Verbal, Non-verbal and Body Language

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Communication is more than just one person speaking and another listening. There are 3 components, them being Verbal, Non-verbal and Body language. In this essay I am going to explain briefly what I understand about them.

Communication is an exchange of information from one individual or group to another, whether in speech or through another medium. (Giddens 1997).
Verbal is the smallest part of communication, yet it is the first example that people give of communicating.

The more we understand about science and technology, the more we can develop and create modern forms of communication such as PCs, Radio and TV. These electronic messages are often called mass communication. They can be spoken, written and broadcasted. (Maletzke.G 1972) suggests that in this mass communication, messages are sent publicly, indirectly, only in one direction and to a wide audience. He says this because the information is not directed towards individual people, and theoretically nearly everyone has access to it. Verbal communication sent through electronic media can be picked up by anyone, even those who don't speak the same language that the message is sent in.
An argument to this thought of Maletzke's is that mass communication is a two way process. In that indirect messages sent to many individuals, results in direct communication between all the people receiving the information.

Verbal communication is hard to keep exact records of, but the Written side gives us the capacity of keeping records. This information is very important when dealing with people's lives, so that there is evidence of what is said and seen between people. (Key, Mary Richtie 1980) says that without the Written side of Verbal communication it would limit our cultural developments immensely.

Communication messages that are sent verbally are strongly influenced by a number of non-verbal factors, which include facial expression, visual context, gestures, posture and Para Verbal, such as pitch, tempo and loudness. (Crutlenden 1986) says that areas of communication such as, gestures and Para Verbal can work together to let you know how a person really feels. An example is a high pitch voice, lifted eyebrows and hand movements, can indicate an increase in tension, and falling tones and lowering gestures mark a decrease in tension, the low tones could also indicate somebody who is depressed or upset. It is very important to watch as well as listen to the person or people you are talking to.

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