Functions of Nonverbal Communication
Introduction
Nonverbal Communication is the transformation of information without the use of spoken language. Nonverbal communication is not always no verbal. Nonverbal communication often takes place or comes with proximity while we communicate verbally if not then the exact meaning of message can be misunderstood by the receiver(s). The nonverbal communication includes gestures, facial expressions, body positions etc. In the 1970’s by Dr. Albert Mehrabian did one study on face to face communication, his studies suggested that we overwhelmingly deduce our feelings, attitudes, and beliefs about what someone says not by the actual words spoken, but by the speaker’s body language and tone of voice. And he quantified this tendency: words, tone of voice, and body language respectively account for 7%, 38% and 55% of personal communication. Through this study we can see how powerful is nonverbal communication (38%+55% = 93%).
The nonverbal communication can be distinguished in 5 forms:
- Kinesics (Face and Eyes, Gestures, Body Shape & Posture, Appearance)
Kinesics is the study of the way in which certain body movements and gestures serve as a form of non-verbal communication. While communicating we can guess the person’s sense with his/her body movements and gestures. For example; You don’t like somebody and you avoid turning in his direction, You try to clear something away from his hair ( you feel close or want to be close), Opening your eyes wide and raising your eyebrows ( It’s very unpleasant and shows the person doesn’t want to give you a chance) etc.
2. Proxemics (Intimate, Personal, Social, Public)
Proxemics is the branch of knowledge that deals with the amount of space that people feel it necessary to set between themselves and others. Edward Twitchell Hall, Jr. an american Anthropologist & Cross-cultural Researcher described the interpersonal distances of man (the relative distances between people) in four distinct zones:
Intimate distance for embracing, touching or whispering
- Close phase — less than one inch (one to two cm)
- Far phase — 6 to 18 inches (15 to 46 cm)
Personal distance for interactions among good friends or family
- Close phase — 1.5 to 2.5 feet (46 to 76 cm)
- Far phase — 2.5 to 4 feet (76 to 122 cm)
Social distance for interactions among acquaintances
- Close phase — 4 to 7 feet (1.2 to 2.1 m)
- Far phase — 7 to 12 feet (2.1 to 3.7 m)
Public distance used for public speaking
- Close phase — 12 to 25 feet (3.7 to 7.6 m)
- Far phase — 25 feet (7.6 m) or more.
3. Chronemics (Punctuality, Time Management)
Chronemics is the study of the role of time in communication. Thomas J. Bruneau of Radford University coined the term “chronemics” in the late 1970s to help define the function of time in human interaction:
“Chronemics can be briefly and generally defined as the study of human tempo as it related to human communication. More specifically, chronemics involves the study of both subjective and objective human tempos as they influence and are interdependent with human behavior. Further, chronemics involves the study of human communication as it relates to interdependent and integrated levels of time-experiencing. Previously, these interdependent and integrated levels have been outlined and discussed as: biological time; psychological time; social time; and cultural time. A number of classification systems exist in the literature of the time. However, such systems are not applied to human interaction directly.”
4. Paralanguage (Intonation, Pitch & Speech)
Paralanguage is the non-lexical component of communication by speech, for example intonation, pitch and speed of speaking, hesitation noises. It is also known as vocalics. Paralinguistic properties plays a very huge important factor in human communication. There are no utterances or speech signals that lack paralinguistic properties, since speech requires the presence of a voice that can be modulated.
5. Physical Context (Surrounding, Color, Layout & Design)
Physical Context includes the material objects surrounding the communication event and any other features of the natural world that influence communication. For example furniture and how it is arranged, size of the room, colors, temperature, time of day, etc. influence the way we communicate.
Functions of Nonverbal Communication
- Reduce the use of words
Reducing the words using nonverbal communication? Yes. Use of Nonverbal Communication really can reduce the words we use. Like; side shaking head to say “no”. If you are happy then your facial expression will show it, etc.
2. Regulate interaction
A conversation consists of people communicating back and forth. The communication will regulate only when there are reactions to the information flow. Like if in class and the professor is giving the lecture and the students will nod their heads denoting they have understood what the professor is trying to explain.
3. Influence people in different manners
We often use words to influence other people, although a recent study reveals that 75% of emotional meaning is carried via nonverbal channels. In fact, when the nonverbal and verbal channels send contradictory messages, people assign more weight to nonverbal cues. So non-verbal communication can be used to influence people in different manners. For example: Make Eye Contact, Be Respectful, But Take Up Space, Show a Genuine Smile, Use Hand Gestures etc.
4. Contradict the verbal communication
Nonverbal communication can convey meaning by contradicting verbal communication. As we learned earlier, we often perceive nonverbal communication to be more credible than verbal communication. This is especially true when we receive mixed messages, or messages in which verbal and nonverbal signals contradict each other. For example, a person may say, “You can’t do anything right!” in a mean tone but follow that up with a wink, which could indicate the person is teasing or joking.
5. Express or hide emotions
You might have experienced this very often like you might have tried to hide your pain with the smile or show your inner pain with eyes full of tears. Here your facial expression is used as the nonverbal communication. So yeah we can use the nonverbal communication to express our emotions or hide it with the preferable situation.
6. Gain or Reduce the attention
Skilled nonverbal communicators are more likely to be able to create rapport with others due to attention-getting expressiveness, warm initial greetings, and an ability to get “in tune” with others, which conveys empathy. This is how nonverbal communication can help to gain more attention. In contradiction, it can also be used to reduce the attention like in case of shameful situations we can redirect the attention of the audience and reduce the attention of the shameful reason.
7. Audience to prejudge our thoughts
As I already mentioned that nonverbal communication often comes with the proximity with the verbal communication but sometimes it comes just before the verbal takes place. Like confidence of a person with his gestures, happiness of a person with his facial expressions, etc.
8. Express power and control
In the working environment, everyone has a different status and everyone has their own power/respect in the workspace. While communication between two people happens, the power can be clearly visible between them. For example; communication between the same level is more informal most of the time, Communication with boss & employee can be visualized as employee is giving more respect and boss is commanding.
9. Demonstrate and Maintain the cultural norms
Everyone has their own cultural norms and values. Our culture influences our way of communication both verbal and nonverbal, we automatically demonstrate and maintain our cultural norms and values while communicating. For example; Greeting in Nepalese: we say “Namaste” and we place the hands together at the heart chakra, and bow the head. Unlikely, greetings in other countries are different.
As far as we now know how important is nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication, less we are conscious on but has a huge impact on our communication performance. We can’t stop communicating with others it is a continuous process and it happens intentionally or unintentionally so better. We can always practice and master on it.
Further Reading…
