Body Language - Movie Review Example

?Body language INTRODUCTION Body language is one of the ways of non-verbal communication in which one can speak with the other without the use of words. Many contemporary body language theorists have stated that this system of non-verbal communication has been in use from the times of our ancestors even before the creation of words (Learning speed, “Body language II”). In my opinion, even today, body language, as a mode of non-verbal communication has considerable usefulness, which is no ways confined within the social aspects of interpersonal relationship but is also a strong weapon to express personal feelings and hidden emotions that are often not revealed through words by individuals in the organizational culture too. Body language forms a vital part of the everyday social life of humans today. It highly affects the interaction and conversation with the other people and thus, can be used as a powerful weapon for controlling one’s feelings and emotions (Body language expert, “How Body Language Influences Daily Life”). Body language is a powerful aspect in regards to the self-confidence and self-esteem of the individual. Body language is also explained as an external reflection of one’s emotional condition (Furnham 3-6). For instance, a person may be saying something and keep some of the things hidden while interacting verbally. Thus, in such a situation a person who can read the body language can understand the feelings and emotions of the speaking person (Pease and Pease 11-12). THESIS STATEMENT This essay intends to focus on the influence of body language in the daily life of people. A video on the topic of body language has been summarized in this essay to analyze the various forms of body languages and conclude in response to the mentioned objective. DISCUSSION Analysis of the video The video concentrates on the topic of body language used by the people as a non-verbal communication system. It says that our body constantly sends silent signals and passes messages to the ones who are in the surroundings to express feelings and emotions, most of the times, in an unintended form. I believe it is owing to this particular quality that makes body language an efficient tool to recognize and assess the behavioral traits of a person almost accurately. The body exhibits different signals just as a radio transmits the signals. The video has explained six main categories of body language as elaborated by the body language experts such as kinesics, eye contact, haptics, paralanguage, chronemics and proxemics (Montgomery County Public Schools, “Body language”). Summarizing and critiquing the video Arguably, the video advocates that communication of messages through body language, either in the form of kinesics, eye contact, haptics, paralanguage, chronemics or proxemics or many of these altogether, is said to have a long-lasting effect in comparison with the verbal messages. At times, we deliver greater importance to the posture, gesture or to the tone of voice, when a person is communicating his/her intended messages verbally, even if those are entirely contradictory to his/her verbal message. For instance, in an interview, the interviewers often focus on reading and interpreting the eye-contact behavior of the candidate to learn the truth in his/her conveyed verbal messages (Smith “Interview body language mistakes that can cost you the job”). Psychologists also pay due attention towards reading the posture of the patient as high in confidence or low in self-esteem. Mysteriously, even without knowing the basics or the technicalities of body language, common people also tend to pay greater attention in interpreting non-verbal messages rather than paying attention to only verbal communication (Meeren, Heijnsbergen and Gelder, 16518-16519). Illustratively, a girl tugging or playing with her hair can be interpreted as flirting; while in the same context, one tilting his head too often when listening to others is commonly asserted as their submission to the message being conveyed (Laneri “Body language decoded”). It is apparent the way body language obtains a distinctive position and ample importance in our daily lives ranging from career to personal relationships (Hall, Coats and LeBeau 915-917). Correspondingly, the major argumentive critique points in this context indicate towards, (i) the extent to which the complex network of mechanics of body language is used to communicate non-verbal indications and (ii) the reliability of non-verbally communicated messages to justify the importance it is served with, in our daily lives. Kinesics is the basic study of the way a person uses his/her facial expression, behavior of the eyes, gesticulations and attitudes while communicating with others. As per the video illustration, kinesics has been classified into five main categories namely emblems, illustrators, affect displays, regulators and adaptors. Emblems are the signs or signals used to communicate a single word or behavior in terms of non-verbal communication. In other words, it can be explained as a shorthand process used for communicating simple ideas or words. The raising of a thumb while wishing someone best of luck and waving our hands to say hello, are some of the examples of emblem category in kinesics. Illustrations of the same can also be given in the