Nonverbal Communication And Its Role

Actions are derived from our instincts, thoughts and emotions in which we perform. They are seen by those that surround us and reveal part of our identity. Words are powerful, but can be confusing and be interpreted differently.

Nonverbal communication is communication by means other than verbal communication, which is the use of sounds and spoken language to communicate a message. Nonverbal communication includes, body language, eye contact, gestures, facial expressions, silence, and personal space. Nonverbal communication has different meanings in every culture. How is this communication viewed in different cultures, and is it interpreted as offensive when a mentally disabled person portrays nonverbal communication that is usually seen by nondisabled people as inappropriate, offensive, and or even rude?

The speech act of making a request is one of the most widely scrutinized speech acts in both cultural and linguistic studies because of the fact that it is made up primarily of an illocutionary act, where the speaker is asking the listener to perform a given act (Beltran et al.). "Therefore, this speech act has been regarded as one of the most threatening speech acts, since it intrinsically threatens the hearer's face (Brown and Levinson 1987)" (Beltran et al). Given the intrusive nature of a speech act, the speaker has the opportunity to attempt to modify the speech act by engaging in a range of modification devices, internal or external ones (Beltran et al).

A.- (Acts): What do they do? What do their gestures and body language mean? Can we see this behavoir with our politicians? Where? When?

speaking words. While this is partially true to the definition, it is only half of the meaning. There are

It does so because when we cannot clearly communicate through language we are apt to be misunderstood by others or express meaning that is other than we desire. Expression of our thoughts is a complex process and language remains central to clear expression. However, there are different forms of language other than words or voice expression. As one instructor asked of her students, "How do we pass information along without using voices, letters, or numerals" (Language, 2004, p. 11). One answer would be the use of nonverbal language, which is often conveyed through body movements, posture, facial expression and other techniques. Once more, such facets of language are symbolic and differ across diverse cultures. However, when students learn to understand the different and broad meanings of language across cultures even, then they have a better grasp of communicating and receiving communication. All too often, as one educator maintains, "When thinking about what language means, younger children often make connections to oral language or the learning of a foreign language" (Language, 2004, p. 11).

Our language is heard when we use spoken language and requires an individual to make and understand verbal cues and it also provides the necessity to be able code and decode both text and non-verbal cues such as gestures and facial expressions. Within society there exist many Discourses. “Discourses determine how people view language, and more importantly, how they practise it.” (Green, D, 2006, p.3) Within a Discourse there may be many discourses that are different ways of speaking within the overarching Discourse. For example, within a school setting you have an educational Discourse that is the language of the department of education used to set the expected standards for the school. Within this Discourse you have many smaller discourses such as the language used by the

Communication plays a key role in every culture, but the importance or preference a culture places on verbal or nonverbal communication differs greatly. The country of Japan is a high-context culture, which means their society places a greater importance on nonverbal communication rather than verbal communication. In order to understand why Japan places such importance on nonverbal communication, the way they verbally communicate with others needs to be discussed first. Many cultures outside of Japan have conveyed the thought that the Japanese are unskilled in verbal communication because they cannot convey facts accurately or express opinions logically. However, the opposite is true because in the Japanese culture they do not communicate

Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols. (Edward Sapir, 1921)

There are a some aspects of nonverbal communication that should be upheld and followed by all nurses and healthcare professionals. When treating people, the results or new is not always good and there is no telling how someone will react once they are given new regarding their health. If the news is bad, the healthcare professional tasked with giving the news should be aware of the nonverbal messages they are sending to the message receiver. Is the sender slouched and sluggish? Are they standing up straight and smiling? Small little things like a person's posture can completely change the tone that is delivered with a verbal message. A real situation of this is if a patient is tested to be positive for cancer, the person tasked on giving the news would want to give off a light and even somewhat happy mood. The goal is not to get up the hopes of the patient or to trick them but, to give them hope and let them know everything will be okay, even if there is a chance it won’t be. Hope is a very powerful tool for people and it’s important to project hope through nonverbal means like body language. If a patient sees the doctor or nurse appear calm when delivering new as serious as cancer, the tone of calmness will be sent along with the verbal message which may help the patient feel more hope and comfort.

Being able to communicate with people is a skill that is vital in almost any career out there. Nursing in particular is a career in which would have serious trouble surviving if the people going into the field refused to develop their own communication skills. These communication skills are often overlooked by many people because they don't understand the concepts and levels that go into it. Nonverbal communication is more than just sign language, it has 3 different and distinct levels to categorize it, the three being: physical appearance, kinesics, and artifacts. Another extremely important aspect of communication is paralanguage or vocalics which are a form of verbal communication, it helps to modify the meanings of verbal messages. Both of these concepts in communication are used daily by nurses to solve problems and communicate with their patients and coworkers. If people in a healthcare environment, not having good communication can lead to miscare of patients and in some extreme cases it can cause death.

According to author and academic Leonard Mlodinow, "Nonverbal communication forms a social language that is in many ways richer and more fundamental than our words." As humans, we unconsciously make assumptions about people, inadvertently defining them, by our perception of their nonverbal cues, often before they speak. Nonverbal communication is “the process of relaying messages and meaning without the use of words” (Baran and Beauchamp, 94). Nonverbal communication influences social behaviour because it allows the creation of instant judgements, determines the viability of relationships, and indicates the level of intimacy of relationships.

I didn’t watch a recent movie but I have encountered real live nonverbal communication (body language) in the work place. While working in a union facility there have been several occasion when I have encountered irate employees because they have received warnings of some nature due to fault of there on. But it never fails when I am approached by the employees the body language tells me what’s on this mind.

The most cited aspect of assessment that nurses found challenging was pain assessment. Nurses who relied solely on verbal communication described feelings of inadequacy, ’We don’t know what they want’ (Brorson et al., 2012, p.318). Clarke et al., (2014), found that only 1/7th of nurses interviewed used pain assessment tools in practice, despite considering themselves competent at assessing pain. However, Lawrence et al., 2011 found that nurses should be adept at using nonverbal communication clues such as facial expressions, movements and changes in the individual when assessing pain. It is widely discussed that behaviors that challenge in dementia are a form of communication, not only resulting from pain, but a variety of unmet needs (Cohen- Mansfield, 2001 and Algase et al., 1996). Guidance suggests that medication to reduce behavior that challenged should be given only in exceptional circumstances, reviewed on a regular basis and most importantly, individualised care plans are devised to support the person’s needs (NICE, 2010).

Nonverbal communication includes body language, gestures, artifacts and much more. All of these factors are very important in how we are able to communicate with others, especially those of different cultures. Nonverbal communication can help emphasize verbal messages, substitute for words, and even complement or add to words. It is important to know the different rules and meanings of nonverbal communication; what is allowable in our culture may seem offensive to other cultures.