Non-Verbal Communication
Matthew Cicalese
As tutors,
we are faced with the responsibility of meeting new people almost every day,
conversing with them, and eventually aiding them with the task at hand. Of course, much of the assistance is given
through spoken words, but the true question is “How are our bodies
communicating?” This may seem like an
awkward inquiry at first, but the truth is that we are speaking volumes simply
through body language. According to
Marjorie Fink Vargas, former professor at the University of Wisconsin-School of
Education, ”In a conversation between two people, only thirty-five percent of
the social messages are conveyed by the words; the remaining sixty-five percent
is communicated non-verbally, by how (we) speak, move, gesture, and handle
spatial relationships” (10). It may be
hard to believe that so much is said without vocal aid, but after we explore
the vast world of nonverbal communication, or NVC, you will come to understand
the important roles our bodies play in each and every personal engagement.
WHAT IS NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION?
In
a brief sense, “non-verbal communication” refers to any communicative action
other than speech, including, “facial expressions, hand and arm gestures,
postures, positions, and various movements of the body or the legs and feet” (Mehrabian 1). Verbal
interaction is cut and dry, whereas NVC has the ability to take on multiple
meanings through one simple gesture. It
varies between cultures, just like any other language, and helps shape the
personality of each user. In an attempt
to better define the implicit nature of nonverbal communication, I have divided
NVC into five major categories based on the research of Dr. Albert Mehrabian, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, UCLA:
1.
Emblem - the small class of nonverbal acts that can be
accurately translated into words
Example:
handshake, shaking a fist at someone, a smile, a frown
2.
Illustrator - very much a
part of speech and serves the function of emphasis
Example: head and hand movements that occur more
frequently with primary stressed words, pointing gestures, other movements that
draw a clear picture f the linguistic reference.
3.
Affect Display - feelings
expressed through our bodies
Example:
happiness, anger, surprise, fear, disgust, sadness, interest
4.
Regulator - acts that
help to initiate and terminate the speech of participants in a social situation
Example:
regulators might suggest that the speaker keep talking, clarify, or
hurry up and finish
5.
Adaptor - acts related
to satisfying bodily needs
Example:
moving into a more comfortable position, scratching
Appearance
According to R.A. Hinde,
former Master and Royal Society Research Professor of St. John’s
College-Cambridge University, “Much time, money, and effort is put into the
control of appearance, (which)can be regarded as a special kind of NVC”
(248). Before any formal introduction is
made, we are programmed to prejudge our counterparts strictly by their initial
appearance: a practice committed by almost every person on the planet. Hinde also notes
that “people send messages about their social status, their occupation, or the
social group they belong to, by wearing the appropriate costume” (248).
Appearance also gives the rest of the world an insight to your personality and
mood. In a working environment we must consider two things: 1) how do the
students’ physical presentations reflect him or her, and 2) what kind of
messages are you conveying through your own appearance? For example, if a man were to come into the
writing center with a stained shirt, ripped jeans, long dried out hair, scabs
all over his arms, sandals complete with crusty toes, an unkempt beard and a
body odor similar to that of olive oil, paint thinner, burnt hair and beer
sweats, how would you initially react to this guy? Well...fear would be a good start, followed
by discomfort and nausea. All the more we should take our own appearance into
consideration. If you were to show up to
the writing center everyday with your hair a mess, dressed in pajamas,
bloodshot eyes, cigarette breath, and all the while incessantly yawning, do you
honestly think that the students are going to come running for your
assistance? Do you even think that you
would be able to keep your job? With
that being said, it is our responsibility as tutors to show other students how
to properly manage oneself in a public setting.
I have provided a little poem that you can recite every day in order to
get yourself ready for a healthy day of work at the writing center:
Comb your hair and brush your teeth,
Shine those shoes that hide your feet,
Get dressed in a stylish sense,
‘Cuz you gotta
look good for your audience.
