page_title: Nonverbal communication
hierarchical_section_title: Nonverbal communication
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Nonverbale Kommunikation an einem Essensstand in der Nähe des Glockenturms von Xi'an, ChinaEnglish: Understanding each other; seen in a street near the bell tower of Xi'an, China
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: Nonverbal communication (NVC) 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 (kinesics), distance (proxemics) and physical environments/appearance, of voice (paralanguage) and of touch (haptics).  It can also include the use of time (chronemics) and eye contact and the actions of looking while talking and listening, frequency of glances, patterns of fixation, pupil dilation, and blink rate (oculesics).
  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. Ray Birdwhistell concludes that nonverbal communication accounts for 60–70 percent of human communication, although according to other researchers the communication type is not quantifiable or does not reflect modern human communication, especially when people rely so much on written means.
  Just as speech contains nonverbal elements known as paralanguage, including voice quality, rate, pitch, loudness, and speaking style, as well as prosodic features such as rhythm, intonation, and stress, so written texts have nonverbal elements such as handwriting style, spatial arrangement of words, or the physical layout of a page. However, much of the study of nonverbal communication has focused on interaction between individuals, where it can be classified into three principal areas: environmental conditions where communication takes place, physical characteristics of the communicators, and behaviors of communicators during interaction.
  Nonverbal communication involves the conscious and unconscious processes of encoding and decoding. Encoding is the act of generating information such as facial expressions, gestures, and postures. Encoding information utilizes signals which we may think to be universal. Decoding is the interpretation of information from received sensations given by the encoder. Decoding information utilizes knowledge one may have of certain received sensations. For example, in the picture above, the encoder holds up two fingers, and the decoder may know from previous experience that this means two.
  Culture plays an important role in nonverbal communication, and it is one aspect that helps to influence how learning activities are organized. In many Indigenous American communities, for example, there is often an emphasis on nonverbal communication, which acts as a valued means by which children learn. In this sense, learning is not dependent on verbal communication; rather, it is nonverbal communication which serves as a primary means of not only organizing interpersonal interactions, but also conveying cultural values, and children learn how to participate in this system from a young age.
caption: Understanding each other through hand and eye expression; seen in a street near the bell tower of Xi'an, China
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "KONICA MINOLTA", "Image Model": "DiMAGE X60", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "DiMAGE X60 Ver1.00", "Image DateTime": "2008:12:26 15:11:41", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "420", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 5, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "4084", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4772", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/15", "EXIF FNumber": "33/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:12:26 15:11:41", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:12:26 15:11:41", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "12/5", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "86/25", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Spot", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "63/10", "EXIF SubjectArea": "[1280, 960, 640, 480]", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1690", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1186", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1202", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "38", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "2"}