**2. Nonverbal communication**

*Types of Nonverbal Communication*

on the way we act to achieve the aim [2].

attitudes comprehensibly way and relevantly" [4].

difficult to hide [3].

means words?

in relation to the verbal ones sent.

more, becoming extremely sophisticated and allowing humans to interact and

How preschool and school children communicate today? Do they prefer verbal or nonverbal channel? Do they use their body? What is the task of Kindergarten and

Communicating means sending, passing down, handing over, notifying, making see, making feel, describing, meeting, spending, infecting, sharing, connecting, share with others what belongs to us. Communicate means so many things and can mean nothing: it all depends on the meaning we want to give to the word itself and

Communication is linked to the exchange of information between two or more entities capable of produce and receive signals, but, to do it at best, it is necessary to pay attention to have consistency between the explicit message, given by the verbal language, and the implicit message, transmitted by using the nonverbal language. Although it may seem obvious, the two types of message do not go hand in hand, so that communication can leave the interlocutor in a situation of ambiguity and uncertainty towards the other one. In that case, he tends to rely on the message got nonverbally, compared to the verbal one, which is more spontaneous and more

A communicative event, besides the fundamental abilities of "know the language", "know how to do the language" and "know how to do with the language", requires complementary abilities. The complementary ability par excellence is the emotional intelligence, discovered in 1990 by Salovery and Mayer, who defined as "the ability to control ourselves and others feelings and emotions, distinguish between them and use this information to guide his own thoughts and actions". Therefore, communication is the process of transmission of an idea or emotion from one person to another through facial expressions, gestures, speech or via means of communication like writing, telephone, radio, television, etc. Communication skill can be defined as "one's ability to express his/her emotions, ideas, beliefs and

About it, Mehrabian (1967), having regard to the results of his research, has pointed out the importance of nonverbal communication for years. His studies determined that of any given message, only thirty–five percent is verbal; the remaining sixty–five percent is communicated through various nonverbal channels. The nonverbal component of a message includes movements and body position which we unconsciously sense but often overlook. The major part of any message is conveyed through non-verbal channels, but then why do the education system, from the first childhood, takes the most of his time and efforts in ensuring that children master the thirty–five percent of communication, which

The ability to communicate is an essential skill that has roots in early childhood. Children begin communicating from birth, but they need attention of adults, be they parents or caregivers, so they can develop communicative skills to express themselves clearly and confidently. Parents are the young child's first teachers of communication who help him to master non-verbal and verbal communication through listening, watching and responding to the sounds, communicative gestures and language the child uses [5]. The child learns to know the body language by observing the one of the adult and by imitating him, that's why the first step to improve communicative abilities is to recognise non-verbal signs that we are sending

Therefore, this research try to investigate and consider all aspects of nonverbal communication in today society, focusing on a target audience of preschool and

cooperate in a more and more well-structured way [1].

Primary school teachers to encourage the nonverbal channel?

**64**

school children.

In 1967, Mehrabian claims that, daily, the human being communicates through three different channels (**Figure 1**):


Therefore, verbal channel, even though it is considered the main communication channel, accounts for 10% in living beings communication; more than 90% of what is communicated is not given by words, so it is not verbal, it does not come out of the mouth and it is not received by ears.

This distribution is not related to a particular age group or to a temporary vital moment; in fact, at the moment when, growing, the use of word is acquired, the nonverbal transmission aspects of messages are not lost, they become a particular feature of every person. Many of these attitudes are linked to a characteristic of the person itself, while others are more properly identifiable in each of us, at the moment we are in a specific situation, with a specific mood [3].

Nonverbal communication is a highly efficient and pervasive means of interpersonal exchange [6]; therefore, in a communication, the aspects that have to be considered are not only the verbal ones (digital language), that is, related to the meaning of words and on <what>, but also the nonverbal ones (analogical language), that is, related on <how> [7].

Know the nonverbal language is therefore very important to communicate well, to transmit or interpret others messages, to hear and understand at the same time.

