Because nonverbal messages can be ambiguous, they can be misinterpreted often. I have been wrong, as so I assume everyone else has been wrong, about misinterpreting a nonverbal message. For example, one time I misinformed a person putting out his arm as a hug, when he really meant to give me a handshake. I guess I overlooked the way his arm was positioned, and the way his body was as well. Because I had been recently giving hugs to other individuals when leaving an occasion, I misunderstood and assumed a hug was in place. The situation was slightly awkward, for he didn't want to hug me. But I just laughed it off and apologized and informed the other person that is what I'm used to doing when leaving. He understood, and thank goodness it wasn't anything like an interview or professional setting, because I could have easily offended a person.
People can increase the accuracy of how they interpret nonverbal messages by looking at outside sources first. If a girl scoots away from a person and turns her head down like she smelt something awful, that may not be the case. She may have to sneeze, got a sudden pain, or is reacting to an outside source. An individual should take note if she has severe allergies when talking outside, or she complained about a stomach ache all day. Noticing not only, another person's surroundings, but also their personality and background, may help with interpreting the right forms of nonverbal communication.
Hi Hazel,
ReplyDeleteYou make a great point of evaluating the situation before reacting, your surroundings, an individual’s personality and background can be extremely important when interpreting a nonverbal message. You do not want to be in that embarrassing situation of trying to explain yourself.
I understand your situation with hugging; I grew up where we hugged our friends and family when we first met up and before leaving. When I moved to Northern California I had to control my first impulse to hug my friends when I arrived at school or wherever else we met up. I have overtime though worn off on them and now they ask me why I don’t hug them on those days that I forget to.
just last week at school i did the same thing!! i ran into my communications teacher that i had over summer, he was super nice, young and very friendly. so i hear him call out my name and he actually raised his arm to what i thought was a hand shake but he expected a hug, i tried to cover it up as well as i could but it turned into an awkward hand shake/hug! it was kinda funny actually!i like your girl scout example though. its very true with my alergys being horrible right now im always rubbing my nose and sniffing...which doesnt always look so good haha but its just my alergys making me act that way.
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