Communication Body Language
An essential part of human life, communication has been known to exist in several forms since the beginning of mankind. We humans have two primary ways of communicating- verbal communication and non verbal communication. While verbal communication is pretty much a straight forward process, non verbal communication however involves the use of communication body language.
Communication body language includes simple gestures such as a wave, smile or a nod and is an integral part of human relationships as so much of our day to day thoughts and feelings sometimes requires much more than words to be expressed. In some instances, communication body language can be more effective and highly influential than mere words.
For instance, the crossing of one’s arms in front of his or her chest is considered to be one of the most powerful gestures in communication body language as it is thought to denote an unconscious placing of a barrier between oneself and others. Some other frequently used communication body language gestures include the thumbs up sign to show ‘Well done’ or ‘OK’ and making a fist to show anger.
Albert Mehrabian the current Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the UCLA has conducted studies and researched the subject of communication body language to determine and better understand the relationship between facial expressions and verbal communication. According to his findings, in all instances of face to face communication, the way we communicate is broken down into 7% through spoken words, 38% through voice tone and a staggering 55% via communication body language. This finding, commonly referred to as the 7%-38%-55% rule is supported to a great extent in the often familiar situation between two people where one person says to the other ‘there’s nothing wrong’ and yet all his/ her body language demonstrates otherwise. A simple situation such as this proves how much communication body language can convey.Note however that I have said that Mehrabian’s rule only applies in instances where there is direct, in-person communication, as there is a common yet mistaken belief that Mehrabian’s 7%-38%-55% rule applies in all instances of communication. This however cannot be true as in the case of an email, there are no spoken words, nor the use of voice tone or communication body language.
Here are possible interpretations for some more communication body language:
Looking away: shows a person is uninterested
Hands on knees: shows eagerness
Scratching the chin: disbelief
See if you can think of any and the meaning that they convey to you…