1 Bodman

Isaac Bodman
Mrs. VanderSlik
English 100-15
10 November 2014

The Power of Silence

Throughout life, a human experiences interpersonal, impersonal, and intrapersonal
communication virtually every conscious moment. These concepts define the known world.
Who people are, what they do, and where they go can all be determined as factors or
resultants of their interactions with others and themselves. But communication is not
strictly the exchange of words through a medium, whether that medium is physical or
technological. In fact, nonverbal communication is the most important communicative
method in Interpersonal Communication.
Nonverbal communication provides the icing on the cake for all other forms of
communication. As I sat in the library contemplating the next adventure that I should
embark upon in the form of a book, I decided that my indecision could be alleviated
through the comedic genius of YouTuber Olan Rogers. Approximately halfway through the
video, all giggling aside, I hade an incredibly sincere and applicable thought; what would
Olans stories be like if he could use only verbal communication to share them? Nonverbal
communication has more meaning than verbal, allowing for expression through multiple
channels simultaneously--- such as auditory, visual, and tactile (McCornack, 212). To
eliminate these channels, I wrote out one of Rogers shorter stories and showed it to some

2 Bodman
friends. They seemed amused, though only slightly. I repeated the process, but with the
video, on a different group of friends. Hysterical laughter was the outcome. Olans comedic
tone, spastic hand motions, and hilarious eye movements were necessary to fully enjoy his
video.
This brought up some interesting questions. If nonverbal communication could
result in this large of a change through a video, how prominent is it everyday? Researchers
agree, Somewhere between half and up to 80%of all interpersonal communication is
nonverbal. (Schaefer) This being true, not only is nonverbal communication the majority
of the communication process, but it also contains more meaning. If a friend states that
they are doing fine via a medium that relies solely on verbal communication, one may be
inclined to believe them. After all, there is no reason not to. However, said friend giving the
aforementioned message face-to-face may result in an entirely different conclusion on the
part. Their downturned face, eye contact avoidance, slouched posture, and mopey tone
conflict with what they have stated. Studies show that humans almost always trust the
nonverbal messages over the verbal ones (McCornack, 213), if the messages are in direct
contrast with each other.
Nonverbal Communication does provide a few select problems, the most prominent
being its ambiguity. Imagine a hypothetical situation wherein a coworker of the opposite
sex that one is close to gives said recipient a prolonged hug at the beginning of the
workday. Is this simply an innocent gesture that is being used to acknowledge friendship?
Or should this gesture be interpreted as a romantic attempt upon ones emotions?
Nonverbal Communication leaves the meaning of this gesture up for debate. However,

3 Bodman
ambiguity as a weakness aside, this same trait allows nonverbal communication to be more
affective in alternative scenarios. Where verbal communication is restricted by hundreds of
thousands of rules and contained to one specific language, nonverbal communication can
be, to a degree, universally used throughout the human race. As stated before, this is
limited to a certain degree, yet can be used to roughly communicate to people from other
parts of the world. For and example, although one may have no idea what the word for
question is in Spanish, raising ones hand is generally accepted as admitting that said
person has a question. It also allows successful communication with someone who is hard
of hearing or deaf (Poison17ivy). This has allowed the human race to leap lingual gaps
throughout history by simply using hand motions, eye movements, sincere tones, etc.
In addition to its previous advantages, Nonverbal Communication has become
exponentially more useful over the span of someones lifetime. Where it was once
restricted to in sight encounters, nonverbal communication can now be displayed via
YouTube videos, Facebook photos and statuses, and texting emoticons. These
advancements not only make it convenient to keep up on the latest Internet personalities,
but they help maintain long distance relationships that would have been confined to letters
and phone-calls for previous generations. Now, texting is used on a daily basis, Skyping is
commonplace, and interaction socially through the power of Facebook is easy.
Many psychologists believe nonverbal communication to be in direct correlation to
power, though in an incredibly discreet method. Thomas Schubert and Steffen Glessner
state that:

4 Bodman
Lay people probably often see nonverbal communication of power where none is,
and over-interpret cues as signaling power even when they are not diagnostic. For
instance, observers interpret smiling, gazing, touching, less pauses, and many other
things even though Hall and colleagues found little evidence that these signs reliably
signal power. Actual relations between power and nonverbal behavior only existed
for more facial expressiveness, more bodily openness, smaller interpersonal
distances, less vocal variability, louder voice, more interruptions, and more relaxed
sounding voices. Thus, people seem to have somewhat exaggerated views of what
communicated power. (Schubert and Glessner).
This allows for a more subtle conveyance of power, giving said power a more substantial
influence over those who do not know what to be watching for. This is simply another
power of nonverbal communication.
Make no mistake; verbal communication is pivotal for the interaction of the human
race. Yet, it can only provide so much. Nonverbal communication provides a deeper
sensation of humor, sadness, joy, and anger. It allows one to accurately interpret the
feelings of friends and acquaintances, even through an intended faade. Even its greatest
weakness, namely ambiguity, has innumerable uses. Humans can span the culture and
language gap due to nonverbal communications lack of formal rules. As interpersonal
communicators people owe much to the power of silence.

5 Bodman

Works Cited
McCormack, Steven. Reflect and Relate, An Introduction to Interpersonal Communication.
Boston, New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2007. Print.

Schaefer, Julie. The Power of Non-Verbal Communication. 20 September 2013.

<www.winningpresence.com/2013/09/20/the-power-of-non-verbal-communications/>

Poison17ivy (editor). What are advantages and disadvantages in non-verbal communication.

9 September 2007.
<www.answers.com/Q/what_are_advantages_and_disadvantages_in_nonverbal_communication>

Schubert and Glessner. The Naked Power: Understanding Nonverbal Communications of

Power. February 2008. <www.in-mind.org/article/the-naked-power-understandingnonverbal-communications-of-power> Originally Published in The Inquisitive Mind.
Magazine issue.