Nonverbal Communication

Nonverbal Communication

“The World Beyond Words”

 What is Nonverbal Communication?
• Nonverbal Communication = Communication
without words
• Nonverbal communication is a process of
communication through sending and receiving
wordless messages.
 Verbal Communication
&
Nonverbal communication
• Before moving forward, let’s keep in
your mind that verbal communication
and nonverbal communication are
interconnected and they operate
together in communication
 Difference between verbal
&
Nonverbal communication
• Verbal and non verbal are all types of
communication. But the difference
between them is that we use our voice
in verbal communication and we use
body signs in non-verbal
communication.
 Power of Nonverbal
Communication
• Verbal & nonverbal Communication plays
an important role in how people interact
with one another. People are using around
35% verbal communication and 65%
nonverbal communication in daily life.
Nonverbal communication has also cultural
meaning.
Power of Nonverbal Communication

• “The most important thing in

communication is to hear what
isn't being said.”
• Peter F. Drucker
 Power of Nonverbal Communication
• Nonverbal communication is the most powerful form of
communication. More than voice or even words, nonverbal
communication helps to create your image in others mind
and even you can express your emotions and feelings in
front of others, which you are unable to express in words.
 Power of Nonverbal Communication

Good communication is the foundation of successful

relationships, both personally and professionally. But we
communicate with much more than words. In fact, research
shows that the majority of our communication is nonverbal
 Importance of Nonverbal Communication
• Non-verbal communication consists of all the messages
other than words that are used in communication. In oral
communication, these symbolic messages are transferred by
means of intonation, tone of voice, vocally produced noises,
body posture, body gestures, facial expressions or pauses
 Importance of Nonverbal Communication
• Nonverbal messages often contradict the verbal. Often they
express feelings more accurately than the spoken or written
language. Nonverbal is a type of communicaton which does
not involve words. Communication through visual things is
called Nonverbal communication.
 Importance of Nonverbal Communication
The ability to understand and use nonverbal communication is
a powerful tool that will help you connect with others, express
what you really mean, navigate challenging situations, and
build better relationships at home and work.
 Importance of Nonverbal Communication
• When individuals speak, they normally do not confine
themselves to the mere emission of words. A great deal of
meaning is conveyed by non-verbal means which always
accompany oral discourse – intended or not. In other words,
a spoken message is always sent on two levels
simultaneously, verbal and non-verbal.
 Importance of Nonverbal Communication
• In daily conversations it often happens that we do not
understand what the other person wants to say. Thus we ask
questions such as “What do you mean by this” so that the
speaker clarifies his message.
 Importance of Nonverbal Communication
• Nonverbal communication is the single most powerful
form of communication. More than voice or even words,
nonverbal communication cues you in to what is on another
person’s mind. The best communicators are sensitive to the
power of the emotions and thoughts communicated
nonverbally.
 Importance of Nonverbal Communication
• Nonverbal communication ranges from facial expression to
body language. Gestures, signs, and use of space are also
important in nonverbal communication. Multicultural
differences in body language, facial expression, use of
space, and especially, gestures, are enormous and
enormously open to misinterpretation.
Types of Nonverbal
Communication
Types of Nonverbal Communication

• Appearance

• Body Language

• Silence, Time & Space

 Appearance

• Personal Appearance

• Appearance of Surrounding
 What is Appearance
• Appearance conveys Nonverbal Impressions that effect
receivers attitudes towards the verbal message even before
they read or hear them.

