BODY LANGUAGE

Perhaps, there are not people in the world, who disagree with such concept, knows as body language. Nowadays this concept is a very common, we talk about it in seminars of psychology, and knowledge of this sphere is used in business. It is difficult to imagine that any boss does not know basics of this sphere. It is true to say that techniques of body language are used practically in every negotiation. Moreover, if we write "body language" to search in Google, we would find a lot of information on this topic from psychological researches to body language of our dog or cat.

Generally, body language is the language of gestures and postures. Studies of body language analyze the emotions transmitted through movement, such as facial expressions and the movement of eyes, hands, legs, feet, and the whole body. These studies show us how the body language of a person can reveal to us his state of mind and intentions, and personality traits such as self-confidence, shyness, aggressiveness, greed. We can say that a person’s posture expresses his attitudes and feelings.

Why is it a popular? Body language is an important – and often decisive – factor in communication. Body language is an element in communication that we should be very much aware of because it gives clues to the character, emotions, and reactions of an individual. If you are aware of what you do with your body, your self-understanding becomes deeper and more meaningful. Once you manage to control your body language, you will be able to cross many defensive barriers and establish better relationships. Body language is to our advantage to develop skills in this area in order to be better communicators.

I would like to talk about how our non verbal communication, calls body language, depends on heredity and environment in which person develops. It is difficult to determine exactly how a communication system is inherited or learned. Darwin believed that facial expressions of emotion were the same in all human beings, regardless of their culture. Today it is considered that within a specific culture there exists a general agreement to recognize the different emotional states. The human brain is programmed to raise the corners of the mouth when the individual feels happy and turn them down when he is discontent. Depending on the sensation that reaches the brain, a person will frown, raise his eyebrows.

The work of different researchers has shown that we can inherit in our genetic makeup certain basic physical reactions. We are born with elements of a body language. We can make another human being aware of basic sensations of hate, fear, pleasure, or sadness, without ever having learned how to do so. This does not contradict the fact that we do also have to learn many gestures that mean one thing in one society and something else in another.

There are certain expressions and standards that vary according to the culture, which are learned during the years of early childhood. These standards prescribe what should be done in response to the manifestation of each sensation or feeling in the different social environments. They vary according to social roles and demographic characteristics, and they differ from one culture to another.

Our body language can be partly instinctive, partly taught, and partly imitative. There are many movements which appear to be universal, suggesting we are born with them, such as a look of surprise, but also a person’s culture is an important factor to bear in mind.

I used some of information in this essay from www.cepis.ops-oms.org/tutorial6/i/pdf/topic_05.pdf