The Power of Nonverbal Communication: Understanding the Silent Signals
You must have heard the popular saying- actions speak louder than words. That is what non-verbal communication is! Non-verbal communication is the most primitive type of interpersonal communication. Before there existed a language, our ancestors communicated using sounds and gestures.
Human language and communication have been vast and complex with several ever-growing dialects and language differences. However non-verbal communication is still persistent and has a great effect on communication skills.
Non-verbal communication includes nonverbal cues that we convey and analyze during conversations, such as body language, facial emotions, and vocal intonation. Nonverbal communication can transmit information that words cannot and can provide us with important insight into the sentiments and ideas of people around us.
Nonverbal communication can occur in conscious, semi-conscious, or unconscious ways, but we are not always in control of it. Like, when people are anxious, they blush or perspire, this is a non-verbal communication example. Often, we have minimal control over these bodily responses. Similarly, we are completely powerless to alter our own body odor, which gives other individuals indications. However, we can alter other cues such as our posture or voice tone.
How Non-Verbal Communication is Impactful in Life?
Your everyday life interactions are influenced by nonverbal communication in a variety of ways. Since many nonverbal cues are given subconsciously, they are frequently more accurate indicators of someone’s mental condition than spoken words. Understanding this is crucial when deciphering nonverbal cues, but it’s also helpful to be conscious of your own and employ it to your advantage when trying to convince someone during a discussion or negotiation. Understanding how specific movements and facial expressions influence other individuals and using these cues effectively will help you persuade others.
When reading nonverbal signs from others, subtle hand gestures, eye contact, and seating position can all reveal a lot about an individual’s intentions and emotional state. When a person’s words and nonverbal clues line up, it is a good sign to trust them. If the other person’s words and non-verbal signs don’t match, you rapidly tend to distrust their competency or trustworthiness. When that occurs, the non-verbal cue is typically more honest and is typically given unconsciously, thus most people remember it better.
You can intentionally employ nonverbal communication in order to:
- Encourage faith
- Intensify the impact of what we say
- Be incredibly confident
The communicator may utilize non-verbal communication in order to control their own feelings. For example, if you are sitting for a job interview and you purposefully adopted a self-assured demeanor for a short while before appearing for an interview, you will perform more confidently and succeed in the end.
Let’s look at a few more major impactful factors of Non-Verbal Communication!
They May Improve Your Chances in your Career
Effective nonverbal communicators are aware of the importance of body language when sharing ideas and fostering connections with coworkers. They know how to project confidence and effectively communicate their message through their posture, gestures, and facial expressions. Because of this, companies tend to view individuals as more dependable and trustworthy, which might provide them with an advantage when it comes to employment prospects.
They Have the Power to Improve Your Self-Perception
An important component of emotional health is self-awareness, which is exhibited by effective nonverbal communicators. If you understand your own body language, it will help you to be more conscious of the messages you give to the outside world. In addition to lowering your stress levels, this can boost your confidence in social settings and your sense of self. Even if you’re not aware of your own nonverbal indicators at the moment, having effective communication skills now could have positive effects on your mental health later on.
Types of Effective Non-Verbal Communication that Can Help You in Life:
Gestures
In addition to emphasizing what you say, hand gestures can also be used to show openness or defensiveness and to express your emotions without using words. Examples include shrugging (indifference), opening your hands wide (confidence), and turning your palms up (openness).
Making Eye Contact
Your audience is greatly impacted by your ability to keep eye contact. It’s easy to assume that someone who avoids eye contact is insecure, uninterested, or ashamed. On the other hand, prolonged eye contact will make you seem more confident in front of others.
Body Language:
Your gait or posture reveals a lot about your character. Walking with your feet firmly planted on the ground, your posture upright, and your steps long have been seen as symbols of boldness, confidence, and decisiveness. Similar to this, you can indicate whether you like someone by turning your upper body away from them or by facing them.
Habitat or Habitus
The word habitus, also known as “condition,” comes from the Latin verb “habere,” which means “to hold.” It describes your general behaviors and habits as well as how you seem, including the clothes you wear, the way your hair is styled, the accessories you wear, the hobbies you engage in, and the modes of transportation you take. These characteristics enable people to infer judgments about your social and cultural status.
Lately, non-verbal communication has been a key to understanding various people and their behavior patterns. In the world of psychology, it has been a master stroke to decipher people’s thoughts, thoughts that they aren’t able to let out! You might surf multiple verbal and non-verbal communication examples and you will find that even after being disregarded, non-verbal communication proves to be highly effective and impactful in life, especially in difficult situations.