Non-verbal communication: gestures

[Tomcat]

Those who are able to find a common language with any person are often quick-witted, resourceful and tactful, they understand what other people need and know how to find a compromise. It can be argued that skillful non-verbal behavior is part of social competence. Some people are more receptive to non-verbal signals and are able to better identify their meaning, others are more skillful in what is associated with the non-verbal expression of their own feelings and attitudes. Thus, social competence, involving the possession of such skills, plays an extremely important role in everyday life.

Social intelligence
Social intelligence, which is responsible for social competence, is considered a basic intellectual ability, distinct from other cognitive abilities. Associated with social intelligence is such a concept as emotional intelligence, which characterizes a person's ability to evaluate emotional messages, regulate their own emotions and use them intelligently to control their thoughts and actions.
To properly understand other people, you need to pay attention to their characteristics, including appearance and non-verbal behavior. Sometimes the information we receive from observing a person is important in itself, no matter what benefits can be made from it. Sometimes, having noticed something, we immediately draw a conclusion, and sometimes we notice something, but understanding does not come immediately.
However, communication skills are not limited to non-verbal messages. The verifier needs to understand the meaning of verbal messages - literal and metaphorical, as well as the nuances of what is read "between the lines" - and integrate verbal and non-verbal cues. It is also necessary to understand social contexts and roles: what is permissible and what is unacceptable in a specific social situation, how people performing certain roles should behave, and what consequences the violation of the expectations of others entails.
Conceptions about non-verbal skills can be used to take a fresh look at long-standing concepts. Empathy, rapport, adjustment, and leading, along with processes such as social comparison and impression management, can be considered in terms of control over accuracy when sending or receiving non-verbal cues in social interaction.
Our ability to send and receive non-verbal signals is formed in the course of our daily life. We, without realizing it, learn non-verbal behavior, imitating and modeling the behavior of other people, changing our actions taking into account the feedback received, responding to the instructions and advice of others.
A person's non-verbal skills are improved in a variety of experiences to decode feelings and non-verbal cues. Feedback, in the form of discussing with participants when their judgments about non-verbal behavior are correct and when they are not, is one of the most effective methods of improving non-verbal skills.
People who understand non-verbal cues and have good non-verbal communication skills are more difficult to manipulate than those who do not. If those who know a lot about non-verbal behavior begin to suspect that they are using their knowledge "against" others, very soon attempts are made to expose them or to resist this. It goes without saying that every verifier has an ethical responsibility not to use their knowledge to the detriment of others.
Because verifiers spend a lot of time observing others - passively (observing only) or actively (observing and interacting) - one way or another they develop good skills in decoding the non-verbal messages of the observed objects.
Undoubtedly, non-verbal cues are an essential element of our communication efforts. Sometimes they become the most important part of the messages we send. Understanding and making effective use of non-verbal behavior is critical to being successful in virtually all social contacts we engage in.

Two kinds of gestures in lie detection
In lie detection, it will be important for us to take into account two types of gestures:
Communicative gestures are gestures that accompany speech (illustrators, regulators) or are speech themselves (emblems).
Non- communicative gestures are gestures that do not participate in communication between people, but play a special role in a person's “communication” with himself. So, for example, gesture adapters allow a person to find peace in a difficult situation of stress.
Let's talk about this in more detail.

Communicative gestures
Gestures-emblems
The emblem is a communicative gesture that does not accompany speech, but in fact is speech itself, because it has a very specific meaning. A person, showing a gesture-emblem, always does it consciously and intentionally. Emblems and emblems are proto-language. Our ancestors communicated with emblems, who did not know and did not know the language in its modern form.
The meaning of gestures-emblems is uniquely interpreted by all representatives of a given culture or subculture. With the help of emblems, you can convey almost any message, including factual information, orders, expression of personal attitude to what is happening and feelings.
Facial expressions and eye movements accompanying emblem gestures expand the boundaries of possible meanings associated with hand movements. And there is always the possibility that the meaning associated with a gesture in the absence of speech will change if it is accompanied by speech, including those cases when the accompanying speech seems to be superfluous. However, the context expands the boundaries of meaning. Sometimes the context does not have a strong influence on the meaning of the gesture, but only slightly changes the way it is performed.

Two types of gesture emblems

1. Iconic (arise in human culture by copying real objects and actions performed with them);

2. Symbolic (do not contain a direct reflection of the appearance of the depicted object or action, therefore, are understandable only to initiated people).

