ActionsSpeakLouderthanWords正式版.doc

Unit 4 Actions Speak Louder than Words

TEACHER: OK, class, OK . . . let's begin. What do we mean when we say that actions speak louder than words?
STUDENT 1: Uh . . . that means we believe people's actions more than we believe their words.
TEACHER: Yes, exactly right—and, uh, in a sense, actions are more important than words. That's because we usually judge speakers' intentions by the nonverbal signals they send us. And that's what our subject today's all about, nonverbal communication—how we communicate through our actions— facial expressions, eye contact, tone of voice, uh, body movement, and so on. And if any of you doubt the importance of these things, you might like to consider a couple of statistics I've got here in front of me. Some communication specialists estimate we spend about 75 percent of our waking hours communicating. And, more to the point, words account for only, mm, 10 to 30 percent of that communication—the bulk's nonverbal. That's food for thought, uh? Now although people clearly understand its importance, nonverbal communication—I'll call it N.V.C. for short—is actually a rather recent field of study and owes a lot to an American anthropologist named Raymond Birdwhistle— spelled B-I-R-D-W-H-I-S-T-L-E. Easy name to remember, right? Birdwhistle began studying nonverbal communication in the 1950s and, um ... one of his main ideas was that the meaning of nonverbal behavior depended on the context in which it was used.... Uh, it depends on the context. So, he looked at the whole context of nonverbal behavior— how and, uh, where certain types of nonverbal behavior appeared—and not just one particular behavior in isolation. Facial expressions, for example—frowns, smiles, raised eyebrows, and, uh, so on—we all use these to convey many different meanings. But those meanings are largely determined by the situations we're in and the relationships that we have with the people we're communicating with. So, the same expression can have different meanings, right? Take a smile, for example, what does it mean?... Uh, Mike?
STUDENT 2: Uh .. . uh, agreement, I guess. "I like you."
TEACHER: OK. Yes, it could mean "I like you," but it could also mean "I'm trying to make you feel comfortable," or maybe, uh, "I think you said something funny. " Hmm? The point is, the situation or the relationship between the people involved gives a particular meaning to the smile. All right. Now although today I want to focus on physical nonverbal communication—uh, often called body language or kinesics, that's K-I-N-E-S-I-C-S—you should know that there are other types of nonverbal communication. G. W. Porter, for example, divides nonverbal communication into four categories, which I'd like to look at just briefly. There's the Physical N.V.C. I just mentioned. That includes facial expressions, tone of voice, sense of touch and smell, and body movement. Secondly, there's Aesthetic N.V.C.—that's A-E-S-T-H-E-T-I-C, meaning related to beauty. And Aesthetic N.V.C. takes place through creative expressions, like playing instrumental music, dancing or painting, sculpting. And we certainly know that we can communicate with people through creative expressions like these Now, next is Signs, which is a mechanical type of communication. Now, it includes the use of things like signal flags used at airports, the twenty-one gun salute used in the military, and police sirens used on public streets. And last is Symbolic N.V.C, which uses religious, status, or ego-building symbols—you know, things like wearing crosses in the Christian religion or special pins to show membership in a particular club, like a fraternity. So, again, you've got physical, aesthetic, signs, and symbolic nonverbal communication. Got that? But let's go back to Porter's first type, Physical N.V.C, or body language .... Um, it's divided into two main types— static features and dynamic features. Static features include distance, orientation, posture, and physical contact. Let's look at distance first. The distance a person stands from another often sends a nonverbal message. In some situations it's a sign of attraction; in others it's a reflection of social status; in others it shows the intensity of the exchange. Distance has to do with personal space and what an invasion of someone's personal space signifies, what it means. Britney?
STUDENT 1: Yes, what is personal space exactly? Could you explain it a bit more, please?
TEACHER: Ah, well, good question. Well, it's kind of like a bubble each of us places between ourself and others—an invisible border or limit. Now this affects how close we stand to others, where we sit in a room, at a meeting, and uh, so on—things which affect how comfortable we feel. Generally speaking, the higher your status, the more space you'll have and the easier it'll be to invade other people's space. Uh, I hope that's clearer. Now, orientation's different from distance and has to do with the way we position ourselves in relation to others. For example, people cooperating are likely to sit side-by-side, while competitors are likely to sit face to face ... right? And posture's different again; it concerns whether we're slouched or we're standing or sitting straight. You know: Are our legs crossed, our arms folded? That sort of tiling. These convey the level of formality or relaxation in the same situation.
