11 posts tagged “nonverbal signals”
In yestaerday's post I mentioned about assertiveness. Being assertive not only give you a better feeling but make your communication with other people look more proffessional. You stand out your point while not offencing the other party.
Some people are naturally assertive. Others might need to learn and practice few techniques.
Here are some tips to start you off:
- Watch how other people communicate and even persuade other people by being assertive. What words they use, the tone and speed of the talk, their gestures and facial expressions etc.
- make a decision to improve your assertiveness.
- Imagine yourself being assertive. You can create some situations or take real ones and imagine scenarios of handlind those difficult situations. It may sound useless, but all great artists spend hours practicing their roles just to feel natural when they need the most.
- Take actions. They say to overcome the fear you just need to do what you fear the most. Seems like easier said than done. But this is a shortcut. People tend to exaggerate things. You might find it not that difficult once you start. With practice your fear will fade. Start with small steps. Once you master those move to more complicated situations and so on.
- Don't forget the importance of body language. Use nonverbal signals that supports your speech and show you are confident. Speak clear with steady tone. Don't be in hurry stating your point. Learn to use a bit more time before you give the answer. Eye contact is vital, don't stare though. Avoid such movement that show up your worriness like scratching, tapping, blinking eyes too often, touching your hair or face.
- Make your message to be clear, don't waffle. Then stop talking. If you didn't get a wanted result on a first try repeat your message and do that as many times as necessary. Choose other words for expression if you like. But the main point is don't allow yourself to be sidetracked.
- Don't panic if you fail, especially at the beginning. Keep practicing and see the rewards comming your way.
Enjoy any conversation experience with right communication skills. For more information on communication visit my website.
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
Hips are widely used in nonverbal communication. Most of the signals they send are flirting signals.
Hips are another part that is used by women to attract men. Different cultures have their own standarts on attractiveness of hips. So, in western countries very slim hips are the dream of hundred of thousands and a lot of women are literally starving themselves just to keep up with contemporary standards. A big influence on this has media, ofcourse. Although size zero was banned from some catwalks a lot of models are still far too skinny. There are not that many men,though, that like too skinny girls. Probably keeping up with the standards overweights a lot of other aspects including health. In some asian countries curvy hips in women are considered just right.
Some recalls from the past. Way back ago the beauties were of such a size, what nowadays would be considered an obesity. Have you seen some masterpieces by Rubens?
Another thing I read in one of the magazines... Men like to date girls with slim hips, but marry those with bigger ones. They do that instinctively. And the reason for that comes from antient times. A woman with wide hips can easier go through pregnancy and give birth to healthier babies than a skinny one. No judgement on my part, just sharing what I read.
So what basically can be done with hips?
Let say thrusting them out can be considered as a suggestive and provocative gesture. This gesture is mostly used by men for both women and men signalling their power. This can be even more exaggerated if the legs are opened.
Holding hips back has an opposite meaning to thrusting them out. It has a defencive meaning, to protect so important organs.
One way to hold them back is sitting down and folding the body over them. Some more supportive gestures can be added like crossing legs and covering with hands (this can be done during standing position as well).
We can also push hips sideways. This can be a relaxed position or tiredness. Pushing hips sideway can also be a hidden pointer for who or what they find attractive.
Swaying the hips from side to side is mostly used by women, yet again to catch men's attention. They say that Marelin Monroe used to order pairs of shoes with different high on heels. One shoe was a bit higher than another. This allowed her to walk really sexy without her making an effort.
Some other gestures...
Keeping our hands at around hip level usually doesn't mean anything and is a natural position for rest.
Placing hands on hips makes body look bigger and thus can mean power or aggression.
Holding hands with yourself is considered to be comforting move for somebody who feels anxious.
Tongue is widely used in verbal communication,but it can also send some nonverbal communication signals. There are really not a lot of them.
We use the tangue while eating.So sometimes when a person is hungry they may lick their lips,when they see some food.Licking lips may also mean desire for another person.This can be used as a flirting signal to the other person,especially if done slowly.There are more licking involved in sexual life...
