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Kinesics
Kinesics
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Kinesics
Communication is a way in which people interact and intermingle with each
other. People show gestures and emotions through facial expressions and body language.
Human can make 20,000 facial expressions according to estimation of Physiologists. It is
observed that there is greater chance of leakage of emotions is through facial expression
but at most time people master the art to control their emotions. This introduces us to
another leakage terminal which is through kinesics means body movements without
touching others. A study shows that humans are capable of around 700,000 body
movements and physical signs. The chief focal point of analysis are four key areas which
are subject’s spatial axis, pacifying behavior , territorial behaviors and departure from
subject norms. (Birdwhistell, 1970, Pei, 1965)
Whenever communication takes place interpersonal communication is a must as it
takes is face to face; kinesics is key component used to judge the behavior and matching
of words to understand the hidden meanings of words spoken. When observing the
kinesics, the points of observations should be postures, lower body cues, hand display,
arms and the torso. Kinesics is used as mean of detector of deception and persuasion. It is
effective mean today used in mass communication to detect deception by politicians. It is
used as means of motivation and persuasion in corporate world. (Kraut, 1978)
The gestures are integral to kinesics as this is the way to judge optimistic and
pessimistic view of people. It helps to know the hidden meaning behind the words. The
gestures consist of two types which may be speech dependent and speech independent.
The gesture and their relative meaning differs culture to culture, for instance when
Chinese bow they show a welcoming gesture whereas in some cultures it is related to
religious rituals. (Knapp & Hall, 2006)
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Part 1 - Kinesics:
Communication is integral to social beings like humans. It acts as backbone to the
actions and is expression of emotions. Communication is to speak up in a personally
effectual and communally suitable manner. Whenever one talks he is sending messages
to other people which are received, decoded and then responded through feedback. These
messages are decoded in considerations to norms, believes, culture and customs of
specific area. Communication is generally categorized as verbal and non verbal
communication. Verbal communication is oral or written communication; when oral it
will be affected by pitch, volume, tone and speed of speaking while written
communication is effective by use of right vocabulary, grammar, style and preciseness of
language. Communication can be through language of signs and symbols, touch, body
and eyes, speaking, sounds, music etc. Speaking is classified as interpersonal and public.
Non verbal communication is through physical movements which are by touch, eyes,
signs and symbols. Its advanced form may also include music and dancing as well.
(Adler, Rosenfeld and Proctor II ,2008)
Here in this paper the part of focus will be interpersonal communication which is
verbal and non verbal. It is interaction of people face to face in a crowd. The
interpersonal communication requires skills such as conflict management, listening and
assertion. The communication is transferred and exchange through channels which are
direct or indirect. The meaning is derived from situational analysis in context of events
occurred in some time in past. It can be related to sounds, colors, writings’ and repeated
vocabulary used to define some parameter. The context of communication can be
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physical milieu, situational milieu, cultural and linguistic backgrounds, developmental
progress (maturity) or emotional state, complementary or contrasting roles.
The channels of communication need forms of media to transmit it through to be
useful, informative and effective. The three basic forms of media are linguistic, iconic
and kinesics. Linguistic media consists of words; iconic media comprise symbolic
representation and kinesics media consists of non verbal communication and physical
movements showing expressions, gestures, etc. Whenever two people communicate
exclusive of dialogue, using body language or facial expressions as an alternative, it is
non-verbal communication or kinesics. Few people are capable to converse easy
communication whereas others are able to correspond full conversations using kinesics.
Kinesics involves knowing what the other person is thinking by non-verbal gestures or
kinesics. (Adler, Rosenfeld and Proctor II ,2008)
Ray Birdwhistell introduced this term in 1952. He wanted to study how people
speak through their gestures, movement, postures and stance. He was an anthropologist
who studied the kinesics by filming in different situations and analyzing diverse intensity
of communication not observed before. Birdwhistell believed that all body movements
have meanings as there are naturally occurring unintentionally; it’s a paralanguage which
can be evaluated like conversation. Evidential group movements by kineme are used
interchangeably without distressing the collective meaning and is alike a phoneme.