The essential aim of a communication is that it results effective; the communication effectiveness, encouraged by nonverbal communication and his main elements,

**Figure 1.** *Source: own elaboration.*

#### *Types of Nonverbal Communication*

comes from the mood of the interlocutor and from the aim that the interlocutor wants to give to the communication. If these components are missing, the risk is to obtain the opposite effect or at least different from intentions.

What makes a message incisive and productive, combined with a clear and effective verbal channel, is the body. This is the first means with which the individual experience the environment, it is the first communication channel between him and the others, between his inner and the outside world. The body expression, intended as the spontaneous nonverbal demonstration of every of our acts, precedes and comes with communicative and artistic techniques [8].

Body language is a universal language code, with a no precise syntax, but with strong cultural influences, in fact, to be understood, it has to be inserted in his reference cultural context. The socio-cultural context is the main learning form of body language, but it is passed on even by daily and family relationships and it remains by lived experiences [1].

Voluntarily or involuntarily the body is the means by which we appear to others. It communicates, through subjective ways, our most deep and true feelings, it reveals our moods and our emotions: that's the reason why it becomes essential the importance of being conscious of what our body can tell about us, so that to send or understand better messages and have a better relationship with ourselves and with others.

Human beings, since birth, are capable of emotion and recognise feelings. The major need of the human being is to have the possibility to reveal his own emotional language, by communicating his own feelings. But too often, words are not enough to express completely the sense and the meaning of feelings; in this way, they come out through the body language, through the face, through attitudes, etc. Expressions and external modifications represent, therefore, internal expressions and mutations, with which they are always in connection.

So, an excited body allows people establish relations with each other through the deepest level of communication [9].

#### **2.1 Components of non-verbal communication**

Nonverbal communication is composed of different components, each of which, in turn, includes various elements describing small parts [3]. The main components of non-verbal communication are 4:


Being able to recognise all these parameters gradually, from the first development, within the communication, means realise the inner state of a person to handle a dialogue and maintain a climate of confidence, by adjusting our intervention.

#### *2.1.1 Paralanguage*

Paralinguistic is the study of intonations and inflexions of the voice. Paralinguistic system concerns the prosody, that is, the trend and the dynamic of phonatory flux [10]. This is considered the main element of a communication,

**67**

*The Body Speaks Society, School and Culture DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94586*

*2.1.2 Kinesics*

interpreted. *Posture*

*Expressions*

both to characterise the real meaning and his significant. The voice and his characteristics such as duration, intensity, tone, intonation, modulated by the reference culture, can reveal subjective and relational feelings and emotions such as anxiety, fear, anger, pain and joy, especially through the rhythm modulation, the intonation and the speech intensity. In addition, in communication, the trend of the rhythm is modified by pauses, that are distinguished in empty and full pauses. Full pauses are the typical interjections (mmm, ehm…) without a verbal meaning, that are inserted

between two sentences; empty pauses, on the other hand, represent silence.

by the expression of the face and by gestures, both voluntary and involuntary, mostly linked to emotions. These signals sent by the body most of the time can be

perception that affects the position of the body [1, 3, 11].

Kinesics involves all communicative acts that are expressed by body movements,

Posture, which means the position of the body or parts of it, is a very significant factor or communication because it reveals different information about the subject: basic attitude, mood and self-image, but interlocutors must be "good readers" to avoid being deceived by appearances. It is dynamic and it changes continuously during the interaction, by signalling and showing internal emotions or particular attitudes to the parties involved. Posture is determined by different factors: the psychic component, since it depends on emotional dynamics inherent in the relationship between the individual and all others; anatomical components, as is the morphological and muscular conformation or pathologies that determine the posture; proprioceptive capacity, on which depends the static and dynamic self-

Clearly, there is no model posture, but on the contrary, it varies according to all social and context elements, to the situation, to people and to the dialogue type [12]. Some studies have shown even the presence of the "Chameleon effect": the tendency to adopt the partner positions during the social interaction [11].

