Verbal and non-verbal means of communication. Verbal or non-verbal - what is it and what type of communication is more important

We tend to communicate with each other. Conversation is a process of exchanging opinions that are of interest to each other. It is impossible to imagine our life without it. There are verbal and non-verbal means of communication. In this article, we will focus on the first type in more detail.

If non-verbal communication is carried out through facial expressions and gestures, then with verbal communication it is much easier. With it, a person uses only words to exchange information with an interlocutor. So, verbal communication in a broad sense is the process of exchanging information between people, carried out by speech means.

People understand the meaning of verbal communication as opposed to non-verbal communication. After all, there is nothing complicated here. A person makes sounds from which words are obtained. If these words are interconnected in meaning, and the interlocutor understands the thought of his friend and answers him in the same way, then this is communication in a verbal way. There is nothing complicated here, is it?

Let's take a closer look at verbal and non-verbal communication, or rather, one of the myths that says that non-verbal contains much more information than verbal. There is some truth in this, but more often it is not. There are times when people don't talk to each other. However, they show dissatisfaction or something else to the interlocutor with the help of a simple gesture or facial expressions.

In this case, this myth is justified. But for the most part, people communicate through conversation. As examples, a boss assigns a task to his subordinate or junior manager. In this case, do not pay attention to his gestures or facial expressions. Here it is necessary to catch the words, they are important sources of information. Such communication is not an expression of one's own feelings, nor is it affiliative communication. So we considered verbal and non-verbal means of communication.

Communication rules

Verbal types of communication imply the observance of certain rules. Bring clarity to the conversation. It is necessary that the interlocutor understands you as best as possible, what you said to him and what you want. But this doesn't always work out. Many cannot immediately clearly and clearly form a sentence that will contain the main idea. Such verbal communication is unpleasant for the interlocutor.

He, in turn, ceases to perceive this information, begins to be distracted and “leave aside” what has been said. Therefore, it is necessary to constantly improve the quality of communication in a verbal way. You need to strive for the perfect conversation. Here are some tips to help you become a good conversationalist:

  • Learn to speak correctly and as little as possible, but at the same time, without changing the meaning of the information brought. Speak clearly, clearly. The main idea must be correctly formulated.
  • Follow the conversation of the interlocutor. And most importantly, listen carefully. Do not pretend that you are not listening to the person. In this case, he will lose interest in such communication and this will not lead to anything outstanding. Support him in different ways and do not move away from the conversation, do not get distracted. This is important to us.
  • Be able to fully understand what you have been told. Not only the ability to listen correctly, but also to hear correctly. Understand that not all of us can clearly and briefly express the necessary thought, immediately start with the main thing. People do not always know how to communicate correctly, they start doing it from afar, and sometimes they miss the necessary thought. That's what you need to catch. Help such a person to understand what he said, help him understand his own words. It's important to the conversation.
  • Rebuild what the interlocutor said in your head for yourself. That is, try to perceive these words personally for yourself.

More about verbal communication

Let's get back to verbal communication. So, verbal means of communication include speech and voice. We write a speech on a piece of paper, and sometimes we say it out loud to a friend, we can read a magazine without voicing it, or we just think about tomorrow and make some plan in our head. All this is speech.

It turns out that verbal communication is not only a conversation with an interlocutor, but also reading a book, speaking in front of an audience, and even your own thoughts expressed in words.

At the present stage of development of the psychology of communication, we understand that it is not always possible to understand a business person in verbal communication. As examples, relatives from South America or some other country came to you. They can learn Russian and more or less navigate it, but they will not be able to understand some words with diminutive suffixes. For this purpose, experts have created some rules that apply to business verbal communication.

So, in modern Russian there are 5 text styles. These are such types as official business, scientific, colloquial and so on. All information transmitted by us to the interlocutor refers to one or another style of speech. In a scientific style, speech should be logical and generalized, and in colloquial speech, this is the dialogue of two people, ordinary everyday conversations. Try to speak with your foreign guest in a scientific language, without any interjections and diminutive words.

