Importance of Body Language

Serena Cuoghi
Title of Professor of Biology

Gestures expressed particularly with the face and hands are an essential part of our non-verbal communication, allowing us to: 1) reveal the emotions provoked by the facts of our environment or by the interlocutors with whom we find ourselves sharing a message; 2) observe at the same time what the people with whom we interact with might be feeling about what we are sharing; 3) use them as a filter to be able to know how to express a certain message, and if we are being understood in the way we want; and 4) do a quick read on other people's intentions.

He human being has a capacity of communicate constant because even when you don't utter words, you transmit something to others through bodily presence, care in physical appearance, facial features, the way of acting, posture... Body language has even more impact in it receiver than words because an image has a lot of power and through the sense of sight, a person captures a lot of information from another in a single visual hit.

This expressive capacity betrays us to the point of allowing us a sense of direction to filter the people with whom we share, associating with relative efficiency through gestures if a person is pleasant to us or not, if he is telling us the truth or, on the contrary, lies, and even the state of mind in which you can find yourself without even having told us the first word.

General features

Body language shows the gestural capacity of a human being. Within the different parts of the body, it should be noted that the face has a great expressive capacity because the look and the smile have a lot of power. have control over your communication helps you to be aware of the message you transmit in everyday situations such as a job interview, a first love date, a couple argument...

Our body is in constant motion; Even when we think of a state of rest, we also find ourselves assuming certain postures, and the area that most particularly adopts a specific expression is our face, whose muscles allow us to have facial gestures, the which in turn reveal, in most cases and unconsciously, what we may be thinking or feeling before a determined situation.

This gestural capacity of the face is not exclusive to humans, however, due to the distinguishability of the features and the wide mobility that each one of them has. muscles that make up the entire face, we could consider ourselves the most expressive animals in nature, we must also take into account the complexity of our emotions and the languages ​​that we have developed to communicate, so that gestural ability is actually a phenomenon that involves both the condition itself of the individual, such as his internal emotional management and even the conditioning imposed by the cultural context in which he has developed throughout his life. life.

In this way, gestures can vary considerably among the various populations of the world and can also acquire meanings. totally different from each other, although it is also true that a considerable repertoire of gestures is maintained with a single interpretation universal, becoming a resource that allows the initial overcoming of any linguistic barrier, such as the effect that causes a smile.

If what you express through the body contradicts what you say in words, then you transmit a confusing message to the addressee. For example, if despite the fact that a person has an excellent curriculum, they go to a job interview with a looks Careless, arriving late for the appointment, then, he conveys a lack of interest in that job, and naturally these issues are reflected in the expressions of his body. Paying attention to details is important to communicate better.

However, despite the fact that there are many studies on the body language It should be understood that it is not possible to scientifically analyze what each gesture means. For example, a yawn can be a symptom of boredom, however, it can also mean a feeling of hunger or that the person is sleepy because they have not slept all night. Putting things in context is important so as not to draw hasty deductions from certain gestures. Really getting to know a person is a long process that requires time and many hours of conversation. He body language shows the reality of the human being composed of body and mind. While you transmit your ideas through your word, the body expresses its discomfort or well-being through bodily presence.

You can check the importance of body language by performing the exercise to watch a movie in the television without volume. You will realize how you capture information from what you observe.

the screams of silence

For people with speech or hearing impairments to be able to use gestures, either to communicate their own messages or to understand information emitted by the other people in their environment, it becomes their main communication resource, otherwise, without this ability to interpret gestures they could almost completely submerged in the deepest silence and their learning would also be seriously compromised and limited to the use of the written language, likewise, the Literacy development would be a much more complex and potentially frustrating process since we cannot incorporate the emotions that we so commonly transmit natural way.

naturally expressive

If we take the necessary time to share and observe other animals, whether they are the common species among us or the wild ones, we we can realize that they have their own gestures and that they also use them to communicate, so we can easily deduce that it is a universal way of communication, and surely the oldest, used from the beginning to establish the personal limits by means of which to indicate to the observer if it is well received or if, on the contrary, it must mark distance, thus becoming the gestures also an important part of the defense mechanisms for all animal species.

Knowledge about the meaning of the various gestures and more particularly in other species has allowed the development of a specialty called ethology, which deciphers the deeper aspects of animal behavior, just as psychology does with us, and all this is made possible through the interpretation of what animals communicate with their gestures.

References

Basilio, M., & Rodríguez, C. (2011). Uses, gestures and private vocalizations: from social interaction to self-regulation. Childhood and Learning, 34(2), 181-194.

Davis, F., & Mourglier, L. (1996). The language of gestures. Emce Editors.

Rebel, G. (2002). Body language: what attitudes, postures, gestures express and their interpretation. Edaf.

Rulicki, S., & Cherny, M. (2012). NVC non-verbal communication: how emotional intelligence is expressed through gestures. Editions Granica SA.