Sometimes people are biting their tongue.Usually this happens when a person wants to say something,but for some reason can't do that.For example not to offend the other person.
Strange enough,but tongue can say something even with a closed mouth. Pushing out the lips by tongue or pressing it against the cheek can mean uncertainty.Pressed against the cheek may also mean thinking.
We can also stick out our tongue.But this is unpolite and usually done by children,not adults.The only acceptable way of sticking out the tongue is in a form of game (usually with children). Another time we stick out the tongue (usually at one side of the mouth),when we try hard to do something.
An that's about it.Untill tomorrow.
Let's talk about eyebrows today.They are near eyes and therefore get a lot of attention.Our eyes are the main senders of nonverbal signals.Very often eyebrows emphasize what eyes communicate.So,what eyebrow body language stands for?
Eyebrows can be lowered,raise,half-lowered and half-raised.
By lowering our eyebrows we conceal the eyes to some point.If we lower the head at the same time that could mean deception or a desire to hide the signals the eyes are sending.Lowered eye may also mean annoyance.At some point it can be related to dominant people,probably they have too much on their mind and they try to concentrate this way.
Raising eyebrows can mean a surprise.In this case eyebrows usually support the wide opened eyes,which signal an interest in what's going on.We may also raise eyes when questioning something and signaling we need an answer.
Raising eyes can communicate openness,as we let others to see our eyes.Raising just one eyebrow usually means doubt,we are not sure if the other person give us accurate details.
Middle-raised eyebrows.Moving our eyebrows slightly up and pulling up the forehead as well can make the eyebrows to slope outwards.This can mean a relief,supported with a sigh or might mean anxiety,like saying"Oh no"
When somebody slopes their eyebrows inwards,this indicates either frustration,concentration or angriness.
Another part of non verbal commuication through eyebrows is greeting or recognition.In this case we make a quick up
& down movement
.
resource:changingminds.com
Let's talk about eyebrows today.They are near eyes and therefore get a lot of attention.Our eyes are the main senders of nonverbal signals.Very often eyebrows emphasize what eyes communicate.So,what eyebrow body language stands for?
Eyebrows can be lowered,raise,half-lowered and half-raised.
By lowering our eyebrows we conceal the eyes to some point.If we lower the head at the same time that could mean deception or a desire to hide the signals the eyes are sending.Lowered eye may also mean annoyance.At some point it can be related to dominant people,probably they have too much on their mind and they try to concentrate this way.
Raising eyebrows can mean a surprise.In this case eyebrows usually support the wide opened eyes,which signal an interest in what's going on.We may also raise eyes when questioning something and signaling we need an answer.
Raising eyes can communicate openness,as we let others to see our eyes.Raising just one eyebrow usually means doubt,we are not sure if the other person give us accurate details.
Middle-raised eyebrows.Moving our eyebrows slightly up and pulling up the forehead as well can make the eyebrows to slope outwards.This can mean a relief,supported with a sigh or might mean anxiety,like saying"Oh no"
When somebody slopes their eyebrows inwards,this indicates either frustration,concentration or angriness.
Another part of non verbal commuication through eyebrows is greeting or recognition.In this case we make a quick up & down movement.
Let's talk about eyebrows today.They are near eyes and therefore get a lot of attention.Our eyes are the main senders of nonverbal signals.Very often eyebrows emphasize what eyes communicate.So,what eyebrow body language stands for?
Eyebrows can be lowered,raise,half-lowered and half-raised.
By lowering our eyebrows we conceal the eyes to some point.If we lower the head at the same time that could mean deception or a desire to hide the signals the eyes are sending.Lowered eye may also mean annoyance.At some point it can be related to dominant people,probably they have too much on their mind and they try to concentrate this way.
Raising eyebrows can mean a surprise.In this case eyebrows usually support the wide opened eyes,which signal an interest in what's going on.We may also raise eyes when questioning something and signaling we need an answer.
Raising eyes can communicate openness,as we let others to see our eyes.Raising just one eyebrow usually means doubt,we are not sure if the other person give us accurate details.