(Knapp 1972:94-95)
According to Birdwhistell’s estimate of social interaction only 30 to 35
percentage of interaction is word based and rest is conducted by other means of
expression. There are functions of kinesics which are emblems, illustrators, affect
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Kinesics
displays, and regulators. Emblem is the possible substitute for phrases and language.
Illustrators comprise and strengthen verbal messages, affect displays is show of emotions,
regulators is controller of communication and adapters are the discharge of worry.
Kinesics is an essential component of non-verbal message conduct. The
movement of the body, separate parts, expresses many detailed connotations and the
analysis might be ethnicity hurdle. Many movements are passed out at a subliminal or
optimal knowledge level, kinesics movements carry a major peril of being
misapprehended in an intercultural interactions circumstances. It was in use even when
human beings had not learned to speak. They used gestures, emotion facial expressions,
body movements’ and signs to communicate. This type of communication is as affective
today as it was thousands of years ago. Today interviewers use it as mean of deception to
know the authenticity of information flow. It is one of the most significantly used ways of
persuasion and motivation today. Spatial Axis in monitoring subject, take note of their
orientation in relation to you represents desire to leave ongoing communication and is
most notable when questioner is “turning up the heat”. Pacifying Behaviors touching face
(nose, ears, and mouth) is often done to soothe or distract oneself and may represent the
thought “I don't like what I'm hearing”. Behaviors are often gender-specific; women often
touch the base of the neck or necklaces whereas men often touch nose/upper lip or
necktie and not the same as posture of deep thought (Rodin’s “the thinker”). Territorial
displays can be signs of comfort or aggression (also, in teenagers can be sign of
disrespect). Emotional expressions by Ekman postulate that there are four customs for
people to communicate emotions which are full, micro expression, restricted and slight.
The numerous users of kinesics are politicians, scientists, interviewers, and business
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Kinesics
personnel. Their basic aim is to qualitative use of information and to make the
communication more effective, efficient and meaningful. (Ekman, 2007)
It is noticeable factor that these subconsciously performed acts are divergent in
cultures. The one act might be something good in one culture and that act might be
insulting in other. Kinesics is muscular and skeletal shift of body includes all events,
substantial or physiological and automatic reflexes. It is kind of a modification to
language of conversation. It is value addition which is intangible and is more effective
and burly in reaction as facial expressions and body moves are visual in nature and more
memorable and meaningful.
Part 2: It is a saying that actions speak louder than word this is what kinesics do.
The smile is the most universal facade of emotions as it conceals appearance in lower
face of anger, disgust, sadness, and fear so need to look for ‘real’ smile in the eyes that is
crows’ feet and restricted visibility of eyes due to space between eyebrows and upper
cheeks contracting. It is more directive information. Posture is one of essential parts in
kinesics which has three basic positioning of lying down, bent and standing. It is
communication through body stance. It differs culture to culture. The kinesics can be tool
used as detective as it can interpret from different generally known motions of body that
whether a person is lying or telling the truth. Oculesics and haptics also relate to kinesics
as the first is eye positioning during communication and latter is physical contact
displaying emotion. The examples of kinesics with its different types are elaborated here.
Emblem also has a verbal counterpart for instance use of sign of victory as “V” through
index and middle fingers symbolizes victory in Britain whereas it’s an insult in Australia.
