Nonverbal Communication Application Essay 2: Nonverbal Assignment: Breaking the

Question

Nonverbal Communication Application Essay 2: Nonverbal Assignment: Breaking the Rules

Your second application essay is designed to heighten your awareness of the different expectations people have for nonverbal communication. For this essay, you should make a list of the nonverbal behavior “rules” you experience on a daily basis. Then, you should intentionally violate the nonverbal behavior rule and observe other’s reactions. You must engage in the violation no less than five times with five different people.

To complete this assignment, you should write a 2 – 3 page essay addressing the questions below. You will be evaluated on your understanding of course material, your reasoning and synthesis of ideas, and your writing style including grammar and mechanics. All writing assignments should be double-spaced with 1” margins and 12-point font.

Assignment Requirements: _____

Using your experience and the textbook, answer the following questions thoroughly and thoughtfully:

1 What nonverbal communication behavior did you choose to violate and why?

2 How did you violate the nonverbal norms? Describe what you did, with whom, and where. (Remember: the violation should’ve occurred at least five times with five different people.)

5. How did you feel violating these norms?

6. Why do nonverbal norms, such as the one you violated, exist? What is their purpose?

Explanation / Answer

Before an incongruity between verbal and non-verbal message, we always tend to believe the non-verbal, because it is harder to hide. Some of the factors to consider in non-verbal communication are:

-          Dress code: according to the place, the occasion and the person with whom the communication will be made.

-          Hygiene

-          Shaking hands: the way you shake hands predisposes the attitude of the interviewer; shaking hands loosely denotes lacks of energy and/or decision; a wet hand causes an unpleasant feeling to the other person.

-          Facial Expression: indicates our mood, feelings, therefore it’s necessary that our expression matches the message we are giving.

-          Smiling

-          Eye Contact: looking at the face of the person with whom you are speaking is the best procedure to show sincerity.

-          Body Posture: you need to sit properly, neither too supported back (can show disinterest) nor too incorporated forward (can show nervousness and restlessness).

-          Hands gesticulation: during the conversation is right for us to support our explanations with hand gestures, but this gesture should never be excessive.

-          Tics: movements we usually do when we are nervous, like scratching the nose, touching your hair, chiming with your fingers on the table, are things that denote nervousness and insecurity.

-          Chewing gum: it can demonstrate lack of education and at the same time we may have a lack of attention during communication.

-          Punctuality

-          Use of the cellphone during the conversation

1) Non-verbal communication behavior violated: use of cellphone during the conversation/eye contact. I chose to violate this behavior because it’s a very common attitude nowadays and I took advantage of it as an experiment to document people’s reaction to this behavior.

2) During personal conversations with my mom, my grandmother, and my friends separately, I purposely started using my cellphone, which even if “I hear them with my ears not with my eyes”, made them feel uncomfortable and gave them the impression of not being interested on what they had to say. At first it wasn’t so notorious for them, especially for my friends who are more used to adopt this behavior too while having a face-to-face conversation, but my mom and my grandmother got irritated and complained in less time. My friends kept talking without a problem at first, but a few minutes later their speaking fluency decreased until they stopped talking to me and got distracted as well, by using their cellphones as well for example. In the end even if not all of them complained, the conversation got less fluent which in the end makes the confidence feeling decrease, and in long terms makes the communication between you and the other party less rewarding.

3) I felt bad-mannered and disrespectful to the other person, especially when they were telling me something very personal.

4) The purpose of these norms in particular is to remember that communication is not complete just listening, since much of the communication is done through gestures, that not being appreciated can lead to confusion between the message sent and the message received. These norms are also important to strengthen the relationship between both parties, since such attitudes can affect the confidence between the two parties due to the lack of respect these indirectly represent.

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