speech and oral communication

OVERVIEW OF THE SPEECH COMMUNICATION PROCESS

Communication is the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs. It stems from the Latin word “communnis,” which means common. To communicate means to reach out in order to share something in common. Defined technically, communication is a process in which a source /speaker transmits a message through a channel to a destination /receiver, creating an effect and providing an opportunity for feedback in the presence of noise and occurring within a context.

Communication plays a crucial part in your personal and professional lives (de Vito, 1997).
Communication can best be summarized as the transmission of a message from a sender to a receiver in an understandable manner. The importance of effective communication is immeasurable in the world of business and in personal life. From a business perspective, effective communication is an absolute must, because it commonly accounts for the difference between success and failure or profit and loss. It has become clear that effective business communication is critical to the successful operation of modern enterprise. Every business person needs to understand the fundamentals of effective communication.
Functions of Communication
We communicate for many reasons. According to ehnigner et al., we communicate to:
1. Discover and identify (understand) the self
2. Provide self-satisfaction
3. Facilitate adjustment
4. Communicate and relate with others inthe environment

Four Purposes of Communication
There are four basic purposes for communication. Almost all of these purposes are better served through verbal communication than other options like E-Mail or print.
First, communication can be used to convey information. Of all the purposes of communication, this is the one that can be adequately accomplished through text-based media as well as verbally. Many businesses use E-mail or interoffice memos in this way. It is used simply to pass information such as meeting times or new policies from administration to employees.
Second, communication can be used to ask for help. Asking verbally for help has been shown to trigger natural empathy in the listener more than text-based communication. Often seeing the person asking for help increases the likelihood that a request will be granted. Like other verbal communication, verbal requests also mean that a request can be stated clearly and any miscommunication can be immediately rectified.
The third purpose of communication is to influence a listener or audience. This is the type of communication used by politicians. While this includes non-verbal cues like appearance and dress, the most important aspect is what words and syntax they choose to use. This is the most important component of influencing an audience.

The fourth and final form is entertainment. Once again there is a clear advantage to verbal communication over text-based communications. For example, most of the top comedians in the country make their living in live shows where they can readily interact with an audience rather than in text-based communication like books or websites.

Communication Models
Although adapted and updated, much of the information in this lecture is derived from C. David Mortensen, Communication: The Study of Human Communication (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1972), Chapter 2, and “Communication Models.”
A. What is a Model?
1. Mortensen: “In the broadest sense, a model is a systematic representation of an object or event in idealized and abstract form. Models are somewhat arbitrary by their nature. The act of abstracting eliminates certain details to focus on essential factors. . . . The key to the usefulness of a model is the degree to which it conforms--in point-by-point correspondence--to the underlying determinants of communicative behaviour.” 2. “Communication models are merely pictures; they’re even distorting pictures, because they stop or freeze an essentially dynamic interactive or transactive process into a static picture.” 3. Models are metaphors. They allow us to see one thing in terms of another.
B. The Advantages of Models
1. They should allow us to ask questions.
Mortensen: “A good model is useful, then, in providing both general perspective and particular vantage points from which to ask questions and to interpret the raw stuff of observation. The more complex the subject matter—the more amorphous and elusive the natural boundaries—the greater are the potential rewards of model building.” 2. They should clarify complexity.
Models also clarify the structure of complex events. They do this, as Chapanis (1961) noted, by reducing complexity to simpler, more familiar terms. . . Thus, the aim of a model is not to ignore complexity or to explain it away, but rather to give it order and coherence. 3. They should lead us to new discoveries-most important, according to Mortensen.
At another level models have heuristic value; that is, they provide new ways to conceive of hypothetical ideas and relationships. This may well be their most important function. With the aid of a good model, suddenly we are jarred from conventional modes of thought. . . . Ideally, any model, even when studied casually, should offer new insights and culminate in what can only be described as an “Aha!” experience.
C. Limitations of Models
1. Can lead to oversimplifications.
“There is no denying that much of the work in designing communication models illustrates the oft-repeated charge that anything in human affairs which can be modelled is by definition too superficial to be given serious consideration.”

Some, like Duhem’s (1954), believe there is no value in models at all:
We can guard against the risks of oversimplification by recognizing the fundamental distinction between simplification and oversimplification. By definition, and of necessity, models simplify. So do all comparisons. As Kaplan (1964) noted, “Science always simplifies; its aim is not to reproduce the reality in all its complexity, but only to formulate what is essential for understanding, prediction, or control. That a model is simpler than the subject-matter being inquired into is as much a virtue as a fault, and is, in any case, inevitable [p. 280].” So the real question is what gets simplified. Insofar as a model ignores crucial variables and recurrent relationships, it is open to the charge of oversimplification. If the essential attributes or particulars of the event are included, the model is to be credited with the virtue of parsimony, which insists-where everything is equal-that the simplest of two interpretations is superior. Simplification, after all, is inherent in the act of abstracting. For example, an ordinary orange has a vast number of potential attributes; it is necessary to consider only a few when one decides to eat an orange, but many more must be taken into account when one wants to capture the essence of an orange in a prize-winning photograph. abstracting. For example, an ordinary orange has a vast number of potential attributes; it is necessary to consider only a few when one decides to eat an orange, but many more must be taken into account when one wants to capture the essence of an orange in a prize-winning photograph.

Models can miss important points of comparison. Chapanis (1961), “A model can tolerate a considerable amount of slop [p. 118].” 2. Can lead of a confusion of the model between the behaviour it portrays
Mortensen: “Critics also charge that models are readily confused with reality. The problem typically begins with an initial exploration of some unknown territory. . . .Then the model begins to function as a substitute for the event: in short, the map is taken literally. And what is worse, another form of ambiguity is substituted for the uncertainty the map was designed to minimize. What has happened is a sophisticated version of the general semanticist’s admonition that “the map is not the territory.” Spain is not pink because it appears that way on the map, and Minnesota is not up because it is located near the top of a United States map.
“The proper antidote lies in acquiring skill in the art of map reading.” 3. Premature Closure
The model designer may escape the risks of oversimplification and map reading and still fall prey to dangers inherent in abstraction. To press for closure is to strive for a sense of completion in a system.
Kaplan (1964):
The danger is that the model limits our awareness of unexplored possibilities of conceptualization. We tinker with the model when we might be better occupied with the subject-matter itself. In many areas of human behaviour, our knowledge is on the level of folk wisdom ... incorporating it in a model does not automatically give such knowledge scientific status. The majority of our ideas are usually a matter of slow growth, which cannot be forced.... Closure is premature if it lays down the lines for our thinking to follow when we do not know enough to say even whether one direction or another is the more promising. Building a model, in short, may crystallize our thoughts at a stage when they are better left in solution, to allow new compounds to precipitate [p. 279].

One can reduce the hazards only by recognizing that physical reality can be represented in any number of ways.
D. Classical Communication Models
1. Aristotle’s definition of rhetoric. Ehninger, Gronbeck and Monroe: One of the earliest definitions of communication came from the Greek philosopher-teacher Aristotle (384-322 B.C.).
a. “Rhetoric” is “the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion” (Rhetoric 1335b).
b. Aristotle’s speaker-cantered model received perhaps its fullest development in the hands of Roman educator Quintilian (ca. 35-95 A.D.), whose Institutio Oratoria was filled with advice on the full training of a “good” speaker-statesman. 2. Aristotle’s model of proof. Kinnevay also sees a model of communication in Aristotle’s description of proof:
a. Logos, inheres in the content or the message itself
b. Pathos, inheres in the audience
c. Ethos, inheres in the speaker

3. Bitzer’s Rhetorical Situation. Lloyd Bitzer developed described the “Rhetorical
Situation,” which, while not a model, identifies some of the classical components of a communication situation (“The Rhetorical Situation,” Philosophy and Rhetoric, 1 (Winter, 1968):1-15.).
Bitzer defines the “rhetorical situation” as “a complex of persons, events, objects, and relations presenting an actual or potential exigence which can be completely or partially removed if discourse, introduced into the situation, can so constrain human decision or action so as to bring about significant modification of the exigence.”
E. Early Linear Models
1. The Shannon-Weaver Mathematical Model, 1949 a. Background i. Claude Shannon, an engineer for the Bell Telephone Company, designed the most influential of all early communication models. His goal was to formulate a theory to guide the efforts of engineers in finding the most efficient way of transmitting electrical signals from one location to another (Shannon and Weaver, 1949).

Later Shannon introduced a mechanism in the receiver which corrected for differences between the transmitted and received signal; this monitoring or correcting mechanism was the forerunner of the now widely used concept of feedback (information which a communicator gains from others in response to his own verbal behaviour).

b. Strengths i. This model, or a variation on it, is the most common communication model used in low- level communication texts. ii. Significant development. “Within a decade a host of other disciplines—many in the behavioural sciences—adapted it to countless interpersonal situations, often distorting it or making exaggerated claims for its use. iii. “Taken as an approximation of the process of human communication.” iv. Significant heuristic value.
1.) With only slight changes in terminology, a number of nonmathematical schemas have elaborated on the major theme. For example, Harold Lasswell (1948) conceived of analysing the mass media in five stages: “Who?” “Says what?” “In which channel?” “To whom?” “With what effect?” In apparent elaboration on Lasswell and/or Shannon and Weaver, George Gerbner (1956) extended the components to include the notions of perception, reactions to a situation, and message context. v. The concepts of this model became staples in communication research 1.) Entropy - the measure of uncertainty in a system. “Uncertainty or entropy increases in exact proportion to the number of messages from which the source has to choose. In the simple matter of flipping a coin, entropy is low because the destination knows the probability of a coin’s turning up either heads or tails. In the case of a two-headed coin, there can be neither any freedom of choice nor any reduction in uncertainty so long as the destination knows exactly what the outcome must be. In other words, the value of a specific bit of information depends on the probability that it will occur. In general, the informative value of an item in a message decreases in exact proportion to the likelihood of its occurrence.” 2.) Redundancy-the degree to which information is not unique in the system. “Those items in a message that add no new information are redundant. Perfect redundancy is equal to total repetition and is found in pure form only in machines. In human beings, the very act of repetition changes, in some minute way, the meaning or the message and the larger social significance of the event. Zero redundancy creates sheer unpredictability, for there is no way of knowing what items in a sequence will come next. As a rule, no message can reach maximum efficiency unless it contains a balance between the unexpected and the predictable, between what the receiver must has underscored to acquire understanding and what can be deleted as extraneous.” 3.) Noise-the measure of information not related to the message. “Any additional signal that interferes with the reception of information is noise. In electrical apparatus noise comes only from within the system, whereas in human activity it may occur quite apart from the act of transmission and reception. Interference may result, for example, from background noise in the immediate surroundings, from noisy channels (a crackling microphone), from the organization and semantic aspects of the message (syntactical and semantical noise), or from psychological interference with encoding and decoding. Noise need not be considered a detriment unless it produces a significant interference with the reception of the message. Even when the disturbance is substantial, the strength of the signal or the rate of redundancy may be increased to restore efficiency.” 4.) Channel Capacity-the measure of the maximum amount of information a channel can carry. “The battle against uncertainty depends upon the number of alternative possibilities the message eliminates. Suppose you wanted to know where a given checker was located on a checkerboard. If you start by asking if it is located in the first black square at the extreme left of the second row from the top and find the answer to be no, sixty-three possibilities remain-a high level of uncertainty. On the other hand, if you first ask whether it falls on any square at the top half of the board, the alternative will be reduced by half regardless of the answer. By following the first strategy it could be necessary to ask up to sixty-three questions (inefficient indeed!); but by consistently halving the remaining possibilities, you will obtain the right answer in no more than six tries.” vi. Provided an influential yet counter-intuitive definition of communication. From Littlejohn, Stephen W. Theories of Human Communication. Second Ed. Belmont, California: Wadsworth, 1983, p 116. Information is a measure of uncertainty, or entropy, in a situation. The greater the uncertainty, the more the information. When a situation is completely predictable, no information is pres­ent. Most people associate information with certainty or knowledge; consequently, this definition from information theory can be con­fusing. As used by the information theorist, the concept does not refer to a message, facts, or meaning. It is a concept bound only to the quantification of stimuli or signals in a situa­tion. On closer examination, this idea of informa­tion is not as distant from common sense as it first appears. We have said that information is the amount of uncertainty in the situation. An­other way of thinking of it is to consider infor­mation as the number of messages required to completely reduce the uncertainty in the situa­tion. For example, your friend is about to flip a coin. Will it land heads up or tails up? You are uncertain, you cannot predict. This uncertainty, which results from the entropy in the situation, will be eliminated by seeing the result of the flip. Now let’s suppose that you have received a tip that your friend’s coin is two headed. The flip is “fixed.” There is no uncertainty and therefore no information. In other words, you could not receive any message that would make you predict any better than you already have. In short, a situation with which you are com­pletely familiar has no information for you [emphasis added]. vii. See Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver, The Mathematical Theory of Communication (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1949). For a number of excellent brief secondary sources, see the bibliography. Two sources were particu­larly helpful in the preparation of this chapter: Allan R. Broadhurst and Donald K. Darnell, “An Introduction to Cybernetics and Information Theory,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 51 (1965): 442-53; Klaus Krippendorf, “Information Theory,” in Communication and Behavior, ed. G. Hanneman and W. McEwen (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1975), 351-89. c. Weaknesses i. Not analogous to much of human communication. 1.) “Only a fraction of the information conveyed in interpersonal encounters can be taken as remotely corresponding to the teletype action of statistically rare or redundant signals.” 2.) “Though Shannon’s technical concept of information is fascinating in many respects, it ranks among the least important ways of conceiving of what we recognize as “information.” “ ii. Only formal—does not account for content
1.) Mortensen: “Shannon and Weaver were concerned only with technical problems associated with the selection and arrangement of discrete units of information—in short, with purely formal matters, not content. Hence, their model does not apply to semantic or pragmatic dimensions of language. “
2.) Theodore Roszak provides a thoughtful critique of Shannon’s model in The Cult of Information. Roszak notes the unique way in whichShannon defined information:
Once, when he was explaining his work to a group of prominent scientists who challenged his eccentric definition, he replied, “I think perhaps the word ‘information’ is causing more trouble . . . than it is worth, except that it is difficult to find another word that is anywhere near right. It should be kept solidly in mind that [information] is only a measure of the difficulty in transmitting the sequences produced by some information source” [emphasis added]
3.) As Roszak points out, Shannon’s model has no mechanism for distinguishing important ideas from pure non-sense:
In much the same way, in its new technical sense, information has come to denote whatever can be coded for transmission through a channel that connects a source with a receiver, regardless of semantic content. For Shannon’s purposes, all the following are “information”:
E = mc2
Jesus saves.
Thou shalt not kill.
I think, therefore I am.
Phillies 8, Dodgers 5
‘Twas brillig and the slithy roves did gyre and gimble in the wabe.
And indeed, these are no more or less meaningful than any string of haphazard bits (x!9#44jGH?566MRK) I might be willing to pay to have telexed across the continent.
As the mathematician Warren Weaver once put it, explaining “the strange way in which, in this theory, the word ‘information’ is used .... It is surprising but true that, from the present viewpoint, two messages, one heavily loaded with meaning and the other pure nonsense, can be equivalent as regards information” [emphasis added]. iii. Static and Linear
1.) Mortensen: “Finally, the most serious shortcoming of the Shannon-Weaver communication system is that it is relatively static and linear. It conceives of a linear and literal transmission of information from one location to another. The notion of linearity leads to misleading ideas when transferred to human conduct; some of the problems can best be underscored by studying several alternative models of communication.”
2. Berlo’s S-M-C-R, 1960
a. Background
i. Ehninger, Gronbeck and Monroe: “The simplest and most influential message-centered model of our time came from David Berlo (Simplified from David K. Berlo, The Process of Communication (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1960)):” ii. Essentially an adaptation of the Shannon-Weaver model.

b. Significant after World War II because: i. The idea of “source” was flexible enough to include oral, written, electronic, or any other kind of “symbolic” generator-of-messages. ii. “Message” was made the central element, stressing the transmission of ideas. iii. The model recognized that receivers were important to communication, for they were the targets. iv. The notions of “encoding” and “decoding” emphasized the problems we all have (psycho-linguistically) in translating our own thoughts into words or other symbols and in deciphering the words or symbols of others into terms we ourselves can understand.
c. Weaknesses: i. Tends to stress the manipulation of the message—the encoding and decoding processes ii. It implies that human communication is like machine communication, like signal-sending in telephone, television, computer, and radar systems. iii. It even seems to stress that most problems in human communication can be solved by technical accuracy-by choosing the “right” symbols, preventing interference, and sending efficient messages. iv. But even with the “right” symbols, people misunderstand each other. “Problems in “meaning” or “meaningfulness” often aren’t a matter of comprehension, but of reaction, of agreement, of shared concepts, beliefs, attitudes, values. To put the com- back into communication, we need a meaning-centred theory of communication.” 3. Schramm’s Interactive Model, 1954 a. Background Wilbur Schramm (1954) was one of the first to alter the mathematical model of Shannon and Weaver. He conceived of decoding and encoding as activities maintained simultaneously by sender and receiver; he also made provisions for a two-way interchange of messages. Notice also the inclusion of an “interpreter” as an abstract representation of the problem of meaning.
(From Wilbur Schramm, “How Communication Works,” in The Process and Effects of Communication, ed. Wilbur Schramm (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1954), pp. 3-26):

b. Strengths
i. Schramm provided the additional notion of a “field of experience,” or the psychological frame of reference; this refers to the type of orientation or attitudes which interactants maintain toward each other. ii. Included Feedback
1.) Communication is reciprocal, two-way, even though the feedback may be delayed.
a.) Some of these methods of communication are very direct, as when you talk in direct response to someone.
b.) Others are only moderately direct; you might squirm when a speaker drones on and on, wrinkle your nose and scratch your head when a message is too abstract, or shift your body position when you think it’s your turn to talk.
c.) Still other kinds of feedback are completely indirect.
2.) For example,
a.) politicians discover if they’re getting their message across by the number of votes cast on the first Tuesday in November;
b.) commercial sponsors examine sales figures to gauge their communicative effectiveness in ads;
c.) teachers measure their abilities to get the material across in a particular course by seeing how many students sign up for it the next term. iii. Included Context
1.) A message may have different meanings, depending upon the specific context or setting.
2.) Shouting “Fire!” on a rifle range produces one set of reactions-reactions quite different from those produced in a crowded theater. iv. Included Culture
1.) A message may have different meanings associated with it depending upon the culture or society. Communication systems, thus, operate within the confines of cultural rules and expectations to which we all have been educated.
v. Other model designers abstracted the dualistic aspects of communication as a series of “loops,” (Mysak, 1970), “speech cycles” (Johnson, 1953), “co-orientation” (Newcomb, 1953), and overlapping “psychological fields” (Fearing, 1953).
c. Weaknesses
i. Schramm’s model, while less linear, still accounts for only bilateral communication between two parties. The complex, multiple levels of communication between several sources is beyond this model.
F. Non-linear Models
1. Dance’s Helical Spiral, 1967
a. Background
i. Depicts communication as a dynamic process. Mortensen: “The helix represents the way communication evolves in an individual from his birth to the existing moment.” ii. Dance: “At any and all times, the helix gives geometrical testimony to the concept that communication while moving forward is at the same moment coming back upon itself and being affected by its past behavior, for the coming curve of the helix is fundamentally affected by the curve from which it emerges. Yet, even though slowly, the helix can gradually free itself from its lower-level distortions. The communication process, like the helix, is constantly moving forward and yet is always to some degree dependent upon the past, which informs the present and the future. The helical communication model offers a flexible communication process” [p. 296].

b. Strengths
i. Mortensen: “As a heuristic device, the helix is interesting not so much for what it says as for what it permits to be said. Hence, it exemplifies a point made earlier: It is important to approach models in a spirit of speculation and intellectual play.” ii. Chapanis (1961) called “sophisticated play:”
The helix implies that communication is continuous, unrepeatable, additive, and accumulative; that is, each phase of activity depends upon present forces at work as they are defined by all that has occurred before. All experience contributes to the shape of the unfolding moment; there is no break in the action, no fixed beginning, no pure redundancy, no closure. All communicative experience is the product of learned no repeatable events which are defined in ways the organism develops to be self-consistent and socially meaningful. In short, the helix underscores the integrated aspects of all human communication as an evolving process that is always turned inward in ways that permit learning, growth, and discovery.
c. Weaknesses
i. May not be a model at all: too few variables.
Mortensen: “If judged against conventional scientific standards, the helix does not fare well as a model. Indeed, some would claim that it does not meet the requirements of a model at all. More specifically, it is not a systematic or formalized mode of representation. Neither does it formalize relationships or isolate key variables. It describes in the abstract but does not explicitly explain or make particular hypotheses testable.” ii. Generates Questions, but leaves much unanswered.
Mortensen: “For example, does not the helix imply a false degree of continuity from one communicative situation to another? Do we necessarily perceive all encounters as actually occurring in an undifferentiated, unbroken sequence of events? Does an unbroken line not conflict with the human experience of discontinuity, intermittent periods, false starts, and so forth? Is all communication a matter of growth, upward and onward, in an ever-broadening range of encounters? If the helix represents continuous learning and growth, how can the same form also account for deterioration and decay? What about the forces of entropy, inertia, decay, and pathology? And does not the unbroken line of a helix tacitly ignore the qualitative distinctions that inevitably characterize different communicative events? Also, what about movements which we define as utterly wasted, forced, or contrived? Along similar lines, how can the idea of continuous, unbroken growth include events we consider meaningless, artificial, or unproductive? Countless other questions could be raised. And that is the point. The model brings problems of abstraction into the open. “artificial, or unproductive? Countless other questions could be raised. And that is the point. The model brings problems of abstraction into the open. “
2. Westley and MacLean’s Conceptual Model, 1957
a. Background
i. Westley and MacLean realized that communication does not begin when one person starts to talk, but rather when a person responds selectively to his immediate physical surroundings. ii. Each interactant responds to his sensory experience (X1 . . . ) by abstracting out certain objects of orientation (X1 . . . 3m). Some items are selected for further interpretation or coding (X’) and then are transmitted to another person, who may or may not be responding to the same objects of orientation (X,b),

A conceptual model of communication. (Reprinted with permission from Westley and MacLean, Jr., 1957.)
(a) Objects of orientation (X1 ... X) in the sensory field of the receiver (B) are trans­mitted directly to him in abstracted form (XZ ... X3) after a process of selection from among all Xs, such selection being based at least in part on the needs and problems of B. Some or all messages are transmitted in more than one sense (X3m, for example). (b) The same Xs are selected and abstracted by communicator A and transmitted as a message (x') to B, who may or may not have part or all of the Xs in his own sensory field (X1b). Whether on purpose or not, B transmits feedback (fBA) to A. (c) The Xs that B receives may result from selected abstractions which are transmitted without purpose by encoder C, who acts for B and thus extends B's environment. C's selections are necessarily based in part on feedback (fBC) from B. (d) The messages which C transmits to B (x") represent C's selections both from the messages he gets from A (x') and from the abstractions in his own sensory field (X3c, X4), which may or may not be in A's field. Feedback moves not only from B to A (fBA) and from B to C (fBC) but also from C to A (fCA). Clearly, in mass communication, a large number of Cs receive from a very large number of As and transmit to a vastly larger number of Bs, who simultaneously receive messages from other Cs.

b. Strengths i. Accounts for Feedback ii. Accounts for a sensory field or, in Newcomb’s (1953) words, “objects of co- orientation.” iii. Accounts for non-binary interactions—more than just two people communicating directly. iv. Accounts for different modes. E.g. interpersonal vs. mass mediated communication.
c. Weaknesses
i. Westley and MacLean’s model accounts for many more variables in the typical communication interaction. It is, however, still two-dimensional. It cannot account for the multiple dimensions of the typical communication event involving a broad context and multiple messages.
3. Becker’s Mosaic Model, 1968
a. Background
i. Mortensen: “Becker assumes that most communicative acts link message elements from more than one social situation. In the tracing of various elements of a message, it is clear that the items may result in part from a talk with an associate, from an obscure quotation read years before, from a recent TV commercial, and from numerous other dissimilar situations—moments of introspection, public debate, coffee-shop banter, daydreaming, and so on. In short, the elements that make up a message ordinarily occur in bits and pieces. Some items are separated by gaps in time, others by gaps in modes of presentation, in social situations, or in the number of persons present.” ii. Mortensen: “Becker likens complex communicative events to the activity of a receiver who moves through a constantly changing cube or mosaic of information. The layers of the cube correspond to layers of information. Each section of the cube represents a potential source of information; note that some are blocked out in recognition that at any given point some bits of information are not available for use. Other layers correspond to potentially relevant sets of information.”
b. Strengths (from Mortensen)
i. It depicts the incredible complexity of communication as influenced by a constantly changing milieu.

ii. It also accounts for variations in exposure to messages. In some circumstances receivers may be flooded by relevant information; in others they may encounter only a few isolated items. Individual differences also influence level of exposure; some people seem to be attuned to a large range of information, while others miss or dismiss much as extraneous. iii. Different kinds of relationships between people and messages cut through the many levels of exposure. Some relationships are confined to isolated situations, others to recurrent events. Moreover, some relationships centre on a particular message, while others focus on more diffuse units; that is, they entail a complex set of relationships between a given message and the larger backdrop of information against which it is interpreted. iv. It may be useful to conceive of an interaction between two mosaics. One comprises the information in a given social milieu, as depicted in the model; the other includes the private mosaic of information that is internal to the receiver. The internal mosaic is every bit as complex as the one shown in the model, but a person constructs it for himself.
c. Weaknesses
i. Even though this model adds a third dimension, it does not easily account for all the possible dimensions involved in a communication event.

G. Multidimensional Models
1. Ruesch and Bateson, Functional Model, 1951
a. Mortensen: “Ruesch and Bateson conceived of communication as functioning simultaneously at four levels of analysis. One is the basic intrapersonal process (level 1). The next (level 2) is interpersonal and focuses on the overlapping fields of experience of two interactants. Group interaction (level 3) comprises many people. And finally a cultural level (level 4) links large groups of people. Moreover, each level of activity consists of four communicative functions: evaluating, sending, receiving, and channelling. Notice how the model focuses less on the structural attributes of communication-source, message, receiver, etc.—and more upon the actual determinants of the process.”
b. Mortensen: “A similar concern with communicative functions can be traced through the models of Carroll (1955), Fearing (1953), Mysak (1970), Osgood (1954), and Peterson (1958). Peterson’s model is one of the few to integrate the physiological and psychological functions at work in all interpersonal events.”
2. Barnlund’s Transactional Model, 1970
a. Background
i. Mortensen: “By far the most systematic of the functional models is the transactional approach taken by Barnlund (1970, pp. 83-102), one of the few investigators who made explicit the key assumptions on which his model was based.” ii. Mortensen: “Its most striking feature is the absence of any simple or linear directionality in the interplay between self and the physical world. The spiral lines connect the functions of encoding and decoding and give graphic representation to the continuous, unrepeatable, and irreversible assumptions mentioned earlier. Moreover, the directionality of the arrows seems deliberately to suggest that meaning is actively assigned or attributed rather than simply passively received.” iii. “Any one of three signs or cues may elicit a sense of meaning. Public cues (Cpu) derive from the environment. They are either natural, that is, part of the physical world, or artificial and man-made. Private objects of orientation (Cpr) are a second set of cues. They go beyond public inspection or awareness. Examples include the cues gained from sunglasses, earphones, or the sensory cues of taste and touch. Both public and private cues may be verbal or nonverbal in nature. What is critical is that they are outside the direct and deliberate control of the interactants. The third set of cues are deliberate; they are the behavioural and nonverbal (Cbehj cues that a person initiates and controls himself. Again, the process involving deliberate message cues is reciprocal. Thus, the arrows connecting behavioural cues stand both for the act of producing them-technically a form of encoding-and for the interpretation that is given to an act of others (decoding). The jagged lines (VVVV ) at each end of these sets of cues illustrate the fact that the number of available cues is probably without limit. Note also the valence signs (+, 0, or -) that have been attached to public, private, and behavioural cues. They indicate the potency or degree of attractiveness associated with the cues. Presumably, each cue can differ in degree of strength as well as in kind. “At each end of these sets of cues illustrate the fact that the number of available cues is probably without limit. Note also the valence signs (+, 0, or -) that have been attached to public, private, and behavioural cues. They indicate the potency or degree of attractiveness associated with the cues. Presumably, each cue can differ in degree of strength as well as in kind."

b. Strengths
Mortensen: “The assumptions posit a view of communication as transactions in which communicators attribute meaning to events in ways that are dynamic, continuous, circular, unrepeatable, irreversible, and complex.”
c. Weaknesses
Mortensen: “The exception is the assumption that communication describes the evolution of meaning. In effect, the model presupposes that the terms communication and meaning are synonymous and interchangeable. Yet nowhere does the model deal in even a rudimentary way with the difficult problem of meaning. The inclusion of decoding and encoding may be taken as only a rough approximation of the “evolution of meaning,” but such dualistic categories are not particularly useful in explaining the contingencies of meaning.”
H. Suggestions for Communication Models
1. A Systemic Model of Communication, 1972
a. Background
Some communication theorists have attempted to construct models in light of General Systems Theory. The “key assumption” of GST “is that every part of the system is so related to every other part that any change in one aspect results in dynamic changes in all other parts of the total system (Hall and Fagen, 1956). It is necessary, then, to think of communication not so much as individuals functioning under their own autonomous power but rather as persons interacting through messages. Hence, the minimum unit of measurement is that which ties the respective parties and their surroundings into a coherent and indivisible whole.”
b. A Systemic Communication Model would have to address the following axioms by Watzlawick and his associates (1967).
i. The Impossibility of Not Communicating
Interpersonal behaviour has no opposites. It is not possible to conceive of non-behaviour. If all behaviour in an interactional situation can be taken as having potential message value, it follows that no matter what is said and done, “one cannot not communicate.” Silence and inactivity are no exceptions. Even when one person tries to ignore the overtures of another, he nonetheless communicates a disinclination to talk. ii. Content and Relationship in Communication
All face-to-face encounters require some sort of personal recognition and commitment which in turn create and define the relationship between the respective parties. “Communication,” wrote Watzlawick (1967), “not only conveys information, but ... at the same time . . . imposes behaviour [p. 51].” Any activity that communicates information can be taken as synonymous with the content of the message, regardless of whether it is true or false, valid or invalid. . . . Each spoken word, every movement of the body, and all the eye glances furnish a running commentary on how each person sees himself, the other person, and the other person’s reactions. iii. The Punctuation of the Sequence of Events
Human beings “set up between them patterns of interchange (about which they may or may not be in agreement) and these patterns will in fact be rules of contingency regarding the exchange of reinforcement” [pp. 273-274]. iv. Symmetrical and Complementary Interaction
A symmetrical relationship evolves in the direction of heightening similarities; a complementary relationship hinges increasingly on individual differences. The word symmetrical suggests a relationship in which the respective parties mirror the behaviour of the other. Whatever one does, the other tends to respond in kind. Thus, an initial act of trust fosters a trusting response; suspicion elicits suspicion; warmth and congeniality encourage more of the same, and so on. In sharp contrast is a complementary relationship, where individual differences complement or dovetail into a sequence of change. Whether the complementary actions are good or bad, productive or injurious is not relevant to the concept.
2. Brown’s Holographic Model, 1987
a. Background
i. Rhetorical theorist, William Brown, proposed “The Holographic View of Argument” (Argumentation, 1 (1987): 89-102). ii. Arguing against an analytical approach to communication that dissects the elements of communication, Brown argued for seeing argument or communication as a hologram “which as a metaphor for the nature of argument emphasizes not the knowledge that comes from seeing the parts in the whole but rather that which arises from seeing the whole in each part.” iii. “The ground of argument in a holographic structure is a boundary less event.”
b. A model of communication based on Brown’s holographic metaphor would see connections between divided elements and divisions between connections.
3. A Fractal Model
a. Background
i. Polish-born mathematician, Benoit Mandelbrot, while working for IBM in the 1960s and 70s, became intrigued with the possibility of deriving apparently irregular shapes with a mathematical formula. "Clouds are not spheres," he said, "mountains are not cones, coastlines are not circles, and bark is not smooth, nor does lightning travel in a straight line." So if these regular geometric forms could not account for natural patterns, what could? ii. To solve the problem, Mandelbrot developed the fractal, a simple, repeating shape that can be created by repeating the same formula over and over.
“I coined fractal from the Latin adjective fractus. The corresponding Latin verb frangere means ‘to break’: to create irregular fragments. It is therefore sensible—and how appropriate for our needs!—that, in addition to ‘fragmented’ fractus should also mean ‘irregular,’ both meanings being preserved in fragment.” Benoit Mandelbrot

Construction of a Fractal Snowflake
A Koch snowflake is constructed by making progressive additions to a simple triangle. The additions are made by dividing the equilateral triangle’s sides into thirds, then creating a new triangle on each middle third. Thus, each frame shows more complexity, but every new triangle in the design looks exactly like the initial one. This reflection of the larger design in its smaller details is characteristic of all fractals. iii. Fractal shapes occur everywhere in nature: a head of broccoli, a leaf, a snowflake—almost any natural form. Seehttp://math.bu.edu/DYSYS/explorer/index.html. iv. Mandelbrot’s discovery changed computer graphics—by using fractal formulas, graphic engines could create natural-looking virtual landscapes. More importantly, fractal formulas can account for variations in other natural patterns such as economic markets and weather patterns.

Mandelbrot Set
Polish-born French mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot coined the term “fractal” to describe complex geometric shapes that, when magnified, continue to resemble the shape’s larger structure. This property, in which the pattern of the whole repeats itself on smaller and smaller scales, is called self-similarity. The fractal shown here, called the Mandelbrot set, is the graphical representation of a mathematical function.
v. Fractals allow for almost infinite density. For example, Mandelbrot considered the deceptively simple question: “How long is the coast line of Britain?” A typical answer will ignore inlets and bays smaller than a certain size. But if we account for these small coastline features, and then those smaller still, we would soon find ourselves with a line of potentially infinite and constantly changing length. A fractal equation could account for such a line. vi. Fractal geometry is in some ways related to chaos theory, the science of finding pattern in apparently random sequences, like a dripping faucet or weather patterns. Chaos theory has been applied to computer-generated landscapes, organizational structures (http://www.cio.com/archive/enterprise/041598_qanda_content.html), and even washing machines. Of course, it has also been applied to economics and the stock market, in particular: The stock markets are said to be nonlinear, dynamic systems. Chaos theory is the mathematics of studying such nonlinear, dynamic systems. Does this mean that chaoticians can predict when stocks will rise and fall? Not quite; however, chaoticians have determined that the market prices are highly random, but with a trend. The stock market is accepted as a self-similar system in the sense that the individual parts are related to the whole. Another self-similar system in the area of mathematics is fractals. Could the stock market be associated with a fractal? Why not? In the market price action, if one looks at the market monthly, weekly, daily, and intraday bar charts, the structure has a similar appearance. However, just like a fractal, the stock market has sensitive dependence on initial conditions. This factor is what makes dynamic market systems so difficult to predict. Because we cannot accurately describe the current situation with the detail necessary, we cannot accurately predict the state of the system at a future time. Stock market success can be predicted by chaoticians. Short-term investing, such as intraday exchanges are a waste of time. Short-term traders will fail over time due to nothing more than the cost of trading. However, over time, long-term price action is not random. Traders can succeed trading from daily or weekly charts if they follow the trends. A system can be random in the short-term and deterministic in the long term (http://www.duke.edu/~mjd/chaos/chaos.html). vii. One key premise in both chaos theory and fractals is "sensitive dependence on initial conditions." One early chaos theorist studying weather patterns stumbled on this when he was using a simple computer program to plot the course of only 12 weather variables. The computer printout ran out of paper, so he noted the status of the variables at an earlier point, stopped the process, replaced the paper and restarted the process at the earlier point. Even though the variables started at the same point, the patterns quickly diverged, demonstrating the similar or even identical initial conditions can lead to radically different outcomes (This story is in James Gleick, Chaos: Making A New Science).

This phenomenon led researchers to talk about "the butterfly effect" to illustrate how a very small change can produce significant changes in a system. The butterfly effect refers to the fact that a butterfly flapping its wings over Beijing can result in a change in the weather patterns in New York two months later. b. Applying Fractals to Communication
i. Like Dance’s Helix, seeing communication as a fractal form allows us to conceptualize the almost infinite density of a communication event. ii. Margaret J. Wheatley has attempted to apply Fractal theory and the science of chaos to management. (Leadership and the New Science: Learning about Organization from an Orderly Universe. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Kohler Publishers, 1992.) You can read some of Wheatley's ideas here. iii. The significance of this for the topic at hand is this: First, the patterns of complexity in natural systems, of which human beings are a part, is profoundly complex and not easily captured in any formula. Therefore, any predictions about the outcome of these systems are necessarily limited because of the difficulty of being sensitive to initial conditions. A model of communication drawn from fractals and chaos theory would have to reflect this complexity and respond to variations in initial conditions. iv. In addition, if we marry the fractal to other mathematical constructs, we can develop an even richer heuristic.
1.) The mathematician Rudy Rucker, in a way that only mathematicians can, said “Life is a fractal in Hilbert space.” (Mind Tools: The Five Levels of Mathematical Reality (Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1987) 248.)
2.) Hilbert Space is a theoretical multi-dimensional space. Rucker is saying that life is an infinitely variegated entity that exists in multiple dimensions.
3.) So, we can borrow Rucker’s phrase and say that communication is a fractal in Hilbert space.
Levels of Communication
Scholars categorize different levels and types of communication. These distinctions are somewhat artificial, since types of communication more realistically fit on a continuum rather than in separate categories. Nevertheless, to understand the various types of communication, it is helpful to consider various factors. The distinguishing characteristics include the following: Number of communicators (one through many). Physical proximity of the communicators in relation to each other (close or distant). Immediacy of the exchange, whether it is taking place either (1) live or in apparently real time or
(2) on a delayed basis. Number of sensory channels (including visual, auditory, tactile and so on). The context of the communication (whether face-to-face or mediated).
Note that each level of communication may be formal or informal, personal or impersonal. Note also that the purposes of communication may vary and overlap, giving a communicator a potentially wide list of choices for communication channels.
Broadly speaking, the levels of communication can be categorized in a four-fold pattern as intrapersonal, direct interpersonal, mediated interpersonal, and mass.

Intrapersonal Communication

Intrapersonal communication takes place within a single person, often for the purpose of clarifying ideas or analysing a situation. Other times, intrapersonal communication is undertaken in order to reflect upon or appreciate something. Three aspects of intrapersonal communication are self-concept, perception and expectation.

Self-concept is the basis for intrapersonal communication, because it determines how a persona sees him/her and is oriented toward others. Self-concept (also called self-awareness) involves three factors: beliefs, values and attitudes. Beliefs are basic personal orientation toward what is true or false, good or bad; beliefs can be descriptive or prescriptive. Values are deep-seated orientations and ideals, generally based on and consistent with beliefs, about right and wrong ideas and actions. Attitudes are learned predisposition toward or against a topic, ideals that stem from and generally are consistent with values. Attitudes often are global, typically emotional.

Beliefs, values and attitudes all influence behaviour, which can be either spoken opinion or physical action. Some psychologists include body image as an aspect of intrapersonal communication, in that body image is a way of perceiving ourselves, positively or negatively, according to the social standards of our culture. Other things that can affect self-concept are personal attributes, talents, social role, even birth order.

Whereas self-concept focuses internally, perception looks outward. Perception of the outside world also is rooted in beliefs, values and attitudes. It is so closely intertwined with self-concept that one feeds off the other, creating a harmonious understanding of both oneself and one’s world.

Meanwhile, expectations are future-oriented messages dealing with long-term roles, sometimes called life scripts. These sometimes are projections of learned relationships within the family or society.

Intrapersonal communication may involve different levels of communication activity: internal discourse, solo vocal communication, and solo written communication.

Internal discourse involves thinking, concentration and analysis. Psychologists include both daydreaming and nocturnal dreaming in this category. Prayer, contemplation and meditation also are part of this category, though from a theological point of view the argument may be made that this is not solely internal to one person.

Life Orientation

Life Orientation refers to the social, educational, psychological, emotional, and cultural experiences you have accumulated in your life. Wiseman and Barker believe that this is what makes you unique as an individual that you are now.

result of sum total of social, hereditary, personal factors influencing development as individual determines how messages are sent and received by ourselves

Reception

Reception is when body first receives stimuli and there are external or internal receptors. There are two types of stimuli: internal and external. One of these or both should occur before the reception stage. Internal stimuli may be physiological as well as psychological. External stimuli impinge upon the communicator from his immediate environment. They are received from sources outside the communicator’s body.

Internal Stimuli nerve impulses received by brain awareness of communicator to physiological and psychological conditions

External Stimuli from immediate or proximate environment

A. Overt External Stimuli received at conscious level

B. Cover External Stimuli received at preconscious / subconscious level

Discrimination

Discrimination is the selection process by which the brain determines what stimuli are allowed to stimulate thought. The discrimination process screens out the insignificant or weak stimuli without your being aware of it and it occurs below conscious level.

Regrouping

A second process in which operates simultaneously with discrimination is regrouping. In regrouping, the strongest/ most important stimuli selected are arranged in meaningful sequence.

Decoding

Most biologists agree that we think in terms of electro-chemical impulses. Decoding changes these raw stimuli into thought symbols. These thought symbols should be meaningful to the communicator as well as his social environment.

Ideation

Ideation is defined as the process of thinking, planning and organising your thoughts. Here the communicator could be thinking of and weighing all the possible solutions to real as well as made-up problems. During normal conversation, this process could occur in very brief moments. Ideation involves drawing together information and relating it to the message you wish to communicate.

where messages are thought out, planned and organized draws from individual’s knowledge or experience

Incubation

Incubation is the period when you spend time allowing ideas to grow and develop further. It is the process of allowing ideas to “jell” in the mind. It is where a person weighs, evaluates, reorganises, and reflects on message.

Encoding

The last symbolic process is encoding; it is the transforming symbols of thought into words, action or meaningful gestures. We choose our words and form the sentences in such a way as to effectively express our reactions.

Transmission

Transmission is referred to as the process of sending coded messages along a selected medium; origin of initiation is likewise the destination.

Feedback responding to one’s self

A. External self-feedback is the part of the message which you, the communicator receives and responds through air waves.

B. Internal Self-feedback response through bone conduction and muscular movement allows self-communicator to adjust message
Propaganda refers to messages accidentally or deliberately aimed at our emotions. Emotional appeals are powerful tools for persuasion. We are bombarded with propaganda techniques every day of our lives. There’s nothing wrong with propaganda techniques; some speakers used them for a common good.
Some examples of propaganda techniques (Wolff, et al, 1983) are:
1. Name Calling – a propaganda technique that attaches labels to a person or group. The labels are intended to incite the listener to react emotionally. These labels may be positive, such as “Superstar” to refer to popular actress, or negative such as, “Terror” to refer to a teacher who gives low grades or “Balimbing” to a politician changes political parties.

2. Glittering Generalities – a propaganda technique that uses the powerful connotations attached to words or expressions such as “human rights,” “pro-life,” etc.

3. Plain Folks – a propaganda technique used by a speaker looking, acting, dressing like ordinary people. He is trying to be one with his audience.

The plain folks propaganda technique was another of the seven main techniques identified by the IPA, or Institute for Propaganda Analysis. The plain folks device is an attempt by the propagandist to convince the public that his views reflect those of the common person and that they are also working for the benefit of the common person. The propagandist will often attempt to use the accent of a specific audience as well as using specific idioms or jokes. Also, the propagandist, especially during speeches, may attempt to increase the illusion through imperfect pronunciation, stuttering, and a more limited vocabulary. Errors such as these help add to the impression of sincerity and spontaneity. This technique is usually most effective when used with glittering generalities, in an attempt to convince the public that the propagandist views about highly valued ideas are similar to their own and therefore more valid. When confronted by this type of propaganda, the subject should consider the proposals and ideas separately from the personality of the presenter.
Example: a candidate for congress eating fried rice and dried fish with his hands together with factory workers.

4. Transfer – a propaganda technique that tries to transfer the qualities of an admired person or a revered idea a speaker is advocating or a product he is endorsing. Advertisement uses this technique a lot. Transfer is another of the seven main propaganda terms first used by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis in 1938. Transfer is often used in politics and during wartime. It is an attempt to make the subject view a certain item in the same way as they view another item, to link the two in the subjects mind. Although this technique is often used to transfer negative feelings for one object to another, it can also be used in positive ways. By linking an item to something the subject respects or enjoys, positive feelings can be generated for it. However, in politics, transfer is most often used to transfer blame or bad feelings from one politician to another of his friends or party members, or even to the party itself. When confronted with propaganda using the transfer technique, we should question the merits or problems of the proposal or idea independently of convictions about other objects or proposals.

5. Card Stacking – a propaganda technique that presents only the appealing side of an argument in the hope that an audience will be content and will no longer evaluate the entire message.

Card stacking, or selective omission, is one of the seven techniques identified by the IPA, or Institute for Propaganda Analysis. It involves only presenting information that is positive to an idea or proposal and omitting information contrary to it. Card stacking is used in almost all forms of propaganda, and is extremely effective in convincing the public. Although the majority of information presented by the card stacking approach is true, it is dangerous because it omits important information. The best way to deal with card stacking is to get more information.

6. Band Wagon – a propaganda technique that uses number as the basis of its appeal. For example, if you want a new pair of shoes, you work on the emotions of your parents by telling them that all the students in your school are using this new brand of shoes, and poor you are the only one left out of the group.

Bandwagon is one of the most common techniques in both wartime and peacetime and plays an important part in modern advertising. Bandwagon is also one of the seven main propaganda techniques identified by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis in 1938. Bandwagon is an appeal to the subject to follow the crowd, to join in because others are doing so as well. Bandwagon propaganda is, essentially, trying to convince the subject that one side is the winning side, because more people have joined it. The subject is meant to believe that since so many people have joined, that victory is inevitable and defeat impossible. Since the average person always wants to be on the winning side, he or she is compelled to join in. However, in modern propaganda, bandwagon has taken a new twist. The subject is to be convinced by the propaganda that since everyone else is doing it, they will be left out if they do not. This is, effectively, the opposite of the other type of bandwagon, but usually provokes the same results. Subjects of bandwagon are compelled to join in because everyone else is doing so as well. When confronted with bandwagon propaganda, we should weigh the pros and cons of joining in independently from the amount of people who have already joined, and, as with most types of propaganda, we should seek more information.

7. Hasty Generalisation - a propaganda technique that uses only a few bases for a conclusion. For example, when you say the “The Ilocanos are stingy,” there is no scientific basis that most of them are stingy because you just rely on hearsays.

8. Faulty-Cause-Effect Relationship - propaganda technique that assigns a fallacious causal relationship between two phenomena that occur one after the other.

9. Faulty Analogy - propaganda technique that compares instances and persons that are not similar in essential aspects.

What is listening?

What is listening? And what’s the difference between hearing and listening?

Hearing is sensing with our ears the words that are being spoken. Listening involves our other senses to help us understand the words being spoken. Listening is different from hearing. You hear sounds, words, and utterances. They impinge on your consciousness, but you are not concerned about their meaning. Listening is understanding what you hear. Thus, we say, we listen for meaning.

Hearing is passive because you do not exert an effort to do it. The sound just passes from one ear to the other through sound waves. Listening, in contrast, is active because it demands that you concentrate, interpret and respond.

Hearing is a natural and continuous process while listening is a learned skill. A person with normal hearing receives different sounds ceaselessly but we listen only when we want to.
When we hear we do it using our auditory system. When we listen we involve our auditory system plus our cognitive functions: paying attention, remembering, thinking and reasoning.
One hears words in a message. One listens to the words in a message and any others cues that complement the message. One hears voices and sounds. One listens to messages.
Listening goes beyond hearing the words that are being spoken. Listening means thinking about the message to understand it clearly and completely.
To listen is to hear the words, notice the tone of voice, sense the mood, and observe any other cues that complement the message.
What is listening? Listening is getting it.
The table below summarizes the differences between hearing and listening.

Hearing vs. Listening

HEARING
LISTENING
Perceiving words and sounds, Making sense of sounds
Perceiving and understanding the words
Noticing tone of voice, inflexion, volume
Noticing mood of the speaker
Keeping mind clear of distractions
Noticing nonverbal cues, including body language, facial expressions, distance between people
Perception (and sorting out) of sounds and voices
Applied cognition (Perceiving, paying attention, reasoning and remembering messages)
”I hear it”
”I get it”

The Listening Process

Why is all of this important, why do we care?
Importance of Listening
When we don’t listen, the speaker may feel invalidated and frustrated. The speaker may conclude that we don’t care or that we don’t have the capacity to understand him. Either conclusion may be inaccurate and lead the speaker to take actions we did not intend or desire.
Additionally, when we don’t listen, we may get the wrong message, if we get any message at all. We may interpret the message the wrong way. We may get to the wrong conclusions, we may misunderstand the speaker, and we may miss important information.
Why does this matter? Because we may make decisions or take actions based on inaccurate information. This could be prevented by becoming a better listener.
Reasons for Listening

We have varied reasons for listening. It may be one or several of the following:
1. To gain information and to use this information to improve ourselves or our lives, in general;
2. To discover the arguments for belief and action;
3. To assess the arguments presented to us.
4. To be entertained;
5. To get some emotional support;
6. To be inspired and motivated;
7. To make decisions; and
8. To show politeness.

Only you can decide why you should listen and to what you should listen. Bear in mind that it is a basic need and also a skill that has to be developed when you listen effectively, you don’t only get the information; you also gain friends.

Types of Listeners

1. The reluctant listeners
They may be not interested because they either know the topic or they know nothing about it. Another probable reason is they may not have been forced to listen. They listen perfunctorily inasmuch as they don’t want to be rude.

2. The appreciative listeners
They show that they are really interested in the speaker’s message. They respond positively by smiling, looking at the speaker, and uttering encouraging remarks. These are the listeners who find satisfaction in what they are doing. 3. The critical listeners
These are the listeners who are also interested in the message. They tend however, to analyse critically everything that they hear. 4. The aggressive listeners
These are the listeners who seem to be excited about issues. They often initiated sporadic arguments. They tend to intimidate the speakers because they appear ready to argue whenever they find cause to do so.

The Attributes of Listening:

1. All listening aims at comprehending the message. You listen because you want to understand the message.
2. Listening is a transactional process. As speakers share with you their message, you are expected to respond trough your verbal or non-verbal feedback.
3. Listening is interpretative. Meanings are not in words but in people
Types of Listening

1. Empathic listening In empathic listening, the listeners literally and figuratively offer their ears, shoulders, and time to the speaker. This type of listening is the most common in a therapeutic setting. It develops confidence and builds closer relationships.

2. Critical listening This is the better type of listening. The listeners concentrate on the message with the end in view of enriching their knowledge and generating better decisions or generalisations.
You should strive to be a critical listener. Raise a question to clarify a point and seek evidence to evaluate the ideas presented to you. It is not wrong to be critical as long as your purpose is clear and accurate about what you have heard. To improve your listening skills, here is some behaviour you should try to avoid:
1. Overly criticising the speakers
2. Arguing mentally with the speakers
3. Prejudging the speakers
4. Reacting emotionally
5. Causing distraction Improving your listening skills

Listening skills are perhaps the most important communication skill one can acquire and master.

By becoming a good listener, you open the door to good communication.
Before we delve into the subject of becoming a better listener, let’s answer a question that is usually asked.

Barriers to Effective Listening
The most common barriers to being a good listener are distractions, misinterpretations and attachment to our opinions.
Overcoming these barriers is straightforward and can be the biggest step in helping you communicate better with others in your life.
Skilled listeners are active listeners.

Active Listening
An active listener is a person engaged in what a speaker is saying. The active listener pays full attention to the words, and at times, the mood of the person speaking.
There are several degrees of active listening that range from merely repeating what the speaker said, to paraphrasing, to reflecting (mirroring what the speaker said using your own words).

Exercises for improving listening skills
By reading and understanding the various levels you can listen at, and by practicing the recommended exercises, you can become a skilled listener and a skilled communicator.
For additional practice, do these active listening activities

A person that knows how to listen is someone who enjoys the fruits of meaningful and close relationships with others.
When you truly and actively listen to someone, you give that person a precious and sought after gift: attention.
In turn, the speaker is more inclined to reciprocate with the gift of his attention.

Self-Concept

The image of who you are is your self-concept. It composes of your feelings and thoughts, and your strengths and weaknesses, your abilities and limitations.

The JOHARI Window

Johari Window: A diagram called the Johari Window (above) provides a useful way to graphically visualize the process of self-disclosure. The four quadrants of panes represent the different ways information can be seen and observed, both by oneself and by others. The open pane includes what everyone can see: your physical looks, occupation, economic and social situation, as well as what you say and write. The hidden pane includes information about yourself that you have not revealed to others: secrets, hopes, fantasies. The blind pane is what others see in you that you cannot see: shortcoming, talents, and faults. Finally, the unknown pane includes information that nobody yet knows: untapped potential, undiscovered interests.

The Johari Window, named after the first names of its inventors, Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham, is one of the most useful models describing the process of human interaction. A four paned "window," as illustrated above, divides personal awareness into four different types, as represented by its four quadrants: open, hidden, blind, and unknown. The lines dividing the four panes are like window shades, which can move as an interaction progresses.

In this model, each person is represented by their own window. Let's describe mine:

1. The "open" quadrant represents things that both I know about myself, and that you know about me. For example, I know my name, and so do you, and if you have explored some of my website, you know some of my interests. The knowledge that the window represents, can include not only factual information, but my feelings, motives, behaviours, wants, needs and desires... indeed, any information describing who I am. When I first meet a new person, the size of the opening of this first quadrant is not very large, since there has been little time to exchange information. As the process of getting to know one another continues, the window shades move down or to the right, placing more information into the open window, as described below.

2. The "blind" quadrant represents things that you know about me, but that I am unaware of. So, for example, we could be eating at a restaurant, and I may have unknowingly gotten some food on my face. This information is in my blind quadrant because you can see it, but I cannot. If you now tell me that I have something on my face, then the window shade moves to the right, enlarging the open quadrant's area. Now, I may also have blind spots with respect to many other much more complex things. For example, perhaps in our on-going conversation, you may notice that eye contact seems to be lacking. You may not say anything, since you may not want to embarrass me, or you may draw your own inferences that perhaps I am being insincere. Then the problem is how can I get this information out in the open, since it may be affecting the level of trust that is developing between us? How can I learn more about myself? Unfortunately, there is no readily available answer. I may notice a slight hesitation on your part, and perhaps this may lead to a question. But who knows if I will pick this up, or if your answer will be on the mark.

3. The "hidden" quadrant represents things that I know about myself that you do not know. So for example, I have not told you, nor mentioned anywhere on my website, what one of my favourite ice cream flavours is. This information is in my "hidden" quadrant. As soon as I tell you that I love "Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia" flavoured ice cream, I am effectively pulling the window shade down, moving the information in my hidden quadrant and enlarging the open quadrant's area. Again, there are vast amounts of information, virtually my whole life's story that has yet to be revealed to you. As we get to know and trust each other, I will then feel more comfortable disclosing more intimate details about myself. This process is called: "Self-disclosure."

4. The "unknown" quadrant represents things that neither I know about myself, nor you know about me. For example, I may disclose a dream that I had, and as we both attempt to understand its significance, a new awareness may emerge, known to neither of us before the conversation took place. Being placed in new situations often reveals new information not previously known to self or others. The process of moving previously unknown information into the open quadrant, thus enlarging its area, has been likened to Maslow's concept of self-actualization. The process can also be viewed as a game, where the open quadrant is synonymous with the win-win situation.

INCREASING SELF-AWARENESS

Here are some ways to increase your self-awareness:

1. Have a dialogue with yourself.
2. Listen for feedback.
3. Open-up.
4. Reduce your blind self.
5. Know your different selves.
Self-esteem is a term used in to reflect a person's overall evaluation or appraisal of his or her own worth. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs (for example, "I am competent", "I am worthy") and emotions such as triumph, despair, pride and shame; some would distinguish how 'the self-concept is what we think about the self; self-esteem, the positive or negative evaluation of the self, is how we feel about it'.
Here are some ways to increase your self-esteem:

1. Engage in self-affirmation.
2. Seek out nurturing people.
3. Work on projects that will result success.
4. You do not have to be loved by everyone.
Forms of Communication

Verbal Communication
Communication is at the heart of any relationship, be it familial, business, romantic, or friendly. While there have been significant advances in how we understand body language and other forms of communication, verbal communication continues to be the most important aspect of our interaction with other people. It’s important to understand both the benefits and shortcomings of this most basic communication.
Advantages of Verbal Communication
In a world flooded with E-mail and other text-based communication, verbal communication has several advantages over other forms of communication. For example, we can slow down and present points one-by-one and make sure that each point is clearly communicated and understood before moving on to the next point. This can greatly increase both the speed and accuracy of communication.
Verbal communication is far more precise than non-verbal cues. Different gestures have different interpretations between different cultures and even between two members of the same culture. One famous example is Richard Nixon’s use of the victory finger salute in Australia, as he was unaware that the gesture was a vulgarity there. However, verbal communication is most effective when combined with other forms of communication like body language and gestures to help cue the intensity of the verbiage.
Verbal communication is also the most effective way of explaining intangible concepts, as problem areas can be readily addressed and explained. Verbal communication also does not use natural resources in the way that technological methods or printing can.

Disadvantages of Verbal Communication
Of course, this does not mean that verbal communication is the best option in every circumstance. From a legal point of view, verbal communication is sometimes problematic because there is a much smaller chance of an objective record. Verbal communication can also be quickly forgotten, especially if there are multiple points to consider. Additionally, there is always the possibility of miscommunications leading to angry responses or quick escalation of a situation that could be less intense in written form.

Clarification and Understanding
There are over three thousand languages and dialects that are in use in the world. This variety means that communication can be a difficult problem to overcome. Even within the same language, people have different conceptions of the same word. Words do not have a meaning of their own, but are like placeholders or envelopes into which each individual puts their own particular meaning. Verbal communication allows for the most immediate feedback and clarification of words. Frequently, the same word has different meanings for different people depending on their own history, upbringing or social status. Direct verbal communication allows for clarification of these misunderstandings as quickly as possible.
Nonverbal Communication
Nonverbal communication is usually understood as the process of communication through sending and receiving wordless (mostly visual) messages between people. Messages can be communicated through gestures and touch, by body language or posture, by expression and eye contact. Nonverbal messages could also be communicated through material exponential; meaning, objects or artefacts (such as clothing, hairstyles or architecture). Speech contains nonverbal elements known as paralanguage, including voice quality, rate, pitch, volume, and speaking style, as well prosodic features such as rhythm, intonation, and stress. Likewise, written texts have nonverbal elements such as handwriting style, spatial arrangement of words, or the physical layout of a page. However, much of the study of nonverbal communication has focused on face-to-face interaction, where it can be classified into three principal areas: environmental conditions where communication takes place, physical characteristics of the communicators, and behaviours of communicators during interaction.

Importance
“Most social psychologists will tell you that nonverbal communication makes up about two-thirds of all communication between two people or between one speaker and a group of listeners.” Nonverbal communication can portray a message both verbally and with the correct body signals. “There are numerous elements of what we call body language. They include physical features, both changeable and unchangeable, your gestures and signals you send to others at a conscience and unconscious level, and the space that you use when communicating with others.” The wrong message can be established if the body language conveyed does not match a verbal message. Nonverbal communication strengthens a first impression in common situations like attracting a partner or in a business interview. “You have less than ten seconds and realistically close to four seconds to make a good impression on those with whom you come in contact.” First encounters or interactions with another person strongly affect a person’s lifestyle. “People are more likely to believe that the first things they learn are the truth.” When the other person or group is absorbing the message they are focused on the entire environment around them, meaning, the other person uses all five senses in the interaction. “Sight makes up 83% of the impact on the brain of information from the senses during a visual presentation. Taste makes up 1%, Hearing makes up 11%, smell 3% and touch 2%.”

Study

“Recent psychological research has revealed that college students who look at a two second video clip of a professor teaching can predict how students who spend an entire semester with that professor will like the professor by the end of the semester.” In concluding this study, students who rated the professor as highly likeable from a first impression only found the class much more enjoyable throughout the semester versus the students who did not.

History

The first scientific study of nonverbal communication was Charles Darwin's book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. He argued that all mammals reliably show emotion in their faces. Seventy years later Silvan Tomkins (1911–1991) began his classic studies on human emotions in Affects Imagery Consciousness volumes 1-4. Rudolf Laban (1879–1958) and Warren Lamb (1923- ) raised body movement analysis in the world of dance to a high level. Studies now range across a number of fields, including, linguistics, semiotics and social psychology. Another large influence in nonverbal communication was Birdwhistell. “Anthropologist Ray Birdwhistell pioneered the original study of nonverbal communication—what he called ‘kinesics.’ He estimated that the average person actually speaks words for a total of about ten or eleven minutes a day and that the average sentence takes only about 2.5 seconds. Birdwhistell also estimated we can make and recognize around 250,000 facial expressions.”

Posture

Posture or a person's bodily stance communicates a variety of messages. Posture can be used to determine a participant’s degree of attention or involvement, the difference in status between communicators, and the level of fondness a person has for the other communicator, depending on body “openness”. Studies investigating the impact of posture on interpersonal relationships suggest that mirror-image congruent postures, where one person’s left side is parallel to the other person’s right side, leads to favourable perception of communicators and positive speech; a person who displays a forward lean or decreases a backward lean also signifies positive sentiment during communication.

There are many different types of posture. Some of these postures include: slouching, towering, legs spread, jaw thrust, shoulders forward, and arm crossing. These nonverbal behaviours can indicate feelings and attitudes toward another person. An example of good posture includes standing erect, and leaning forward communicates to a person that you are approachable, receptive, and friendly. A person talking to someone that is constantly looking at the floor or ceiling makes it seem as though disinterest with the conversation. Always try to avoid negative posture. “Lean forward when listening, stand straight when speaking.”

Posture can be situation-relative. “A nineteen-year-old college student from New York will use different postures than a Mid-western housewife, and a construction worker in the state of Washington will use different postures than a salesman in Chicago[4] Another example of posture being situational on more of a daily basis can be described in Driver’s book: “Four situational norms of posture would be, Flirting, where the norm is 60% eye contact, Job Interview with a relaxed and open body language, Business Negotiation where the norm is leaning back while steeping and Buying a Car where most have hands on hips with feet more than ten inches apart.”
Clothing

Clothing is the most common form of non-verbal communication. The types of clothing that an individual wears convey nonverbal clues about his or her personality, background and financial status, and how others will respond to them, for instance, “Miniskirts can give a woman the appearance that she is not approachable.” This demonstrates a certain response, in this case, a negative and unapproachable response, simply via appearance. It is important to understand that their exterior and demeanour influence how others will react to them. An individual’s clothing style can demonstrate their culture, mood, and level of confidence, interests, age, authority, value/beliefs, and their sexual identity. Some examples of a person’s clothing type in which a negative message is being conveyed could include the following: A person with a sloppy appearance, messy hair, and wrinkled clothes sends the message, "I don't care". Also, a woman who wears a tight dress with a low-cut neckline may convey the message "I'm attractive and sexy" or “Want to come back to my place tonight"? By showing the positive aspects of his or her self through dress attire and grooming, one can inspire confidence in his or her abilities.
Nonverbal elements such as physique, height, weight, hair, skin colour, gender, odours, and clothing send nonverbal messages during interaction. For example, a study, carried out in Vienna, Austria, of the clothing worn by women attending discotheques showed that in certain groups of women (especially women who were without their partners), motivation for sex and levels of sexual hormones were correlated with aspects of their clothing, especially the amount of skin displayed and the presence of sheer clothing. Thus, to some degree, clothing sends signals about interest in courtship.

Gestures may be made with the hands, arms or body, and also include movements of the head, face and eyes, such as winking, nodding, or rolling one's eyes. Although the study of gesture is still in its infancy, some broad categories of gestures have been identified by researchers. The most familiar are the so-called emblems or quotable gestures. These are conventional, culture-specific gestures that can be used as replacement for words, such as the hand wave used in western cultures for "hello" and "goodbye." A single emblematic gesture can have a very different significance in different cultural contexts, ranging from complimentary to highly offensive. There are some universal gestures like the shoulder shrug. “The shoulder shrug is a good example of a universal gesture that is used to show that a person doesn’t know or doesn’t understand what you are saying. It’s a multiple gesture that has three main parts: exposed palms to show nothing is being concealed in the hands, hunched shoulders to protect the throat from attack, and raised brow, which is a universal, submissive greeting”

Gestures can also be categorized as either speech independent or speech related. Speech-independent gestures are dependent upon culturally accepted interpretation and have a direct verbal translation. A wave or a [V-sign| peace sign] are examples of speech-independent gestures. Speech-related gestures are used in parallel with verbal speech; this form of nonverbal communication is used to emphasize the message that is being communicated. Speech-related gestures are intended to provide supplemental information to a verbal message such as pointing to an object of discussion.

Eye-contact is the primary notion to where a message of attention is being conveyed in engagement with Nonverbal communication. Eye contact is when two people look at each other's eyes at the same time; it can indicate interest, attention, and involvement. Studies have found that people use their eyes to indicate their interest and not just with the frequently recognized actions of winking and movements of the eyebrows, but it can indicate social behaviour. Men and women have different ways of eye contact. Men stare at the women they are interested in for at least a half an hour were as women tend to always keep their eyes roaming around the room to see who is there. Disinterest is highly noticeable when showing little eye-contact in a social setting. Pupils dilate when they are interested in the other person. People, sometimes, even, without consciously doing so, probe each other's eyes and faces for positive or negative mood signs. Generally speaking, the longer the eye contact between two people the greater the intimacy is felt inside. According to Eckman, “Eye contact (also called mutual gaze) is another major channel of nonverbal communication. The duration of eye contact is its most meaningful aspect.) Gaze comprises the actions of looking while talking and listening. The length of a gaze, the frequency of glances, patterns of fixation, pupil dilation, and blink rate are all important cues in nonverbal communication. “Liking generally increases as mutual gazing increases.” Along with the detection of disinterest, deceit can also be observed in a person. Hogan states “when someone is being deceptive their eyes tend to blink a lot more. Eyes act as leading indicator of truth or deception,” Eye aversion is the avoidance of eye contact. Eye contact and facial expressions provide important social and emotional information. Overall, as Pease states, “Give the amount of eye contact that makes everyone feel comfortable. Unless looking at others is a cultural no-no, lookers gain more credibility than non-lookers”

In concealing deception, nonverbal communication makes it easier to lie without being revealed. This is the conclusion of a study where people watched made-up interviews of persons accused of having stolen a wallet. The interviewees lied in about 50% of the cases. People had access to either written transcript of the interviews, or audio tape recordings, or video recordings. The more clues that were available to those watching, the larger was the trend that interviewees who actually lied were judged to be truthful. That is, people that are clever at lying can use voice tone and face expression to give the impression that they are truthful.[15] However, there are many cited examples of cues to deceit,[16]delivered via nonverbal (Para verbal and visual) communication channels, through which deceivers supposedly unwittingly provide clues to their concealed knowledge or actual opinions. Most studies examining the nonverbal cues to deceit rely upon human coding of video footage (c.f. Vrij, 2008[17]), although a recent study also demonstrated bodily movement differences between truth-tellers and liars using an automated body motion capture system.