• “Murphy”
 Physical Appearance
• “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”
• We tend to notice obvious things first (gender,
race), then note attractiveness
• Physically attractive people generally are
perceived better
• Importance placed on physical appearance can be
very damaging
• It’s what we do with it that’s most important
 Effect on Oral Communication
• Personal Appearance:
• In the oral form of communication, personal appearance
includes your dressing, your hair style. You should be
dressed properly and your hair should be combed properly
because it reflect your personality. Your way of talking
should be very impressive.
 Personal Appearance
• Clothing, Jewelry are also very important because they
convey impressions regarding your occupation, personality,
your age, culture and religion.
• Personal appearance is an often disregarded part of
communication and presentation skills.
 Personal Appearance
• When you are speaking in public you may be representing
your organisation or just yourself, but it is still you in the
front line
• It is you that the other person, group or audience sees and
before you have time to open your mouth and give an
account of yourself, certain assumptions, both consciously
and subconsciously, have been made.
 Personal Appearance
• “First impressions are very important. they can be
about attitude as well as dress”.
 Effect on Oral Communication
• Appearance of Surrounding:
• It includes room size, location, room decoration according
to your choice and religion, carpeted floors or tiled floors,
your way of designing. Your house decoration shows your
choice because this is the room from which you
communicate orally.
 Environment
• Communicates something about you
– We surround ourselves with things that are important/meaningful
to us
– Use artifacts to define our territory
• Can influence interactions
• How people use an environment communicates something
about them
 Effect on Written Messages

• Appearance:
• In written messages you should be very careful about your
writing. There should be neatness in your writing. The
format of the message should be correct. The message
should contain the important words which you want to
convey.
 Effect on Written Messages

• Appearance:
• The message should not contain the unnecessary repetition
or irrelevant data. The language of the message should be
understandable. The spelling of the words should be correct.
Punctuation and Grammar should also be very correct and
the message should be very straight to the point.
 Nonverbal Communication

• Body Language
 Body Language
• Awareness of your body language, of how you behave
under pressure, what signals you are unconsciously giving,
how nerves and stress affect you physically, can help you
understand how you 'come across' to others. It can also
explain how the wrong impression is sometimes given and
how confusion can occur.
 Body Language
• Understanding body language is one of the most important
aspects of personal presentation. The image conveyed by
the physical self should support and enhance what is being
communicated verbally. If the visual image differs widely
from the spoken message, it is often the non-verbal account
that is believed.
 Body Language

• Positive Body Language

• Negative Body Language

 Positive Body Language
• Positive body language includes:
• Maintaining eye contact with the person to whom you are
speaking.
• Smiling (if appropriate) but especially as a greeting and
when parting.
• Sitting squarely on a chair, leaning slightly forward (this
indicates you are paying attention).
 Positive Body Language
• Nodding in
agreement.
• A firm handshake.
• Presenting a calm
exterior.
• Looking interested
 Negative Body Language
• Negative body language includes:
• Not looking at a person when speaking.
• Tapping a foot, fingers etc.
• Rocking backwards and forwards.
• Scratching.
• Continually clearing your throat
 Negative Body Language
• Fiddling with hair, ear lobes, jewellery, jacket, glasses, etc.
• Picking at fingers or finger nails.
• Yawning.
• Repeatedly looking at your watch or a clock in the room.
• Standing too close to others.
• Inattention to a person speaking
Nonverbal Communication
 Body Language
• Facial Expressions • Smell & Touch
• Eye Contact • Voice & Sound
• Gestures
• Postures
• Movement
Facial Expressions
 Facial Expressions
• Eyes and Face plays an important role in this regard. They
play an important role in conveying nonverbal messages.
Because whenever you are sad you have tears in your eyes
and your sadness is reflected by your eyes. Same as when
you are happy you have shine in your Eyes. Anger can also
be seen in your eyes as well as fear.
Little can be done
to alter your face
but a lot can be
done about the
expression that is
on it.

“Facial
Expressions”
 Facial Expressions
• Visual impact is at least as important as verbal impact,
people will very quickly make assumptions based on
your facial expressions, the clothes you wear, how well
groomed you are and your body language.
 Facial Expressions
However the day started and whatever minor crisis has
occurred along the way, people have not come to meet you
with a dark expression on your face.
 Face and Eyes

• Over 1000 distinct facial expressions

• Eyes can be especially expressive
– “Windows to the soul”
• Men and women have been found to be equally expressive
– Men show the most emotion in the lower left quadrant of their
face
– Women show emotion over their whole face
Face and Eyes
 Body Language

