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October 05, 2010

Evolution of Nonverbal Communication

Nonverbal Communication simply means communication without or in absence of words. We mostly communicate nonverbally throughout our lives but many of us don't really understand what Nonverbal Communication is exactly since we've become massively dependent upon spoken and written languages. So let’s try to understand that why and how exactly nonverbal communication evolved in the first place.

We all know that our ancestors faced same challenges like any other creatures. To survive successfully, any creature has to 1) defend itself from predators and adverse climatic conditions 2) mark and defend certain geographical area for shelter 3) find and preserve food to live upon 4) attract a mate, protect it and produce off-springs 5) take care of off-springs and teach them same techniques and manners 6) cooperate and coordinate with members of same species as well as others to seize opportunities and minimize risk to life.

To have aforementioned skills and capabilities, an intelligent system came into existence which senses each factor subjected with survival and responds to it appropriately. We know that sensory organs send signals to brain, brain processes them and finally signals are sent back to various parts of body and organs. It's an entirely closed-loop communication system.

Capability of sensing and reacting to and by various forms of signals like sounds, vocal tones, movements, gestures, facial expressions, postures, body positions, smells and colors are basic characteristics of nonverbal communication. All of these nonverbal communicational characteristics are deeply rooted in our expression of emotions, feelings, motives and intentions.

Word “Emotion” has been derived from word “Emote” and it simply means as “to drive”. An emotion can be generally defined as “a pre-defined or hard-coded survival strategy of reacting to environment, incidents or entities”. We all share and live under the influence emotions because they have deeper, wider and crucial importance for us.

Emotions and their elaborate expressions evolved in mammals as behavioral reflexes or fixed response patterns. They have helped our ancestors and they help us with each specific emotion securing a distinct survival interest.

Different emotions have different purposes.

What each emotion or reflex basically does? Fear helps body to move way from source of danger, anger to reprove or retaliate, anxiety to anticipate risks or dangers, suspect to demand assurance, pride to challenge rivals, respect to secure favors from others and affection to create bonds.

Unconsciously, we reciprocate, react with and respond to people, environment and entities around us on the basis of emotions and feelings only that take shape inside our own brains.

Related Articles:
1) Survival of communicator 2) "The expression of emotions in man and animals" 3) "Nonverbal" is alien way of communication? 4) Emotional expressions are manipulated 5) Women are body language experts 6) Unlimited potentials of nonverbal knowledge 7) Basic emotional expressions 8) Body Language Brain 9) Fear Factor 10) What is Nonverbal Communication? 11) Why we clench fist after victory? 12) Is Human Communication 93% Nonverbal?

1 comment:

  1. May be we need to go back in the history of mankind by a million years. The flight and fight syndrome of that time helped mankind to learn to communicate through non verbal means like most of the other animals!!

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