Nonverbal Communication Theories

The first scientific study of nonverbal communication was seen in Charles Darwin's book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. He argued that all mammals show emotions reliably in their faces. Today, studies on nonverbal communication range across a number of fields, including linguistics, semiotics, anthropology, and social psychology. Nonverbal communication plays an important role in everyday interactions with the different people we meet. The human body is so incredibly versatile that it can send thousands of nonverbal messages. When we encounter people, we usually look first at their face to see if their expression reflects what they are saying. Then we listen to the tone of their voice to check if there are any indications of the emotions involved, and finally, we listen to the spoken words to get the actual meaning. Generally, we make judgments about the nature and behavior of persons based on their nonverbal and visual cues rather than on their verbal communication.

Most people have an intuitive sense about what nonverbal communication is. Often called body language, it is assumed to include gesture, facial expression, body movement, gaze, dress, and the like to send messages. But the notion of body language is fairly vague and omits a number of important communicative nonverbal elements, such as use of voice, touch, distancing, time, and physical objects as messages. It is the assumption that one cannot not communicate, a claim that has given rise to extended debate on what constitutes nonverbal communication. Now it is believed that all nonverbal behavior is communication. Judee Burgoon defines nonverbal communication as those behaviors other than words themselves that form a socially shared coding system—that is, they are typically sent with intent, typically interpreted as intentional, used with regularity among members of a speech community, and have consensually recognizable interpretations.

Nonverbal communication is both powerful and indispensable in communication. Our verbal communication would be ineffective if our nonverbal messages did not accompany them. No matter where we look, nonverbal communication is at the heart of every message conveyed or received whether in face-to-face encounters or over the telephone. In fact, nonverbal communication includes personal feelings, emotions, attitudes, and thoughts through body movements—gestures, postures, facial expressions, walking styles, positions, and distance—either consciously or involuntarily, more often subconsciously, and accompanied or unaccompanied by the spoken language. Thus, it can be said that nonverbal communication is the way people unconsciously telegraph their private thoughts and emotions through body movements—the way in which they fold their arms, cross their legs, sit, stand, walk, use their hips, eyes, and even in the subtle way they move their lips.

A pioneer in the field of nonverbal communication, Ray Birdwhistell, suggested that most human communication occurs through gestures, postures, position, and distance. He described a 65 to 35% split between actions and words. Albert Mehrabian, a well-known expert in nonverbal communication, [Page 691]conducted a study on the relationships among the three main elements of communication: the verbal, the vocal, and the visual. The verbal refers to the words that are spoken, the message. The vocal refers to the intonation, projection, and resonance of the voice through which the message is conveyed. The visual depicts the nonverbal behaviors while speaking. Mehrabian noted the impact of communication across the three forms as verbal, 7% (words); vocal, 38% (tone of voice, inflection); and visual, 55% (nonverbal physical behaviors). The visual is the most controllable and perhaps the most unconscious element of the message from sender to receiver. If the message is consistent, all the elements get combined effectively. There is excitement and enthusiasm in the voice, correlated with an energetic, lively face, and body that exudes confidence and conviction about the message.

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