The process of conversation, while seemingly simple, consists not only of verbal elements; apart from the messages that people transmit to each other with the help of words, the participants of a real-life conversation also receive a variety of nonverbal messages.
Though people rarely give an account of the nonverbal elements of their speech and the effects that these elements have on their perception of the opponent, these elements, define the communication climate to a considerable extent. More to the point, nonverbal communication can be seen as the process that facilitates an emotional connection between the participants and, therefore, the feeling of emotional satisfaction.
Though nonverbal elements of a conversation are harder to notice, they affect the communication setting much more than words do. The nonverbal elements, which people use to convey their emotions, contribute to the creation of a specific atmosphere to a much greater extent than any elaborate words do. By expressing their feelings with the help of gestures, mimics, etc., people shape the atmosphere of the conversation, whereas their speech only allows for representing their opinions on a specific issue.
Likewise, nonverbal elements of speech affect the communication climate greatly. Allowing for transmitting the feelings of the people that participate in the conversation, nonverbal elements render the mood of the participants, therefore, shaping the climate within a specific team. It is with the help of nonverbal elements that the environment of empathy can be created; as a result, the process of sharing one’s feelings becomes possible.
Though the process of noticing and decoding the nonverbal signals transmitted by the opponent occurs on a subconscious level and, therefore, cannot be traced in the course of a conversation, it does affect the personal perception that people relate to their opponents.
A closer look at the process will show that the images and actions, which people attribute to certain personal qualities, are noticed immediately in the process of a talk As a result, the opinion about the person that one is talking to shapes immediately; which is even more important, this opinion is quite hard to change, since it has been formed subconsciously.
As a result, nonverbal elements of other people’s speech contribute to the process of our personal perception shaping to an impressive degree. On a subconscious level, we notice the details that our brain defines as positive, negative, or questionable, and we gradually form an opinion of the opponent as the latter speaks.
It is quite peculiar that the content of the opponent’s speech hardly matters – even if the ideas that the latter expresses coincide with ours, we immediately discard a person once the nonverbal elements of their speech display their negative intentions.
The information that people receive from the nonverbal signals sent by the opponent affects their thinking process to an impressive extent. As it has been stressed above, it is extremely hard to keep the track of one’s change in the mood or attitude, because most of the signals that we receive during a talk do not register on our radar.
Hence, in order to alter the relationships with a specific person and get a different perception of the latter, one will have to analyze the factors that have contributed to forming a negative opinion of the person in question and evaluate these factors closely by recalling the nonverbal signals received.