What is Non-Verbal Communication and Its Types?

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Communication as you may know is a significant part of a person’s life. To achieve success both personally and professionally, you need to learn the art of communication. But communication is of two types – verbal and non-verbal communication. You may have heard about verbal communication innumerable times. 

So, let’s talk about non-verbal communication. Nonverbal communication is the transmission of signals or messages through a non-verbal medium. These non-verbal mediums could include eye contact, gestures, facial expressions, touch, etc. 

It is such a tricky part that you might not even know but you are communicating with the person nonverbally. The subconscious mind is quick to catch these signals and interprets them. That is how sometimes you become uninterested in a conversation even though the other person may not have said so. Non-verbal communication can be classified into 9 types. Let’s differentiate them.

1. Facial Expressions: A person’s face portrays a lot of information and mostly all the emotions. You can know what a person is feeling by looking at their face. The language to communicate may vary and different words convey different emotions but the expressions of happiness, sadness, and anger remain the same all over the world. 

Even before a person starts speaking you may know the mood of the person by looking at their face. A smile conveys happiness, a frown, sadness, pout displeasure, and grinding the teeth conveys anger. Your facial expressions can be used to silently communicate your thoughts, intent, feelings, or message. Have you ever noticed your mother staring you down to stay put in front of the guests? Here, you know what she’s trying even without her uttering a word. Now, that’s communicating through facial expressions.

2. Eye Contact: Eyes are a central part of non-verbal communication. As the saying goes, “eyes are windows to the soul.” They impart a ton of emotions and a wealth of information. Researchers have developed that eye contact activates the limbic mirror system. It means that the same neurons that are firing in someone’s brain will also fire in yours when you share eye contact with that person. So, if the other person is feeling happy your neurons will also fire the same happy feeling. Looking at a person’s eyes can let you know their thoughts and what they are feeling. 

3. Gestures: A gesture is a movement of a part of the body especially, the hand or head to denote an idea or meaning. Waving, pointing, and beckoning are some common gestures that you use in everyday life. When arguing you may involve your hands to prove a point or while talking you may talk animatedly with your hands.

4. Paralinguistics: Paralinguistics covers the various aspects of verbal communication that do not involve words but adds emphasis and expression to the speech. Paralanguage includes accent, pitch, volume, speech rate, modulation, and fluency. These add a tinge of humor to your speech and make it interesting to hear. These help the listener to understand where to focus and what is significant. 

5. Body Language:  There are many books published on body language, the most popular being Julia Fasts. Defensive postures like arms crossing or leg crossing are defamed by the media. These signs may not always support the same idea for everyone. Body language is very subtle but not definitive. It conveys way more than you are willing to give away. 

6. Proxemics: Personal space required by a person can mean a lot of different things and is also seen as a way of communicating. The amount of personal space a person needs may depend on their culture, situation, amount of familiarity, etc. A person normally needs to be in his space to feel comfortable and be able to communicate with you. 

7. Haptics: Haptics includes communicating through touch. Touch and contact affect the development of a child if not taken care of in infancy. Forms of haptics in some cultures are a gentle pat on the back, a handshake, etc. In countries like Japan and Korea bowing down is considered a greeting and touching can seem like rude behavior. 

8. Appearance: Your appearance specifically, your clothing, colors, and all other appearance-related things may convey secret messages to the other person about you. As you may know that these are our personal choices, and we give out a part of our personality by doing so. With these implications, a person can conclude a lot of information about us and communicate nonverbally.

9. Artifacts: Artifacts generally refer to the physical objects a person adorns and surrounds themselves with. The type or category of his/her belongings lets us know about their personality and background.  Jewelry, tattoos, piercings, and hairstyles of an individual help us to learn more about them.  

Written by Vanshika Rathour