Bodily
Contact
The initial physical interaction between
two people can make or break the entire experience. Typically, you would like to start everything
off with a cordial smile and a similar offer of a handshake. These gestures let
the other person know that you are willing and able to help them. If you were to jump up, bear-hug them and
follow that with a friendly pat on the behind, you might find yourself out of
work, or in court. Even in the most casual situations, bodily contact with a
new person can provide the nearest exit from the comfort zone, especially with
those from different cultural backgrounds.
All the more, you should limit the amount of physical contact between
you and the student in order to preserve comfort and cooperation.
Orientation/Distance
After the introduction, a place to work
is usually agreed upon, whether it be a desk, table,
computer station, or whatever area that offers the best conditions to get the
job done. Next, you must decide on the
proper orientation--“the angle at which people sit or stand in relation to each
other” (Hinde 247).
The normal range is from head-on to side-by-side, but either way it can
vary with the nature of the situation: Hinde
suggests, “those who are working cooperatively or who are close friends adopt
the side-by-side position; in a confrontation, bargaining or similar situation,
people tend to choose head on; while in other situations, ninety degrees is
most common” (247). Once again, the
preferences vary among cultures and even more interesting are the distances
preferred between the sexes. It has been
found that “male-female pairs assumed the closest positions relative to each
other, followed by the female-female pairs, and finally the male-male pairs,
who were the most distant” (Mehrabian 20). In order to maintain a comfortable and
productive environment, you and the student must feel the same level of
comfort; otherwise the task at hand will suffer immensely. By keeping a respected amount of distance,
you will maintain a friendly, productive, working environment and flourish as a
tutor.
Posture
Once the working environment and
distances are established, you must now focus your attention on the posture of
both you and the other student . Dr. Mehrabian
concludes that “postures (for example, bodily relaxation or limb
position)...are used as a source of information about a person’s
characteristics, attitudes, and feelings about themselves and others”
(16). Over 200 mannerisms and gestures
have been related to their coinciding attitudes– many of which you will
experience at the writing center. For
example, someone who is going to take charge sits in an a firm, upright
position; someone who lacks complete interest will slouch away from the work
area, in hopes that you will do all of their work for them; and the other who
sits in a slumped over position with their head down, will work with you, but
in a defeated fashion. Another degree of
posture is the “lean factor.” Studies
show that “a forward lean conveys greater liking, whereas a backward lean, or turning
away, shows a more negative attitude” (Mehrabian 19).
You must also remember to present yourself in a firm, interested position: back
straight, chest out, with your hands on the desk. You must also try your hardest to maintain
this stance while interacting with the other student; it will subliminally tell
them that you have the utmost faith and support in the work presented. If you were to slouch, or rest your head in
your hands while tutoring, you would basically be telling the student, “Listen.
I don’t care. Can you hurry up? I have other things to do today besides listen
to you.” That is the last way that
anyone in need of assistance should ever feel at the writing center, and your posture alone could be the deciding
factor.
Facial
Expressions
The face is a communication center all
in its own. In the midst of conversation,
even when we are just listening, our faces do a significant amount of talking
for us. Usually, the speaker will frame
what is being said “with the appropriate facial expressions, and the listener
provides a continuous commentary of his reactions with small movements of the
eyebrows and mouth, indicating puzzlement, surprise, disagreement, pleasure,
etc. “(Hinde 249).
That is why is it so important to monitor the face of whomever you are
assisting because in most cases, especially if it is a first meeting, he or she
will be too nervous or intimidated to vocally express how or what they are
truly feeling. At this point, your clueless-ness will deeply inhibit your
ability to make them feel like an integral part of the learning process. According to Dr. Leopold Bellak,
expert and author on abnormal psychology, “if you just look at a person without
trying to read the face and personality in some depth, you are not even
beginning to establish a connection or engage in any exploration and meeting of
the minds” (43). By successfully reading
the other person’s face, you automatically focus on that individual rather than
on yourself. The same amount of
attention should be paid towards our reciprocated facial expressions. Yes, they can be hard to control, and, in
times of necessary discretion, display our exact thoughts to the speaker, but
either way we must successfully offer our honest services without offending
anyone in the process. Bellak also notes, “how the
(student) will interact with you throughout the meeting depends to a large
extent on how you look at them” (104).