Then comes physical contact, and here we're talking about touching, holding, hugging, and so on. These convey or show messages—particularly how intimate we feel—and their meaning can vary a lot between cultures. Hands touching in one culture may be an act of great intimacy, whereas in another . . . simply a sign of friendship. The fact is, though, that touching and physical intimacy can send a more direct yet subtle message than dozens of words. Be careful though: This kind of communication can easily invade someone's personal space, and that can . . . lead, uh . . . cause mistrust, lead to problems—and actually shut down the communication. So those are Porter's static features. Let's now look at his dynamic features. These are basically things like facial expressions, gestures, eye contact, and uh, body movements. Facial expressions, then . . . these continually change during a conversation, and participants constantly watch and respond to each others' expressions. These expressions usually communicate the emotions and attitude of the speaker. Take eyes for example; they. . . . Well, let me ask you, what do you think they reveal? Yes?
STUDENT 2: Um ... happiness and sadness?
STUDENT 1: Fear? Fright?
STUDENT 3: Friendliness.
TEACHER: Yes, some of these things are revealed in the eyes, happiness and sadness yes . . . also fright and surprise. Think about it. Think about how your eyes respond when you hear something surprising, or frightening, or sad, or cheerful. Now, the lower face—the mouth and jaw—also reveals happiness or surprise, especially the smile, as we've said. The upper face, eyebrows, and forehead can also reveal anger. In some communication studies, it's been estimated that facial expressions provide 55 percent of the meaning of a message; vocal cues, such as pitch and volume, provide 38 percent; and verbal cues only 7 percent. So, a person's expressions seem to be a better indicator of his meaning than words, which play a minimal part. OK, now where are we? Oh. We're looking at Porter's dynamic features of communication. Next we come to gestures. You know, one of the most important parts of gesturing, hand movements, is one of those least understood by scientists. Most are not universal, and as we all know, the same gesture can have different meanings in different countries. Here in the U.S. we make a circle with our thumb and first finger and it means "OK." In Japan, however, it means "money," and in South America it has a sexual meaning. The story goes that former President Richard Nixon made a huge mistake on a trip to South America when he held up both hands using this "OK." gesture. Needless to say, the people in the audience were quite shocked! The fact is, we have to be very careful about what our bodies are saying, especially when in a different culture. Now let's move on to eye contact. Eye contact is a very powerful form of nonverbal communication. One thing about eye contact that is generally agreed on is that someone with higher status usually maintains eye contact longer if he's talking to someone of lower status. In other words, he stares. Anything else you think a direct stare indicates?
STUDENT 1: Determination . . . uh . . . openness.
TEACHER: Exactly, and it creates a feeling of trust. And looking downward?
STUDENT 1: That shows dishonesty, guilt,... uh .. .
TEACHER: Yes, it does, but also modesty, in some cases. And eyes rolled upwards suggest tiredness. I don't see any of that right now, I'm glad to say! And the last, the fourth item on Porter's list is body movement. You know, it's interesting that a lot of the work on non-verbal communication has been done for corporations. They want to improve their employees' performance. So for example, if you lean forward in an interview, this suggests you're energetic, somebody prepared to make major changes. If you hold yourself at your tallest, uh, this suggests you're probably a presenter, and good at selling yourself or the organization. And with side-to-side movements, if you take up a lot of space while talking by moving your arms a lot, you're seen as a good informer and listener, so you're desirable to the company. See? So to finish up, there are five things that differentiate verbal and nonverbal communication. I'd like you to note them down. First, while spoken languages differ from country to country, emotions are communicated in much the same nonverbal way throughout the world. Second, although we know a lot about the grammar of spoken language, we still don't know very much about the "grammar" of N.V.C. Third, we don't have any dictionaries for N.V.C. If you go to a foreign country and somebody makes a hand gesture you don't understand, there's no dictionary to help you. And fourth, we can ask for repetition or clarification of what somebody has said, but it's practically impossible to ask, "Could you repeat that smile?" or "What does that facial expression mean?" We have to understand nonverbal communication the first time around. And finally, we can hide our true feelings with spoken language, but it's more difficult with N.V.C. We can't just stop ourselves from turning red, or slow down our heartbeat, right? So whether we like it or not, body language can't lie—although I'll bet there are times we all wish it could So in conclusion then, nonverbal communication is an integral part of communication. OK, now let's quickly get into groups and talk about some of the differences I've just mentioned. This is what I want you to do. Just pull your chairs around. .. .

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