page_title: Nonverbal communication
section_title: Importance
hierarchical_section_title: Nonverbal communication / Importance
caption_attribution_description: Symbol Table for Non-verbal communication with patients
context_page_description: Nonverbal communication is the transmission of messages or signals through a nonverbal platform such as eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, posture, and the distance between two individuals. It includes the use of visual cues such as body language, distance and physical environments/appearance, of voice and of touch. It can also include the use of time and eye contact and the actions of looking while talking and listening, frequency of glances, patterns of fixation, pupil dilation, and blink rate.
  The study of nonverbal communication started in 1872 with the publication of "The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals" by Charles Darwin. Darwin began to study nonverbal communication as he noticed the interactions between animals and realized they also communicated by gestures and expressions. For the first time, nonverbal communication was studied and its relevance questioned. Today, scholars argue that nonverbal communication can convey more meaning than verbal communication. Some scholars state that most people trust forms of nonverbal communication over verbal communication.
context_section_description: According to some authors, nonverbal communication represents two-thirds of all communications. Nonverbal communication can portray a message both vocally and with the correct body signals or gestures. Body signals comprise physical features, conscious and unconscious gestures and signals, and the mediation of personal space. The wrong message can also be established if the body language conveyed does not match a verbal message.
  Nonverbal communication strengthens a first impression in common situations like attracting a partner or in a business interview: impressions are on average formed within the first four seconds of contact. First encounters or interactions with another person strongly affect a person's perception. When the other person or group is absorbing the message, they are focused on the entire environment around them, meaning the other person uses all five senses in the interaction: 83% sight, 11% hearing, 3% smell, 2% touch and 1% taste.
  Many indigenous cultures use nonverbal communication in the integration of children at a young age into their cultural practices. Children in these communities learn through observing and pitching in through which nonverbal communication is a key aspect of observation.
caption: Symbol table for non-verbal communication with patients
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