[1] Kinesics-
This is also called as body-language and helps us to know the underlying emotions conveyed. In communication, the spoken words state the linguistic or denotative meaning, while the expressions that come along with it reveal the thoughts hidden in the heart.
Elements of body-language includes-
Facial expressions- As Adage says, “Action speaks louder than words”, human beings can express countless emotions through facial expressions without even saying a word. The face is the most expressive part of the human body. A smile can indicate approval or happiness of a person, while a frown can signal unhappiness or disapproval.
Facial expressions are also used to effectively indicate anger, disgust, sadness, surprise, fear, etc. Smile is a powerful communicative signal recognized universally. Smile is infectious and invites an immediate response from the person on the other side. A smile is considered to be genuine when one smiles with the eyes, as the muscles around the eyes are activated, and this cannot be faked. “Human faces are able to make more than 10,000 different expressions, and each one articulates volumes of information with ease."
· Gestures– This is nothing but the movement of hands and legs to emphasize the meaning of the spoken words. When a person speaks the words transmits the verbal message, while the body serves as a useful tool to add clarity and effectiveness to the words. Gestures should be convincing and well-timed. It should be natural and spontaneous. The waving of hands or pointing out while arguing expresses our state of mind without even thinking. The use of gestures varies from one culture to the other. The OK sign made with the hand has a positive meaning in English speaking nations while it is considered to be offensive in countries like Germany, Brazil and Russia. Gestures clarify and support the spoken words, and stimulate audience participation as well. Hence, it is important to use these gestures carefully in order to avoid misinterpretation.
· Postures– The position of one’s body, while speaking, is itself a set of visual messages conveyed to the listener. This indicates if the speaker is nervous, alert or confident in his words. The way a person sits, walks, stands or holds his head, conveys enormous information to the world. Good speaking posture has a positive impact on the audience while postures like slouching or sitting lethargically show a careless attitude of the individual. A person sitting on a chair leaning forward with his head nodding implies that he is open for the discussion. To be an effective and impressive speaker one should hold one’s head erect and chin up comfortably. There should be a proper balance of the body with slight natural movement expressing confidence.
· Eye-contact– Next to voice, eye contact is the most powerful tool for communicating. Making eye contact with the audience is of prime importance to make them involve and create a sense of personal connection. Looking into one’s eyes while speaking shows sincerity and confidence. Speakers who use eye contact are considered to be honest, friendly and skilful. This invokes attentiveness on the part of the audience, which in turn will boost up the confidence of the speaker. Audience unconsciously mirrors the speaker’s performance. By gauging the audience reaction, the speaker can alter his words and make it enjoyable. Maintaining eye contact with the listener ensures that what you speak is something important; failing this shows a lack of confidence on the part of the speaker. Eye contact, when used rightly affects to intimidate the opponent, express flirtation and to establish rapport or connection.
· Haptic– Haptic is a word derived from the Greek word, which means “I touch”. Haptic communication is a branch of communication that deals with the way people and animals communicate through the sense of touch. This is used to express love, care, affection concern, etc. For example, a firm handshake conveys confidence while a warm hug, a patronizing pat on the head shows love and concern, respectively. Human beings, particularly infants, communicate a great deal through touch. New-borns have poorly developed hearing and seeing sense, but they cling to their mother due to the familiarity in their warmth and touch. Touch is the real way to sense the world and is a highly emotional type of communication. It is an effective means to create bonding and strengthening the emotional connection. A warm touch like a handshake, hug, a pat, kiss, etc could bring out the positive outcome, while kicking, pushing, pulling pinching, etc comes under physical abuse. Different cultures have a different interpretation, and hence one should be careful in using this in different cultures. For e.g. Latin Americans greet each other with a long cheek kissing, while in Europeans it is an unconventional means of greeting.
