Pros and Cons of Non-Verbal Behaviors, Essay Example

Communication is not always verbal in nature but also takes place in the form of non-verbal behaviors such as silent periods, interruptions, facial gazing, and touching. Non-verbal behaviors are often shaped by social norms, thus, may vary greatly across cultures. There are both pros and cons to non-verbal behaviors and understanding them helps one become more effective communicator.

One of the benefits of non-verbal behaviors is that they help the speaker get across his/her message more clearly. Non-verbal behaviors often provide clues to the intentions and emotions of the speaker which may not always be apparent in the spoken words. Another benefit of non-verbal behaviors is that they help the speaker build credibility if the listeners observe the spoken words to be in sync with the non-verbal behaviors. In other words, the speaker sends the message that he/she truly means what he/she may be conveying.

Just a non-verbal behaviors help the speaker reinforce his/her message, they may also hurt him/her. The message being sent by non-verbal behaviors may not be what the speaker intended or it may simply be misinterpreted by the listener due to his/her cultural background, personal experiences, or stereotypes. Similarly, nonverbal behavior may also put the speaker at a disadvantage if he/she may communicate information through body language he/she didn’t intend to convey (Powell).

When engaging in cross-cultural negotiation, the negotiating parties may have to pay particular attention to the nonverbal behavior, especially if one of the parties is from a high context culture. The knowledge of cross-cultural nonverbal behaviors provides significant advantage to the negotiators as they can glean important information from non-verbal gestures and also change their tactics according to the situation (Zhou & Zhang, 2008).