Kinesics Plays an Important Role in Communication

Mr. B. S. Savase (abhijeetsavase125@gmail.com), Assistant Professor, Dept. of Humanities, SVERI’s College of Engineering, Pandharpur, Solapur, Maharashtra

Introduction

Human being who lives in the society needs to communicate with each other for fulfillment of basic needs. There are two types of needs. First is Social need, in it we need to communicate with each other to build the relationship between people among the society and maintain it. Second is Professional need for the rapid growth of any professional organization or a profession we need to communicate. In this communication, how are you communicating is too much important. It means which channel or type is used in communication. There are various types of communication formal, informal, verbal, non –verbal, vertical and horizontal.

The word kinesics comes from the root word ‘kinesis’, which means ‘movement,’ and refers to the study of hand, arm, body, and face movements. Specifically, this blog is focusing on Kinesics which is the part of non-verbal communication. Kinesics is the study and interpretation of nonverbal communication via body language, such as facial expressions or body language. Dr. Albert Mehrabian, Professor at the University of California in Los Angeles. In the 1970s, his studies suggested that we overwhelmingly deduce our feelings, attitudes, and beliefs about what someone says not by the actual words spoken, but by the speaker’s body language and tone of voice.  He has quantified this strategy in words-7%, tone of voice-38% and body language-55%.  It is also called a rule of 7-38-55.

Through this chart we can understand the importance of body language in the communication. It quantifies 55% for body language or kinesics. As we know the picture or symbol speaks more than thousand words.

Types of Nonverbal Communication (Kinesics):

Non verbal codes refer to kinesics (Body Language), vocalics, appearance, touch, use of space and time as well. Kinesics includes movement, gesture, posture, facial expression and eyes.

Facial expression:

We tend to convey a lot of emotions through the movements of our facial parts. Hundreds of emotions are indicated by various facial expressions. Facial expressions are a form of nonverbal communication. Face is the mirror of the soul. A  Eyes are the windows of the mind. Through Facial expression happiness, sadness, anger, and fear are shown.

• Frowned face implies dislike.
• Raised eyebrows indicate doubt.
• Narrowed eyes imply query smile indicates happiness or friendliness.
• Lines on forehead express worry.
• Smile indicates happiness or friendliness.

The fowling picture show various facial feelings or expression.

Gestures:

Gesture means the expression by using hands, head, neck and shoulder to express an idea or emotions. Different gestures convey different meaning accompanied by words.

• Waving hands indicates good bye.
• Raising the thumb implies wishing luck.
• Nodding head up and down implies yes
• Nodding head left to right implies no
• A handshake implies friendliness or welcome.
• Tightened fists indicate anger or aggression.

Postures:

The way in which we sit, stand, walk is called posture. We may judge people by their postures. Postures  provide a  lot of  information about the person, lazy people walk slowly, sit in slouching postures and stand with drooped and narrowed shoulders whereas active or enthusiastic people walk briskly, sit erect and stand erect with shoulders held high wide.

Eye-contacts:

The eyes play an important role in nonverbal communication and such things as looking, staring and blinking are important nonverbal behaviors. When people encounter people or things that they like, the rate of blinking increases and pupils dilate. Looking at another person can indicate a range of emotions including hostility, interest, and attraction. Any face to face communication starts with an eye contact. It is a positive approval to start a conversation. The poor eye contact indicates disinterest, fear or ignorance. Eye contact shows whether receiver is interested in communication or not. It indicates inner feeling of the speaker or listener. Eyes are the mirrors of a person’s attitude and nature. Staring, moving eyes, friendly eyes, blinking eyes, shy eyes and many more expressions of eyes are the expression of intense emotions and feelings.

Paralanguage or Vocalics:

The term para language is a combination of two words ‘Para’ means like and ‘language’ means mode of communication.  So, Paralanguage literally means ‘like language. According to Prof. Barker and Gaut, ‘A language alongside of language and includes vocal characteristics such as pitch, range, resonance, tempo and quality and various vocal sounds such and grunts, groans and clearing throat. Paralanguage refers to all vocally produced sounds, it includes sound that recommend many emotional touch, and is non lexical. It may be further categories in various aspects.