[2] Paralanguage-
Paralanguage is the voice modulation adopted while we speak. The study of paralanguage is called paralinguistics. Most of the time ‘how we speak’ matters a lot than what we speak. Words added with combinations of sounds symbolically represent the concept of our communication. The spoken words state the literal meaning, while the way it is said shows the implied meaning. This includes the following-
· Tone– Albert Mehrabian a Psychology professor states that the tone of voice influences 38% of the communication. This conveys the type of emotion one carries while speaking. An authoritative tone is used to send across a strict message, influence or persuade, while a light-hearted and a quirky tone is used while speaking to children. The tone is used to express warmth, concern, humour, etc. A compassionate tone creates a great impact on the listener. The tone should be used rightly to express genuine perception, and this makes one stand apart from others.
· Pitch– Pitch is the highness or lowness of a person’s vocal tone and depends on the number of vibrations per second produced by the vocal cords. This helps in regulating the message and shows the intensity of the message. Greetings or a welcome note has a higher pitch, and a farewell note is better conveyed in a lower pitch.
· Volume– Volume expresses the intensity in communication. Generally speaking, a loud voice is considered to be intense while a soft voice or a whispering voice is used to send a covert message or during a flirtatious chat. Volume should be used according to the situation and the relationship with the concerned person. This, when used aptly, enhances the professional image of an individual.
· Speed of delivery– This refers to the rate of speech or how fast or slows a person speaks. This plays a prominent role in conveying the emotional state of a person. When a person speaks very slowly, he may bore the audience, which will divert their attention. On the other hand, a person who speaks at a faster rate may not be comprehendible for the audience. Generally, speed of 120-150 words per minute is recommended and could be beneficial for the audience. This is the normal rate of speed where a speaker could articulate and pronounce his words clearly. Appropriate speed of speech combined with the suitable tone and facial expression can do wonders in the process of communication.
· Stress and pause – Stress in oral communication indicates emphasis on a particular word. An important point or message in written communication is denoted by highlighting or underlining it. The same is done by stressing the words in oral communication. Pause is nothing but a small gap given for about a fraction of a second while speaking. This, is in fact, a time given for the audience to assimilate what is said by the speaker. One should know how to use these aspects in the right way to make the speech interesting.
Voice varies from person to person. Some may have a pleasant voice, while some people might have a coercive voice. This mainly varies in terms of resonance, tone, pitch, etc. An oral presentation is interesting when the speaker uses proper voice modulation instead of being monotonous. Vocalic cues elaborate or modify verbal and non-verbal meaning by complementing, substituting, regulating or contradicting.
[3] Proxemics-
Proxemics is the study of how space and distance between two communicating people influence each other. This has a great deal in indicating the relationship between them. Generally, space influences how people communicate and behave. Less space among people in a crowded area like a train in a rush-hour or a fair in a town, demands a lot of management to adjust the space issues. Whereas an unexpected or a voluntary violation of one’s personal space can lead to an adverse reaction. In the first case, at a crowded situation nobody was forced into our personal space, while in the second case, we could sense that someone has violated our personal space. We all have varying definitions of personal space, and this is based on the context and the relationship with the communicating person. Based on this, it is divided into four zones as:
· Public Zone– This refers to a space of more than twelve feet away from our body. We maintain this distance in a public place or with a stranger. It is the least personal of the four zones and is used when engaging in a formal address or when a person of high profile like a celebrity or an executive is on the dais. Maintaining such a distance shows power and security reasons could be another aspect. Deep conversation with a person at this level is difficult due to the distance and formality preserved.
· Social Zone– Communication in this zone is around four to twelve feet away from the body. This zone is adopted while engaging in casual interaction, with an acquaintance or a colleague. This stands between a public zone and an intimate zone. The expression “Keep someone at arm’s length” clearly states that one should be kept out of personal space and should be retained in a professional or social space. This zone is considered to be a safe zone because the possibility of intentional touching, least exists here. In a classroom environment, students and teachers maintain a social zone as this distance is beneficial in acknowledging the presence of every individual student. They are close enough to comprehend every important non-verbal cues and facial expressions.
· Friendly zone- This is the zone where the distance is somewhere between two-four feet. Friends, family members, and close acquaintances are entertained in this zone, and most of our communication is under the ambit of the friendly zone. But even in this zone, verbal communication is mostly used to indicate that the presence is not something intimate. This again can be divided as an outer-personal zone which extends from 1.5 – 2 feet distance and an inner-personal zone which comes within a distance of 1.5 feet. In this zone, briefly placing hands on each other’s arms or engaging in light social touching to facilitate conversation or feelings of closeness is permissible.