Communication barriers

In communication between two business people, the verbal form is more often used. This is due to the fact that such people express their main thoughts briefly and clearly, using simple Russian, and not using any emotions and feelings. In the course of such a business conversation, it would be ridiculous not to know the rules of the Russian language, to make speech and stylistic mistakes. This is not the level where it is allowed. However, there are other problems that are called communication barriers:

  • logic barrier. People have different types of thinking. One is highly intelligent, and the second has a lower level of intelligence development. This is where the logical barrier comes in. People stop understanding each other.
  • common sense barrier. The bottom line is a misunderstanding of people from different countries. After all, in different localities the same words may have a different meaning, the problem is the different tolerance of people and their understanding of the same word. For some, it may seem ordinary, but for others it may be considered hostile to themselves.
  • phonetic barrier. Such a barrier is most common, as it is due to the defiant diction of the interlocutor, for example, or some kind of business accent. Try to eliminate this barrier from communication. Speak directly and clearly.

Communication levels

Verbal communication, like non-verbal communication, has its own characteristics, which we will talk about now. When talking to a person, pay attention to the distance at which you are from each other. We will look at some basic communication layers:

  • Intuition (or, intuitive level). We are talking about a person who somewhere did not fully hear any news or misunderstood the essence of the information they read. He transforms it the way he wants it. Such a person will not always correctly understand a hint in his direction, especially a very subtle hint.
  • ethical level. Here we are talking about non-verbal means of communication. If a business person has a well-developed intuition, then he will easily understand any gesture or facial expression of his interlocutor. So he will understand what is really at stake.
  • physical level. It appears only when the distance between communicating people is small enough. It is carried out due to any kind of touch. It is enough to pay attention to the frequent heartbeat or the manifestation of any emotions in a person, and much can be understood from this information.

Features of communication at the verbal level

The most important feature of verbal communication is that it is peculiar only to a person. The condition for such verbal communication is language acquisition. Due to this, much more information is transmitted with verbal communication than with non-verbal communication. But it will not be possible to completely exclude the non-verbal component in everyday life, no matter how much we would like to. When talking, some feelings, emotions still appear, facial expressions change. It is impossible to do without it.

In the process of even a short business communication, it is easy to find out what level of intelligence the interlocutor has. This is followed by a determination of his position in society. Through communication, we influence other people in a direct way. And imagine that in most cases, career growth, that is, the career growth of a business person, depends on communication. And gestures or facial expressions in this case, it is almost impossible to express. Be able to speak, use verbal rather than verbal ways. We do not pay attention to other types.

Sometimes we meet new people whom we have never encountered before in our life. It doesn't matter if the meeting is scheduled or random. The first thing we pay attention to is the appearance of a business person. How he looks, what he is wearing, what perfume and how he behaves.

The next stage of familiarization is already connected with communication. And often at this stage the idea of ​​a person changes. Before that, everything could have been fine, but after hearing his speech, it immediately becomes clear that there is no desire to continue such communication, and negative things happen. The main thing is that you yourself do not find yourself in such a situation, in the place of this person. Watch your speech, speak correctly and understandably for others.

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. Communication through speech became possible after the evolution of the animal into man.

Ancient people used sound signals to warn of danger or convey important information that a bush with edible berries grew nearby.

Today, verbal communication is something that every person cannot do without. Starting from morning coffee over messengers to talking at work with colleagues about a new boss relationship.

Verbal and non-verbal communication - what is it

verbally- this word comes from the Latin "verbalis", which means verbally. Those. communication in this case takes place with the help of words.

Verbal communication is of three types:

  1. Speech is communication through words (dialogues, monologues).
  2. Written communication - by hand, printing on a computer, sms, etc.
  3. Internal - your internal dialogue (formation of thoughts).

non-verbal other forms of communication other than verbal. What could it be:

The words that are composed into speech are the unit of our communication with you. We use them both in oral pronunciation and in writing. Or typing (typing on the keyboard), if we talk about realities that are closer to us. Such communication is divided depending on who plays what role: speaking - listening, writing - reading.

In order to maintain speech verbal communication at a high level, it is necessary to develop its components. First of all, it is vocabulary. Reading books, listening to vocabulary, talking with intellectually developed people - all this greatly helps to replenish and expand vocabulary.

In written communication, it is very important to know the rules of punctuation in order to correctly present information. Often, by incorrectly placing dots and commas, you can distort the meaning or focus on something that is not right. We all remember the cartoon where you had to put a punctuation mark in the right way and save your life: "You can't pardon the execution."

Speech and written communication solves several problems at once:

  1. Communicative - provides interaction between people in its large-scale manifestations.
  2. Cognitive - a person receives knowledge and new information.
  3. Accumulative - displaying accumulated knowledge (, books).
  4. Emotional - you can express your attitude to the world, feelings with the help of words.
  5. Ethnic - the union of the populations of different countries (according to the language used).

