Let’s face it. None of us like to be criticized for our posture, or the hand gestures we use when we speak. And, just for the record for the one person I know who might read this, putting our hands in our pockets doesn’t mean we’re trying to hide how uncomfortable we are, just like folded arms don’t necessarily imply that we are standoffish. Having said that, I’m happy to accept (my female parental unit’s premise) that our body language can and does often communicate our feelings at the moment. But don’t take my word for it. Desmond Morris, a prominent Zoologist in the 20th Century, wrote in his book “Peoplewatching”, that people are often unaware of how their actions are interpreted.
According to Morris, sometimes people concentrate so hard on their words that they seem to forget that their movements, postures, and expressions that are telling t
heir own story (Morris, pg. 2). In the book, he describes some of the actions that do not have to be learned because we are born knowing how to do them. These behaviors include smiling, crying, and frowning. He supports this claim citing studies that blind babies smile and frown just as babies born deaf cry. Morris says, “To inborn actions, we add discovered actions (Peoplewatching).” Discovered actions are those we unconsciously acquire as we grow up, and often we do not know precisely how we perform them if asked, such as how we cross our arms. In fact, many discovered actions are so widespread they can be mistaken for inborn actions, leading to much argument about categorizing behavior as inborn or learned.
Morris goes on to say that gestures are actions that send visual signals to those around us. To be a gesture, it has to communicate information to the onlookers. And, a primary gesture among us is the hand wave. One gesture that often communicates negative information, is propping the head on one’s hands while listening to something – described in the book as the student propping his head on his hands while listening to a boring lecture. In contrast, students with straight posture are seen as attentive. The point Morris emphasizes is that the importance of the gesture is in the information received by those around us, despite whether or not the gesture was deliberate. In some cases, we use gestures to communicate a “pure signal,” such as when we quickly eat a meal that we do not want in order to not offend our host.
Expressive gestures are those that we may also share with animals, and Morris cites them as having their roots lie in primarily non-communicative actions. For example, the origin of the clenched fist gesture is directly related to the act of hitting something, and the frown of a worried person can be traced back to an act of protecting the eyes in anticipation of a violent attack. Mimic gestures on the other hand, are gestures we use to attempt to imitate an action. For example, with social mimicry, we sometimes lie with gestures to please others, such as smiling at a party when we feel really sad. Mimic gestures can usually be understood by strangers and foreigners when we communicate examples with our hands, such as those for eating and drinking.
In his book, Morris describes many different other types of gestures, too many in fact to be discussed here. But the point in bringing up Morris’ listing of social gestures is this: how do we communicate equally well in the age of social media when we are blind to the gestures that reinforce the words?
In class connects and online meetings, we typically cannot see one another. Do we adopt “tones” in our written language to communicate as we would with gestures? How do we properly extend sincerity when someone cannot look into ours eyes and see that we really mean it and find words to be inadequate at best? Emojis?
How about the use of “emojis?” Emojis are still largely confined to informal writing, such as in Skype or other instant messaging forms. Instead of writing a detailed note thanking another person, you can communicate it all with a smiley face and “thx.” But, does a frown face emoji adequately communicate why you feel sad at the moment? Is it best to leave cringe-worthy comments or emojis out and stick with clear, plain language when communicating in the age of social media? Faster, more instantaneous forms of communication, can be effective tools for getting messages out, but you couldn’t have designed the Eiffel Tower or the Pyramids using hashtags and emojis. While the age of the internet may be broadly known as the Information age, is it also possible that it will eventually be remembered as the Age of Human Miscommunication?
Works Cited
Morris, Desmond. Peoplewatching. 4th. Vintage, May 4, 2002. 16 01 2016.
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