Using Non-Verbal Communication

Non-verbal communication is perhaps one of the most important forms of communication that is necessary to understand. It requires more interpretation than verbal communication, and sometimes expresses thing that we do not or cannot outwardly express. Non-verbal communication also is perceived and used differently in different parts of the world. For instance, someone used the example that while in the Middle East, an American female student waved her hand to a male teacher. In America, a hand wave is used as a greeting, but in the Middle East, a hand wave is a beckoning gesture that the American student did not intend to imply.

Personally, I am a very quiet and reserved person. I could just have received a thousand dollars in a sweepstakes or I could have just gotten a really terrible haircut, and act the same way in either case. I’d generally say how I feel, but would not express physical emotion. I also tend to have a “pissed-off” look on my face, as I am told. I’m usually not pissed off, I guess that is just the way my face looks. However, to other people, it looks like I am angry about something even when I am not. I have to be aware of how other people perceive my non-verbal communication. However, my non-verbal communication seems to leak out when I am frustrated. I work at a restaurant, and sometimes the customers can be really difficult and ignorant. Usually I am very pleasant to the customers, but for some reason when I would go to seat them at a table and they would complain that they would like to move to another table in another server’s section, I had a really hard time hiding my frustration. I know that by the look on my face and my use of silence, they knew that they were being difficult.

It is important to always be aware of how we are being perceived by the people around us. Depending on what part of the world you are from, different gestures can be deemed unacceptable or vice versa. By using facial expressions or inserting silence into a conversation, we can imply things that are meant to be perceived without actually having to say the words. However, this can also have a negative effect and could cause some trouble.