WHAT IS BODY

LANGUAGE?
• Body language is the unspoken or non-
verbal mode of communication that we do
in every single aspect of our interaction
with another person.
• It is like a mirror that tells us what the other
person thinks and feels in response to our
words or actions.
• Body language involves gestures,
mannerisms, and other bodily signs.
 FacialExpression
 Eye contact
 Gestures
 Head, Body Orientation and
Postures
 Personal Space
 Appearance
• A popular saying goes like this. ”The face is the index of the heart”.
It plays an important role in face-to-face communication through
which we can convey lot without speaking a word.
• Facial expressions reflect emotion, feelings and attitudes.
• Smile and eyes cover the most part of facial expression.
• Smile is a powerful cue that transmits happiness,friendliness,
warmth and approval.
• Facial expression continually changes during the interaction.
• The meaning of these expression may be similar across cultures.
Eye is an direct and most expressive part of our body.
Different ways of Eye Contact
 Direct Eye Contact: (Shows confidence)
 Looking downwards (Listening carefully or Guilty)
 Single raised eyebrow (Doubting)
 Both raised eyebrows (Admiring)
 Bent eyebrows (Sudden focus)
 Tears coming out (Emotional either happy or hurt)
………and many more
The advantages of eye contact are as follows:
• It shows your interest in your audience.
• It indicates your straightforwardness.
• It adds facial expression to the message.
• It provides feedback to you on your impact on the audience.
 Have eye contact, but don’t
stare
 While talking to several
people, give them all some
eye contact to create a better
connection and see if they
are listening.
 Keeping too much eye-
contact might make people
less interested.
 Giving no eye-contact might
make you seem insecure.
• The physical movement of arms, legs, hands,
and head are known gestures.
• They play a very important role in conveying
meaning without using words.
 GESTURES...

 If you fail to gesture while speaking, you may be

perceived as boring, stiff and unanimated.
 A lively and animated teaching style captures students'
attention, makes the material more interesting, facilitates
learning and provides a bit of entertainment.
 Head nods, a form of gestures, communicate positive
reinforcement to students and indicate that you are
listening.
• In any face-to-face communication or meeting or interview the way
we hold our head, body shape and posture is very important.
• Don’t slouch, sit up straight.
• If you want to show that you are interested in what someone is
saying, lean toward the person talking, but don’t lean in too much
or you might seem needy and desperate for some approval.
• If you want to show that you’re confident in yourself and relaxed
lean back a bit but don’t back too much or you might seem
arrogant and distant.
• You shouldn’t cross your arms and legs as it might make you seem
defensive or disapproving.
 Personal space
 Personal space can also be defined as a person’s comfort
zone.It is the space around you that others are off-limits to.
 In social interaction, a zone of 4 feet to 12 feet is maintained
when the situation is formal. This is called social distance.
 In public gathering distance is normally 12 feet to 30 feet.
 Space distancing differs from culture to culture. For instance,
in France people typically do not require much personal
space. In the United States, however, it seems to be about
two feet.
 Very rarely will someone mention that his or her personal
space is being invaded.Therefore, this is usually picked up by
many nonverbal cues.
• Appearance, for our purpose, includes
clothing, hair, jewellery, cosmetics etc.
• All these may seem unrelated to body
language. But on having a closer look we
find that they are very meaningfully related
to our face, eyes, gestures, etc.
• It depicts our personality.