Forms of verbal communication and barriers are not his way

When communicating verbally, we can use different forms and styles in order to convey certain information in a specific context and color. This can be clearly seen in the styles that are used in the literature:

  1. Publicistic - the main goal of such a speech is to convey to people the idea, the essence of what happened.
  2. Scientific - distinguished by logic and clear statements using terminology, complex concepts.
  3. Official business - dry language of laws, where everything is accurate and without.
  4. Artistic - here a combination of any words and word forms, jargons and dialect () is possible, speech is filled with unthinkable images and colors.
  5. Conversational - characterizes both individual dialogues in works, and our communication with you when we meet a friend.

Speech interaction can be divided by the number of people who take part in this:


  • Dialog(two or more people):
    1. ordinary conversation - an exchange of greetings and thoughts;
    2. discussion - a discussion of a topic where the interlocutors act as representatives of different points of view;
    3. dispute - there are also two positions between which it is necessary to resolve the resulting conflict;
    4. discussion within science;
    5. interview - the passage of a conversation during which the employer thinks whether it is worth hiring a person.
  • Despite the fact that we communicate in the same language, there may be different barriers to verbal communication:

    Non-verbal communication is body language (like the rest of the animal kingdom). Facial expressions, gestures, postures, touch. As well as visual and acoustic perception, smells, distance and movement of communicating objects - everything is exactly like in animals.

    All this can carry a lot of information, so you should not neglect this format in order to make the right impression on people (with a pleasant perfume and appearance, delivered by voice and manner of movement).

    It is important not only to interpret these signals correctly, but also to send them correctly to the interlocutor. Non-verbal communication serves not only as an addition to the conversation with the help of words, but in some situations it can completely replace it.

    There are gestures that indicate greeting or farewell. Communicative also includes an expression of misunderstanding, increased attention, denial or agreement. There are also modal ones - they show the attitude of a person to what another tells him. Facial expressions can show both trust and its complete absence.

    Accents are something that can be successfully placed with the help of non-verbal means, if it cannot be done fully with intonation. After all, it is often necessary to indicate to the interlocutor what you really consider important, what to focus your attention on. So that secondary information does not take much time for analysis and decision making.

    Sadness, anger, joy, sadness, satisfaction - this is what can be best emphasized precisely by verbal means (you can even fully show these feelings with your gestures and facial expressions). Therefore, if you are attentive to the interlocutor, you can read his state without words (which we have already talked about).

    Do not forget about posture and posture. It is the form and behavior of the body that provides no less information. It can be dominant or submissive, calm or tense, constrained or completely open.

    The distance between interlocutors can also be analyzed. The closer they are, the more they trust each other. If it’s really far away, is it worth talking about at least a small presence of it?

    Differences between types of communication

    Communication with the help of words is characteristic exclusively of people, since it requires a strong development of the brain. Other animals are not capable of this. But absolutely everyone sends non-verbal signals.

    If the cat wags its tail, it is unhappy; if the dog, it is experiencing joyful emotions. It turns out that even at the level of animals, you need to be able to correctly interpret the signs they give, given who exactly is standing in front of you. What can I say if different people are standing in front of you.

    It is worth noting that body language is more sincere because we have little control over it. Therefore, it is so easy to deceive a person by phone or correspondence. But if the scammer tries to do this while standing in front of you, then there is a chance that you will read from his facial expressions that he should not be trusted.

    Almost every day of our lives is associated with communication with certain people. Therefore, it is worth learning how to correctly express your thoughts, submit information in the right order. So study signals from others in order to gain more knowledge about the interlocutor, or to protect yourself from deception.

    We are people, which means that both types of communication (verbal and non-verbal) are open to us, so you should use them to the maximum for your own purposes. This is a great tool to get what you want and get everything you want out of life.

    Good luck to you! See you soon on the blog pages site

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    Communication- this is the interaction of two or more people, which is the exchange of information of a cognitive or emotional-evaluative nature. This exchange is provided by non-verbal and verbal means of communication.

    It seems that it could be easier to communicate through speech? But in fact, this process is not easy and ambiguous.

    Verbal communicationis the process of exchanging information between people (or groups of people) using speech means. Simply put, verbal communication iscommunication through words, speech.

    Of course, in addition to the transmission of specific “dry” information, during verbal communication, peopleinteractwith each other emotionally andaffecteach other, conveying their feelings and emotions in words.

