NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION IN FACIAL EXPRESSIONS.

What is Non-Verbal Communication?

Non verbal communication is a powerful tool that is essentially invoking one's own body language, clothing & adornment, environmental factors and the use of time to communicate to one another that cannot otherwise be done through speech alone (Eunson 2012). People express their own feelings by the subtle ways of non-verbal communication as it allows them to convey their emotions in a less consensual and recognizable method (Mehrabian 1972). When interacting with other people, we often sub-consciously give non-verbal signals (Knapp, Hall, Horgan 2013). These signals can send powerful messages and our ability to comprehend these messages and use them is a powerful tool that enables our expression of feelings, managing impressions, influencing others and forming and defining relationships (Kidwell, Hasford 2014). When people are able to see people talking, we view and evaluate not only what the message is being communicated, but also how the message is being communicated (Lewinski 2015). 

Facial Expressions

Fig.1.1 - An Angry Baby

A face can unveil many different emotional signals towards other people and social and cultural communicative signals are involved in concealing or embodying those emotions (Eunson 2012). Signals in communication need an encoding face to transmit our emotional signal, and a decoding brain to categorize the transmitted signal received (Smith, Cottrell, Gosselin, Schyns 2005). Facial expression thus exert many influences over other people (Knapp, Hall, Horgan 2013). The face can communicate an array of information including personality, interest, responsiveness, emotional states and our presentation towards other people (Knapp, Hall, Horgan 2013).  Facial expressions are an integral part of non-verbal communication and can send all sorts of signals, these facial expressions can mean differently within certain cultures (Eunson 2012). Anger in Australians is expressed by the lips being protruded and eyes widely open (Darwin 1872).  When one might be confronted by a stranger that has lowered brows, flared nostrils and "flashing eyes"(Darwin 1872), one might acknowledge the anger and wisely escape the situation (Porter, Brinke 2008). Our emotional feelings can also be changed by the simple act of changing our facial expressions and so feelings are consequences of our behaviors and actions (Schnall, Laird 2003). That is why when we smile and pretend to be happy, we feel happy (Schnall, Laird 2003). 

References

Darwin, C. 1872, "The expression of the emotions in man and animals." Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Eunson, B 2012, "Communicating in the 21st century", John Wiley & Sons, Milton.

Kidwell, B, & Hasford, J 2014, "Emotional Ability and Nonverbal Communication", Psychology & Marketing, Vol 31, Issue 7, pp. 526-538.

Knapp, M, Hall, J, Horgan, T 2013, "Nonverbal Communication in Human Interaction",Cengage Learning, Belmont, California.

Lewinski, P 2015, "Don't Look Blank, Happy, or Sad: Patterns of Facial Expressions of Speakers in Banks' YouTube Videos Predict Video's Popularity Over Time", Journal Of Neuroscience, Psychology, & Economics, Vol. 8, Issue. 4, pp. 241-249.

Mehrabian, A 1972, "Non-Verbal Communication", Transaction Publishing.

Porter, S, & Brinke, L 2008, "Reading Between the Lies: Identifying Concealed and Falsified Emotions in Universal Facial Expressions", Psychological Science (Wiley-Blackwell), Vol. 19 Issue. 5, pp. 508-514.

Schnall, S, Laird, JD 2003, "Keep smiling: Enduring effects of facial expressions and postures on emotional experience and memory. Cognition and Emotion, Vol. 17, Issue. 5, pp. 787-797

Smith, ML, Cottrell, GW, Gosselin, F, & Schyns, PG 2005, "Transmitting and Decoding Facial Expressions", Psychological Science (Wiley-Blackwell), Vol. 16, Issue. 3, pp. 184-189.