Since gestures-emblems are a proto-language, passed from generation to generation and are fixed by cultural traditions, in the event of an internal conflict, they can manifest themselves in some way.
In body language there is one informative sign of deception - an emblematic slip of the tongue, which arises when a person does not believe in what he says, that is, the body contradicts the words.
An emblematic slip of the tongue can be a sure sign that the speaker is lying.

Criteria for an emblematic clause

1. As a rule, the slip of the tongue appears outside the usual position. The emblems are shown intentionally, they convey some kind of signal, message, and the emblematic leak, as it were, involuntarily breaks out, and therefore manifests itself outside the usual position;
2. The disclaimer may not appear in full, but in part;
3. The disclaimer may be characterized by excessive "breakage" in the display of emblems. Since liars, when trying to lie, are characterized by bodily asymmetry, when trying to consciously control and suppress emotions, the emblematic slip assumes part of this bodily asymmetry.

During the interview, the verifier may see emblematic leaks in the interviewee, but they may not appear. Despite the fact that emblematic reservations are a fairly reliable sign of a lie, the verifier cannot fully rely only on them, because they may not appear at all during the interview. You also need to master the linguistic set of gestures, emblems of different nations and peoples, especially when conducting checks in neighboring states.

Illustrator Gestures
Another type of gesture inherent in humans is illustrator gestures - gestures that accompany speech. Illustrator gestures need to be interpreted even more carefully than logo gestures and adapters.

Types of Illustrator Gestures
Accurate capture of the subject;
Forceful grip of the void;
Power grabbing of an object;
Blow on the void;
Stitching gestures;
Forefinger;
Intention to touch;
Stretching the arms (palms up, palms towards you, palms down, palms forward);
United hands;
The head is the body;
Illustrations feet

Speech illustration techniques

1. The person may place special emphasis on a word or phrase;
2. A person can follow the train of thought in the air with his hand, as if conducting his speech;
3. A person can draw with their hands in the air or depict actions that repeat or reinforce what is said.

Using Illustrator Gestures

1. An attempt to explain something that is difficult to express in words;
2. Inability to find the right word or phrase;
3. Communication of speech;
4. Emotional excitement.

Gesture Illustrator Functions

1. Repetition - during communication, people sometimes simply repeat what they say verbally with gestures;
2. Addition - during the communication process, people complement or clarify what they say in words with gestures. When words and gestures complement each other and do not conflict, the messages are decoded by the interlocutor more accurately;
3. Recollection - Sometimes non-verbal cues help us remember a verbal message;
4. Substitution - Sometimes non-verbal cues can replace verbal cues;
5. Underlining or dimming - Non -verbal communication can soften or dim the verbal message or highlight certain words (markers).

The intensity of the manifestations of gestures-illustrators is influenced by the character of a person (there is a type of people who are not characterized by intense gesticulation), culture and cultural belonging influence. Therefore, one of the tasks of the verifier at the stage of establishing the baseline of behavior is to determine the intensity of the manifestation of illustrators in the norm. Usually, the normal display of illustrators can be traced by talking about mundane topics.
Verifiers need to understand and take into account the peculiarities of the human nervous system, as well as his basic line of behavior, because some people tend to increase the number of illustrator gestures during a lie, while others tend to decrease the number of illustrator gestures during a lie. Depending on the psychotype of the interviewed person, as well as on the strategy of lying chosen by him, this tendency will manifest itself.

Gesture controls
Slider gestures are interactive gestures that help regulate dialogue.

Types of control gestures

1. Information transfer gestures;
2. Link gestures to the interlocutor's utterance;
3. Gestures for adjusting the sequence of replicas;
4. Gestures to request a response from the interlocutor.

Non-communicative gestures
Adapters gestures - stress gestures
A more informative sign of a state of stress is non-communicative gestures - the so-called adapter gestures . They are also called complacency gestures. A person resorts to them unconsciously in order to regain peace of mind in a stressful situation. The emergence of gesture adapters is a sure sign that a person is trying to take himself and the situation under control. In this case, the verifier needs to answer the question: "Why did the interviewee begin to control himself?" It must be borne in mind that these gestures are unconscious - they are poorly realized.
Self-adaptive gestures , as a rule, are associated with touching yourself, your body. Observing the level of manifestation of self-adaptive gestures, one can judge the level of stress in a person. The higher the self-adaptive gestures, the higher the stress level. When a person covers his face with his hands, in different contexts the verifier can confidently speak of shame, shame, or grief.