    In addition to verbal, there are alsonon-verbalcommunication (transmission of information without words, through facial expressions, gestures, pantomime). But this distinction is conditional. In practice, verbal and non-verbal communication are directly related to each other.

    Body language always complements, “illustrates” speech. Pronouncing a certain set of words and trying to convey some idea to the interlocutor through them, a person speaks with a certain intonation, facial expression, gesticulating, changing posture, and so on, that is, helping himself in every possible way and supplementing speech with non-verbal means of communication.

    Thoughspeech- it is a universal, rich and expressive means of information exchange, very little information is transmitted through it -less than 35%! Of these, only 7% falls directly on the words, the rest is intonation, tone and other sound means. More65% information is transmitted using non-verbal means of communication!

    The priority of non-verbal means of communication is explained by psychologists by the fact that the non-verbal communication channel is simpler, evolutionarily more ancient, spontaneous and difficult to control (after all, non-verbalunconscious). And speech is the result of workconsciousness. Human awarethe meaning of your words as you speak them. Before you say something, you can always (and should) think, but controlling your facial expression or a spontaneous gesture is an order of magnitude harder.

    The Importance of Verbal Communication

    At personal, emotional-sensory communication is dominated (they are more priority and important) non-verbal means of communication. INbusinessinteraction, the ability to correctly, clearly, clearly convey one’s ideas verbally is more important, that is, the ability to competently build one’s monologue, conduct a dialogue, understand and correctly interpret in the first placespeechanother man.

    The ability to competently express yourself, your personality through speech is very important in a business environment. Self-presentation, interviews, long-term cooperation, resolving disagreements and conflicts, finding compromises and other business interaction requires the ability to communicate effectivelythrough words.

    If personal relationships are impossible without emotions and feelings, then business communication is for the most partemotionless.If emotions are present in it, then they are either hidden or expressed in the most restrained, ethical form. The literacy of speech and the culture of verbal communication are valued mainly.

    But in matters of the heart, the ability totalk and negotiate! Long-term love, friendships and, of course, a strong family are built on the ability to speak, listen and hear each other.

    Verbal means of communication

    Oralspeech is the main and very important means of verbal communication, but not the only one. Speech is also distinguished as separate verbal means of communication.written And internalspeech (dialogue with oneself).

    If you don’t need to learn non-verbal skills (these are innate skills), then verbal means of communication involve the development of certainskills, namely:

    • perceive speech,
    • listen and hear what the interlocutor says,
    • speak competently (monologue) and conduct a conversation (dialogue),
    • write well,
    • conduct an internal dialogue.


    Especiallysuch communication skills are valued how:

    • the ability to speak concisely, clearly formulating an idea,
    • the ability to speak briefly, to the point,
    • the ability not to deviate from the topic, to avoid a large number of “lyrical digressions”,
    • the ability to inspire, motivate, convince, motivate speech,
    • the ability to interest in speech, to be an interesting interlocutor,
    • honesty, the habit of telling the truth and not uttering unverified information (which may turn out to be a lie),
    • attentiveness during communication, the ability to accurately retell what was heard,
    • the ability to objectively accept and correctly understand what is said by the interlocutor,
    • the ability to “translate” the words of the interlocutor, determining for themselves their very essence,
    • the ability to take into account the level of intelligence and other individual psychological characteristics of the interlocutor (for example, not to use terms whose meanings the interlocutor probably does not know),
    • mood for a positive assessment of the speech of the interlocutor and his personality, the ability to find good intentions of a person even in negative words.

    There are many other communication skills that are important for anyone who wants to be successful in their profession and happy in their personal lives.

    Barriers to Verbal Communication

    What a wonderful interlocutor it would not be possible to become, it must be borne in mind that human speechimperfect.

    Verbal communication is the mutual exchange of information in whichalwaysthere are several barriers. The meaning of words is lost, changed, misinterpreted, deliberately changed, and so on. This is because the information coming from the mouth of one person, coming to the second, overcomes several barriers.

    Psychologist Predrag Micic in the book "How to have business conversations"described a scheme of gradual impoverishment of information during verbal communication.

    The complete information (all 100%) that needs to be conveyed to the interlocutor is contained only in the mind of the speaker. Inner speech is more varied, richer and deeper than outer speech, therefore, already during its transformation into external speech, 10% of information is lost.