· Intimate zone– This is the zone where a person is permitted closer than two feet distance and is reserved only for close friends, family members and intimate people. It is not possible to ignore a person’s presence literally when he or she is in this zone, even if we want to. Being close to a person and feeling their physical presence is very comforting than words or verbal communication at the time of distress. Nevertheless, this comes with its own social norms with respect to the amount of closeness that could be displayed in public.
There are many situations where our personal space is breached and is more upsetting, even when it is least expected. In such a case, a verbal communication indicating that the closeness is involuntary and unavoidable or non-verbal gestures like crossing our arms or avoiding eye contact will lighten the situation. Hence, it is very crucial to respect others’ space in communication for a better relationship.
[4] Chronemics-
Chronemics refers to the study of time and its role in communication. Time can be classified into several different categories, including biological, personal, physical, and cultural. A daily cycle that any human being follows like when we eat, sleep, wake up, etc is the natural rhythm or the biological timings of an individual. When this gets disturbed, it affects the mental health and competence of an individual. In the same way, the biological time should be kept in mind while communicating with others as it may cause adverse effects in the communication process. Personal time refers to the ways in which individuals experience time. This is greatly influenced by our mood, our interest level, and other factors. Think about how quickly time passes when you are interested in and therefore engaged in something. Physical time refers to the fixed cycles of days, years, and seasons. Physical time especially seasons, can affect our mood and psychological state. Some people experience seasonal affective disorder that leads them to experience emotional distress and anxiety during the changes of seasons, primarily from warm and bright to dark and cold (summer to fall and winter). Cultural time refers to how a large group of people view time and its influences on social realities and how we interact with others.
Besides, the way we utilize time shows our personality and status to a certain extent. Executives and celebrities may run consistently behind schedule, making others wait for them. Promptness and the amount of time that is socially acceptable for lateness and waiting vary among individuals and contexts. But maintaining punctuality and handling time effectively portrays a positive image of oneself.
[5] Artifactual–
This denotes the meaning conveyed by the physical appearance of a person and the external setting of a place. Physical characteristics include the body shape, weight height, attractiveness and the way a person dresses himself or herself. This unconsciously sends a message about a person’s interest in taking care of oneself, fashion quotient, etc. Although it is not always right to judge a book by its cover to a certain extent, a physically attractive person has distinct advantages in many aspects of life. This has resulted in, attracting people’s interest in health and beauty, dieting, gym, etc. It is generally said ‘Dress yourself as you expect to be treated’. But one should remember the fact that attractiveness varies from culture to culture. This sends religious faith or cultural symbols. For example, white colour is considered to be special and used in formal or special occasions in the Western culture, while in Indian context, it is worn during mourning or funeral ceremony and is considered inauspicious. This does not pertain only to accessories like jewels, clothes, hairstyle, etc but also to the shape or physical stature of an individual.
Secondly, talking about the physical set up of a place or environment itself sends a subtle message on the quality of a person dwelling in that place. The standard of furniture, their arrangement, the lighting of the place in an office environment conveys the designation of the person occupying the room. To sum-up, artifactual communication expresses the status of a person which defines the roles within relationships.
[6] Silence
Silence, as said by Abraham Lincoln. “The more a man speaks, the less he is understood”, silence is one of the most powerful communication tools. But this is widely underutilized by many persons. The context of a situation better determined the power of silence. At workplace what we speak is always not important, but the non-verbal signals communicate a great deal of message to our colleagues. This, in fact, has a great impact on one’s career prospects. Silence is laden with meaning and can make or break a relationship. A constructive silence indicates respect, empathy and encourages a speaker, thus deepening the understanding between the two parties. Sometimes silence is uncomfortable, embarrassing and destructively happens to be a barrier in communication. People in higher position use silence to strengthen their power and maintain their stature. For instance, an interviewer uses silence as a tool to check how the candidate conducts himself or herself.