Page 52 - Effective Communication Soft Skills Strategies For Success by Nitin Bhatnagar, Mamta Bhatnagar

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or learned/acquired qualities—can reveal one’s emotions or general
state of being; for example, arms tightly folded across the chest, hands
in pocket, leaning against the wall, leaning forward, and so on. During
a conversation, individuals interact by a turn or tilt of head and shoul-
ders at various angles, adopt a variety of positions for their arms and
legs, and generally hold themselves at different levels of tension and
relaxation. These aspects of posture explain one’s social relationships.
• Gesture: Sometimes people talk with hand gestures and facial
expressions. Gestures are used to regulate or control. Not all gestures
have the function of emphasizing upon what is being said. There are
the two types of movements, namely, motor-primacy movements and
speech-primacy movements. The speech primacy movements are
subservient to speech; the motor-primacy movements replace speech
to some extent. Gestures may accompany a spoken language, merely
punctuating and emphasizing it, or they may take over some of the
content of the message that remains partly unarticulated in verbal
form. Both types of gestures are related to the intent to communicate
(Kurt Danziger 1976).
The emotional and attitudinal state of the communicator is related to the
non verbal form of communication. An arm around the shoulder shows
friendliness, whereas legs folded one over the other while sitting may indi-
cate a state of stress. People do not keep still when they interact. They use
their hands, in gestures, shuffle their feet, nod their heads, and assume dif-
ferent facial expressions continuously. Certain movements seem to play a
role in the setting up and maintenance of basic relationship between the
interacting individuals; for example, nodding of heads, pleasantness of facial
expression, and frequency of hand and arm gestures indicate affiliation or
solidarity. Some people utilize such movements in addition to verbal and
paralinguistic techniques (Mehrabian 1971).
• Physiological qualities: These are involuntary features as they are
beyond one’s control, like, the nervous twitch of the eye.
• Behaviour qualities: The extremely active communicator has an
energy level which keeps audience overwhelmed. For the moderate
communicator the energy level is seemingly natural and unforced. The
extremely passive communicator is characterized by such a low level
energy that one might be tempted to label his or her as apathetic.
• Spatial qualities: Communication behaviour is influenced by the
space around us and between us. One can create a space for one-
self in various ways: by decorating one’s room, arranging books etc.
Secessionist groups have resorted to the nonverbal communication
of graffiti to territorialize a section of the city. This would be a spatial

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