• Eye Contact
 Eye Contact
• Since the visual sense is dominant for most people, eye
contact is an especially important type of nonverbal
communication. The way you look at someone can
communicate many things, including interest, affection,
hostility, or attraction. Eye contact is also important in
maintaining the flow of conversation and for gauging the
other person’s response.
 Eye Contact
• Eye movement is a key part of facial behaviour because the
eyes are invariably involved in facial displays. The different
forms are observed to be cross-cultural. The frequency of
eye contact may suggest either interest or boredom or may
even betray dishonesty. The direct stare of the speaker can
show candour or openness.
 Eye Contact
• Downward glances are generally associated with modesty;
eyes rolled upwards are conveyed as a sign of fatigue.
Researchers have discovered that certain facial areas reveal
our emotional state better than others. For example the eyes
tend to show happiness, sadness or even surprise
Soft Eye Contact
 Eye Contact
• The lower face can also express happiness or surprise; a
smile, for instance, can communicate friendliness or
cooperation. As for the lower face, brows and forehead are
known to reveal mostly anger.
• So it must be soft eye contact with others to whom you are
talking.
 Eye Contact
• Eye-Contact Examples:
– In North-America: frankness, assertiveness, honesty
– In many Asian and northern-European countries:
abrasive & disrespectful
– In Brazil: more intense eye-contact is the norm
 Gestures

• Hand Gestures
 Gestures
• A body gesture is a movement made with a limb, especially
the hands, to express, confirm, emphasize or back up the
speaker’s attitude or intention. This non-verbal activity is
regularly used in oral discourse. If a body act requires no
verbal accompaniment, it is called an “emblem”.
 Gestures
• Examples are: hand signals such as waving good-bye, the “V” for
victory sign or the “high five” signalling victory.
• While some emblems, for example a clenched fist, have universal
meaning, there are others that are idiosyncratic or culturally
conditioned. The use of the zero shape made by the fingers, for
instance, does not mean the same thing in different cultures, i.e.
 Gestures
• Standing for “OK” in the UK, it may be a vulgar expression
in South American cultures, sometimes embarrassingly
so… Body gestures are always perceived and interpreted
together with facial expressions.
• The gestures of individuals are part of their personalities, a
part of how they express themselves.
 Gestures
• Hand and arm movements can
add emphasis, aid explanation
and convey enthusiasm. They
only become a negative signal
when repeated so often that
they become irritating to the
observer.
 Gestures
• Listeners can become so side-tracked by the sight of
someone constantly playing with his/her hair, tapping on the
table with a pen, etc., that they no longer listen to the
spoken word. Thus the negative signal has broken down the
chain of communication.
 Postures
• Body posture is the bearing or the position of the speaker’s
body. It is a more or less stable state and thus not to be
confused with body gestures which are movements. Body
posture can be characteristic and assumed for a special
purpose or it can correspond to the normal expectations in
the context of a particular situation.
 Postures
• Obviously one can be lying down, seating, or standing.
Normally, these are not the elements of posture that convey
messages. However, when the speaker is slouched or erect,
his or her legs crossed or arms folded, such postures
convey a degree of formality or relaxation. Once more,
they can also transfer symbolic messages on the orator’s
attitude or intention with regard to the message.
 Movement
• Body Movement also plays an important role in conveying
nonverbal messages. Because action speaks more than the
words. Any one can speak many words but the true person
is the one who can act upon his words said. Suppose you
know two persons who cannot hear and they cannot speak
also.
 Movement
• They want to communicate with each other. So how will
they communicate with each other? Is it possible for them
to communicate with out words?
• Yes! It is possible for them to communicate with one
another by the movement of their body.
 Movement
• They can communicate and convey their message by the
movement of their hands and fingers. When you call
someone by your hand, finger or head movement the 2nd
person will immediately understand what you are trying to
say. Handshaking with other person on his success reveal
that you are congratulating him.
 Movement
• Another important example of Body Movement in
Nonverbal Communication is Traffic Police. Traffic Police
controls traffic by the movement of their hands, head and by
the movement of their legs. They guide the people driving
on vehicles by their body movement. They suggest people
the right way to go.
 Movement
• In Cricket match Umpire plays an important role. He would
have to focus on the game because decision is in the hand of
Empire either it is wide ball, no ball, out, lbw, run out, 4 or
6 score. So he convey his message by his body movement.
He informs the audience with his decision by the movement
of his hand, finger and leg.
 Smell and Touch
• Smell and Touch also plays an important part in nonverbal
communication. It plays an important role during conveying
nonverbal messages. Various fragrances sometimes conveys
the emotions of the sender and it sometimes reflects the
emotions of the receiver specially when the receiver is very
sensitive.
 Smell and Touch
• Touching is also very important. For example; When you
will receive a kiss on your cheek or on your forehead by
your Mother. It will show her love for you. Same as when
you receive a hug by your Sister. It will show her care for
you. Friends company in bad time shows their true
friendship with you.
 Smell and Touch
• The sense of smell is an important but poorly understood
factor in human communication. It is hard to define smells
and to talk about them, but they can send important
chemical cues to those around us. Interpretations of smells
vary from culture to culture and person to person.
 Smell and Touch
• It is thought that smells can affect us at very basic levels,
such as moods, emotions, mate selection, immune system
health, endocrine system responses and overall health.
• Smell is thought to be the sense that triggers memories most
effectively. Determining which smells have positive
ramifications for most people can affect nonverbal
communication
 Smell and Touch
• We communicate a great deal through touch. Think
about the messages given by the following

