Page 53 - Effective Communication Soft Skills Strategies For Success by Nitin Bhatnagar, Mamta Bhatnagar

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Channels of Communication | 41

quality in communication. In the home environment also there could
be territorialization like grandfather’s chair, father’s study room,
mother’s prayer room, etc.

The Characteristics of Nonverbal Communication
According to DeVito (1978), all nonverbal behaviour in an interactive situation
is communication. It is inevitably bound to the context, highly believable
and occurs in ‘packaged’ forms. Nonverbal communication is frequently
meta-communicative; for example, a person staring vacantly out of the
window during a class gives the impression of boredom or pre- occupation.
Participants are quick to believe nonverbal behaviours even when these
behaviours contradict the verbal behaviour; for example, an unenergetic
handshake while proclaiming happiness in the results of a discussion, avoid-
ance of eye contact when lying.

Packaged Nature of Nonverbal Communication

Nonverbal behaviours whether of the hands, the eyes or the muscle tone of
the entire body, are normally accompanied by other nonverbal behaviours
that reinforce and support each other. Nonverbal communication can occur
in packaged forms. We do not express fear in our eyes, for example, when the
rest of the body is as relaxed as if sleeping. We do not express anger through
our posture while our face smiles. Rather the entire body expresses the
emotion in consensus. In fact, it is difficult to express an intense emotion with
only one part of the body. It is even more difficult to express widely different
or contradictory emotions with different parts of the body.

Meta-communication
According to the anthropologist Gregory Bateson, every communication
simultaneously conveys two messages- the basic message and the meta- message.
Meta-message is encoded and superimposed upon the basic, which indicates
how one wants the other person to receive/interpret the basic message. The
prefix ‘meta’ is a Greek word and means ‘higher’. For example, a playing dog
often tends to show its enthusiasm and affection by chewing or working its
teeth on the object it is playing with. We understand from the basic message
that the dog is biting. The meta-message is conveyed when we see that the
grip of the dog’s teeth is gentle, not aggressive and that the dog is wagging
its tail or performing some other such gesture simultaneously. According
to John Gumperz, each successful message carries with it a second meta-
message which tells the listener how to interpret the basic message. A basic
message by itself cannot be interpreted without the help of the meta-message.
Meta-communication can be quite simply termed as ‘communication about
communication’ (Rom Scollon and Suzanne Wong Scollon 1995).

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