Illustrators use hand waving as a sign to show the intensity of what is said. Affective
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Kinesics
display can be visible in President Obama and President Sarkozy meeting when President
Obama clenched jaw as sign of sorrow. The example of adapters can be arms akimbo
standing style which means show of power and dominance. Arms behind back and
pointing fingers also show power and high status. (Monsivais-Martinez, 2008)
Certain emotions may be manifested in similar ways which may lead to confusion
in attempting to analyze responses. Contempt, Resentment, and Anger each have similar
facial profiles that could be confused by an inexperienced observer. When thumbs point
to mouth in Spain it relates to drinking as similar in shape to porrón vessel. The "live
long and prosper" sign consists of the a raised hand, palm outward, fingers extended, with
the index and middle finger kept close together, and the ring and pinky finger close
together, with a 'V' shaped space between them, and the thumb sticking out alone. The
“V” is associated with the phrase "Live long and prosper," and derives from Star Trek,
where it is used as a salute by the fictional humanoid group of Vulcan’s. The "thumbs
up" gesture is identified as pollice recto, "thumbs down" is pollice verso. Probably the
existing gestures are indistinguishable to the gestures performed in ancient Rome. The
present account was popularized by a extensively reproduced scholarly painting by the
19th century artist Jean-Léon Gérôme, whose Pollice Verso portrays a
triumphant gladiator footing over a fallen foe, looking up into the stands for the judgment
of the masses. The superman moves of Neo and fights of Neo and Smith in Martix, the
movement of Optumus Prime and decepticions in transformers are one of best examples.
When holding the backs of the wrists touching the jaw line and then shaking one's
fingers. It is used usually to say "well aren't you clever?" in Scotland. The 'timeout'
gesture was initiated in American sports - a 'T' formed with the hands, its used where a
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Kinesics
brief recess in play is called for making substitutions etc. Nowadays this gesture is used
in the US and in Britain to quiet children, or calm participants in a fiery dispute. The
identical gesture may be used to ask for the check when dining at a café in Japan. Biting
one's thumb was a previous rude British sign. In Romeo and Juliet, Sampson bites his
thumb at the Montagues (Act1, Scene1) in William Shakespeare's play.
Conclusion:
People show gestures and emotions through facial expressions and body
language.. When observing the kinesics the points of observations should be postures,
lower body cues, hand display, arms and the torso. Communication is integral to social
beings like humans. Communication is generally categorized as verbal and non verbal
communication. Communication can be through language of signs and symbols, touch,
body and eyes, speaking, etc. Non verbal communication is through physical movements
which are by touch, eyes, signs and symbols. The three basic forms of media are
linguistic, iconic and kinesics. Whenever two people communicate exclusive of dialogue,
using body language or facial expressions as an alternative, it is non-verbal
communication or kinesics. Few people are capable to converse easy communication
whereas others are able to correspond full conversations using kinesics. Kinesics involves
knowing what the other person is thinking by non-verbal gestures or kinesics. Illustrators
comprise and strengthen verbal messages, affect displays is show of emotions, regulators
is controller of communication and adapters are the discharge of worry. Kinesics is an
essential component of non-verbal message conduct. Around the world probably 75% of
communication is non verbal which is based on mostly body moves, the kinesics.
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Appendix:
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Biography:
Adler, Rosenfeld and Proctor II (2008) Interplay: The Process of Interpersonal
Communication / eleven edition/ ISBN13: 780195379594ISBN10: 0195379594
Birdwhistell, R. (1970). Kinesics and context: Essays on body motion communication.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Ekman, P. (2007). Emotions Revealed, Second Edition: Recognizing Faces and Feelings
to Improve Communication and Emotional Life. Owl Books, New York.
Kraut, R.E. (1978). Verbal and nonverbal cues in the perception of lying. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 380-391
Pei, M. (1965). The story of language (2nd ed.). Philadelphia: Lippincott.
Monsivais-Martinez, P. (2008). The daily beast media gallery: Obama in Asia. Retrieved
March 16, 2010, from
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-
stories/2009-11-18/obamas-bad-trip/#gallery=973;page=12
Ekman, P. (1976). Movements with precise meanings [Electronic version]. Journal of
Communication, 26, 14-26.
Knapp, M. L., & Hall, J. A. (2006). Nonverbal communication in human interaction.
Belmont, CA: Thompson Publishers.
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