Importance of Nonverbal Communications in Today’s Society INTRODUCTION In the late twentieth century, the increase in transportation technology made possible for people to relocate across the world, creating one big melting pot of cultures, subcultures and ethnicities (Ting-Toomey, 1999).
Even though most people are capable of communicating using a common language, there exists a barrier created by the receptiveness of nonverbal communication cues. The purpose of this research paper is to further explore the nature of nonverbal cues.
History of Nonverbal Communications In the beginning of the human race, people used nonverbal communication as means for exchanging information (Bennet, 1998).
However, with the advent of language about 100,000 years ago, people expanded on verbal communications. Later the Greek philosophers, circa 427 BC, believed that ideas in philosophers’ heads, expressed in proper constructed statements, were thought to be relevant to guiding the citizens (Bennet, 1998).
This belief established the logic for the notion that the ideas that are expressed in words are real, whereas people and what they do were hardly worth noticing (Bennet, 1998).
This split has been infused in the Western culture ever since, according to Bennet (1998), where people pay more attention to what is said, rather then by whom or how. Just the opposite is true in the Eastern culture. During the recent upheaval in the Middle East, the U.S. asked Arafat to convey a message of peace to his people. The message was released by Arafat’s staff and not Arafat himself, making the message not important, since the people there pay more attention to who is the person speaking, then just to the spoken word.
The Essay on Demonstrative Communication 2
Provide examples showing how demonstrative communication can be effective and ineffective, positive and negative, for the sender and receiver. Demonstrative Communication is the process of people’s thoughts and messages of communicating by actively listening in verbal and nonverbal communication. Depending on how a message is communicated, “can be effective and ineffective, either positive or ...
Nonverbal Skills are Learned People learn their nonverbal cues from the culture in which they live (Ting-Toomey, 1999).
Our parents have passed on this information to us unconsciously. Now, that people are very transient, culture clashes occur often. People develop stereotypical judgments about the other cultures and the subcultures within a culture. This creates various barriers, such as exchanging ideas and building trust between one another, to effective communications. Just because people perceive other subcultures in a different way, does not necessarily mean that some individuals are that way or belong to the category in which our perception places them.
Reverting Attention to Nonverbal Communications As the global economy has been developing, so has the need to understand the people in various cultures that we may deal with. According to Ting-Toomey (1999), nonverbal cues come from our unconscious, the audience is basing that trust on how they perceive the speaker. The old maxim prevails, actions are louder then words. People are paying more attention to speakers’ personal appearances and their vocal characteristics, which will help them establish further understanding of the speaker and perhaps figure out the if the speaker’s message is genuine.
Types of Nonverbal Communication There are several types of nonverbal communication, which Bavelas and Chovin (2000) refer to as visible acts of meaning. These nonverbal cues or signals are very obvious in face-to-face communications. Such as the position of the eyes, which show interest in the conversation or simply disrespect, depending on the culture.
Facial Expressions The face is the primary site for expressing our emotions as mentioned in Bovee and Thill (2000).
The Term Paper on How Does Culture Affect Meaning and Communication
Nowadays we live in what is considered a “global village”, over time we have collectively worked towards this end. The need and desire to create a closer global community is not only seen as a technological advantage but an economic benefit. The world as we know it gets smaller every day, thanks to a new generation of social media applications such as facebook or twitter, which links vast ...
The eyes indicate attention and interest. In the Unites States eye contact is very important, however in some cultures that may be considered as intrusive and impolite.
Personal Appearance Most believe that you cannot make a first impression twice. According to Bovee and Thill (2000), appearance identifies a social status, to which people will respond to accordingly. A judge in a courtroom commands respect from all who are present. However, the same person dressed up in jeans and a tee shirt shopping at Home Depot is just another cheap guy who cannot afford to pay someone else to do the job.
Vocal Characteristics The voice of a person tells a lot about him or herself. The voice reveals accents and speaking speed, which may lead the audience to build certain perceptions about the speaker. Also, the tone of voice reveals if the person is confident or not and the mood the person is in, hostile or friendly (Bovee and Thill, 2000).
Unique Cultures Within our world we have two major cultures, Eastern and Western. Eastern culture is a high-context culture, meaning that people rely more on the setting and environment to convey a meaning, rather then the explicit verbal communication. While the Western culture is low-context culture that pays attention to verbal communication, exclusively.
Subcultures and Ethnicity Subcultures exist in any culture, usually formed by religion or an affiliation. These subcultures may build on a culture’s biases or perceptions of other cultures, subcultures and ethnicities. The United States is a Western culture where many subcultures reside. Two cases in point are Catholics and Protestants, each forming a set of perceptions about each other. These subcultures are divided into ethnic groups, further developing biases and perceptions about other ethnic groups. Just because you are a Polish Catholic, does not mean you can do no wrong, even though the Pope is Polish, and so on.
Conclusion and Recommendations As the global economy is expanding, sending people to various parts of the world to conduct business on behalf of various corporations, communication is becoming more difficult to manage. The people traveling are susceptible to make mistakes, since they are taken out of their environment. The ways we conduct ourselves here may not be appropriate somewhere else. Even though the written word may be clear in a contract, many corporations view the representative of the corporation as the corporation, making simple judgments about that person’s behavior, which may make or break a deal; that is why actions speak louder then words. The nonverbal cues received by the audience, will enforce the audience’s perception about the messenger and the message itself.
The Essay on Communication Model Message Person Personal
The communication model I have chosen to develop is based on the communication between individuals who are building or already have established a strong level of communication. My model will be a reflection of friendships, intimate relationships, teacher / student relationships and also manager / employee relationships. In the model below the sender (Person A) has an intended meaning to express to ...
The possible solutions to this dilemma are not as clear as one would expect them to be. Using e-mail and speaking over the phone, avoiding personal contact is an option. Since people who cannot see you will likely not form any judgments, negative or positive, about you or the corporation you are representing (Donath, 1997).
However, some one will have to sign something someday, therefore exposing them selves to face-to-face interaction. Another solution is to be aware of our own biases and perceptions. In any given situation, pertaining to the audience, making sure we understand what to do and what not to do. Educating our selves about the unique characteristics of a culture, through books, journals, magazines and even formal courses.
Finally the last and most viable solution is to hire a consultant from the culture that we conduct business with. This not only would increase our trust worthiness, showing that we are willing to employ people from that culture, and give us an advantage by observing how that person reacts to our nonverbal cues and vice versa. To further benefit the research presented, further studies should be conducted on which solution would be the best option for overcoming nonverbal communication barriers in today’s society.
Works Cited
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The Essay on Translation: Communication of Two Cultures
We found it is feasible to start talking about the theoretical part of our paper by casting some definitions to important aspects. Language, cul There are many definitions of culture in relation to the process of translation. One of the oldest and widely-accepted definitions of culture was formulated by the English anthropologist Edward Burnett Tylor in 1871. Burnett defines culture as” that ...
Donath, J.S., (1997).
Body language without the body: situating social cues in the virtual world. http://duplox.wz-berlin.de/docs/panel/judith.html LaPlante, D., Ambady, N., (2000).
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