COMMUNICATION
When you see the word "communication", what are some words that immediately come to your mind?
To many, communication would literally mean talking to get the messages across to another person. Then what about NOT talking? Is that not communication? Or does that mean that people who cannot talk do not communicate with one another at all?
In actual fact, non verbal communication plays a very big part in transmitting the messages across to the audiences. Research has shown that spoken words contribute 7%, tonality 38% and non verbal (facial expressions, gestures, posture, eye contact) actually accounts up to 55% of a whole conversation!
Try imagining this: You are in a lecture hall with a motivational speaker sitting at the front. He has had a very bad day so he refuses to put any enthusiasm into his presentation at all. Pointing to the big screen with a very bored expression, he starts reading off the slides. How do you feel? He could be your favorite motivation speaker of all time, but I kid you not, no matter how much you try to concentrate you will most probably not gather much from that particular talk at all.
This video below shows how difficult it is to understand what one is trying to say without facial expressions. (This lady is giving a quiz to show the contrast with and without expressions! So go grab a piece of paper and play along to see how good you are with sign languages WITHOUT FACIAL EXPRESSIONS!)
I have chosen this video on purpose just to show you that YES the mute CAN communicate as well, AND that non verbals are VERY VERY IMPORTANT as well when you're trying to get a message across! Or else a big part of your message will be lost!
See what I meant? ;)
PS. I've found a very interesting video on youtube! Check out how to read people's body language or facial expressions to see if they are lying, hiding something or if he or she is annoyed by you!
There is no doubt that the majority of communication taking place constitutes of non-verbals.
ReplyDeleteFor example, Dan asks Tim how his weekend was, and Tim responds "it was good." The word "good" will have different meanings in different contexts. If Tim had responded "good" with a smile and direct eye contact, then he was willing to tell Dan about the good things he did that weekend. However, if the "good" was responded with a sarcastic tone and without eye contact, either that he didn't want to tell Dan about it or he didn't like talking to Tim.
Depending on the non-verbal cues such as the tone, eye contact and gestures, they can emphasize what people really mean in a particular situation. We have learnt that people give meanings mostly in their body language, not the words they use.
We should notice the body language while communicating with others to see if they are giving the right meaning.
Group 5-
I'd have to agree with you guys that non-verbals do a lot to help in speech. In fact non verbals can itself tell a story. Like the mime actors who hone their art in using only gestures, body language and facial expressions to tell their story. Their performances are so fantastic as not a single word is said yet so much communicated to you as you watch.
ReplyDeleteIt is also why the deaf can understand emotions as well. From reading our expressions and body language, they can understand how we feel even without hearing the innuendos in our voices.
Understand body language would go a long way in help us get our message even more effectively that just speaking our mind.
-Group 1