forms of smaller movements and attitudes used to express one’s idea. Basically, these are some of the movements, which are often used for conveying a verbal message. A person however does not necessarily make any initial plan for using the illustrators, even at times being unaware of the fact that he/she is actually using it. Few of the examples of illustrators are hitting the head when some mistake occurs, raising hands in the air to express the feelings of conflict with someone and drawing some invisible symbols in the air to show some signs of communication, which come voluntarily rather than in a planned manner by the communicator. The body attitude along with some kinds of facial expressions used in communicating can be termed as affect displays. The affect displays can be well understood by the action of raising eyebrows when one is surprised. The interpretation of affect displays thus requires two basic elements, such as the sender of message and knowledge of the condition in which the message is sent. Affect displays are often used by a person while talking over the telephone. According to the mentioned video, our face can display eight types of emotions i.e. surprise, happiness, anger, sadness, fear, hatred, interest and repulsion. Affect displays are usually used to manipulate people to focus on you. Like for instance, a child cries not to express his/her pain but to gain the attention of his/her parents. Regulators are correspondingly noted as the movement of the bodies or some specific attitudes that are used to communicate the feelings of an individual. Making a typical type of sound and nodding heads to express that we are listening to someone’s words is an example of regulators. Regulators are commonly used to attract the attention of one who is feeling bored of is observed to get distracted from the communication. For example, any of the members in a meeting shaking his legs frequently shows that the person is bored of the meeting and thus, it is the regulators, which motivates him to show such body language. Almost similar to regulators, adaptors are those human behaviors, which exhibit certain actions with a particular motive but a different perception that is developed by the others in the surrounding. For example, if a person is biting fingernails it does not always have to mean that he/she is nervous but other people always tend to think that they are actually nervous or lack interest in the conversation (Montgomery County Public Schools, “Body language”). The other form of body language that is usually used by the people while communicating is eye contact. Having eye contacts can reveal many aspects that are being versed in the person’s mind but the individual is not able to communicate the same verbally. The mentioned video also says that in most of the conversations, people look at each other from 10 to 80% of the time. According to a latest study, it was found that the person who used least of the eye contacts is immature and defensive whereas the one using more eye contacts are identified to be friendly, confident and honest. An expert card player always keeps maximum attention on the eyes of the opponent player. The player can identify what is going on in his mind and also with the identification of the adaptors and regulators while playing cards. Eye contact also is a vital aspect, which helps in reading the minds of the people and to know what he/she is trying to communicate (Montgomery County Public Schools, “Body language”). In respect to body language, haptics is commonly referred as the study of physical communication or the language of touch. The video says that touch is the basic form of communication. The best example of haptics can be illustrated with reference to way of the communication between the mother and her newly born infant. Certainly, the meaning of touch differs according to the situation. The touch between the same age group people reflects the relationship of friendship. Handshake is the most common form of touch, which expresses faith and agreement of the same decision. It is also used for saying hello or goodbye in many cultures. Different countries have their own unique style of touch to express gratitude and convey the intended messages to the other one. Like in the US, handshaking is the most common touch used for communication and in the similar way the French people kiss one another on cheeks as a display of warm greetings. Furthermore, as noted in the video, paralanguage gives high preference on the tone in which the message is being transferred irrespective of the words used. Paralanguage derives a different meaning of the words spoke as it gives emphasis on the way how communication is done rather than the actual words being spoken. It is not necessary that paralanguage cannot convey emotions. It has been illustrated in the video about a latest study examined the tone of mothers while talking to their children. For instance, if a mother always expresses anger and nervousness to her children, the children are likely to become irritable and insecure. It means that the anger and nervousness of their mother is the reason for the children to become irritable. Here the paralanguage that was conveyed to their children were the anger and nervousness tone of the mother. Thus, it has been stated that the contents of the conversation is not