Types of self-adapters gestures

1. Touching the head;
2. Touching the body;
3. Legs.

Manipulation gestures
Adaptive gestures also include manipulation gestures that perform the same function as self-adaptive gestures, but they are based on manipulation of objects. A person who lies has a transition from the right hemisphere to the left, and it is during this period that manipulative gestures appear. This is due to the fact that the transition from the right hemisphere to the left always causes a pause in a person's actions. Therefore, the function of gesture manipulators is not only adaptation, but also substitution. At the same time, each person has his own especially favorite manipulations, peculiar only to him.
The duration of the manipulations can vary from a few moments to many minutes.

Manipulative gestures are used by a liar on two occasions

1. Masking the point of approximate fading (uncontrolled pause before answering);
2. Coming up with the correct answer to the question.

Understanding the reason for the occurrence of manipulative gestures, the verifier, when asking a test question and in the presence of a manipulator gesture in a truthful answer, should double-check it, asking after a while a question in a different formulation.
In a lie detection situation, there is no need to determine the exact meaning of each adapter gesture, if the verifier pays the main attention to the structure of speech utterances. Since adapter gestures signal the level of stress, during the interview, the verifier can understand how close he is to the required information.

Self-cleaning gestures
A person tries to control himself in the presence of an observer or a group of observers, because it is believed that in the presence of other people it is indecent to make self-purification gestures. A person resorts to these gestures when he believes that no one sees him. Or a person begins to perform these actions unconsciously if he has a feeling that no one sees him.
In life, a person purifies himself, as a rule, alone, when no one sees him, he is in a full state of immersion in himself, is focused on himself, and most importantly, he is safe.

For lie detection, this reason for the occurrence of self-cleaning gestures can be quite informative and significant. In the situation of a questionnaire conversation, and especially this can be informative in the case of a group conversation, the presence of self-purification gestures in a person's non-verbal behavior indicates the absence of the emotion of fear, lack of interest in the event under investigation and is an additional marker of a person's innocence.
Self-purification gestures testify to lies then, when the interviewed person reports a strong emotional experience, but at the same time demonstrates actions to self-purify himself.
Another informative sign that can be attributed to information about the presence of deception is the absence of any gestures during the entire interview. Some liars, wanting not to give themselves away, try to control all body movements and facial expressions. It looks like the person is stiff. At the same time, speech becomes short, logical and emotionally uncolored. The verifier immediately identifies this behavior as information about the presence of deception. Often liars do not understand that an attempt to suppress everything in oneself is evidence of hiding information.
Thus, due to the ambiguity of the origin of gestures, they must be interpreted and interpreted with extreme caution. The liar is betrayed by emblematic slips, an increase in the number of adapter gestures, dissonance of illustrators, and an increase in the number of illustrator gestures in people with a fast moving nervous system.

A source

 

[Brother]

Non-verbal communication​

Hello everyone! How are you, manipulators? Earlier I wrote about non-verbal communication and meta-messages, now I am sharing with you non-verbal material.

... Suddenly another voice sounded, quiet and melodic. There was an indescribable charm in him. Those who heard this voice rarely later recalled the words themselves, and if they did, they were surprised, for there was no power in these words. But the voice was delightful. Everything he said seemed wise, he wanted to agree with everything. Any other voice in comparison with this seemed hoarse, any other speech unreasonable; and if someone dared to object, anger flared in the hearts of the enchanted listeners. The sound of this voice alone was enough to become his slave, and this sorcery lived in the listeners, even when they were already far away. The voice kept whispering, ordering, and they obeyed. No one could listen to him without excitement, no one could resist his spell. Only the most firm will and striving thought could withstand.

JRR Tolkien The Lord of the Rings.

American psychologists have calculated that verbal, verbal information in communication is about 1/6, and the language of postures, intonations, breathing and rhythm is non-verbal information - 5/6.

And this is exactly the part of communication that we are not aware of, but which is the main one in any communication. Since childhood, we have been taught a lot about what to say, but very little about how.
Words give us content, non-verbal determines

Content + Attitude = Meaning.
In communication, it is usually much more important to define a relationship than to convey a message. By simply changing the intonation, you can completely change the general meaning of the message, sometimes even to the completely opposite.
- Marivanna, and Little Johnny called me a fool.
- Little Johnny, get up, say three times that Masha is not stupid, and apologize.
- Masha is not stupid. Masha is not stupid! Masha is not stupid ?! Sorry-and-and-those ...
The illusion of the importance of words is associated with the fact that words are easier to analyze and state, and the perception of non-verbal information is too subjective. Our consciousness prefers to work with precise categories. And our culture is designed in such a way that we are taught to pay more attention to the content. Although people are more responsive to non-verbal. But they just don't realize it. But awareness gives control.

