4 posts tagged “body gestures”
Babies have innate ability to communicate through body language. They are programmed to understand nonverbal signals that adults send them. Words would have some meaning and understanding at much later stage and it's just near second birthday when they start use simple sentences to communicate their needs.
Newborns can see just about 20-30 cm away, but right from the start can recognise human face. They are attracted to human face much more than to anything else. And it is very important to keep babies on hands at such distance so they can see the face. As babysitter expert Lisa pointed in one of her recent posts it is important to talk to babies even if they can't understand words just yet. By trying to get into baby level parents would also smile, do funny faces, rock, sing etc. A lot of body touching is involved massaging, tickling, cuddling, kissing etc.
One of the first body language expressions that babies master is smiling. They use a lot of nonverbal signals to show their feelings and needs. For example waving arms and kicking to show their happiness, turning away when they don't want something (like food), banging on something or throwing things to get attention, pointing or taking parent's hand to lead to desirable thing and much much more.
Babies learn body language by observing and imitating adults. It can be to such great level that sometimes parents see themselves in those small bodies. So it's important for parents to watch what signals they send through out the day.
Body language help babies in learning new skills and parents should encourage this. Singing, clapping, stamping, dancing, laughing are just few examples.
Very often, especially with smaller babies parents use body gestures to demonstrate what baby should do. For example when they try to feed baby they might also open and close their mouth and even do swallowing movements or putting two hands together to one of the ears to show it's time to sleep etc.
Babies are best in reading and decoding body language. They understand the mood and emotions of adults from little cues. A wag of the finger, a stern look, shake of the head, nodding, smiling, outstretched arms ready for hugs etc.
Babies are also the best in manipulating parents. They know when and how to press the "button" to get what they want. How it comes we have to learn a lot of skills, like influence and persuasion, again once grown up?
For more information on body language visit Improving Communication in Business and Personal Life
Yesterday I set in front of my laptop all day trying to set up my website with xsitepro.It was deep night when I almost fell down from my chair while listenning to audios.I was very sleepy.So I decided to put alarm on and go to have a 2-3 hr sleep.Today in the morning first thing to do...you tell it.
I had to go to GP with my son.So after spending some time with things on a course I had to leave home and go to surgery.When we were out on a street I had such a feeling like I'm in a different world - sun,slightly cold wind,fresh air,people walking around,cars.Hmm.something I saw quite ago.I'm getting used to computer world,I guess.At least this is good for brains as David Power says.That made me think "When would I practice what I have learned so far about non verbal communication?"I almost haven't time to watch other people's body language.
I decided to try my skills on doctor,whom we had to visit.We've been consulting him before and I had a good impression about him.So today I found out why.
Once we met,we had a good eye contact with a smile.When we were talking he used opened gestures of wellcomeness:no crossed arms or legs,body turned straight to me(not half sideways),his arms were open with palms up,a good eye contact through all conversation and smile when appropriate.And it looked like he really cared what I was talking about.When we left his cabinet I said to myself "I think he's really nice person".No wonder he left a good impression last time.
Not everyone could think that forehead takes part in communicating. Although it usually plays secondary role,it gets a lot of attention. Even a small movement grabs attention.It's near eyes and people tend to notice it more than we could think.But itself,forehead is very limited in movements and usually supports other signals.
The most popular gesture of forehead is wrinkling. It always wrinkles when we raise our eyebrows. The main work of wrinkling is to emphasize the emotions,like surprise or questioning.
Sweating of forehead plays significant role in nonverbal communication as well. It sweats more than other part of the body. Of course not always this has connection with expressing emotions. We might be hot due to hot weather,to say the least.But it is significant in sending moisture related signs when communicating. Cold sweat,let say,indicate anxiousness or extreme fear.
Forehead involves other parts of the body when sending nonverbal signals. Most of the time it is through touching it.
Wiping the forehead has double meaning.We can just wipe out sweat.But it might indicate a relief which sometimes is a deliberate exaggeration(with a big sigh).This gesture is quite popular even if we are not wiping it with a tissue.It can also mean fear or worriness.
We often touch forehead when we are deeply thinking.Rubbing the temples may indicate stress and by doing so we try to massage away our troubles.
. We can touch our forehead to prop up our head.Tapping it with an open palm can be like an encouragement to get some ideas out of the head or can be beating up for making a mistake.
We can also greet/salute others with the touch of a forehead.
By the way there is popular belief that a large forehead indicates a high level of intelligence.Wonder if that's true...
The article is adapted from the article at www.changingminds.net
Today is one of my special days of a year.So should stay in a good mood all day.
I was thinking at night before going to bed,where do the roots of body language science come from?When did people begin to notice significance of nonverbal communication?To say it even better,when did people begin to actualy observe and record all body movements and gestures and their connection to people's feelings and thoughts?Decoding all body language signs should have taken a bit of a time,as while interpreting them one should take into consideration both straight and hidden (subconscious) meaning of expressions.
Well of course there are some movements that tell for themselves.These were definitely obvious even to a cave man, all his body language was pretty much straight forward based on insticts only.His life was limited to doing certain things and in order to survive he had to deal with a lot of agression and selfishness.Funny enough there are representatives of alike nowadays(and I'm not talking about the tribes in third world countries).
Another question...does body language evolve alongside humanbeing or is it timeless, but comes out to the surfice once the time arrives?
Any thoughts?