The face expression is the communicative means par excellence and it can be defined as such thanks to mimicry and look, which allow the inscription of state of mind and emotions on the face, as well as interpersonal attitudes. In fact, the face is the most observed part of the body by interlocutors; particularly, look is the channel by which the nonverbal message is sent and helps to perceive nonverbal messages sent by others [13]. This last is characterised by intensity, duration and direction; these elements vary according to the level of intimacy between the par-

Eye contact, during a conversation, serves to send and collect information, has the function of acquire the partner feedback; in addiction, it promotes the climate of cooperation and is a power signal to obtain consent. Eye contact is the first important step to start every interpersonal relationship, whether it is positive or negative. In fact, reciprocity and frequency of looks represent an indication of directness, transparency and trustworthiness of the interlocutor and are linked to positive emotion, like joy and tenderness, while negative emotions like disgust or embarrassment require a swerve of the eye from the interlocutor. Eye contact plays a central role also in conversation scheme to modulate empathy [14] and to suggest the speaking time between speakers. Therefore, eye contact is essential to collect and receive informa-

On the other hand, smile, one of the fundamental signs of human species, plays important functions in social interactions: can act as regulator of social relations, as

ties, to behind emotions and social value in a specific cultural context.

tion, whether parties intend to communicate with the eyes or not.

#### *The Body Speaks Society, School and Culture DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94586*

both to characterise the real meaning and his significant. The voice and his characteristics such as duration, intensity, tone, intonation, modulated by the reference culture, can reveal subjective and relational feelings and emotions such as anxiety, fear, anger, pain and joy, especially through the rhythm modulation, the intonation and the speech intensity. In addition, in communication, the trend of the rhythm is modified by pauses, that are distinguished in empty and full pauses. Full pauses are the typical interjections (mmm, ehm…) without a verbal meaning, that are inserted between two sentences; empty pauses, on the other hand, represent silence.

### *2.1.2 Kinesics*

*Types of Nonverbal Communication*

remains by lived experiences [1].

deepest level of communication [9].

of non-verbal communication are 4:

• paralanguage;

• kinesics;

• haptics.

*2.1.1 Paralanguage*

• proxemics;

with others.

comes from the mood of the interlocutor and from the aim that the interlocutor wants to give to the communication. If these components are missing, the risk is to

What makes a message incisive and productive, combined with a clear and effective verbal channel, is the body. This is the first means with which the individual experience the environment, it is the first communication channel between him and the others, between his inner and the outside world. The body expression, intended as the spontaneous nonverbal demonstration of every of our acts, precedes and

Body language is a universal language code, with a no precise syntax, but with strong cultural influences, in fact, to be understood, it has to be inserted in his reference cultural context. The socio-cultural context is the main learning form of body language, but it is passed on even by daily and family relationships and it

Voluntarily or involuntarily the body is the means by which we appear to others.

Human beings, since birth, are capable of emotion and recognise feelings. The major need of the human being is to have the possibility to reveal his own emotional language, by communicating his own feelings. But too often, words are not enough to express completely the sense and the meaning of feelings; in this way, they come out through the body language, through the face, through attitudes, etc. Expressions and external modifications represent, therefore, internal expressions

So, an excited body allows people establish relations with each other through the

Nonverbal communication is composed of different components, each of which, in turn, includes various elements describing small parts [3]. The main components

Being able to recognise all these parameters gradually, from the first development, within the communication, means realise the inner state of a person to handle a dialogue and maintain a climate of confidence, by adjusting our intervention.

Paralinguistic is the study of intonations and inflexions of the voice. Paralinguistic system concerns the prosody, that is, the trend and the dynamic of phonatory flux [10]. This is considered the main element of a communication,

It communicates, through subjective ways, our most deep and true feelings, it reveals our moods and our emotions: that's the reason why it becomes essential the importance of being conscious of what our body can tell about us, so that to send or understand better messages and have a better relationship with ourselves and

obtain the opposite effect or at least different from intentions.

comes with communicative and artistic techniques [8].

and mutations, with which they are always in connection.

**2.1 Components of non-verbal communication**

**66**

Kinesics involves all communicative acts that are expressed by body movements, by the expression of the face and by gestures, both voluntary and involuntary, mostly linked to emotions. These signals sent by the body most of the time can be interpreted.
