The Kinesics Of Nonverbal Communication

This reflective paper is on the Kinesics of Nonverbal communication. Kinesics is comprised of four parts, facial expressions, eye contact, gestures and posture. The book states that one’s facial expression is what shapes others perception of us. “In fact, some scholars argue that facial cues rank first among all forms of communication in their influence on our interpersonal impressions (Knapp & Hall, 2002). Our facial expression conveys to others our attitudes and feelings about the events and people that surround us in our life. In addition, eye contact is an important tool when speaking to others, a prolonged stare can indicate aggression or anger, and not making eye contact with others can indicate that we are not listening fully. The other
aspect of Kinesics, gestures can be broken down into four parts, emblems, illustrators, regulators, and adaptors. Emblems are symbolic gestures that are typically universally recognized, for instance if I were to flip someone the bird, or wave hello to them they would immediately understand what gesture I was performing and they would instantaneously understand the underlining meaning. Whereas illustrators are hand motions used to describe your story, for instance if I just saw a short person, I might lower my hand, to indicate the person’s shortness. Regulators, control the speed of the conversation, so if I am in a hurry I might motion the person talking with my hand to hurry up. Whereas, adaptors are often unconscious movements that can be later interrupted by others. For instance, if I am nervous I might unconsciously twirl my hair. The fourth and last Kinesics is posture. Posture conveys two messages to others, immediacy and power (Mehrabian, 1972). Immediacy is the degree to which you find someone interesting and attractive (McCornack, 2016). For instance, if you like someone or agree with what they are saying you lean forward towards the other person. Power on the other hand indicated the degree with which you want to control the conversation. Indications of power vary depending on the culture context of the conversation.