Everyone uses demonstrative communication on a daily basis. It is used in our personal lives, at school, and in the workplace. Demonstrative communication includes all of the messages one sends and receives with or without words, both on a positive and negative level.
The most common nonverbal communication is facial expression. Facial expressions can immediately can send a message of happiness, sadness, fear, nervousness, and pain. Facial expressions can carry the most positive and negative feedback. For instance, I have often been told that I’m always smiling and my smiles show me to be friendly and approachable as result. However, my husband is one to have a facial expression that is always seen to be serious, and people find him to be mean and not easy to approach. Facial expressions have the ability to give positive and negative feedback to the receiver. Just the other day, I was having lunch with a coworker who happens to mention that she felt another coworker of ours may feel as though she didn’t like him. The reason being is that during the couple of times they have spoken her facial expressions may have been received as though she was not interested in his conversation as she never looks up from the computer to make eye contact or she often gives looks as though she is frowning.
Gestures are another form of demonstrative communication which is the way we sit, walk, or move about when carrying on a conversation. When I think of gestures in the workplace I think about when we conduct interviews or quarter end town hall meetings. In an interview a firm hand shake can tell you a lot about an individual. Such as, when you ask them questions about their work experience, if they are tapping the floor or constantly bouncing their leg under the table this could be a sign of nervousness or lying. Very little eye contact can be a direct form of lying as well. In town hall meetings if the audience members are sitting in their sits with their arms folded or eyes closed this can be a sign of boredom of not being interested. At home, I can always tell if my oldest son is telling me the truth about something. If he is constantly moving, not making eye contact, or his body seems stiff I know that he is not sharing the truth with me. By viewing these signals, it allows me to understand the necessary steps I will need to take next.
Another form of demonstrative communication is tone. The tone in which we speak say a lot about how we feel about something. If we are speaking in a soft low tone it can be interpret as being calm and relax. However, if we are yelling and screaming it’s a sound of anger. When I speak to my children my voice is common and relax my children