A Good Hug.

Human contact is something that man can not go without. It is a vital part of our everyday life and is the key for human to human connection through contact. Whether it is a friendly handshake, a warm embrace, or a kiss between lovers, touching relays a nonverbal message to the receiver in many different forms. It is noticeable that people who dislike one another or have issues tend to avoid all physical contact, while people who are interested in each other have obvious physical chemistry. In a recent educational study it was found that culture has an effect on the norms of touching among individuals in society(146). Touching of different areas also relays different messages from intimacy to a greeting. While men and women find different effects from physical contact it is obvious that the way to show affection in friendly or sexual manner among humans is through nonverbal communication by touching one another.

Many nonverbal messages are conveyed in an average everyday conversation that many are not even aware their sending. In a simple conversation with another individual many different things can take place nonverbally to have an effect on the conversation. When a conversation is going back and forth and one individual has not completed his or her story or what they have to say there are many ways to maintain the conversation by hand signals or increased speed and volume over the interruptions. Conversations must have communication back and forth and when an individual decides to turn over the floor and “yield” to the other person they might pause or motion the other person for their response or idea on the subject matter being discussed (103).

When you personally is the listener in the conversation and would like to offer your opinion in the matter but haven’t been given the opportunity to engage and enlighten the speaker you might start talking quite or start your sentence to alert the person talking you wish to speak which is called “turn requesting.” When a listener is interested in the conversation and the content and has no opinion on the matter or not significant enough insight to interrupt they just nod or agree with the speaker as to hint them to keep going. This display called “turn denying” shows the speaker you do not wish to interrupt and the floor is all theirs (104). Many techniques are used in our lives that we might not even be aware of but they impact our relationships and the way we converse with others and convey nonverbal messages through each one.

There are many aspects in determining the human personality and the nonverbal messages individuals send consciously or subconsciously. One very complex and easy misunderstood part of this understanding is in the vocal interactions that we have with others. Numerous thoughts and assumptions can be taken out of one conversation whether intended or not that will create an image and a personality about you for others to see. The book suggests that in some cases different parts of speech and vocal responses are learned throughout an individual’s life and certain parts are learned through time (97). Sarcasm is a part of our everyday life and is part of the human language that is hard to detect and is something that is learned. Sarcasm evokes confusion for people unfamiliar with it because your verbal message relates one thing and your nonverbal behavior relays a totally opposite reaction (97). Comics use it to lead their audience on thinking one thing and mean something entirely different all together and without knowledge of it one would be lost.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI_FO4QaIR4

In this interview by Will Ferrell and John C Reilly demonstrate how you can be strait and verbal with somebody and have an entirely different meaning nonverbally. Sarcasm can be hard to detect and if you didn’t know they were joking one would believe it to be a real interview.

Through reading the past chapters in Nonverbal Behavior, I have come to realize that people are constantly communicating amongst each other through their appearances, interactions, attitudes, lifestyles, and styles without being verbal. It is obvious in today's society that people and styles are constantly changing, most vi sable through the decades. In the 80's big hair, leggings, and bright colors were the look that most girls were trying to express because that was the hip and popular image they wanted to portray nonverbal.

Through out the decades the fashion trends of young women are ever changing and people are always trying to impress the opposite sex going to any lengths to create the hip image. Moving from the vibrant styles of the 80's girls transformed into the fashion trends of the 90's which required less clothes, more creativity, and uniqueness.

Today thin, tan, and enhancements of areas that don't meet the standard to be portrayed as attractive in the eyes of the public are all the craze.

Though females are always changing their appearances to keep up with the trends of what men find attractive. Appearance is always the first thing that we notice about one another and its this nonverbal communication that lays the foundation for any verbal communication that follows.