    This is the first barrier to verbal communication, which Mitsich called"The Limit of the Imagination".A person cannot express everything he wants through words because of their limitations (compared to thoughts).

    The second barrier is"Barrier of Desire"Even a thought that is ideally formulated to oneself is not always possible to express out loud the way one wants for various reasons, at least due to the fact that one has to adapt to one’s interlocutor and take into account the situation of communication with him. At this stage, another 10% of information is lost.

    The fourth barrier is purely psychological -"Relationship Barrier". What and how one person hears, listening to another, depends on his attitude towards him. As a rule, out of 70% of the information heard, the interlocutor understands only 60% precisely for the reason that the need to logically comprehend what is heard is mixed with a personal attitude towards the speaker.

    And finally, the last barrier -“memory capacity”. This is not so much a barrier to direct verbal communication as human memory. In memory, on average, only about25-10% information received from another person.

    This is how out of 100% of the information that was originally in the mind of one person, only 10% is transmitted to another.

    That is why it is so important to convey your thought as accurately and fully as possible, to convey it clearly and unambiguously, to express it in words understandable to the interlocutor, to try to make him hear, understand and remember what was said.

    Humans have an undeniable advantage over other life forms: they can communicate. Education, training, work, relationships with friends and family - all this is done through communication. Someone can enjoy communication, someone can not, but we cannot deny the existence of such a positive communication process in every sense. Communication is considered one of the main forms of human social activity. In the process of communication, what one person knew and was able to do before becomes the property of many people. Communication in the scientific sense is the interaction of people (the impact of people on each other and their responses to this impact) and the exchange of information during this interaction.

    There are two groups of ways in which interaction between people can be carried out: verbal and non-verbal means of communication. It is believed that verbal communication provides less information about the goals, the veracity of information and other aspects of communication, while non-verbal manifestations can be used to establish many points that are not customary to advertise in a conversation. But different means of communication are applicable and meaningful depending on the situation. So, in the business world, it is mainly verbal communication that is important, since it is unlikely that the manager will follow his gestures or emotionally react to the next assignment to the employee. In communication with friends, new acquaintances or relatives, non-verbal manifestations are more important, because they give an idea of ​​the feelings and emotions of the interlocutors.

    verbal communication.

    Verbal communication is carried out with the help of words. Speech is considered a verbal means of communication. We can communicate through written or spoken language. Speech activity is divided into several types: speaking - listening and writing - reading. Both written and oral speech are expressed through language - a special system of signs.

    To learn how to communicate effectively and use verbal means of communication, you need not only to improve your speech, know the rules of the Russian language or learn foreign languages, although this is certainly very important. In this regard, one of the main points is the ability to talk also in a psychological sense. Too often people have various psychological barriers or fear to establish contacts with other people. For successful interaction with society, they need to be identified and overcome in time.

    Language and its functions.

    Language acts as a tool for expressing people's thoughts and feelings. It is necessary for many aspects of human life in society, which is expressed in the following functions:

    • Communicative(interaction between people). Language is the main form of full-fledged communication of a person with his own kind.
    • accumulative. With the help of language, we can store and accumulate knowledge. If we consider a certain person, then these are his notebooks, notes, creative works. In the global context, these are fiction and written monuments.
    • Cognitive. With the help of language, a person can acquire knowledge contained in books, films, or the minds of other people.
    • constructive. With the help of language, it is easy to form thoughts, to clothe them in a material, clear and concrete form (either in the form of an oral verbal expression or in the form of a written one).
    • ethnic. Language allows you to unite peoples, communities and other groups of people.
    • emotional. With the help of language, one can express emotions and feelings, and here it is their direct expression with the help of words that is considered. But basically this function, of course, is performed by non-verbal means of communication.

    Non-verbal communication.

    Non-verbal means of communication are necessary for people to be clear in understanding each other. Naturally, non-verbal manifestations concern only oral communication. Since the external non-verbal expression of emotions and feelings performed by the body is also a certain set of symbols and signs, it is often called "body language".

    "Body language" and its functions.

