Communication

Demonstrative Communication Communication is the process of sending and receiving messages. The key to effective communication is shared understanding of the information. It can be accurately defined as a shared understanding between the sender and the receiver of the message sent (Cheesebro, O'Connor, & Rios, 2010). Communication is imparting or interchanging thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs (Nayab, 2011). People can communication in three different ways they are verbal, nonverbal, and visual. This paper will focus on nonverbal or demonstrative communication and how it can be effective and ineffective for the sender and the receiver. It will also look at how demonstrative communication involves listening and responding. Demonstrative communication is communicating by sending and receiving messages without words. Demonstrative communication includes things such as facial expressions, tone of voice, body language, and so forth. Demonstrative Communication is used to replace or reinforce someone’s verbal communication. For example, someone direction traffic replaces verbal communication by point in the direction the driver needs to turn (Lee, 2011). Body language and facial expression are the common forms of demonstrative communication and according to Nayab (2011), research estimates that body language, including facial expression, account for 55% of communication. Demonstrative communication can be effective and ineffective, positive or negative, for sender and receiver depending on how it is read. Sometimes one’s nonverbal communication doesn’t align with their verbal communication (Lee, 2011). For example, a speaker at a lecture is standing upfront with his or her arms crossed during the whole speech. His or her body language tells the receives that he or she are not open to their response. When, in fact, the sender didn’t mean this, and he or she was just cold. The way one dresses, how firm his or her handshake is, or his or her ability to keep eye contact can speak volumes about the kind of person he or she is. Demonstrative communication also can be easily misread or imprecise. For example, when someone meets someone who looks scruffy and assume he is lazy, just to learn that he is a brilliant and hardworking artist (Sutton, 2011). Demonstrative communication can be effective in getting emotions across. A stomp of a foot and a wrinkled forehead shows the sender as upset, a tear or pout face shows sadness, and a smile shows happiness. One can get positive and negative feedback from a person’s demonstrative communication by seeing how his or her body language is. If one is on a date and their date is smiling and laughing it shows that he or she are interested in the conversation, but if he or she is yawning and watching his or her watch that is a cue that he or she is not entertained. Demonstrative communication has its limits because it has to be seen, the person needs to be within eyesight in order for the nonverbal communication to be effective. According to Segal, Smith, and Jaffe (2011) the way one listens, looks, moves, and reacts tells the other person whether or not he or she care and how well one is listening. The nonverbal signals he or she send either produce a sense of interest, trust, and desire for connection or they generate disinterest, distrust, and confusion. Demonstrative communication involves listening and responding. An example would be like the person directing traffic as stated above; he is sending the message of which way to turn using his hands. The driver, the receiver, listens to the message by turning, responding, the way the person is pointing. The way a person’s body language is will tell someone how he or she feel about what is being discussed and if he or she are listening. Nonverbal communication lacks the complexity that language has to offer. A person cannot communicate the story of his or her day to a friend without using words, unless he or she took time to mime every detail. One would still not be able to convey accurately, for instance that he or she had a chicken salad and orange juice for lunch. Nonverbal communication cannot communicate complex facts or concepts (Sutton, 2011). The ability to understand and use nonverbal communication is a powerful tool that will help someone connect with others, express what he or she mean, navigate challenging situations, and build better relationships at home and work (Segal, Smith, & Jaffe 2011).