thoughts on non-verbal communication

Thoughts on non-verbal communication

It is thought that non-verbal communication makes up around two thirds of the information that people exchange and this is made up of both body movement and facial expression. Some movements even come with their own specific meanings, these are known as “quotable gestures” such as a shrug when somebody doesn’t understand something other motions that accompany words such as pointing when referring to an object or direction are known as “speech related gestures”. Tension throughout the body also can be very descriptive with tense poses often indicating negative emotions and relaxed poses indicating positive emotions, a good example of this is the slight tilting of the head when feeling positive or relaxed where exposing the neck suggests a person feels under no threat of attack. Also involuntary eye movement plays a large part in human communication such as looking up and to the left which is an indication of visually constructed thought which is often linked to the act of lying as an individual invents something to say. The eyes can be very expressive such as attraction causing the pupil to dilate, Charles Darwin even refers to a “brightening of the eyes”* and goes into some length into animal interaction also and how they in term display expression to each other.

 

*THE EXPRESSION OF THE EMOTIONS IN MAN AND ANIMALS.

BY CHARLES DARWIN, M.A., F.R.S., &c. (page 215)

 

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