    Non-verbal expressions are very important in human interaction. Their main functions are as follows:

    • Completion of the spoken message. If a person reports victory in some business, he may additionally throw his arms over his head in victory or even jump for joy.
    • Repetition of what has been said. This enhances the oral message and its emotional component. So, when answering “Yes, this is so” or “No, I don’t agree”, you can repeat the meaning of the message also in a gesture: with a nod of the head or, conversely, by shaking from side to side as a sign of denial.
    • An expression of the contradiction between word and deed. A person can say one thing, but feel completely different at the same time, for example, joking out loud and feeling sad in the shower. It is non-verbal means of communication that make it possible to understand this.
    • Focus on something. Instead of the words "attention", "note", etc. you can show a gesture that attracts attention. So, a gesture with an extended index finger on a raised hand shows the importance of the text spoken at the same time.
    • Word replacement. Sometimes some gestures or expressions of facial expressions can completely replace a certain text. When a person shrugged his shoulders or indicated a direction with his hand, it is no longer necessary to say “I don’t know” or “left-right”.

    Variety of non-verbal means of communication.

    In non-verbal communication, some elements can be distinguished:

    • Gestures and posture. People evaluate each other even before they speak. So, with just a pose or gait, you can create the impression of a self-confident or, conversely, a fussy person. Gestures allow you to emphasize the meaning of what was said, place accents, express emotions, but you need to remember that, for example, in business communication there should not be too many of them. It is also important that different peoples can have the same gestures that mean very different things.
    • facial expressions, look and facial expression. A person's face is the main transmitter of information about a person's mood, emotions and feelings. The eyes are generally called the mirror of the soul. It is not for nothing that many activities to develop understanding of emotions in children begin with recognizing basic feelings (anger, fear, joy, surprise, sadness, etc.) from faces in photographs.
    • Distance between interlocutors and touch. The distance at which it is comfortable for a person to communicate with others, and the possibility of touching, people determine for themselves, depending on the degree of proximity of one or another interlocutor.
    • Intonation and voice characteristics. This element of communication seems to combine verbal and non-verbal means of communication. With the help of different intonation, volume, timbre, tone and rhythm of the voice, the same phrase can be pronounced so differently that the meaning of the message will change directly to the opposite.

    It is important to balance verbal and non-verbal forms of communication in your speech. This will allow you to convey your information to the interlocutor as fully as possible and understand his messages. If a person speaks unemotionally and monotonously, his speech quickly tires. Conversely, when a person actively gesticulates, often inserts interjections and only occasionally says words, this can overload the perception of the interlocutor, which will push him away from such an expressive communication partner.

    What primarily distinguishes us from other biological species? Drives social and personal progress? Allows you to get to know the world more, making us who we are - creatures with a developed intellect and thinking?

    Of course, this is communication - the exchange of information and interactions between two or more individuals.

    Communication is divided into two groups: verbal and non-verbal. And also - on the individual and mass. The interaction of verbal and non-verbal means of information transmission helps to diversify the conversation, to give it the desired character. Both of these forms are equally important in live communication.

    This group includes the transmission of information using words - speech. There are two types of speech interactions:

    Oral conversation:

    • listening - perception of the speaker's speech;
    • speaking is the use of speech to convey messages to the listener.

    Conversation in writing:

    • reading - perception of information from the carrier;
    • writing - fixing thoughts / knowledge on paper or electronic media.

    Speech is possible thanks to the main tool of communication - language. A language is a system of signs and symbols, various combinations of which convey information about a particular object/phenomenon. The use of language requires thinking and intellect.

    The peculiarities of the language are that it is diverse and multifaceted. So, there are non-literary and literary forms and types of it, used by people depending on a specific life situation.

    • Literary speech implies clear rules that must be followed. It is considered an exemplary language classic.
    • Non-literary speech is freer and not constrained by conventions. It includes dialects and colloquial forms of the language and those words that we use in everyday life.

    Language Features

    • Emotional. People tend to express their feelings and get emotional release through speech in communication. The emotional function is also performed by non-verbal means.
    • Communicative. When we talk about communication or the transfer of information, we most often mean language.
    • Cognitive. Language gives the individual the opportunity to join the knowledge of others and to transfer this knowledge to someone else. Learning a foreign language develops intelligence and logical thinking.
    • Ethnic. Language is needed to unite people into groups based on nationality.
    • Accumulative. Thanks to the knowledge of the language, we can accumulate and store information about the world around us. This is information gleaned from books, films, received from other people, etc.
    • Constructive. Language helps a person to competently express his own thoughts, giving them a clear tangible form, to structure thought processes.
    • Contact setting. Language also plays a role when communication in it does not carry useful information for the interlocutors - in this case, it helps to establish contact for further relationships.

