Non-Verbal Communication - Term Paper Example

 Outline I. Introduction II. Non-Verbal Communication III. Cultural Differences in Non-Verbal Communication IV. Conclusion Introduction As globalization suddenly gain popularity and widen the breadth of the global economy and society, the human interaction also increases. People communicate almost everyday. Communication is a vital part of human interaction. People utilize communication in every task they do. Communication plays significant role in various fields such as at home, community and workplace. Communication occurs between individuals almost everyday. The communication process of people varies in different cultures. People, therefore, communicate differently as they also grew up adhering their inherent culture. The way we speak is influenced by our cultural environment. This particular attribute of communication pose problems in understanding members of the other cultures. There is high potential that we misunderstood the message of other people by just the way and the style to which the message is conveyed. Communication takes various forms in order to send a message or information across. It is conveyed through different methods and styles. There are many types of communication such as verbal and non-verbal communication. Verbal communication refers to the type of communication to which the message, information, thoughts or idea is conveyed to its intended receiver orally or utilizing the language and spoken words. Non-verbal communication, on the other hand, is the type of communication process that occurs in the absence of spoken words or language. Non-verbal communication also occurs even in verbal communication processes. Non-verbal communication is relevant in the whole communication process for it reflects the truth and the implicit messages conveyed by the sender. It is important that we understand the non-verbal communication conveyed by people since most of the messages are sent through this form. Non-verbal communication is conveyed through posture, body language and gestures. This is essential in order to understand other people and to be good communicators. Non-Verbal Communication There is a high tendency of misunderstanding and occurrence of conflict between individuals belonging to different cultures. Difference in cultures is one of the reasons why there is diversity in the global community. Cultural diversity sets one culture from the other, distinguished by its discernible characteristics. The difference in cultures make us distinguished the French from the Japanese. The culture of a particular nation influenced many aspects of the lives of people residing on that nation. Culture is the embedded characteristics of a particular community that is instilled by the first settlers of the community and passed on to generations thereafter. Culture influenced beliefs, lifestyle and practices of people. It also influenced the way people act and speak in front of other people. Culture is an important aspect of the society, for it molds and shapes its members. How people communicate with others is influenced by instilled culture in a society. The non-verbal communication is one of the aspects of communication that is greatly influenced by culture. Most of human interaction happens in non-verbal form. There is a study which states that almost 70 percent of human communication is non-verbal (Barnum and Wolniansky, 1). Most of the individuals focus mainly in the verbal interaction of people when 800 different non-verbal messages are exchanged in a 30-minute encounter. Verbal messages are not the only thing that is important in the human interaction, further examination on other aspects of communication is needed to get the full meaning of the message (Hargrave, 17). In all cultures, first impressions are very important. Those first impressions happen mostly on the first meeting with other people. Non-verbal cues were consciously or unconsciously conveyed by people that form the first impressions even before verbal communication occur (Bente, Senokozlieva, Pennig, Al-Issa, and Fischer, 1). Non-verbal cues and messages become clues when people are uncertain of the verbal messages delivered by others. This mostly becomes useful when we are speaking with people from different culture and speaking different language. The non-verbal communication can be in various forms such as posture, feelings, facial expressions, touch, proxemics, and other nonverbal signals. The entire body and the language it conveyed play significant part in the communication process, it need to be analyzed in order to get the true meaning of the message. Ever since man starts his journey on earth, babies communicate with their mothers through non-verbal communication. Body language is part of the non-verbal language utilized by people. It is the key to the “inner psychological and emotional state” of a person (Hargrave, 17). Facial expression is also a form of non-verbal communication. The person’s emotional state can be manifested through his facial expression and it has been widely studied in various psychological fields. It is important to understand the emotional expressions and understand the true feeling of a person (Elfenbein, 21). Many researchers agree that people use the verbal communication to convey ideas and information while the non-verbal language is the bridge for interpersonal attitudes and, in some cases, substitutes for the verbal communication. Non-verbal communication is the silent communication or speaking without the spoken language. Non-verbal communication plays a big part in the whole communication process for it will never happen smoothly and successfully. If we are not able to understand the non-verbal communication from another culture, there is a tendency that we misread or misunderstand a member of that culture. Some forms of non-verbal messages may have the same interpretation or meaning in other cultures. But other non-verbal messages have different meaning in another culture (Gunawan). Just how verbal language and messages differ in various cultures, non-verbal messages may also be different from culture to culture. A gesture or may be a common non-verbal action in a country or a culture that may have a clear meaning and interpretation, but then, it may be meaningless or may have opposite meaning in another culture (Gunawan). Cultural Differences in Non-Verbal Communication There is a problem with non-verbal cues for there is a tendency that it bears another meaning in another culture. Some people may misunderstand your non-verbal messages differently due to its context in their culture. For example, the OK hand sign, the peace sign, and Fonzie thumb sign all take different context in countries outside of the United States. In the United States smiling is very natural and usually shows that a person is happy. In Asian culture, smiling can mean the person is embarrassed or has pain due to a tragedy. The Fonzie thumb sign in Greece means “get stuffed”, but in the U.S. it means great job or awesome. A simple gesture in the U.S. such as motioning someone to come here with their hand can offend a Latin American because it is rude to make such a