SVEUČILIŠTE JURJA DOBRILE U PULI

FILOZOFSKI FAKULTET

Nonverbal communication
Seminarski rad

Imena studenata: Blanka Despotović, 0303099013

Karla Pajković, 0009089406
Azra Tokić, 0303085801

Kolegij: Engleski jezik I i III.

 Nonverbal communication

Nonverbal communication can be easily defined as communication that includes everything

but using words to relay some message. The message can be sent and received and we can
show and find out tons of things while doing those processes. While we can stop talking to
end verbal communication, we can't turn off nonverbal one as it is continuous, ongoing, and
in constant motion. Nonverbal communication includes facial expressions, space between
two speakers, eye contact, the tone of the voice and gestures shown through body language
and it is believed that 70% of communication is nonverbal. From simply greeting a friend
with a hug to rolling your eyes at someone who is excessively chatting with someone else.
With those, we are expressing mostly the way we feel about certain something, so emotions
are easily visible to the person we are talking with. Emotions such as happiness, sadness,
tiredness and anxiety are just one of the many emotions we are able to understand by judging
each other's expressions during the conversation. Further, body posture and distance we keep
from the person we are talking to can also give an idea of how close we think we are with the
other person which ultimately influences our relationship.

People usually express themselves through nonverbal communication first without

consciously even thinking about it. That is because it takes 7 seconds to create a first
impression when approaching someone. And how are we creating that first impression? With
our appearance! The way we dress and style our hair for example is also a form of nonverbal
communication that can reveal a lot of things about us. From our personality and culture to
our financial status.

Despite everything said, nonverbal communication should not be studied apart from verbal
communication. Mostly because nonverbal communication primarily conveys relational
information (emotions and feelings), whereas verbal communication conveys content
information. Therefore, nonverbal ansd verbal communications work together to convey the
total meaning of a message.1

Blanka Despotović

1
S. Steinberg, Introduction to Communication Course Book 1: The Basics (Pg. 58)
 How to detect lies through body language?

If we want to find out if a person is lying or not, we have to concentrate on those body parts
that don't seem important and parts that we do not pay attention to. Those parts are our face,
pupils and upper body parts. The face is the first part of the body that we see when we are
talking or we need to know something about the other person. However, when looking at
another person's face, let's ask ourselves how much do we actually see. We would think that
while talking to the other person we should notice some things like what is the others persons
eye color or how much did the person looks away and ect. Any facial expression that lasts for
too long is not normal, it is an indicator of discomfort and lying. If a person is smiling for too
long, it often means that they are lying. 2

Some researches have shown that our pupils dilate when we lie because our brain works the
most while we lie and we need to make up some story. If someone's pupils dilate while
answering questions, it may be an indicator that the peson is making things up while
answering or is trying to remember what actually happened so the story is holding up. 3

Also, rapid blinking is important when we are talking about lying because a person blinks
five times per minute and if someone is lying he may blink five or six times at once.

The biggest indicator of lies are upper body parts. When lying, people use their hands and
legs less because if we are telling the truth, our entire body is moving and we are honest
about what we are talking. The sentences are simple and not too long because person has to
think up things to say.

To sum up, reliable signs od lying are: pupil dilation, smaller number of body movements,
simple sentences and pursed lips.4 People unconsciously send messages with their
movements but we need to know the person better if we think they are lying because each
person behaves differently while in presence of others.

Karla Pajković

2
Plantak, Ivana. "Neverbalna komunikacija u socijalnoj interakciji." Diplomski rad, Sveučilište Sjever, 2020.
https://urn.nsk.hr/urn:nbn:hr:122:849440
3
Pease, A. & Pease, B.: Velika škola govora tijela, Mozaik knjiga, Zagreb 2008.
4
Seager, M. & Mann, S.: Zar bismo Vam lagali, Naklada Ljevak d.o.o., Zagreb 2009.
 The importance of non verbal communication in teaching

Non verbal communication has been recognized as a very important technique and it has a
positive influence on the students. It helps in better learning and much better understanding
of the concepts. It is an important form of teaching. Teachers should be, not just good
speakers, but also good listeners – that does not apply just for words thats being spoken, but
on facial expressions, postures, gestures and eye contact as well.5
Miller (1998.) thinks that teachers should be an experts of non verbal communication for two
reasons.
1. To become a good receiver of students messages
2. To use the capability to send students positive signals that fortify learning6
People say that the eyes are the windows of the soul and we can agree with that, because eye
signal represent an important part of facial expression and give us the ability to know human
behaviour.7
We can coclude that for people in general (not just for teachers) is good to know and master
eye body language (especially eye contact and gestures).

Azra Tokić

5
(Danijela Kozić,2013)
6
(Miller P.W., 1998)
7
(Pease,2004)
Literature
1. S. Steinberg, Introduction to Communication Course Book 1: The Basics, Welsh Office,
1994.
2. Plantak, Ivana. "Neverbalna komunikacija u socijalnoj interakciji." Diplomski rad,
Sveučilište Sjever, 2020. https://urn.nsk.hr/urn:nbn:hr:122:849440
3. Pease, A. & Pease, B.: Velika škola govora tijela, Mozaik knjiga, Zagreb 2008.
4. Seager, M. & Mann, S.: Zar bismo Vam lagali, Naklada Ljevak d.o.o., Zagreb 2009.
5. Kožić, Danijela, Ana Globočnik Žunac and Ljubica Bakić-Tomić. "Use of Non-verbal
Communication Channels in the Classroom." Croatian Journal of Education 15, no. Sp.Ed.1
2013.
6. Miller, P.W., Nonverbal communication. USA: 3rd ed. Nea, 1998.
7. Pease, A. The definite book of body language. London-Orion, 2004.