    Mastering the skills of verbal communication is the key to successful interpersonal communications. It is necessary to develop not only intelligence, correctness and literacy of speech, reading classical literature and studying native and foreign languages. It is important to be able to speak in the sense in which it is presented by psychology - to learn to be an interlocutor, to remove barriers and fear of contact with other people, to express understanding and sympathy. A person who skillfully uses the skills of verbal communications will easily find a common language with any person, even the most difficult in character.

    Non-verbal communication

    Non-verbal form of communication is also called "body language" or "gesture language". It includes all the information that we transmit to the interlocutor or interlocutors without the participation of speech, as well as interactions with them that carry a certain emotional coloring. For example, a handshake (expresses friendliness and willingness to cooperate), a kiss (love), a pat on the shoulder (a familiar friendly gesture), etc.

    Features of non-verbal appearance

    Non-verbal communication occurs only when talking face-to-face. Conversation in social networks through private messages is devoid of this communicative component.

    Psychology pays special attention to this form of communication - it says more about a person than verbal can tell.

    Non-verbal means are very important for pedagogical communication. They help the teacher to attract and hold the attention of students, develop his teaching style. With the active and appropriate use of gestures and facial expressions in the process of pedagogical communication, students learn the material better and use thinking, they become more open and easier to make contact.

    Means of nonverbal communication

    • Gestures. They play an important role in combination with words. They also serve as an independent means of communication: we give a thumbs up when we praise or express approval. The number of gestures during a conversation is an indicator of a person's temperament. For different peoples, this number varies greatly: the most emotional are the inhabitants of hot countries, while the northerners are much more restrained. We gesticulate a lot in the process of informal communication. In business situations, this is not appropriate.
    • Mimic. The movements of the facial muscles carry a lot of information - after all, they help to understand the true feelings of the interlocutor, his personal characteristics, the nature of thinking, the level of intelligence, serve as an expression of his plans. You can say anything with your face. All parts of it are amazingly precisely coordinated with each other in the process of expressing emotions. The greatest semantic load falls on the lips and eyebrows - you should pay attention to them when talking.
    • Sight. Determines the interest of the individual in the conversation. If a person, without taking his eyes off, listens to the speaker, it is clear that this information is really important to him. Also, prolonged eye contact sometimes expresses hostility or defiance. Constant looking away means boredom, a possible desire to end the conversation, or is a kind of lie detector - it has been established that a person who tells a lie looks into the interlocutor's eyes for less than a third of the conversation.
    • Posture and gait. Psychology determines the character, self-esteem, age, mood, well-being according to these indicators. Relaxed postures are characteristic of self-confident people with high social status. The movements of uncommunicative and closed-in personalities are especially constrained, indecisive.

    A heavy gait is typical for people who are overwhelmed by anger or other negative emotions, light, airy - indicates a cloudless mood of a person.

    Functions of non-verbal communication

    • Underline the information given. Thus, a person who has expressed a strong protest may shake his head indignantly. We also nod, expressing full agreement with the interlocutor - one of the manifestations of the interaction of verbal and non-verbal means of transmitting information.
    • Complete what has been said. When we describe a tiny object, we bring the fingers of the hand together a short distance.
    • Show the true state of mind of a person or attitude towards the interlocutor. Sometimes people behave and talk as usual in a company, although their hearts are heavy. Attentive comrades notice this by facial expression or movements.
    • Replace words. The shrug gesture that means "I don't know" doesn't need any further verbal explanation.
    • Make an accent. Mentioning weighty information in the course of the story or showing something important in a prepared presentation, we raise our index finger up, drawing additional attention of the interlocutors to the spoken phrase.

    This is how the interaction of verbal and non-verbal means of transmitting information is manifested.

    People monitor their speech and what they communicate to their interlocutors. It is much more difficult to constantly control facial expressions, gestures, gait. Not all of us succeed. Nevertheless, it helps to understand the true feelings and motives of a person, which is used in psychology.

    Psychology tells us that in communication it is important to maintain the correct balance of means of verbal and non-verbal communication. The audience is unlikely to be imbued with a monotonous unemotional reading of a report or presentation without paying due attention to the speaker. But there is no need to rush to extremes either: there are people whose thoughts and emotions are ahead of the capabilities of the speech apparatus. They gesticulate violently, swallow words, forcing the interlocutor to get tired of such expressiveness.

    In addition, it is worth considering the situation in which one or another form of communication is appropriate, as well as the characteristics and intelligence of the interlocutor.

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