 55% is body language. It is a staggering fact, a fact that makes one thing clear: if you are to make the most of your communication skills social, professional or wherever else you need to make use of body language.

How, then, can you begin, today, right now, to take advantage of that whopping great 55% of communication that comes from body language? There are a great many ways. Let 's take a look at some of the most popular and most important.

Conflict Resolution: Perhaps you are one of the unfortunate people who seem to get in arguments often without much of a clue why. Some people seem to create conflict seemingly

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Body Language

1.1 What is Body Language?

Body Language is the unspoken communication that goes on in every Face–to–Face conversation with another person. It tells you their true feelings towards you and how well your words are being received.

Between 50% of our message is communicated through our Body Language

40 % tone of our voices and 10% only are our words.

Your ability to read and understand another person's Body Language can mean the difference between making a great impression or a very bad one! Reading someone body language can help you in a job interview, that meeting, or special date!

Every one of us has experienced the feeling of like this person and not dislike that...show more content...

1.2 Body language in social life

– A guide to male body language

Body language will always give you away. Learn how to spot the tell–tale signs of a man who's interested in you and you'll never be left guessing again!

The Approach

If a man is interested, as he approaches you he will pull in his tummy, puff up his chest and stand taller. Then the preening begins...!

The preening begins!

The preening begins...Preening

This will take the form of:

Reaching for his throat and straightening his tie

Smoothing his collar

Brushing imaginary dust from his shoulder

Rearranging his shirt, cufflinks or other clothing

Smoothing his hair

Thumbs in belt

Key signs he's interested

Hooking his thumbs in his belt

This highlights the genital region and says 'I'm virile'.

(When used with other men this means they are staking their territory and showing that they're not afraid).

Foot pointed toward you!

Foot pointed towards you Body positioning

Body positioning is key; if he's interested he'll turn his body towards you. If you're standing or sitting in a group look at his feet, if one or both of them are pointing in your direction it's a good sign.

Body Language and Nonverbal communication

Nonverbal communication is defined as "the conscious and unconscious reactions, movements, and utterances that people use in addition to the words and symbols associated with language." Nonverbal communication is very important since 50 percent or more of the message were trying to get across is conveyed by verbal communication. The first verbal message to be aware of is facial expressions. The face is what people first focus on so it's obviously important to be aware of what message were giving off with our face. Suspicion and anger are often shown by tightness along the jaw. Smiles are proof of agreement and interest, but don't bite your lip because that signals uncertainty. Next to...show more content... Sitting forward or leaning forward in a chair may show a positive interest to what is being discussed. Also, sitting back in a chair, or on the arm of a chair, or on the edge of a table shows superiority and power. Although, Leaning away suggests disinterest, distrust and even boredom. Posture that is rigid can show inflexibility and defensiveness. Sloppy posture conveys disinterest in the topic being discussed. Proxemics is next to consider and refers to "the personal distance that individuals prefer to keep between themselves and other individuals and is and important element of nonverbal communication." This is a very serious and meaningful part of the selling process because the distance you put between yourself and the other person can affect the outcome of the sale. If the salesperson doesn't give enough space between them the customer may feel threatened, intimidated, and that the salesperson may be manipulative. If the salesperson gives too much space the customer may view the salesperson as being apprehensive, aloof, formal or too rigid. The intimate zone which is 0–2 feet around the person is specifically for loved ones such as family members. The personal zone which is 2–4 feet around the person is is reserved for close friends and associates. The social zone which is 4 to 12 feet around the person is used for business relationships. The public zone which is beyond 12

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I remember teaching a men's workshop and a gentleman raised his hand and said, "What do we do, man? Our wives and children, we're doing this, they're doing the other. They won't work with me ..." And he keeps going on and on and on. So, I let him get it all out. When he was done, I simply said, "Well, now you know how God feels." We always want to play the blame game. We're always shifting the blame to somebody else. We never want to take responsibility for the stuff that we do or say that's wrong. Sometimes our body language speaks volumes. Men have major body language. We know how to make sure other people know that we aren't paying attention. We can sit in front of somebody and they are talking to us, and we have this blank look on our face and we're shifting in our seat. We make our feelings clear when someone asks, "Can I talk to you for a minute?" We make it clear through our body language that "You are invading my space and I don't want to do this right now! I don't want to talk to you. I don't want to let you in. I'm in my own space right now." If we are going to man up, we need to work on that. We must watch, stand fast in the faith, pray and be strong. And the Bible says, "In all of the things that you do, do with love." That's a man. All the stuff you have heard or read is not true about being militant; we're not looking to be Rambo types. You can be strong in your body, but weak in your spirit. The Lord is much more concerned with how strong you are in your

Non–Verbal Communication Non–verbal communication is essential to human communication and makes up 93% of all communication. Body language clues can either ease the delivery of the communication message or it can interfere with the communication message being sent. For example, when attempting to portray confidence and power as a leader, simple things such as the placement of one 's hand in a handshake or a pat on the back with a colleague can make a huge impact. When attempting to portray honesty while under intense scrutiny, clues such as emotional facial expressions, fidgeting, and body alignment can all denote whether a speaker is being deceptive or not. For these reasons it is important that communicators examine their own body language and other non–verbal communication. For this discussion topic, I was asked to watch a video titled "The Secrets of Body Language". This video focused on the research behind body language and all non–verbal communication in general. Specific examples were broken down and discussed throughout the footage. I found these examples quite fascinating, especially the examination of politicians who are body language coached. I 've listed below some of the topics that I found particularly intriguing. Norming – Norming involves the process of watching a particular person speak in certain situations and scenarios to develop a sense of what is "normal" ' for that person. Using this information, the viewer can critique this same person 's

Language is building a fence with words until the sentence is complete. You take control of what you are trying to say and you build the fence. With multiple ways to communicate to someone through body language and words. A tool that can be used in different situations and that can be very diverse depending on who you are talking to. Language is a tool that attracts or pushes an audience away through both body language and the words they use. The way our language changes depending on who we're talking to, a person's body language, and the actual words that you use is important. It helps us to build a fairly strong fence or a weak one and that is why it is important. First and foremost language gives people a view and better understanding of what you are saying. Allowing them to take in what you said and analyze. Analyze how you are feeling about something through words. With that being said, today in this society we should care about language. It is important and plays a big role in society whether you know it or not. Language can be more than just a way to communicate. It also transfers images and ideologies that helps us to understand each other. Giving each other different ideas and images, providing a way for them to see or view something the way that you do. As stated in the article Invisible Technologies

By

Neil Postman

"Language is pure ideology," providing us with different ideas with every sentence. Or at least giving them something new to think about when we communicate using language. Also mentioned in Invisible Technologies was how "Language appears to be not an extension of our powers but simply a natural expression of who and what we are," which to me says that language also helps a person to understand us. Giving images and different ideas of who we are and what we are through the natural expression of words. For those reasons language and body language are things that we should care about. Showing the reader your true emotion towards the subject. When you don't care about something your body language seems to change. Going from shrugged shoulders to standing up straight with your head held high. Those two postures can convey two things, one is a very sad and unconfident

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