Middle-raised eyebrows.Moving our eyebrows slightly up and pulling up the forehead as well can make the eyebrows to slope outwards.This can mean a relief,supported with a sigh or might mean anxiety,like saying"Oh no"
When somebody slopes their eyebrows inwards,this indicates either frustration,concentration or angriness.
Another part of non verbal commuication through eyebrows is greeting or recognition.In this case we make a quick up & down movement.
Let's talk about eyebrows today.They are near eyes and therefore get a lot of attention.Our eyes are the main senders of nonverbal signals.Very often eyebrows emphasize what eyes communicate.So,what eyebrow body language stands for?
Eyebrows can be lowered,raise,half-lowered and half-raised.
By lowering our eyebrows we conceal the eyes to some point.If we lower the head at the same time that could mean deception or a desire to hide the signals the eyes are sending.Lowered eye may also mean annoyance.At some point it can be related to dominant people,probably they have too much on their mind and they try to concentrate this way.
Raising eyebrows can mean a surprise.In this case eyebrows usually support the wide opened eyes,which signal an interest in what's going on.We may also raise eyes when questioning something and signaling we need an answer.
Raising eyes can communicate openness,as we let others to see our eyes.Raising just one eyebrow usually means doubt,we are not sure if the other person give us accurate details.
Middle-raised eyebrows.Moving our eyebrows slightly up and pulling up the forehead as well can make the eyebrows to slope outwards.This can mean a relief,supported with a sigh or might mean anxiety,like saying"Oh no"
When somebody slopes their eyebrows inwards,this indicates either frustration,concentration or angriness.
Another part of non verbal commuication through eyebrows is greeting or recognition.In this case we make a quick up & down movement.
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
Do you communicate with your hair?
Similar question...Do you think what you wear has an impact on the results you get?
The way you present yourself helps you a lot in getting what you want especially if your body language supports everything else.These are all parts of non verbal communication.
We'll leave the wardrobe part for Jennifer Skinner.She knows this from A to Z.Her posts always prove that.
So,let's come back to hair.Hair is part of the body,so it also sends some nonverbal signals to the rest of the world.
Nowadays hair can be cut and shaped in various ways.That helps people to express themselves and underline their uniqueness.As people have different tastes,there would be always some that would like your haircut and some,who won't.But everyone would tolerate any kind of hair style as long as it's clean and tidy.
Conventional cut indicates a person who follows social rules in most cases.Traditionally,men have less choice than women, with hair cut reasonably short.Men with very short hair or "scinheads" are considered to be more aggressive.Although few of my friends do cut very short,but only because it's easier to look after it this way.
Long hair is more typical between young "drop-outs".Long hair can mean rebellion.If hair is unkempt and dirty most of the time that's definitely somebody who's lack of care and probably self-esteem.
Women have a much wider choice.That's probably for attraction men and outcoming the female competition.Having a long hair is traditional and feminine.Those women,who cut their hair short are considered to be career oriented and if that's the case,they'd probably have less time to make themselves girls with curls.Female short hair might also indicate the desire to be male or a rebellion against womanhood (errrrrr).But it can mean nothing at all,just a desire for a change.Saying that,I might decide to cut my hair short(I'm considering this for a while already,just can't decide out of so many options) and I would never think of myself being a man.:-)
Now getting closer to body language here.Hair does have a connection to flirting stuff and attracting female or male of one's desire.Mostly it is widely used by women and it's easier to do with long hair.By the way,is it true,guys,that you prefer long hair to short in women?What about color?
So,how can we flirt using hair? Well,tossing and touching are great for that.Tossing the head throws hair backwards,drawing attention to it.And this can be a romantic gesture.Throwing back long hair opens the face and that can mean an invitation to communication,this time preferrably verbal.
Usually we stroke hair just to make sure it's perfectly coiffed and can mean an invitation to stroke as well.To say it shorter,playing with hair can be really flirtatious and can be considered as invitation for other person to do it for you.That can be a start of romantic relationship....But that's what April Braswell is expert in.
So I'll leave you with this today.See you tomorrow.
