A Complete Guide

To begin this guide, let's start with a brief (yet important) definition:

Nonverbal communication: the process of communicating via the acts of sending and receiving messages without the usage of words.

(Examples: facial expressions, eye contact, leaning away from someone.)

There are many different facets of non verbal communication and this article will serve you as an all-encompassing guide to the majority of those branches.

First, you should understand that there are three main classifications that all nonverbal cues can fall under.

These divisions are:

1. The environment

2. Body movement

3. Language

Now you may be thinking, "What? Language? I thought this article was about 'non-verbal' communication."

Yes, you're right and we'll shed light on this paradox a little later on.

Time to get down to business...

The Environment

The first division concerns the environment. This simply means that the specific surroundings of those individuals engaging in communication will have some type of influence on the process at hand.

There environmental classification has two sub-categories.

They are:

Proxemics
Chronemics

Proxemics is the manner in which a person utilizes and perceives the physical space surrounding them. In other words, the space (or distance) between the receiver and the sender during communication has an affect on the message's delivery and interpretation processes.

Chronemics is the concentration on the element of time. How does time affect communication? There are several ways, including: punctuality, the tempo of which speech is delivered and length of time a person is willing to wait.

Body Movement

The second division concerns body movement. This is the typical branch most people think of when they hear "nonverbal communication".

There are many different types of cues, which include:

Kinesics
Posture
Gesture
Haptics
Oculesics

Kinetics is focus on body movement, facial expressions, and motions.

Examples include: wincing, crossing your legs, scratching your head, and frowning.

The next focus is on Posture. Posture can project an aura of confidence in a sender or indifference in a receiver. It can also indicate the level of favorability an individual has for another person.

Examples include: body openness, arm position, body orientation, and the direction in which one leans.

Another focus is on Gestures. Gestures involve movement of a specific body part with tactful emphasize provided by the hands or body.

There are five types of gestures:

1. Affect Display:

2. Emblems:

3. Regulators:

4. Illustrators:

5. Adaptors:

Haptics is our fourth cue which concerns touching.

These actions include: handshakes, high fives, kissing, rubbing shoulders and holding hands.

Oculesics is the focus on eye contact and movement.

Gazing and prolonged eye contact play vital roles in communication - not to mention more technical eye movements like blink rates and pupil dilation.

Language

The last branch of nonverbal communication that we will be touching on in this article is paralanguage.

Paralanguage is also known as "vocalics" and involves the cues that are relevant to an individual's voice.

Paralanguage includes: volume, pitch, accent and tempo.

If you think about your experiences with communication in the past, how much of a role do you think that paralanguage plays?

The answer: a BIG one.

For even more information on nonverbal communication (from specific interpretation examples to giving off the right cues yourself), be sure to check out our other articles on the topic.