Proxemics:

Proxemics is scientific study of space in communication. It is the study of space and how we use it, how it makes us feel more or less comfortable, and how we arrange objects and ourselves in relation to space. It is the human use of space and the effects that population density has on behavior, communication, and social interaction. Dr. Albert Mehrabian has defined the following zones of proxemics.

• Intimate zone (15cm-45cm)

Only emotionally attached people are allowed in this zone like parents, kith and kins, spouse, lover etc.

• Personal zone (45 cm -1.2 m)

While attending social functions, parties we should maintain this distance with people.

• Social Zone (1.2m -3.6m)

While attending social gatherings and programs .Our teaching learning class is an example of this zone.

• Public Zone (over 3.6 m

Attending public speeches of political speakers or super stars this zone is followed. While standing with strangers or unknown people we must keep the distance according to this zone.

Haptics:

Communicating through touch is another important nonverbal behavior. Think of how touch has the power to comfort someone in moment of sorrow when words alone cannot. This positive power of touch is countered by the potential for touch to be threatening because of its connection to sex and violence. To learn about the power of touch, we turn to haptics, which refers to the study of communication by touch. We probably get more explicit advice and instruction on how to use touch than any other form of nonverbal communication. Touch is necessary for human social development, and it can be welcoming, threatening, or persuasive. There are several types of touch, including functional-professional, social-polite, friendship-warmth, love-intimacy, and sexual-arousal touch. It is important at more intimate levels. At the friendship-warmth level, touch is more important and more ambiguous than at the social-polite level. At this level, touch interactions are important because they serve a relational maintenance purpose and communicate closeness, liking, care, and concern.

Personal appearance and Grooming:

Personal appearance is extremely important for any professional. It indicates the professional background, attitude, financial status and personality traits of the person before he/she starts the conversation.

Audience or receiver starts building an image of speaker on the basis of this appearance. It prepares a positive platform for communication. Personal appearance plays a crucial role in a successful and effective conversation or presentation.

Personal appearance includes clothes, hairstyle and accessories like shoes, belt, watch, bags etc. it also relates make up and use of jewelry in case of female candidates.

Tips

One should follow some tips in context with personal appearance.

• Clothes should be neat and clean with descent color.
• Wear the clothes that fit you properly and you are comfortable.
• Hair should be properly cut and maintained.
• In case of female candidates the make-up should be sober.
• The jewelry and accessories should be descent and suitable to attire.

Grooming

Grooming is the way you present yourself in social and professional life. It is a care of preparation that makes personal appearance clean, neat and attractive.

One must ensure personal grooming is up to standard and as per need of situation.

Tips

• Hair is one of the most noticeable things that people look and judge at when they see you for the first time. One must take care of your hair frequently.
• Regular haircut is needed to maintain the same.
• Grooming needs attention to the smallest details. Fingernails and toenails must be trimmed and kept clean.
• Clean fingernails are important in the professional workplace and also in informal situations.
• Glowing and fresh skin creates a positive impact on viewers or receivers.
• A good look of has a great positive effect. It makes us feel energetic, better and more confident.

Conclusion:

Kinesics is the part of non verbal communication. It is in fact significant and a step ahead than words. It is not the language of communication but it communicates without language or words. It involves the facial expression, gestures, postures, eye contacts, paralanguage or vocalics, haptics personal appearance and grooming. A good blend of different aspects of kinesics in communication makes an energetic and successful communicator.

In professional communication the focus on Kinesics is increasing day by day. The reason behind this is the continuous interaction of marketing people with the customers. The quality of non verbal communication plays the vital role in influencing and convincing the receiver or listener for getting positive feedback.

In this way, Kinesics is the base of successful communication. As M.G. Gandhi used a picture or symbol of three monkeys for giving message to us ‘ One picture or symbol speaks more than thousand words’.

References:

• Mehrabian, Albert, (2017)’ ‘Non verbal Communication’ Rutledge, New York.
•  https://www.thebalancecareers.com/nonverbal-communication-skills-2059693
• http://epgp.inflibnet.ac.in/epgpdata/uploads/epgp_content/S000023MA/P001401/M016019/ET/1465195125Module34_Quadrant1_Paralanguage.pdf
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinesics