Nonverbal Communication Examples

Have you ever thought that communication is only about standing in front of a group of people and escaping on an oral journey? Well, if you have, you have been terribly wrong. Communication, in the truest sense of the term, is the passing on of information that can help the recipient of the information come up with various conclusions. This ‘passing on of information’, however, does not necessarily need to be done via oral or written means. It can also be done through a mode of communication known as ‘nonverbal communication’. For example, if a colleague calls you over for dinner and you smile and nod, but don’t utter a word, right there you are nonverbally communicating to your colleague that you are open for dinner. This makes for a perfect example of nonverbal communication. Make your move and read on to discover examples of nonverbal communication. What is to follow is just a panoramic look at the rather large ‘estate’ of nonverbal communication.

Examples Of Nonverbal Communication

Communication Via Facial Expressions
People, just with the assistance of their faces, can say a thousand things and all of these thousand things do not involve the utterance of a single word. The eyes of a person can assist in communication. When a person makes good eye contact with you, it means that that particular person is confident and full of positivity. However, if the particular person is not too consistent when he or she looks at you in the eye, you can be sure that the particular person is trying to hide something or is generally low on confidence. Moving on, a person without uttering a word can make it known how he/she feels about any particular thing with a smile or a frown. We smile when we are happy and we frown when we are unhappy or overly stressed. Sometimes people think that they can conceal how they really feel about any particular thing by faking smiles. However, for a person who is an expert at nonverbal communication, seeing through a plastic smile wouldn’t be too much of an issue. Lastly, raising eyebrows or raised eyebrows can go on to show elements of surprise or even contempt towards a particular person or thing. If you are in a social setting, try your best not to raise your eyebrows too much. As far as facial expressions are concerned, wearing your best and most natural smile really is the way to go.

Communication Via Postures And Bodily Movements
 A person just like how he can express himself via facial expressions can also say a lot of things with postures and bodily movements. When a person stands erect, his confidence comes through. However, if the same person slouches while standing, it becomes pretty obvious that he is suffering from low self esteem. The shoulders and the way a person holds them back too can say quite a number of things. When you keep your shoulders stiff and hold them back, you convey inapproachability. However, if you relax your shoulders while still maintaining a confidence stance, you are only letting the people around you know that you are fun loving and casual. If you are the kind of person who is almost always restless and always fidgeting with yourself, you will only be coming across as a person with insecurities. So if you are really looking to look confident in public places and social settings, make it a point to fidget as less as possible with yourself. Lastly, the way you position your hands can help others determine where you are coming from. For example, a person who stands with an erect back and folds his arms across his chest will come across as someone who is unapproachable and not really open to conversation of any sort. On the other hand, a person who stands with an erect back and relaxes his or her hands will look so much more approachable and friendly.

Communication Via The Touch
The way you touch someone can tell them a lot about you. There are tons of touches such as casual touches, restricted touches, flirtatious touches, I-need-attention touches and the list just goes on and on. However, what matters here is not how many different types of touches there are. What matters here is really how you touch someone. This has a lot to tell about you as a person. For example, when you shake a person’s hand, if your exercise a firm grip, it means you are a confident person. However, this does not mean you crush his or her fingers just to make a statement of confidence. When you touch someone and you let your touch linger, you will be making it look like you are flirting with that particular someone. When you touch someone in a very casual manner, that’s exactly what you are doing, pulling off a casual touch and indicating that you are a very casual and laid back individual. Touching someone and holding on to your touch can mean you are trying to say that you are always going to be there for that particular person, a touch of assurance basically. All these examples only go on to show how much you can actually convey with a touch.

Communication Via Space
Space here does not stand to signify outer space; it only stands to signify the amount of physical space you maintain with the people around you. When you get physically close to a person, it means that you are okay with the closeness and are generally comfortable around the particular person. However, if you maintain a certain distance from a person, it means that you are not too fond of him or her. With the amount of physical space you maintain around people, you can convey intimacy, affection, indifference, hatred and sometimes even aggression. How all of this is done will be made obvious by the physical distance you maintain from the other person.