Eye
Contact
Eye
contact is, without a doubt, the most important aspect of nonverbal
communication. During conversation,
“each participant looks intermittently at the other, for periods of 1 to 10
seconds, for 25%-75% of the time: periods of mutual gaze, or eye-contact, are
rather shorter” (Hinde 250). Normal percentages of gaze vary with the sex,
personalities, and cultural backgrounds of the speakers, the topic, the
setting, and several other factors; yet “the functions of the eyes provide a
predictable behavioral pattern” (Vargas 57).
The five conversational functions of the eyes include: (1) regulating
turn taking, (2) monitoring feedback, (3) signaling thought, (4) expressing
feelings, and (5) communicating the nature of the interpersonal
relationship.
When
speaking, eye contact should be established right off the bat, but you should
be aware of staring: it is rude, creepy, and a good way to turn off
your listener. The best way to maintain a successful optical
relationship is to just break away from the mutual gaze every so often. This will give the student a chance to
maintain a steady level of comfort and interest as he or she will not feel
obligated to focus directly on you throughout the meeting. While speaking, you are able to monitor
your listeners simply through their eye movement. It is easy to confuse boredom for shyness, so
we must be careful to define the two. Ultimately,
an experienced speaker will have little to no trouble splitting the difference
and persons with “shifty eyes” (Vargas 57) have the ability to help us draw
that line. Occasionally, “the direction
of their glance provides a clue to their preoccupation or preferred setting”
(Vargas 57). For example: let us say
that you are sitting down with a male student, and every time a girl walks into
the writing center, his head spins at a 180° angle allowing his eyes to follow her until she finds a
seat or makes her way out of the area.
This student is obviously disinterested.
You know his mind is in another land, and by the time the meeting is
over, you are glad to see him go. This
is a perfectly natural, human reaction, but you must make sure that 100% of
your effort is given despite the fact that your counterpart decides to work at
half-speed. The same goes for you as a
listener. Hinde’s
studies show that “people look about twice as much when they are listening than
while they are talking” (250) and it is important that we keep up the
trend. While maintaining steady eye
contact with the speaker, you will not only absorb more of what they are
saying, but you will also offer your full attention and interest. This helps to create a more positive
atmosphere as well as “spark lively, stimulating conversation” (Bellak 110).
Conclusion
NVC is an incredible means of
communication that serves many purposes.
Some NVC is used to communicate attitudes and emotions, and to manage
immediate social situations. Other forms
support and complement verbal communication, as well as offer another means of
speaking simply through gesture. There
are many complex rules of its sequence and structure, but if used enough
through the practice of conversation it can, and will, help you to become the
best tutor that you can be.
Besides
the sources used in the text, I have provided a list of credible web sites
devoted to furthering the instruction of non-verbal communication:
http://nonverbal.ucsc.edu/
–this web site defines the nature of NVC through many different subject
areas
http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/commun-1.htm – this web site offers six
ways to improve one’s NVC
http://www.bvte.ecu.edu/ACBMEC/p1999/Griffin.htm
–gender differences in NVC
http://psychology.about.com/library/submit/blsubmit_albright1.htm
–top ten
tips regarding NVC
http://psychology.about.com/library/submit/blsubmit_albright2.htm – how to be a good listener
http://psychology.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fmambo.ucsc.edu%2Fpsl%2Ffanl.html
– links to
numerous sites containing information on facial recognition
Works Cited
Bellak, Leopold. Reading Faces.
Hinde, R.A..
Non-Verbal Communication.
Mehrabian, Albert. Nonverbal
Communication.
Vargas, Marjorie Fink. Louder
Than Words: An Introduction to Nonverbal
Communication.