gesture. Every behavior is anchored on the cultural context of a nation. The cultural context can be defined as the “web of experience” which includes thoughts, acts and the past experiences of an individual. Culture is socially constructed by the members of the society and that continuously altered and reshaped by generations. It is the shared values of the individuals living in a society (Singh, McKay and Singh, 403). It is relevant to understand the importance of high and low context communication for it provides the basis in understanding the non-verbal behaviors of people. All cultures are characterized by their discernible communication style ranging from low to high context communication. In high context communication, verbal messages are dominant and occur mostly in the interaction. The Americans and other western cultures rely mostly in high context communication wherein a great amount of information is conveyed verbally (Singh et al., 404). However, in the low context communication, a big part of the message is conveyed non-verbally. The message is indirectly sent to the intended receiver. People from the holistic cultures such as the Asians, Native Americans and Hispanics rely most often in non-verbal communication in the meaning of the message (Singh et al., 404). Both the verbal and non-verbal types of communication are reflections of the subjectivity of a certain culture. Understanding and appreciating of the communication contexts of various cultures will enable us to understand the way they do business and how they interact with others. The United States is slowly becoming a diverse society and their population is comprised of people coming from various cultures and from there emerge the problem of miscommunication, misunderstanding and conflict that may arise from variations n cultural contexts people used (Singh et al., 404). The contemporary society is characterized by increasing diversity. It is important that people will recognize the emotional expressions of the members of the other culture. Emotional expressions may vary across cultures (Elfenbein, 23). It is important that we understand the non-verbal cues of other people, especially those who aspire to be good communicators for it is part in understanding the person. Non-verbal cues are sometimes part of the cultural beliefs and traditions of people for it is part and influenced by their inherent culture. In an interview of the popular television host, Barbara Walter with Colonel Muammar el-Qauddafi from Libya, Walters commented after the interview “He wouldn’t look me in the eye. I found it disconcerting…” (Barnum and Wolniansky, 1). In the United States, looking in the eye shows sincerity and honesty. It is important especially for interviewers because they determine if you are honest and sincere on what you are saying. This particular action is anchored in the cultural beliefs and tradition of the Arabs. In Arab culture, men show compliment to women by not looking at them in the eye because by doing so it could be interpreted as a physical attack towards them. The culture of an individual is a factor on his non-verbal behavior (Bente et al., 1). The modern society is described by the growing globalization and interaction of various countries. Globalization is often linked to various economic activities that are intended to benefit all the nations. But the growing global society simultaneously increases the human interaction and activities of the people in various countries. The diversity in language, in both verbal and non-verbal aspects poses threats in achieving unity and understanding. With the prevalence of diversity, there will always be the tendency of misunderstanding and arising of conflicts. People may experience difficulty understanding another person from another culture in absence of proper appreciation and knowledge on the various types and contexts of communication. Learning the non-verbal cues and other non-verbal aspects of communication is very important especially in dealing with other people from another culture and those who speak a different language and use a different communication style. The key is to know what we are looking for or our aim in conducting that communication process. For example, when dealing with business partners abroad, we should not only know little of the language but also their body language and other non-verbal cues in order to conduct business with them properly and appropriately. Knowing the various cultural context of communication could be very helpful in interviews of applicant for a job. In today’s global business world, many companies based in the United States have satellite offices in other parts of the world. Personally, I have employees working for me in Bangalore, India that work for my company in a daily basis. When I happen to meet them, it would be relevant to know the non-verbal language of India to conduct business with them appropriately. Conclusion Communication is a vital part of everyone’s life. People are engage in communication everyday. Communication is the process of exchanging messages and information from one point to another. Communication took various forms such as the verbal and non-verbal communication. Verbal communication is the type of communication that is characterized by spoken words and language. Non-verbal communication, however, is the type of communication that occurs in the absence of words and language. Culture is the shared characteristics of the people residing in a particular society. Culture is characterized by the inherent beliefs, practices and traditions that is shaped and reshaped by generations. Culture influenced most aspects of human activities, one of which is the way people communicate. Diversity in culture results in diversity in language and communication style. It is important to know the various non-verbal cues and behaviors and its meaning in various cultures in order to conduct business properly and successfully. References Barnum, C. and N. Wolniansky. (1989). Taking Cues from Body Language. Management Review 78 (June 1989): 59-60. General OneFile. Gale. LIRN. Retrieved October 29, 2008, from http://find.galegroup.com/itx/start.do?prodId=ITOF. Bente, Gary, Maria Senokozlieva, Sibylle Pennig, Ahmad Al-Issa and Oliver Fischer.(2008). Deciphering the Secret Code: A New Methodology for the Cross-Cultural Analysis of Nonverbal Behavior. Behavior Research Methods  40.1 (2008): 269-277. Psychology Module. ProQuest. Retrieved October 29, 2008, from  http://www.proquest.com/. Elfenbein, Hillary Anger. (2006). Learning in Emotion Judgments: Training and the Cross-Cultural Understanding of Facial Expression. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 30, 21-36. Gunawan, Muhammad Handi. (2008). Non-Verbal Communication: The ‘Silent’ Cross Cultural Contact with Indonesians. Retrieved November 4, 2008, from http://www.ialf.edu/kipbipa/papers/MuhamadHandiGunawan.doc. Hargrave, Jan. (2008). Do You Speak Body Language? The Forensic Examiner: 17-22. Singh, Nirbhay N., Jennifer D. McKay and Ashvind N. Singh. (1998). Culture and Metal Health: Nonverbal Communication. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 7, 403-409. Read More