• A soft touch
• A firm handshake
• A warm hug
Soft Touch
A Firm Handshake
A warm hug
 Smell and Touch

• Touch:
• Touch can be of different type - caring, friendly, supportive,
encouraging, suggestive, provocative, grabbing, offensive
or dominant.
 Touch
• Touching is considered essential and therapeutic
• Touching can influence liking and compliance
• Is used to show intimacy or power/control
• People with high status touch others/invade others’ spaces
more than people with lower status
 Voice and Sound
• Your voice and extra sound which you make while speaking
are also a part of nonverbal communication. Your voice
should be very clear while speaking because when you will
not speak carefully and clearly then it will show a bad
impression on the receiver and the other person will not be
able to understand your message.
 Voice/Paralanguage
• Consists of vocal tone, speed, pitch, volume, number and length of
pauses, and disfluencies (“um”s, “ah”s), etc.
• Paralanguage tends to be more powerful than language
• Affects how other’s perceive us
– Stereotyping (e.g., accents, vocabulary, grammar
• Influenced by culture, gender, class (intentionally or unintentionally)
An illustration…
Voice and Sound
• Throat clearing while speaking is not good. It will leave a
bad impression on the other and shows that you are
confused. When you will speak very fast then it is also not
good. It will show that you are in hurry or you are nervous.
• A soft and low voice always leaves a good impression on
the others (receivers).
 Voice and Sound
• And a very loud voice is always fearful and shows your
rudeness and it will leave a bad impression on the others.
The voice should not be very low that create problem for
receivers during listening. It must be moderate & calm.
 Nonverbal Communication

• Silence

• Time

• Space
 Silence, Time and Space
• Silence:

• Lack of sound is known as silence. It is a form of nonverbal

communication as well. Silence can communicate a lack of
understanding or even hard feelings in a face to face
discussion.
 Silence
• Silence matters a lot!
• Consider how you feel when you make an oral request that
is met with silence or think about the confusion you feel
when your written message generates no response. Suppose
you wrote a request to your boss for additional funds. If you
receive no answer from your boss…..
 Silence
• Then, how do you feel?
• Do you think that your boss is very busy at the moment or
Do you think that He did not want to give any response.
• Silence matters a lot!
 Silence
• Silence: a kind of nonverbal communication,
It can indeed be a powerful message. It can
convey much more information that language
fails to do.
• However, in different areas and different cult-
ures, people value silence differently.
 Silence
• Generally speaking, eastern people use it more frequently,
understand it more easily, and sometimes value it as being
more important. We can find many examples in busi
ness negotiations, classrooms and in daily life. This is mo
stly because of the different histories and the culture. It
can communicate contentment, awkwardness, anger,
respect, thoughtfulness and empathy.
 Silence
Silence can also be sometimes
disconfirming.
 Time
• Time:
• Time is important in many ways. The more important uses
of time on the part of Teacher is the use of the pause.
Pausing while presenting information usually emphasis the
content That has just preceded or will immediately follow.
Time is culture specific.
 Time
• How you feel when you have to wait for interview for two
hours.
• How do you feel when you have to wait for an important
message to come.
• Time also matters a lot and it counts a lot. Long wait for
something also leaves a bad impression.
• “Time is Money”
 Time
• The way a person treats time reveals something about that
person.
• A person who is consistently late may not be well
organized; the person who is kept waiting may feel that he
or she is not highly regarded by the other person.
 Time
• In the business world of most western countries, a
subordinate does not keep his or her superior waiting (at
least more than two or three minutes); a "boss" may keep a
subordinate waiting a few minutes, but a boss who is human
relations oriented will not take advantage of his or her
superior position.
 Time
• In some cultures, time is of less importance,
but western business people tend to move
by the clock—a two o'clock appointment
usually means two o'clock or something
within five or ten minutes of it.
• In some cultures, a two o'clock appointment
may mean three o'clock; and if you arrive to
transact business at the "appointed" two
o'clock hour, you may actually offend the
other person!
 Time/Chronemics
• Our use of time reflects:
– Power/status
– Cultural norms
– Expectations
– Interpersonal priorities
 Space
• Space:
• Space is a culture specific. Space between two persons is
also important. Going to close relationship space is very
sensible for nonverbal communication.
• "Proxemics" is the term Hall has coined for the
interrelated observations and theories of man's use of space
as a specialized elaboration of culture.
 Space
• One use of space with which most of you are familiar is
someone's favourite chair.
• Frequently it is Dad who has a chair which is his, and it is
extremely dangerous for anyone else to sit in it. The person
who sits in "Dad's chair" without asking permission seems
to be invading personal territory.
 Space
• Another place where most of you have observed
special treatment of space is in business offices. Office
space is usually allotted on the basis of a person's position
in the structure and on the organization chart. This is such a
common occurrence that it receives special attention in
office management textbooks.
 Space/Proxemics
Personal Space Chart

• Intimate distance You

are
• Personal distance here

• Social distance
• Public distance

Barrier behaviors and territory

 Space
• Intimate Distance (Distance: 0 to 2 feet) – used for very
confidential communication. The examples include hugging, holding
hands, comforting, and protecting. People share a unique level of
comfort in this zone.
• Personal Distance (Distance: 2 to 4 feet) – talking with family or
close friends. This distance is reserved for more than just a casual
friend or fleeting encounter; however, it is a no-contact distance.
 Space
• Social Distance (Distance: 4 to 12 feet)
Impersonal business or casual conversations can be carried
on in this space.
• Public Distance (Distance: 12 to 25 feet, or farther) -
A person at this distance is outside the circle of
involvement. This is the distance reserved for public
speakers and/or public officials or for anyone on public
occasions.
 Space
Some Examples…
• Space
– Americans tend to value more personal space than many
other cultures
– Men tend to value more personal space than women
Some Guidelines for Improving
Nonverbal Communication
• Monitor Your Nonverbal Communication
• Be Tentative When Interpreting Others’ Nonverbal
Communication
– Nonverbals are personal and ambiguous
– Personal Qualifications:
• Take responsibility for your interpretations
• Use “I” language to check your perceptions of nonverbals
– Contextual Qualifications:
• Be aware of how the context might be influencing others’ nonverbals
• Be aware of how different cultural norms might influence others’
nonverbals
• Be careful not to jump to conclusions based on your own cultural norms
THANK YOU!