Body language is defined as “communication by means of facial expressions, gestures, postures, and other wordless signals. Body language also includes … hair and clothing styles.” (World Book 2010, 435). It is used as an effective tool to understand how people feel and convey what they think. It is a product of learning or genetic inheritance. In different cultures, body language is explained in different ways. It can be used to communicate with others through micro facial expressions, gestures, postures and hair and clothing styles. (World Book 2010, 435).
Facial expressions refer to “the act of communicating a mood, attitude, opinion, feeling, or other message by contracting the muscles of the face.” (Givens 2002, 18). Dr. Paul Ekman, who is “a professor of psychology at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF)”, reveals that facial expressions are able to display six basic sentiments including cheer, sorrow, rage, fright, aversion or astonishment by controlling the movements of eyebrows, eyes, nose, lip, cheeks, and chin. (Goman 2008, 61). Smiling, raising muscles on both sides of nose and wrinkling the skin that is around the eyes describe cheer. (Goman 2008, 62). False cheer, however, makes an odd face which is acted on only one side and the
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For an instance “zero” in France, “money” in Japan and “homosexuals” in certain Mediterranean countries all can be expressed by the gesture “OK”. (Pease 1981, 4). Moreover, when the thumb is quickly performed it becomes a derogatory signal, meaning “up yours” or “sit on this”. In addition, it means “one” in Italy while in America, Australia and Britain it refers to “five”. (Pease 1981, 4). Different cultures have various customs that make an influence on thinking methods of people which lead to diverse clarification of same gestures; in order to avoid embarrassment and effectively converse with other people, it is vital to carefully use
A Cultural Minefield by William Ecenbarger is an article about how common gestures and customs at home have different meanings in other parts of the world. Ecenbarger has been to six different continents and didn’t realize until years later, that he offended or embarrassed his host during that time. For example Ecenbarger in Australia got into a taxi and jumped into the back seat. The taxi driver spoke to him in voice that made Ecenbarger nervous. In the United States it is a custom that you jump into the back seat whenever asking for a cab.
I would adapt my communication for a child by making sure I was speaking to them at a level they will understand & also choose words suitable for their age. I would also make sure I come down to their level whether that meant sitting or kneeling so that we are at the same level. Physically we are on an equal level and not towering over them which wont make a great start for effective or positive communication and could make the child feel uneasy. Young children tend to be more tactile and may need to express them selves with touch especially if they come to you upset about something. They may simply wish to hold your hand when they talk to you which can be reassuring both physically and also make them feel they have you attention and will listen
The guide explained how each of the different emotions has a special way to identify it. With happiness, your mouth smiles, the sides of your mouth move towards your ears. Your mouth can be open but it can be shut too. When happiness is on our face the cheeks move up on your face so the lines around the mouth can form. At the corner of eyes, “crow’s feet” form, which are lines that form a crow’s feet figure.
Body language: Posture: is a way of presenting yourself, by sitting or standing. Posture could be a person sitting up straight not slouching. For example a person sitting up straight will be told that they have a good posture and manners because of the way they are presenting their selves by their
The prefrontal cortex (PFC) exhibits a key role in the working memory and has an established link to the executive functions of cognition and behaviour. Impulsive behaviour is displayed in patients that suffer lesions to the PFC, as one of the important functions is that of inhibition. Therefore there is evidence to suggest that dysfunction to the PFC leads to anti-social behaviour, which is characterised by actions which cause harm to others or disturb the environment. As the PFC is crucial for the development of moral judgement, it is thought that damage to the frontal lobes in the developmental stages (during childhood) may result in adaptive deficits which continue through to adulthood (Eslinger, Flaherty-Craig & Benton, 2004).
Challenging situations can be managed by observing individuals body languages. Observation is a essential skill as it
There are different types of nonverbal communication. Body movements is a different type of nonverbal communication. Body movements are the most noticeable elements of nonverbal communication. Body Movement consists of posture, gestures, face and eyes. A posture can say a lot of a person.
Emotion’s Alchemy by Genevieve Wanucha Literary Response Genevieve Wanucha introduces her article Emotions Alchemy by painting a mind blowing image of the process in which we begin to laugh. Wanucha dove right in describing the physical motions of laughter starting with the movement of our cheek bones and the way our eyes begin to squint as the corners of our mouth moves back and upwards; this vivid imagery immediately grabbed my attention and persuaded me to read on. “Laughing and crying, being live demonstrations of emotion and its social expression, provide new entryways into the tangled pathways of the brain.” I believe this quote to be Wanuchas’ thesis; she provides excellent examples of psychological studies to support this statement.
Misinterpretations The way we interpret one’s body language greatly affects the way we view each other. One of the most important aspects of human interaction is body language, but how can one properly communicate with others without knowing how easy it is to come across misinterpretations? As an individual that experiences American, Haitian, and Montserratian culture, it is important to remember that body language is not always universal.
Most American people conserve eye contact while communicating, and also they are expertise in showing enthusiasm and compassion. When greeting in social situations women pat each other on the right forearm or on the shoulder, rather than shake hands where as men shake hands until they know someone well, at which time they progress to a more traditional hug and back slapping. conversation take place in close physical distance when stepping back may be regarded as unfriendly. generally, people refrain to use first names
Another example of appropriate body language would be sitting up straight when being spoken to by customers and making sure the right hand gestures are used when giving advice or explaining things to customers. It is also important to use the right tone of voice when speaking to others, a polite and calm voice is always best when dealing with important people in which you need to make a good impression
Within different cultures, members follow a set of strict rules that must be carried out properly when interacting with one another although they are not aware of these unspoken rules. One can become more aware of these actions when he steps out of the procedures set by his culture and behave opposite of what is expected in his culture. The act of behaving in an unexpected manner that is opposite of the norm to elicit a response is known as “Garfinkeling”, named after Harold Garfinkel (Agar, 1994, p.169). By Garfinkeling, I was able to demonstrate how eye contact and the lack of it can disrupt the sign that it carries of paying attention and also interrupt the symbolic system that takes place when asking for assistance. When Michael Agar (1994) speaks of a “sign”, he explains that it is made up of two parts, the “signifier” and the “signified”.
In John D Mayer and Peter Salovey’s, “What is emotional intelligence?” emotional intelligence is described as “the ability to perceive emotions, to access and generate emotions so as to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional knowledge, and to reflectively regulate emotions so as to promote emotional and intellectual growth” Mayer, J.D. (1997) “ In the best of stories, it is actually characterization that moves the story along, because a compelling character in a difficult situation creates his or her own plot." (Bernardo). Our performers understand that they need to be able to portray believable emotions in order to portray the correct emotion to the audience.
Eye contact also plays a vital role in effective communication. There are times when we experience words that come out of our mouth and the ways we communicate through our body language are totally different. In this kind of situation, the receiver has to determine whether to believe verbal or nonverbal message. Regularly the receiver would select the nonverbal as it is more natural and it truly displays the speaker’s true feeling and intention. The gestures such as the way we sit, how fast and how loud we talk and how much eye contact we make send strong messages to the receiver.
, this showcases the great importance of understanding this topic in order to have a clear communication process, since these can distort the meaning of the message. Although non-verbal expressions are present in every culture, their individual meanings and relevance are going to change from one to another, this is why it is important to not only recognize the overall value of this topic, but to study the different patterns of nonverbal communication from different cultures as well. Since we are studying to become international negotiators we have to be prepared to work in a multicultural environment, since it is very likely we will be working with people from other parts of the world. Understanding how others communicate and how we do it too and not to take everything at face value is primordial for us, since this will help us to minimize