Awareness gives control.
We have practically no control over what we are not aware of.

• True, awareness alone is not enough for control, but at least this is the first step.

So just knowing that there is non-verbal communication and its weight is enormous is the very first and most important step towards improving communication.
But if the history of a connected language, at best, has several tens of thousands of years, then non-verbal communication appeared with the appearance of the first herd animals (if not earlier). They needed to somehow communicate, determine who is more important and how to relate to each other. If you think that birds in the morning and cats sing at night for the general harmonization of the environment, you are deeply mistaken. They communicate. One tells the other how he relates to this other. In Russia, to clarify such relations, mat is usually used, which in this context does not carry any content, but it conveys this very attitude well.
- Well you, ************************** !!!!!
- And you, ******************************* !!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you think that at the same time at least some meaningful information is transmitted, then ... It's simple here. The relationship is determined, the state changes, the emotion is triggered - the content has nothing to do with it. In the same way, with another instinctive act - a conversation between two lovers - words, although they have a more cultured look, play practically no role. You can replace them with a bunch of other words, the result remains the same.
People are mostly animals. The set of human genes is 98% the same as the genetic set of some chimpanzee. Non-verbal interaction is millions of years old, and the tongue is compared to a baby who just got out of diapers. Yes, with the help of language we can convey exact things (like that tomorrow it will snow and rain and the temperature is about zero). But people are more often worried about the attitude: like - do not like, good - bad, believe - do not believe, love - do not love. And this is, first of all, the area of the non-verbal. Because specific words can be interpreted in any way. The simple word "Yes", depending on intonation, facial expressions and other body movements, can mean:
? Oh sure.
? I'll think about it.
? Yes! Yes! Yes!
? How could you think that of me!
? Never.
? Most likely not, but you have a chance to convince me.
Conventionally, you can divide the entire non-verbal into two large parts: this is what we transmit with the body (Body Language) and the Voice. Body Language includes: arm movement, leg wiggle, posture, smile, furrowed brows, rapid breathing, redness of the skin. Everything that you can convey with its help refers to the Voice: screaming, whispering, various interjections (oh-oh-oh, wow), poking, raised tone , etc.
Please note that the Voice (in the sense of the ability to make sounds) appeared as a means of communication, and is focused on this. That is why, with the help of the Voice, it is good to convey emotions, relationships, states. It is also focused on the intonation design of speech: we can understand whether a given sentence is declarative, interrogative or exclamatory only by intonation.

• For this in the text, different punctuation marks are put at the end: exclamation mark, question mark, period.

And without stress it is often impossible to understand the meaning of a word at all. G and the IOC or the deputy on to?
For a general idea of the distribution of information load in communication, it is convenient to use the following ratio:
Body Language - 1/2;
Voice - 1/3;
Content - 1/6;

But if we say that Body Language is half and Voice is a third, these are only rough guidelines. For example, during a telephone conversation, Body Language will be practically absent, and most of the information will be transmitted using the Voice.
If we talk about influence, that is, about the impact on other people, then the ratio will be somewhat different.

The diagram below shows an analysis of the impact during a presentation to a group of people. At the same time: 55% is Body Language (posture, movement, facial expressions);
about 38% - Voice (tone, intonation, rhythm, timbre);
and about 7% are actually words, content.
That is, if we motivate people for something (that is, we do so that they do something that they do not really want), then the words themselves are weakly convincing.

Much more important is HOW you say these words, how you define attitudes. Please note that we have to motivate others regularly:
- Olya, have you done all the homework?
- Petr Petrovich, the report should be done by Wednesday.
- Honey, go to the store.
- Honey, you are not so decisive.
- Anna, we're late!
“Madam, this is absolutely delicious lipstick.
- Buy irons only from our company!
- Vote for ... !!!

- You're leaving now.
- No.
- This is not a question, this is a warning.

Note that an important difference between non-verbal communication and verbal communication is that information is transmitted even when the interlocutor is listening. They say, "a good listener." Most likely this is a person who non-verbally supports the interlocutor while he speaks: nods his head, smiles, sighs, shakes his head, assent. Moreover, he does not necessarily listen to what he is told. He can only pretend. And then they say about him that he is a "good conversationalist."

