Ch 7
Juan Guevara
Nonverbal codes and cultural space
I have always been fascinated by dynamics that occur behind the scenes or subliminally. An example of this is body language. Think about it, you could have an entire conversation with someone, walk away from it, and maybe think later that it did not go so well. How often do we analyze the body language? How often do we focus on what was said instead? Now, I have not researched it but it is interesting to think how accurate these nonverbal codes are (Martin 2018, pg. 282). We can control what we say but what about what we think and feel projected through our body language?
For example, yawning. I know it is not a definite science but sometimes, when I am not interested, I will eventually yawn at which point I realize that my body was probably already projecting this several minutes before I actually yawned. A tired facial expression (Martin 2018, pg. 284) perhaps, droopy eyes, looking in other directions, or maybe just nodding to pretend you are listening. Nods that have no correlation but just courteous.
It’s easy to look back but in reality, it seems that we go through the motions without catching these cues. Perhaps it’s for the best. Always being aware of these things might not make the social experience as pleasurable. But, I would rather see some of these cues that way I can make appropriate adjustments.
Martin, J. (2018). Intercultural Communication in Contexts (7th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Nonverbal codes and cultural space
I have always been fascinated by dynamics that occur behind the scenes or subliminally. An example of this is body language. Think about it, you could have an entire conversation with someone, walk away from it, and maybe think later that it did not go so well. How often do we analyze the body language? How often do we focus on what was said instead? Now, I have not researched it but it is interesting to think how accurate these nonverbal codes are (Martin 2018, pg. 282). We can control what we say but what about what we think and feel projected through our body language?
For example, yawning. I know it is not a definite science but sometimes, when I am not interested, I will eventually yawn at which point I realize that my body was probably already projecting this several minutes before I actually yawned. A tired facial expression (Martin 2018, pg. 284) perhaps, droopy eyes, looking in other directions, or maybe just nodding to pretend you are listening. Nods that have no correlation but just courteous.
It’s easy to look back but in reality, it seems that we go through the motions without catching these cues. Perhaps it’s for the best. Always being aware of these things might not make the social experience as pleasurable. But, I would rather see some of these cues that way I can make appropriate adjustments.
Martin, J. (2018). Intercultural Communication in Contexts (7th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
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