Talking about not talking
April 15, 2009 by GradingGirl
Filed under Blogs, TLC Speaks
I could spend half the year talking about nonverbal communication with my speech classes because it’s so darn interesting. Food for thought. . . modern humans are worse at reading body language than our ancestors because we are now distracted by words and technology. Makes sense but, fortunately or unfortunately, body language carries about five times as much impact as verbal words. We have some distractions to overcome! When nonverbal and verbal are incongruent, we should try to pay attention to the nonverbal message ~ it’s much harder to fake.
A perfect illustration of mismatched nonverbal and verbal messages occurs when someone tells a little white lie. I, for instance, can tell right away when someone isn’t relating the complete truth just by the way he does not hold his gaze as he tells his “story.” For fun, here are 8 Common Lying Gestures (aside from avoiding eye contact) to look for when you suspect someone is telling a little white lie:
1. The Mouth Cover
2. The Nose Touch
3. The Itchy Nose
4. The Eye Rub
5. The Ear Grab
6. The Neck Scratch
7. The Collar Pull
8. Fingers-in-the-Mouth
Learning to read body language not only makes us more aware of others’ emotions and thoughts, it helps us realize that others are doing the same to us. It teaches us, more importantly, to be more sensitive to other people’s feelings. . . communicating with tlc. 
Very interesting quick share GG! I took notes and plan on doing some library research too-an important fascet of life crossing many boundaries. Plan to share this with a close friend of mine, we are both geeks.
Thanks!
I’m so happy this information is useful for you, Richard. This interests me so much – so true and helpful when communicating. It’s all about being authentic to truly connect.