Verbal And Nonverbal Messages

Non-verbal communications are manifested by Encoding/Decoding systems that exclude use of spoken or written Paralanguages (specified code and symbol umbrellas). If you've ever "read" the body of someone, some creature, around you, you are decoding a set of messages given off by that individual. Learning to read this form of communication is highly beneficial in many contexts. Non-verbal communication can be used as powerful predictions of the human stimulus and the resulting action. Judgements of character, market predictions, as well as understanding bias others have towards yourself. That said, it would be unethical to completely assume the outcomes through your own bias. Bias such as racism, sexism, and a negative connection towards disposition are examples of when non verbal communication may be greatly influenced by someone’s personal contexts and cultural influence. Now how would we combat this issue? First, educating yourself on the backgrounds of what you’re biased towards will help alleviate these impulses. How else can you reduce this assumptive view of people? You may lean towards looking at more subtle signs such as eyes, hand movements and posture, as well as the “language” of feet. You can tell when someone is genuine or angry when you stare into their eyes. You can tell frustration, nervousness, anger through the motions of the hand. You can tell where people want to go and what they intend to move towards through the direction of their legs and feet. You should absolutely not assume aggression or kindness just from the disposition or physical presentation of the other communicator. To keep things short, I personally use a tactic that uses the skills above to determine if whoever I’m talking to is interested in the conversation. This is useful, because it saves both communicators from uncomfortable situations and wasting time. 

 

Verbal communication as we are familiar with is not actually just speaking through the mouth. So perhaps verbal is not such a great name… In terms of ethical guidelines, Credos are presented as a standard of use. In terms of rationality, Scott Alexander’s rationality in the Slate Star Codex would also be good to use within your communication system. A good goal of verbal communication is to send out a baseline of mutual understanding. A way for both communicators to make sure that they are on the same page. Someone’s cultural or ethnic background may influence their decoding of your messages. As well as small differences between similar paralanguages that could result in one party miscommunicating, leaving one communicator offended and one confused. The credo become much more valuable when faced with important information that needs to be transmitted clearly and quickly to another receiver… Such as a public health statement. An example, not too personal, from the recent COVID pandemic being the protests against disease control. Stemming from the disrespect and understanding of health organizations. 

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