Types of Nonverbal Communication

Nonverbal communication, in simple words, is the process of communicating by sending and receiving non-verbal messages by means of gestures, body language or facial expressions. Scientific research on the types and expression of nonverbal communication and its effects, has identified various types of nonverbal communication techniques. A considerable part of our communication is nonverbal. When we are in conversation with a particular person, even though we are concentrating on words, our conclusions are also derived from the person's body movements. Nonverbal communication most often occurs through our sensory systems - sight, sound, smell, touch or taste. Now that you have understood what is nonverbal communication, let's go to the types of nonverbal communication.

Body Language and Posture
The body language of a person can speak out volumes about the person. Nonverbal body language can help in conveying feelings and demonstrating attitude. Even postures indicate the nature of the person. Postures such as arm crossing or leg crossing are often regarded as defensive postures.

Eye Gaze
Gazing can also be an effective technique of nonverbal communication. Looking, staring or blinking are regarded as effective ways of sending messages. Usually staring indicates emotions such as interest or hostility, while studies reveal that, the rate of blinking increases when we come across things that we like.

Facial Expressions
Facial expressions are one of the most important attributes of nonverbal communication. Just a smile or a frown can speak thousands of words for us. Facial expressions to depict happiness, sadness fear or anger are same throughout the world and hence they prove to be very advantageous when it comes to language barriers. Reading facial expressions can give us insights into the thoughts and feelings of other people.

Gestures
Gestures are deliberate movements or signals made to convey something to another person. Most commonly used gestures are waving of hands and pointing fingers to the object we want, etc. There also exist some gestures which are attributed to a particular culture or a community. Various sign languages have been developed with the aim of conveying messages through signals and gestures.

Haptic
Communicating by touch is by far the most important among the various types of nonverbal communication. Mother's touch, to a child in infancy and childhood is considered to be an important factor in the development of an individual. Touch also plays an important role in conveying emotions such as love.

Paralinguistic
Paralinguistics is indeed vocal communication, but it's different from normal spoken language. The tone, pitch and softness / loudness of the voice are the prominent aspects paralinguistics. A strong tone indicates the confidence level of a person, while a hesitant tone indicates lack of confidence or lack of interest.

Proxemics
Proxemics is the amount of personal space we need or maintain when we indulge in any sort of activity. This can be attributed to various factors including social norms, familiarity with the other person and personal characteristics of an individual. The amount of space between two people in conversation most often indicates their closeness (or the lack of it) to each other.

Usage of nonverbal body language oftentimes proves to be much more effective than usage of words. May be purposely or may be unknowingly, but we do use various types of nonverbal communication techniques in our daily life. Even a few weeks old baby cries, which is a baby sign language, to convey its hunger to the mother. Nonverbal communications are quite efficient when it comes to conveying your feeling to the other person. More importantly, even understanding the basics of the different types of nonverbal communication can help you to understand an individual better by interpreting his nonverbal body language.