I really enjoyed reading the section on the eight principles of nonverbal communication. I thought it was incredibly fascinating and I intend on sharing them with a few of my co-workers. One principle I liked was the very first one which states, “ our nonverbal communication affects the quality of our relationships”. Aside from the examples in the text, I did a little research and found an interesting website that has a lot of information about body language. For example, the website mentions that some signs of someone being interested in what you have to say will usually lean toward you, tilt their head slightly, keep eye contact, stay still, and ignore distractions such as cell phones, i-pods, etc. On the other hand, one sign of someone who is being deceptive is usually distracted during the conversation and will often times drift off or pause/hesitate to keep the conversation going.
Here is the website where I found this information: http://changingminds.org/techniques/body/body_language.htm
The fourth principle states that “nonverbal behaviors are guided by the context and power of relationships”. Another example that I can think of for the fourth principle is one I can use from my own personal experience. For instance, I am extremely close to many of my current co-workers and we often times hang out outside of work. When we hang out, we like to joke around a lot and make funny gestures. However, whenever we are at work or around our managers (team dinners, meetings, etc.) we do not tend to act the same as if we were just hanging out. Also, I am close to one of the supervisors at work and we also like to joke around. But we both know that when we are in the professional setting (especially in my field), there is no room to joke around as if we were just friends messing around at the bar. I think the main point in the fourth principle is to know the boundaries and when is is appropriate to behave certain ways.
Hey there. You did a really good job discussing two of the principles of nonverbal communication this week. I think that nonverbal is very important. I like that you discussed principle one because nonverbal communication truly does affect the quality of relationships. The example you provided from the website you found was very good. It is hard to have a conversation with people who are not interested in what you are saying, and if you can see those nonverbal signals they are giving off you can do something to change it. I also liked that you talked about the boundaries in reference to principle 4. When you work with the same people for a long time you are bound to create relationships outside of the work place, but knowing your boundaries when you are with them at work and not at work is very important.
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