问答题 Usually the wordless communication acts to qualify the words. What the nonverbal elements express very often, and very efficiently, is the emotional side of the message. 7 When a person feels liked or disliked, often it"s a case of "not what he said but the way he said it". Psychologist Albert Mehrabian has devised this formula: total impact of a message =7 percent verbal + 38 percent vocal + 55 percent facial. The importance of the voice can be seen when you consider that even the words "I hate you" can be made to sound sexy.
Experts in kinesics, the study of communication through body movement, are not prepared to spell out a precise vocabulary of gestures. When an American rubs his nose, it may mean he is disagreeing with someone or rejecting something. But there are other possible interpretations, too. 8 For example, when a student in conversation with a professor holds the older man"s eyes a little longer than is usual, it can be a sign of respect and affection; it can be a challenge to the professor"s authority; or it can be something else entirely. The expert looks for patterns in the context, not for an isolated meaningful gesture.
There are times when what a person says with his body gives the lie to what he is saying with his tongue. Sigmund Freud once wrote: "No mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips; betrayal oozes out of him at every pore"
9 Thus, a man may successfully control his face, and appear calm and self-controlled, unaware that signs of tension and anxiety are leaking out, and that his foot is beating on the floor constantly and restlessly. Rage is another emotion feet and legs may reveal. During arguments the feet often become tense. Fear sometimes produces barely perceptible funning notions, a kind nervous leg jiggle. Then there are the subtle, provocative leg gestures that women use, consciously and unconsciously.