NON VERBAL COMMUNICATION

All of us communicate verbally as well as non-verbally. If irritated, we may tense our bodies, press our lips together, and gesture with our eyebrows. With a gaze, a glenze or stare we can communicate intimacy, submission, or dominance.

Most of us are good at"reading" non-varbal cues to understand the emotions in an old silent fikm. We are especially good at detecting non-verbal threats. In a crowd of faces, single face will "pop out"fasetr than a single happy one. Some of us are more sensitive to these cues than others.

Robert Roasantheal and colleaggues discovered this by showing hundreds of people in brief film clips of portions of a person's emotionally expressive face or body, sometimes with a garbled voice added. For example, after a two second scene revealing only the face of an upset woman, the researchers would ask whether the woman was expressing anger or discussing a divorce. Rosenthal and company reported that some people are much better 'emotions detectors' than others, and that women were better at it that men.

The growing awareness that we communicate through the body's silent language has led to studies of how job applicants and interviewers communcation (or miscommunicate). There has also been a spate of guide business deal or selling a product, it pays to be ale to "read" feelings. Fidgeting for example, may reveal anxiety or boredom. Different expressions may convey the same emotions; either a cold stare or the avoidance of eye contact may signify hospitality. A given expression can also convey vary different emotions: folded arms, for example, can signify irritaton or relaxation.