Why Body Language?
Much has been said about the importance of body language and reading people’s non-verbal signals. Comprehensive research in this area shows that we use a variety of universal signals in our communications and understand these signals irrespective of our culture or upbringing. For example, smile is universally recognised as a sign of happiness while nodding head up and down is recognised as a sign of agreement. Understanding the effect of cultural differences on body language and signals is also immensely important when dealing with people from different countries or cultures.
In 1950s, Albert Mehrabian who carried out extensive research on body language discovered that when the communication involves emotional contents, only 7% is delivered verbally (words), while 38% is vocal (tone of voice, etc.) and 55% is nonverbal. Although the scope of the research was limited, this came to change many people’s perspective about the importance of body language in communication. The training world has been reporting this for years and sometimes it is taken out of context and applied to all possible kinds of communications. However, the core message is as applicable as ever; that body language plays a significant role especially in emotional communications and our interactions can be improved by controlling our own body signals while recognising those from others.