Aside from verbal communication, we all do a tremendous amount of communicating through our body language. Body language isn't the same as common specific hand gestures, such as a thumbs-up, or sign language, as these are actually in a way a form of straightforward, verbal communication.
Body language more refers to subtle ways in which we alter our body position, facial expressions, or small actions that can greatly influence the way that a person means something or how they are feeling.
For example, even a thumbs-up can be taken in different ways depending on one's facial expressions or how they are carrying themselves.
Even some aspects of verbal communication is closely regarded to body language, because the words that come out of our mouth can have a completely different meaning when accompanied by certain actions or tones of voice. There are some grey lines, however, where certain gestures can cross over.
Take pointing your finger, for instance. This is generally a straightforward and clear form of communication, but can also be done unconsciously, and remaining aware of what our hands are doing is vital in order to effectively control one's body language. There are many factors to consider when interpreting body language, including eye movements, stance, facial expressions, and body movements.
All of these things can communicate things that we do not say verbally, and can give an insight as to what we are actually thinking and how we are feeling.
It is a common question as to whether body language is performed consciously or unconsciously. It is often difficult to simultaneously contemplate both the content of the conversation and what is happening around us.
Most of the time, we respond physically in instinctive or automatic ways, and it often occurs that we look back and realize that we communicated something through our bodies that we did not intend to relay. In instances like these, it is common to dwell or reflect on the situation, in hindsight taking apart our thoughts and the other factors around us to try and work out what exactly we were thinking at that point in time.
Body language is actually so seemingly instinctive and unintentional that it doesn't require a lot of thinking, which raises the topic of the conscious and subconscious minds.
Many motivational speakers refer to this partition when giving seminars. Body language has the power to be both incredibly subtle and incredibly intense. Our subconscious mind can move our bodies in ways to communicate things that we keep hidden within ourselves, such as secret longings or feelings. In the past, this phenomenon has been observed with hints of Freudian psychology, but those ideas presently are mostly obsolete.
To better understand this concept in the simplest of ways, basically the mind
focuses on the small pieces of information or environmental factors that are directly in our minds, but aside from those small pieces, there is a vast amount of information running in the background. However, it is possible to go through all of this background information and focus on important parts within it, and even control and rework them.
Although body language does for in part work with our conscious minds (so is performed intentionally), an even larger part is controlled by our unconscious minds and occurs naturally, outside of our control. It is commonly said that the majority of the information that we communicate is done so through body language rather than verbally; one well-known researcher in particular claims that only 7% of our communication is relayed verbally.
Some research claims that 55% of our communication is channeled through
movements in our faces, most specifically around the nose and eyes.
Even though many sources produce different percentage numbers in regards to how much of our communication is physical rather than verbal, one thing is for sure: a good majority of all of our relayed information is impossible without non- verbal communication.
Besides physical communication, non-verbal communication is also evident in the use of modern technology when communicating with others.