always necessary but the way in which the conversation is done is most important (Learning speed, “Body language II”). The speaker in the video subsequently denotes that the study of how the time is utilized for effective communication is termed as chronemics. Formal and informal are the main classifications of time. Formal time is always measured in seconds, minutes and hours. If a meeting has been scheduled at 11.30, it is considerable to start 20 minutes earlier or 20 minutes late. On the other side, informal time gives a general idea of when the meeting will be held rather than an exact time. The informal time is always quoted as soon, later or sometimes. The video also states that the concept of time differs from one culture to other. But the major two types of time observed in most of the countries are monochromatic and polychromatic. Monochromatic gives high preference to the value of time as it emphasizes on doing particular job at a time and doing those within the stipulated time frame. While polychromatic is where many of the tasks are performed within a given time period. This category is highly informal and also unprofessional to an extent. The video also emphasizes another form of body language as proxemics, which is the study of how the space around us is used for communication. All the human beings are aware of the space that they should use. For example, a boss can enter the cabin of the employees at any time but employees need permission for entering the boss’s cabin. The proper use of the space and the knowledge of the owned space are considered as proxemics (Learning speed, “Body language II”). Undoubtedly, as per my understanding and opinion, paying close attention to the above forms of body language, one can easily learn the various signals used by the people for conveying certain messages. With respect to the above stated critiquing points, the discussion clearly exhibits how multidimensional and complex is the mechanics of body language communication. As one single type of posture, gesture or eye-contact can imply various meanings; the chances of those being misinterpreted also become higher. Again, as the technicalities of body language require deep learning of the subject matter, the reliability of the messages interpreted from the same gets reduced. Therefore, we need to depend on verbally communicated messages too in order to decode the messages being interpreted with accuracy. Nevertheless, considering the impression caused by body language on our perceptions towards another person, body languages are no less important that verbally communicated information in our daily lives. CONCLUSION The mentioned video provided us with the knowledge of the various forms of body language that are used for conveying messages. Based on this understanding, body language can be referred as a non-verbal of communication mechanism, which involves different signs and signals to make the listener understand what is being is expressed. In the video, the various forms of body language were illustrated with the examples, which evidently made it easier to understand. As briefly and in an interactive way, the study of kinesics, eye contact, paralanguage, haptics, chronemics and proxemics can make an individual understand the signals used for passing a non-verbal message. After the study of the body language and its various forms, it can be observed that body language is a vital tool, which reflects the feelings and emotions of an individual. The person’s mind can be read through a proper understanding of the body language even though the person tries to hide it from others intentionally. From this study of various forms of body language, an individual can get the knowledge of the body language to be used in the different environment. This study not only assisted me to identify the various paradigms of body language but also helped to develop my understanding to translate the non-verbal message passed by the others often unintentionally. However, it is also worth mentioning that misunderstanding a particular non-verbal sign communicated through body language may be severe to the interpersonal relationship we share in our common sphere and therefore, due significance must be given when analyzing the parity between the verbal message conveyed and the non-verbal symbolic. Works Cited “How Body Language Influences Daily Life”. Body language expert. 2013. Web. 3 Dec. 2013. Furnham, Adrian. Body Language at Work. United Kingdom: CIPD Publishing, 1999. Print. Hall, Judith A., Erik J. Coats and Lavonia Smith LeBeau. “Nonverbal Behavior and the Vertical Dimension of Social Relations: A Meta-Analysis.” Psychological Bulletin 131.6 (2005). 898–924. Print. Laneri, Raquel. “Body language decoded.” Forbes. 2009. Web. 8 Dec. 2013. “Body language II”. Learning speed. 2008. Web. 3 Dec. 2013. Meeren, Hanneke K. M., Corne? C. R. J. van Heijnsbergen and Beatrice de Gelder. “Rapid perceptual integration of facial expression and emotional body language.” PNAS 102.45 (2005): 16518-16523. Print. “Body language”. Montgomery County Public Schools. 2013. Web. 3 Dec. 2013. Pease, Allan and Pease, Barbara. The Definitive Book of Body Language. Australia: McPherson's Printing Group, 2004. Print. Smith, Jacquelyn. “Interview body language mistakes that can cost you the job.” Forbes. 2011. Web. 8 Dec. 2013. Read More