Non – Verbal
Communication
Definition
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Bartol and Martin Define non- verbal
communication as ” communication by means of
elements and behavior that are not coded into
words”.
Non-verbal communication includes body
movements, the intonations or emphasis we give
to words, facial expressions and the physical
distance between the sender and the receiver.
Relationship between Verbal and
Nonverbal Communication
Complement, modify, or elaborate
 Accent or emphasize
 Contradict
 Regulate interaction
 Repeat
 Substitute
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Kinesics
 Facial
Expressions
 Gestures
 Bodily action
 Posture
Facial Expression
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A facial expression results from one or more motions or
positions of the muscles of the face.
These movements convey the emotional state of the
individual to observers.
Facial expressions are a form of nonverbal
communication.
Facial expression along with intonations, can show
arrogance, aggressive, fear, shyness and other
character that could never be communicated if you read
a transcript of what have been said.
Examples
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Top class comedians tell there jokes with a dead
pan expression that evokes more laughter than
the word themselves
In Asian countries like India the eyes have a
special role to play in conveying messages.
Averted eyes, down caste eyes, glaring eyes are
the favourite stock in trade of Indian actors and
actresses and more significant is the part played
by the eyes in dance forms like the
Bharatnatyam and the Kathakali.
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Sign:
The act of communicating a mood, attitude, opinion,
feeling, or other message by contracting the muscles of
the face.
Usage:
The combined expressive force of our mobile chin, lip,
cheek, eye, and brow muscles is without peer in the
animal kingdom. Better than any body parts, our faces
reveal emotions, opinions, and moods. While we learn to
manipulate some expressions (see, e.g., SMILE), many
unconscious facial expressions (see, e.g., LIP-POUT,
TENSE-MOUTH, and TONGUE-SHOW) reflect our true
feelings and hidden attitudes. Many facial expressions
are universal, though most may be shaped by cultural
usages and rules (see below, Culture).
Gestures:
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While facial expressions are used to show
emotions, gestures are used to show emotions
and also convey definite messages or
information.
Most of the basic communication gesture are
the same all over the world. When we are happy,
we smile; when angry, we frown; when sad, we
cry and tears roll down our cheeks.
Common Gesture Clusters Readiness
 Common Gesture Clusters
Nervousness
 Common Gesture Clusters Boredom or
Impatience
 Common Gesture Clusters Enthusiasm
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The Ring or ‘OK’ Gesture:
There ‘OK’ implies “all correct” and it has
none filtered down to mean ‘everything’s
fine.
 But in France it also stands for ‘zero’ or
‘nothing’ and in Japan it means ‘money’.
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The V-sign:
The V-sign is popular in all Western
countries and many other parts of the
world.
 It is a hand sign indicating victory.
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Example:
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For example, people who are deaf and
dumb have to rely almost entirely on
gestures in order to communicate with
other people. A gesture is a movement of
the hand, head or body to indicate an idea
or a feeling.
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Nonverbal sign.
1. A body movement, posture, or material artifact which encodes or
influences a concept, motivation, or mood (thus, a gesture is neither
matter nor energy, but information).
2. In its most generic sense, a gesture is a sign, signal, or cue used
to communicate in tandem with, or apart from, words.
3. Gestures include facial expressions (e.g., EYEBROW-RAISE,
SMILE), clothing cues (e.g., BUSINESS SUIT, NECKWEAR), body
movements (e.g., PALM-DOWN, SHOULDER-SHRUG), and
postures (e.g., ANGULAR DISTANCE). Many consumer products
(e.g., BIG MAC®, VEHICULAR GRILLE, VEHICULAR STRIPE)
contain messaging features designed to communicate as signs, and
may be decoded as gestures as well.
4. Those wordless forms of communication omitted from a written
transcript. (E.g., while the printed transcripts of the Nixon Tapes
reported the words spoken by the former president and his White
House staff, they captured few of the gestures exchanged in the
Oval Office during the Nixon years.)
