Nonverbal Cues Talk More than Words

Have you had experience that you kept distance from someone who was dressed far away from others? Or have you felt your friend who has comical expression is making fun of you even though his words contain sense of consolation? These situations occur very often to everyone, because either strongly or weakly, we more likely determine our mind based on nonverbal cues rather than actual words. Let’s analyze how my body language, the way I talk, my facials expressions, dress style, and mental attitude give vibes to the people around me, to see how powerful nonverbal cues are.

First, many people use body language to emphasize their expression. It is very common nonverbal cue used in the speech. I personally believe that when I use appropriate amount of body language accompanying the words contents, I attract audience. For instance, when I am talking about something “big,” spreading my both arms widely emphasize the meaning and it reinforces audience’s understanding. However, when I use body language exaggeratedly, many listeners start laughing even though the content I am talking is nothing comical. If I do not use body language at all, many audiences would think that I have no passion toward subject I am talking. Therefore people get influenced by body language to determine their mind.

The way I talk can influence people’s thought strongly as well. For example, when I talk in same tone like a robot, many people would lose their interest even though I am talking something what exactly people want to hear. Talking passionately always attract audience’s interest by making them pay attention.

How about my facial expressions? I believe most of people receive message through facial expression than actual words when there is contradiction between them. When I have sad expression, and tell my friends that “I am happy,” they are more likely to think that I am sad. It is very common to hear somebody claiming that “you are not sorry!” when I say “sorry” with laugh, because he prioritizes my facial expression over what I am talking.
Dress style is another strong nonverbal cue which influence people’s mind. When I was dressed very casually, I felt that some people are not really listening to me and not agreeing with me. However, when I dressed formally, my audience was looking at me and listening to me seriously even though I was talking exactly same matter; their feedback were very positive. People’s reaction varied through judging my dress style. Wearing suits when we have business reunion is anther evidences that we care how we dress, because we unconsciously know that our dress style affects customers thought strongly.

Finally, mental attitude affects others around me strongly; unlike other nonverbal cues, this cue actually affects our word choice. When I have positive mental attitude, I usually have appreciative and supportive attitude, which nurture compliment and encouragement. On the other hand, when I have bad mental attitude, I often end up choosing criticizing and denial word choices. Mental attitude affects the verbal cues strongly.

As we examined, nonverbal cues play crucial role in the speech or conversation. In order to convey right thought, we should consider how our nonverbal cues influence the audience, because those cues are very powerful; they more likely win against verbal cues. We should avoid conflict between verbal and nonverbal cues in order to convey our thoughts correctly. Now, I will try to focus on non verbal cues to avoid misunderstanding by others.