• So if you want to be perceived as a "good conversationalist" learn to listen - that is, to non-verbally support the speaker. It is not necessary to speak yourself.

You can do a simple experiment: when they argue about something, nod during the speech of one, as if agreeing, smile, pretend that you are satisfied. And when another opponent speaks - frown, nod negatively, express indignation with all your looks . Most likely, the one whom you support will begin to "win" in an argument, perhaps even begin to turn to you for confirmation of his words.
There is an old student find: if you want the lecturer to remember you, sit closer, look at him carefully and nod in agreement with his words. After a while, he will speak mainly to you.
The same can apply to the bosses - try to nod in agreement during the boss's speech (maybe even imperceptibly) - after a while the speech will go in your direction. Do not be surprised that with regular support from your superiors, it may suddenly turn out that you are a very good employee, worthy of a promotion.

• True, this is only if someone does not nod better than you - then they will raise him

These are just small examples of how you can use non-verbal communication, what opportunities it adds at a small "cost" . But this is only a tiny part of these possibilities. A person who is good at communicating non-verbally (both "listening" and "speaking") is both a good conversationalist, and the best guest, and the first candidate for promotion. In our society, your social (and other) position is primarily determined by your relationships with others, and with the help of what and how these relationships are established, I think you have already guessed.

 

[Brother]

Commandments for Success in Analyzing Non-Verbal Communication​

Have you ever wondered why in the age of computers, sms, e-mail, people continue to gather for business meetings? Because they need to personally send and receive non-verbal messages. Body language or non-verbal communication is a way of transmitting information using non-verbal means: facial expressions, gestures, touch, body movement, posture, tone, timbre, voice volume. With the help of non-verbal behavior, 60 to 65 percent of all information in interpersonal communication is usually transmitted.
Joe Navarro, a former FBI agent and non-verbal communication expert, describes several commandments for success in observing and deciphering non-verbal communication signals in I See What You Think.

Watch closely what is happening around you. The fact is that many people look, but in essence they do not see anything, or, as Sherlock Holmes said, "You look, but you do not observe." In order to learn to read body language, it is necessary (and this is very important!) To always leave part of your attention to purposeful observation of non-verbal signals. Over time, this will become a built-in skill, but it should be consciously paid attention to at first.

Observing in context is the key to understanding non-verbal behavior. When trying to understand non-verbal behavior in a real life situation, remember that the better you understand the context, the better you will understand what it means.

Learn to recognize universal cues for non-verbal behavior. Some body movements are the same for most people. For example, pursed lips are an emblem, a typical sign that a person is worried about something.

Learn to recognize individual signals of non-verbal behavior. There are elements of non-verbal behavior that are, to some extent, unique to each individual. The best way to learn to recognize these signals is by observing the behavior of people with whom you communicate regularly. For example, if your child scratches the back of his head and bites his lip before the exam, this can serve as a reliable emblem of his nervousness. This behavior will become part of his arsenal and you will have to observe him more than once. And if in the context of the exam we see the reason for the nervousness, then such an emblem in the future without an obvious reason for you may be a reason to think about what is happening to it now.

Learn to define a basic pattern of behavior . Learning about normal behavior is often critical to spotting abnormalities. Determining the baseline of behavior, you can pay attention to how a person usually looks, how he sits, where he puts his hands, how he puts his legs, how he tilts his head.

Pay attention to consistency. There is a need to maintain consistency between verbal and non-verbal behavior. A classic example is the situation when a person says: “I didn't do it” while his head nods in the affirmative. It is also important to pay attention to the consistency of what the person is saying with what is happening now. For example, a person gives a gift at a holiday, and on his face at this moment there is a reliable sign of the emotion of contempt - one corner of his mouth is slightly raised.

Pay attention to expressiveness. When we speak, we naturally use different parts of the body to accentuate moments that arouse strong feelings in us. Volume, pitch, repetition of words, forward bending of the torso, expressive gestures - we use all of this as accents. When liars try to fabricate an answer, their expressive movements seem unnatural or delayed, they rarely put accents where they follow.

Learn to spot signs of comfort and discomfort. Those who lie or are guilty know about their lies and this knowledge prevents them from achieving comfort. Signs of discomfort and tension are vividly manifested in non-verbal behavior, for example, a tight posture, lack of gestures. Therefore, in order to see these signs, first, it is necessary for the person in your presence to relax and feel safe. It is necessary to create the most comfortable conditions at the initial stage of any interaction. This will help determine the baseline of human behavior, in order to track signs of discomfort in contrast.