c reynolds

Communication is defined as the behaviors, sounds, signs, and words we use to express the way we feel towards one another, or in other words the way we exchange information. Research shows that 65 percent to 93 percent of communication is nonverbal. Nonverbal communication includes things such as proxemics, or the distance or space between speakers; vocalics, or the nonverbal elements of voice, such as tone, cadence and volume; and personal appearance along with anything else, besides words, that communicates (Widhalm, 2005). Karen Bradley states that body language - including body movement, posture, gestures, facial expression and oculesics or eye movement - is relative to a person's culture and varies with the individual. Also in different cultures, non verbal communication such as they way the walk, dress, and facial expressions can tell more about of person than the other forms of nonverbal communications. Proxemics, the study of how people perceive and use the space around them, was founded in the 1950s by anthropologist Edward T. Hall, and popularized in several of his books "The Silent Language" (1959) and "The Hidden Dimension" (1966). The two types of proxemics are personal territory and physical territory. Other types of proxemics include eye-contact, facial expression, smells, body warmth, gender, and the number of people involved. Personal territory is further broken down according to the actual distance: public space is 12-25 feet, social space is 4-10 feet, personal space is 2-4 feet, and intimate space is less than a foot. Proxemics varies by culture, gender, social setting and the individual’s preference, and many studies have been conducted to analyze the differences among these aspects.

Body language, though, va...

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...to do more hand touching than women. The main difference in the body language and proxemics between the American and Italian culture is the level of contact associated in both cultures. Italians are high contact and engage in more measures of body language such as physical contact. Americans tend to have less body contact other than a common handshake and engage in nonhand communications. Gender roles are more defined in Italy when it comes to touching, but in America, women and men seem to share the acceptance of intimate contact. In American culture, women and men are starting to have more equality when it comes to their rights, and we are starting to see more women involved in the higher ups of companies, and have to portray themselves with more dominance over particular situations. Proxemics is an area women in America will have no problem over dominating men.