Journalism - Demonstrative Communication - Research Paper Example

Running Head: Demonstrative Communication Demonstrative Communication [Institute’s Demonstrative Communication The term ‘demonstrative communication’, refers to non-verbal and unwritten communication, and may include body language, such as “movement of a hand in a particular direction, facial expressions, such as frowning, smiling or even raising an eyebrow, the tone of voice and eye movements for that matter” (Das, 2008). Facial expressions are the most commonly used type when it comes to non-verbal communication.

This type of communication is quite easily observable by a third party person, and has the tendency of misinterpretation by both, the receiver of the message and the observer. People can easily reach conclusions regarding what kind of a person one is, just by observing them communicate with others and watching their facial expressions, or hearing their tone of voice. All types of communication is made up of three major parts, a sender, and a receiver, and the message itself, and is carried out with the purpose of conveying information to people.

In order to carry out demonstrative communication, both parties, i.e. the sender and the receiver must be close to each other and have eye contact preferably. Any communication process is complete once the intended recipient has received it, and is effective, once the recipient has understood the message, and in some cases, has provided feedback (Das, 2008). If one looks into daily lives, it will be an observation that people extensively use demonstrative communication methods, such as body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice, be it in work environment, when amongst people belonging to social circle or even at home.

Such communication is a major part of our daily lives, and one hardly even notices that people are engaging in such communication as we do so. In many cases, incorrect demonstrative communication takes place, and is not understood or received by the intended recipient. This may cause the communication process to be ineffective. On the other hand, if one type of demonstrative communication, such as, body language is observed correctly, and the intended message is received and understood by the recipient, one can term such communication as effective (Das, 2008).

Like all types of communication, in demonstrative communication, too, the sender has to listen to the message sent towards them and respond appropriately. For example, we can listen to demonstrative communication with our eyes, if someone is asked to sit beside us, and they are hesitant in doing so, we can reach the conclusion that they do not want to sit with us (Das, 2008).Thus, we would have to act in a specific manner in order to respond to this message. Even demonstrative communication, like all other types of communication greatly involves, listening to the message sent, by the ears, and responding to it by various actions or expressions.

This type of communication can be ineffective for the receiver if they receive a message, but are unable to interpret what the sender of the message is trying to imply or say (Evans, 1982). Another instance can be a person receiving and understanding a message, but unable to sending feedback to the sender of the message in order to confirm receipt and understanding of the message. Such communication also may be positive and negative, for both the sender and the receiver. For example, in a work environment, the boss may tell his employee, by a certain facial expression, or eye movement to do something, but the employee may have no proof of the boss telling him to do so, since he received the message through demonstrative communication instead of written form (Das, 2008).

It also, may be negative for the sender, because the receiver may not understand the message correctly, and thus, this can create several problems. Another way that demonstrative communication can be negative for the sender and receiver is that while a message is being transmitted, people nearby might notice the exchange of messages via facial expressions or eye movements etc, and might understand them message as well. This also, has the tendency of creating many problems if the message originally was supposed to be just between the sender and receiver of the message.

One main reason why demonstrative communication can be negative for the sender and the receiver of the message is that, various expressions and body movements signify different things to different people (Das, 2008). Thus, rolling the eye may mean one thing to a person while it may mean something completely different to another. Due to this reason, it becomes quite difficult to send a message and carry out effective communication while using demonstrative means. Lastly, demonstrative communication and the message it gives out also depends on various factors such as the situation, the receivers interpretation etc.

This, too, may be one reason such communication can be negative for the sender and receiver (Das, 2008). For example, while wearing revealing clothes for girls may be a norm in the West, in the East doing so is a taboo to quite an extent, and therefore, if a female is seen wearing exposing clothes, it may give out a negative message to the observer or receiver of the message. References Das, K. L. (2008). Language and Ontology. New York: Northern Book Centre. Evans, G. (1982). The Varieties of Reference.

Oxford: Oxford University Press.