Nonverbal and Verbal Communication

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Nonverbal and Verbal Communication
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Actions Speak Louder than Words.Its not what
you say, but how you say it!
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Nonverbal Communication Defined

• Communication without wordsby means of space,
  gestures, facial expressions, touching, vocal
  variation, and silence.
• Nonverbal messages more believable than verbal,
  communicate feelings and attitudes, ambiguous,
  serve various functions for verbal messages,
  culture-bound.

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Proxemics

• Defined the study of how we use the space around
  us or how we communicate nonverbally through the
  use of space.
• Edward T. Hallscholar most associated with
  spatial communication and proxemics.

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Public Distance

• Range 12 feet and above
• Largest distance for communication to occur

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Social Distance

• Range 4 feet to 12 feet
• Most socially acceptable distancemajority
• of conversations
• happen at this
• distance

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Personal Distance

• Range 18 inches to 4 feet
• People can begin to invade
• others personal bubbles at this
• distance

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Intimate Distance

• Range touching to 18 inches
• Not proper for strangers to be at this
  distance would feel your bubble was invaded if
  unknown person was at this distance

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Barrier Behaviors

• Nonverbal actions or strategies we use to create
  or re-create a barrier between ourselves and
  others
• Examples avoid eye contact, shift in posture,
  cross arms, lean back, place an object between
  yourself and other person

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Others Ways we communicate Nonverbally

• Appearance artifacts (clothes, jewelry, tattoos,
  piercings, etc)
• Body Movements
• --emblems motion that has a
• specific meaning in a culture
• --illustrators motion that accentuates a verbal
  message

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Body Movements (continued)

• --affect displays motion that communicates
  emotion
• --regulators motion that controls the flow of
  communication
• --adaptors motion that helps us to satisfy a
  personal need

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• Eye Contact
• Facial Expressions
• Touch
• Voice
• paralanguagethe pitch or tone used when
  delivering a verbal message.
• Decoration

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Verbal Messages

• Clarity vs. Ambiguity
• Avoid equivocation statements with two
  different, but equally acceptable, meanings
• Ex He likes beer better than his wife
• Avoid using jargon
• Specialized vocabulary unfamiliar to those
  outside the group
• Strategic Ambiguity sometimes appropriate
• Promotes harmony, softens the blow of difficult
  messages

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Inflammatory Language

• Biased Language
• Appears objective but conceals an emotional or
  personal bias
• Guys, young man, etc.
• Trigger words
• Words that invoke a strong reaction

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Feminine vs. Masculine Speech

• Rapport vs. Report
• Women typically view communication as a means to
  build rapport/relationships
• Men typically view speech as a taska means to an
  end