Religious identity is very important because it portrays our diversities in worship. Religion is based on people’s background and that is why people who share common beliefs belong to the same religion. Religion is broad and thus it is divided into several groups such as Islam and Christianity, among others.
This means that religion was spread along racial lines because a close observation reveals that every religion was easily adopted in some geographical locations than others. Perhaps this was due to lack of efficient transport system and thus people had to stick to their own form of worship.
As time moved by, religion was used to draw line between people of various races and ethnicities. This has led to the emergence of a perception that religion is defined by race hence when people come across someone of a given race or ethnicity they expect that person to belong to a specific religion even when he or she is not aware of that religion.
In addition, religions have been assigned personality traits depending on what prominent people who belong to that religion engage in. For instance, if one of the most wanted criminal is a Christian, people from other religions think that all Christians are criminals.
Muslims have been suffering a lot especially after the September eleventh attacks that have made the trust that used to exist between Christians and Muslims to decline. This is because when Christians see a Muslim, they view them as terrorists and they can never trust them. This has made innocent Muslims to be subjected to humiliation because of evils that were done by their friends and relatives. Most important to note is that it is not every Muslim that supports and agrees with the arguments of terrorism groups.
How to Recognize Nonverbal Behavior
Verbal communication goes together with nonverbal behavior because it helps to ensure that the message has arrived home. Even if someone does not speak by observing their nonverbal behavior we can get the message they are trying to put through. When you look at someone’s body behavior you can tell whether he or she is happy or not because in as much as someone can remain silent in order to be cautioned from being rude, their body language tells it all because its response cannot be altered.
There has been confusion in understanding nonverbal behavior because they have different meanings in various geographical locations. For instance, waving of hand may imply you are calling someone to come to where you are, whereas in another region it might mean that you are simply greeting that person because he or she is a bit far from you.
In nonverbal communication, it is tricky to discover what certain behavior means because it is only the person who does the act that knows why he or she did it, unlike in spoken communication because we can refer to relevant written materials in order to understand what the person is saying. For instance, when you buckle up someone might think that you do not have confidence in the driver while the person could only be exercising a basic safety precaution.
This implies that nonverbal communication can be misinterpreted because one action might have several meanings that can only be dictated by the person who does it. Nonverbal behavior includes written materials that are used to convey certain information. In essence, one only needs to observe each others facial expressions and gestures to understand the message that is being put across.
How Are Nonverbal and Verbal Communication Coordinated
Nonverbal communication is integrated with verbal communication to put more emphasis on a point. For instance, when someone bangs the table while he or she speaks, that person is not actually angry with you but he or she bangs the table to create some kind of seriousness in what he or she is saying.
Nonverbal communication can also be used instead of verbal communication, but this applies to simple communications where the act is easy to understand. Here, the body is made to move in a certain way when verbal communication does not achieve its intended purpose.
For instance, when you are speaking with someone and you reach a point where you feel that you only need to give short responses, you nod your head up and down in agreement and shake it from sides when you do not agree to what is being said. When nonverbal communication is applied as a replacement, verbal communication cannot be used at the same time.
Nonverbal communication can also be used to clash with verbal communication by doing directly opposite of what we said verbally. For instance, if you tell someone that you will be back in a short while and fail to return later on, that person is said to be in conflict with verbal communication. When one wants to know whether there is a clash between verbal and nonverbal communication its advisable to look at the body expressions such as the eyes .
This means that when you want to know whether someone is speaking the truth you need to look that person in the eyes, and if he or she avoids the contact of eyes then what he or she is saying is not right. Nonverbal communication can be used to express what we feel about something or someone. Moreover, it can be used to draw a line between seniors and juniors at work places. For instance, a junior can never tap the back of his or her senior but it is easier for the senior to do so to the juniors.
Nonverbal Behavior: Eye Contact
Eye contact is very important because it can be used to add emphasis to verbal communication. Eye contact cannot be used as replacement because one cannot understand the meaning of expressions of the eyes. If you want to convince someone about something, you must look at him or her straight in the eyes because looking aside means that you are not sure about what you want them to believe.
People who avoid the interlocking of eyes are thought to be hiding something because they feel guilty inside. Even in business world you have to look at your customers especially new ones for a sense of trust to be developed between the buyer and the seller. Even when you want to tell whether someone loves you or not, looking into that person’s eye will reveal a lot. We tend to look at what we like the most hence eye glances can be used to suggest interest in something.
This behavior is relevant in any cultural setup because the eye is the central focus of verbal communication. In some instances, blinking an eye is accompanied by nodding which suggests confidence or understanding. Therefore, it is important to put much emphasis on the way our eyes participate in any form of communication.
Hot Button Words
Hot button words refer to the labels that are assigned to individuals in the society. The labels become their identity and they are used to differentiate such people from the rest. Each individual has a title that is used to refer to him or her because having a common title would create confusion. In communication, these titles are quite essential because they are the ones that determine the influence of the speaker.
This means that when someone who holds a highly regarded title makes a statement, people will take it seriously as opposed to when the statement is made by an ordinary person. For instance, when a lawyer speaks about the constitution it may sound logical than when a bar tender speaks about the same subject. It is important to note that it is the speaker’s title that adds emphasis to the subject but not the significance of the subject.
Some titles can be humiliating hence some people do not prefer to be addressed by them. They include terms like woman or white man among others because they sound like an insult. We can never do without our respective titles because they are the ones that enhance communication between the speaker and the person who is listening. At times the titles we use imply that we have strong feelings for the other person and also make us look and feel even. These terms include honey and sweetie among many others.