Five characteristics of nonverbal communication

Nonverbal communication is behaviors and characteristics that convey meaning without the use of words. Non verbal communication is a way people communicate without using words, but more so just body movements. There are five charcateristics of non verbal communication. They are: present in most interpersonal conversations, often conveys more information than verbal communication, usually believed over verbal communication, primary means of communicating emotion, and metacommunicates.

The first one being that it is present in most interpersonal conversations means that in a group of people you can watch a persons facial expressions. Examples of non verbal communication you can pick up on is if a person is bored with the conversation your having with them, or a change in their tone of voice you can tell if they're mad or sad. The second was is that it often conveys more information than verbal communication. This is said because many people tell the truth while talking more with their facial expressions than with their words. The third is that nonverbal communication is usually believed over verbal communication. An example is that if you run into your friend and they look mad or if they are slumped over not very talkative, and they tell you that they had a "great day" you would more than likely be able to tell by there body language that that wasn't the truth. The fourth most important characteristic is that it is the primary means of communicating emotion. This one ties into the third characterisic of being able to tell how your friend truly feels even if their words dont match their words. The last one is metacommunicates. Metacommunicates is what people say to people before they actually start their story they intended to tell the person.

By reading about these nonverbal communications, it is safe to say that this form of communication is more important than verbal communication. Nonverbal communication can be very helpful when talking to people in your everday life. It can also be useful for law enforcement to learn what to read by people's facial expressions.