Body Language
In body language body movements
convey meanings and message. The
shape of your body conveys a message
and tells other people about your life stlye.
 In a strict sense gestures are a part of
body language for our heads and hands
are part of our bodies.
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Message clusters
Body language comes in clusters of signals
and postures, depending on the internal
emotions and mental states.
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Aggressive body language: Showing
physical threat.

Bored body language: Just not being
interested.
Deceptive body language: Seeking to cover up
lying or other deception.
Defensive body language: Protecting self from
attack.
Emotional body language: Identifying feelings.
Closed body language: Many reasons are closed.
Evaluating body language: Judging and deciding
about something.
Open body language: Many reasons for being
open.
Power body language: Demonstrating one's
power.
Ready body language: Wanting to act and waiting
for the trigger.
Relaxed body language: Comfortable and
unstressed.
Romantic body language: Showing attraction to
others.
Submissive body language: Showing you are
prepared to give in.
Posture
Posture is an important element in body
language as it often gives a key to the
personality of the being and tells us a
great deal about him or her.
 From the posture or the person holding
himself we can know whether he is
confident, diffident, old, young, weak,
strong or unhealthy.
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Example
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A slouching posture means laziness;
rounded shoulders and an out thrust neck
indicate a scholar, a swaggering or handin-the-pocket posture could indicate overconfidence or an ill bred person.
Nonverbal sign
1. A bearing, pose, or stance of the body or it parts: e.g., a crouched
posture.
2. A fixed, stationary body position as opposed to a fluid body
movement.
 Usage:
When sustained (i.e., held longer than two seconds), a body
movement such as a bowed-head may be considered a posture.
Though duration varies, postures frequently are more expressive of
attitudes, feelings, and moods than are briefer gestures and fleeting
motions of the body.
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Silence:
Paradoxical as it may sound, we
communicate with the help of silence.
 Sometimes we are so overcome by
emotion that we cannot speak – our
silence tells the other person of our strong
feeling.
 Indeed there are many occasions when
‘silence is more eloquent than words’
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Example
A joke at a party is greeted with silence –
people disapprove of the joke or the
speaker.
 The student keeps silent for a few
moments before answering a question –
he is thinking.
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Signs and Signals:
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The English words ‘sign’ and ‘signal’ are both
derived from the latin word ‘signum’ which
means a mark.
Signs and signals become very important means
of communication when the communicants do
not have a common language.
The language of signs and signals, therefore,
has a universal nature, being understood all
over the world.
Examples
For examples, deaf and dumb persons are
taught to communicating words with the
help of a sign language.
 In the same way the Red Indians of
America had an elaborate sign language.
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Graphs, Maps and Charts:
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Graphs, charts and maps are other types of
visual, but non-verbal communication
It must however be mentioned that the
communicator who uses graphs and charts
requires to have special skills and techniques to
prepare them and the person who reads them
must have an educated background.
A chart is not really different from a map or
graph in the sense that usually graphs or maps
are mounted on charts for better visual effect.
Colour
Colour plays such an important role in our
lives that, as far as English is concerned,
colour symbolism has become apart of the
language.
 Thus we speak of people turning “green
with envy” (jealous), “turning yellow”
(coward), “pink of health”, “blue”
(depressed).
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Colours are also used to convey direct
messages.
 Traffis lights turn red and green and in
operation theater a red bulb is used to
show that the theatre is in use
 Light colours have a soothing effect on
people while bright stark colours excite
and dark ones have depressing effect.
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Colour
Positive Message
Negative Message
Red
Wramth
Passion
Life
Liberty
Patriotism
Death
War
Revolution
Devil
Danger
Blue
Religious feeling
Devotion
Truth
Justice
Doubt
Discouragement
Yellow
Intuition
Wisdom
Divinity
Cowardice
Malevolence
Impure love
Green
Nature
Hope
Freshness
Prosperity
Envy
Jealous
Opposition
Disgrace
Thank you.