Week 7 reflection

Nonverbal communication is essential to day to day life. The textbook defines this
communication as the act of communicating without using words. It involves the use of non-
spoken symbols to convey messages. The significance of nonverbal communication is very
important and it is believed that 93% of communication is done non verbally. Different cultures
have their own ways of nonverbal communication such as greeting and other shows of emotions.
The difference between nonverbal and verbal communication is usually in the context. When you
are communicating verbally what is said is usually understood with the proper context through
communication, however when communicating non verbally context can be lost easily and the
communication can fail easily. This is especially true in different cultures as many cultures it is
disrespectful to communicate nonverbally in some ways to each other. If you take into account
cultures with high and low context communication nonverbal communication can be very useful
or detrimental. Nonverbal communication is communicated through codes. The most common
code which is used and understood is body movements, these can be as simple as waving to
someone or as complex as making a hand sign in baseball. The example that I have to reflect
with this week’s chapter is again the use of sports. To gain an advantage against other team’s
coaches will make plays for their team so they can score easy points or stop another team on the
defensive end. Many times this communication is done verbally where coaches and players on
the court/field will repeat the play so the rest of the team can hear this. You can also call the
same play using nonverbal communication, often a coach will put a certain about of fingers up or
hold a fist up to indicate a play. This is the ultimate way of nonverbal communication since only
the players on your team will know what that codes means and the communication will be
delivered immediately and also silently which gives teams a real advantage. Nonverbal
communication is crucial and I believe that it does make up more than 90% of our
communication.