Analysis of Nonverbal Communication

I focused solely on their nonverbal communication and watched how they were able to enhance their conversations with things such as gestures, behavior, and tone or volume. O’Hara and Wingman state that there are times when no dialogue is needed to have a conversation and communicate (128). Through my field study, I found this to be very true and observed several Interactions between many people and I was able to understand what their situation was by simply watching them communicate nonverbally. Studies show that nonverbal behavior carries more importance than verbal behavior when we express spontaneous feelings, assess the motives of others and how they present themselves, express rapport with others, and figure out others’ meanings when there are not many other behaviors to observe” (130). One couple I saw, seemed to be arguing about something and he did not seem to have any interest in what she was saying. First, I could easily assume they were a couple by the way they acted.

They sat very close together, they were sharing a drink, ND she often grabbed his hand to get his attention. Her grabbing his hand Is an example of body movements called kinesics which are the aspects of gestures and body movements that send nonverbal messages (135). It also indicated a love- Intimacy touch. The nonverbal message being sent was that they’re together, she cares, and is trying to resolve things. Him, on the other hand was speaking with his eyes. Oculists is the study of the use of the eyes to communicate, and it covers the Importance of the eyes In communication across the lifep” (137). The fact that he was not making eye contact and constantly rolling his eyes every time she was trying to talk to him gave off the message that he doesn’t care about what she has to say and he’s most likely annoyed with her. They were carrying on a verbal conversation but by paying close attention, you could easily notice all the nonverbal aspects of their argument. For example, there were times when she would slam her hand on the table.

This could easily indicate she’s emphasizing what she Is saying and is trying to get her point across. Her slamming her hand down is an example of an illustrator. An illustrator reinforces verbal messages and helps visually explain what is being said (135). Another nonverbal aspect was their voices. “How we pause, the speed and volume of our speech, and the inflections we use are vocalizes nonverbal messages called Paraguayan” (155). Studies show that we find angry, demanding voices annoying and whiny voices even more annoying (139).

This applies to the situation because his girlfriend was raising her voice and trying to grab his attention, when in laity, it was most likely causing him even more reason to not even give her the time of day and pushing her away even more. You could also notice how she was embarrassed to be arguing in public so she would often lower her voice when she realized how loud she was being. Another way they communicated nonverbally was the amount of personal space they had. She was trying to be In his Intimate space, O to 18 inches away from him, whereas it seemed that he did not want to be that close to her.

After about 15 minutes, she finally got up, kicked his chair and left, which is after her, which indicated he was over the argument and seemed relieved that she had left. By watching a couple for only about 15 minutes, I was able to pull out a lot of information as to how they were feeling and what situation they were in. It’s easy to assume things about a couple and their relationship by simply paying attention to the small details. Nonverbal communication is much more spontaneous and unintentional which means it’s a better indicator of how someone truly feels (129).

Although they were speaking, their gestures, body movements and several other actors enhanced the conversation and allowed the other person to obtain a better understanding of how they felt. For example, she made it clear to him that she was upset and angry and he made it very evident that he was not in the mood to argue and did not care what she was saying. It is very easy to understand a situation better when nonverbal communication is involved. This field study allowed to me to observe many aspects of nonverbal communication and apply them to the people in the food court at my local mall.