Psychology: Body Language
July 5, 2008 – 8:03 pm
Body Language: Speaking with Body
Do you only use words and sounds to communicate? If so, you are missing a big point: Body language and its effectiveness. Using gestures, body movements along with words, verbal elements are called body language. Communication does not only mean speaking and listening, movements, mimics, gestures of people are all categorized as communication, these can be both intentional movements and also sometimes the persona is not aware of the action such as looking from other side, wrinkling, smiling etc.
Common Body Language Signs
Body language may differ from country to country, a movement meaning a good thing can have a very different meaning in another country, it is a cultural issue; however there are some general body language signs. Crossing arms across chest is one of these common signs, it is perceived as the barrier between people; if the persona even looks like s/he is listening, you should keep in mind that s/he has the possibility to pretend to listen, be aware of it! Touching the face while speaking can be an indication of lying or deceiving, persona is under stress. Non stop eye contact shows the positive idea of the speaker about you, and trying not to have eye contact is the sign of negativity. Dealing with objects such as glasses, hat or something else show that the person looks for comfort and safety. Smoking indicates the search for relief. While you are speaking, if you examine the reactions of the listener, this means you look for approval. Looking perspective is one key sign of body language. The more certain your perspective is, the more you are sure of yourself.
Why Do People Use Body Language?
There are many psychological searches about why people use body language; there are many different and reasonable reasons of it:
- Intentional movements to affect the listener.
- Persona is unaware of the action and has no intention to affect or prove, it is the psychological side of using body language. These unaware made actions reveal the real mood of the speaker. A liar can be understood by analyzing her/his gestures, movements, etc.
- It is a way of sending signals to other people.
- Body language can be the purest form of communication as human use whatever word s/he wants, however body language is inevitable, human use it inevitably.
- Listener has a key role during communication, body language user may want to be understood not easily, a hard way is chosen and listener has to spend effort to understand.
- Using body language in working life is very important, no matter how successful, intelligent you are, without having an effective personality, communication skills you are nothing.
- Verbal language is not enough, so people look for something else to support it.