Deceit also involves distress. One recent study set out to find how well people could communicate distress signals non-verbally. The research shows that you can identify certain social cues that can help you to predict that person's behaviour. This is not always true though. The cues depend on the mind-set of the person and cannot be predicted. The study was able to find 55 identifiable distress cues.

Genetics

“In the study of nonverbal communications, the limbic brain is where the action is…because it is the part of the brain that reacts to the world around us reflexively and instantaneously, in real time, and without thought.” Genetics is a harder field to study in dealing with Nonverbal Communication, but there is evidence that the nonverbal cues made from person-to-person do not entirely have something to do with environment. “When you cross your arms on your chest, do you cross left over or right over left? – Seven out of ten people cross their left arm over their right…Evidence suggests that this may well be a genetic gesture that cannot be changed.” So how is it studied in an entirely environmentally free environment? “Evidence has been collected from observation of blind people (who could not have learned nonverbal signals through a visual channel).”

Other than gestures, phenotypic traits can also convey certain messages in nonverbal communication, for instance, eye colour, hair colour and height. Research into height has generally found that taller people are perceived as being more impressive. Melamed and Bozionelos (1992) studied a sample of managers in the United Kingdom and found that height was a key factor in who was promoted. Height can have benefits and depressors too. “Being tall, however, is not always a bonus. While tall people often command more respect than short people, height can also be detrimental to some aspects of one-to-one communication, for instance, where you need to ‘talk on the same level’ or have an ‘eye-to-eye’ discussion with another person and do not want to be perceived as too big for your boots.”

When you are talking to someone stay out of their “intimate space” they want to talk to you but just do not want to have you all over them. “ Most animals have a certain air space around their bodies that they claim as their personal space…1-18 in being the intimate zone, 18-48 in being the personal zone, 4-12 ft. being the social zone and the public zone at over 12 ft.”
Proxemics is the study of how people use and perceive the physical space around them. The space between the sender and the receiver of a message influences the way the message is interpreted. In addition, the perception and use of space varies significantly across cultures and different settings within cultures. Space in nonverbal communication may be divided into four main categories: intimate, social, personal, and public space.
The term territoriality is used in the study of proxemics to explain human behaviour regarding personal space. Hargie & Dickson (2004, p. 69) identify 4 such territories:
1. Primary territory: This refers to an area that is associated with someone who has exclusive use of it. An example is a house that others cannot enter without the owner’s permission.
2. Secondary territory: Unlike primary territory, there is no “right” to occupancy of secondary territory, but people may still feel some degree of ownership of such space as they develop the custom of occupying it. For example, someone may sit in the same seat in church every week and feel irritated if someone else sits there.
3. Public territory: this refers to an area that is available to all, but only for a set period, such as a parking space or a seat in a library. Although people have only a limited claim over that space, they often extend that claim. For example, it was found that people take longer to leave a parking space when someone is waiting to take that space.
4. Interaction territory: this is space held by others when they are interacting. For example, when a group is talking to each other on a footpath, others will walk around the group rather than disturb their interaction territory.

Chronemics is the study of the use of time in nonverbal communication. The way we perceive time, structure our time and react to time is a powerful communication tool and helps set the stage for communication. Time perceptions include punctuality and the willingness to wait, plus the speed of speech and how long people are willing to listen. The timing and frequency of an action as well as the tempo and rhythm of communications within an interaction contributes to the interpretation of nonverbal messages. Gudykunst & Ting-Toomey (1988) identified two dominant time patterns: monochromic time and polychronic time.

Monochronic Time
A monochronic time system means that things are done one at a time and time is segmented into precise, small units. Under this system time is scheduled, arranged and managed.
The United States is considered a monochronic society. This perception of time is learned and rooted in the Industrial Revolution, where "factory life required the labour force to be on hand and in place at an appointed hour" (Guerrero, DeVito & Hecht, 1999, p. 238). For Americans, time is a precious resource not to be wasted or taken lightly. "We buy time, save time, spend time and make time. Our time can be broken down into years, months, days, hours, minutes, seconds and even milliseconds. We use time to structure both our daily lives and events that we are planning for the future. We have schedules that we must follow: appointments that we must go to at a certain time, classes that start and end at certain times, work schedules that start and end at certain times, and even our favourite TV shows, that start and end at a certain time.”
As communication scholar Edward T. Hall wrote regarding the American viewpoint of time in the business world, “the schedule is sacred.” Hall says that for monochronic cultures, “time is tangible” and viewed as a commodity where “time is money” or “time is wasted.” The result of this perspective is that Americans and other monochronic cultures, such as the German and Swiss, place a paramount value on schedules, tasks and “getting the job done.” These cultures are committed to regimented schedules and may view those who do not subscribe to the same perception of time as disrespectful.
Monochronic cultures include Germany, Canada, Switzerland, the United States, and Scandinavia.

Polychronic Time
A polychronic time system is a system where several things can be done at once, and a more fluid approach is taken to scheduling time. Unlike European-Americans and most northern and western European cultures, Native American, Latin American, Arab and African cultures use the polychronic system of time.
These cultures are much less focused on the preciseness of accounting for each and every moment. As Raymond Cohen notes, polychronic cultures are deeply steeped in tradition rather than in tasks—a clear difference from their monochronic counterparts. Cohen notes that "Traditional societies have all the time in the world. The arbitrary divisions of the clock face have little saliency in cultures grounded in the cycle of the seasons, the invariant pattern of rural life, and the calendar of religious festivities" (Cohen, 1997, p. 34).
Instead, their culture is more focused on relationships, rather than watching the clock. They have no problem being “late” for an event if they are with family or friends, because the relationship is what really matters. As a result, polychronic cultures have a much less formal perception of time. They are not ruled by precise calendars and schedules. Rather, “cultures that use the polychronic time system often schedule multiple appointments simultaneously so keeping on schedule is an impossibility.”
Polychronic cultures include Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Mexico, the Philippines, India, and many in Africa

Kinesics
The term "kinesics" was first used (in 1952) by Ray Birdwhistell, an anthropologist who wished to study how people communicate through posture, gesture, stance, and movement. Part of Birdwhistell's work involved making films of people in social situations and analysing them to show different levels of communication not clearly seen otherwise. Several other anthropologists, including Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, also studied kinesics.

Haptics: touching in communication

A high five is an example of communicative touch.
Haptics is the study of touching as nonverbal communication, and haptic communication refers to how people and other animals communicate via touching.
Touches among humans that can be defined as communication include handshakes, holding hands, kissing (cheek, lips, and hand), back slapping, high fives, a pat on the shoulder, and brushing an arm. Touching of oneself may include licking, picking, holding, and scratching.[10] These behaviours are referred to as "adapters" or "tells" and may send messages that reveal the intentions or feelings of a communicator. The meaning conveyed from touch is highly dependent upon the culture, the context of the situation, the relationship between communicators, and the manner of touch.
Touch is an extremely important sense for humans; as well as providing information about surfaces and textures it is a component of nonverbal communication in interpersonal relationships, and vital in conveying physical intimacy. It can be both sexual (such as kissing) and platonic (such as hugging or tickling).

Touch is the earliest sense to develop in the foetus. The development of an infant's haptic senses and how it relates to the development of the other senses such as vision have been the target of much research. Human babies have been observed to have enormous difficulty surviving if they do not possess a sense of touch, even if they retain sight and hearing. Babies who can perceive through touch, even without sight and hearing, tend to fare much better. Touch can be thought of as a basic sense in that most life forms have a response to being touched, while only a subset have sight and hearing.
In chimpanzees the sense of touch is highly developed. As new-borns they see and hear poorly but cling strongly to their mothers. Harry Harlow conducted a controversial study involving rhesus monkeys and observed that monkeys reared with a "terry cloth mother," a wire feeding apparatus wrapped in soft terry cloth that provided a level of tactile stimulation and comfort, were considerably more emotionally stable as adults than those with a mere wire mother.(Harlow,1958)
Touching is treated differently from one country to another and socially acceptable levels of touching vary from one culture to another (Remland, 2009). In Thai culture, for example, touching someone's head may be thought rude. Remland and Jones (1995) studied groups of people communicating and found that touching was rare among the English (8%), the French (5%) and the Dutch (4%) compared to Italians (14%) and Greeks (12.5%).

Functions of nonverbal communication
Argyle (1970) put forward the hypothesis that whereas spoken language is normally used for communicating information about events external to the speakers, non-verbal codes are used to establish and maintain interpersonal relationships. It is considered more polite or nicer to communicate attitudes towards others non-verbally rather than verbally, for instance in order to avoid embarrassing situations.
Argyle (1988) concluded there are five primary functions of nonverbal bodily behaviour in human communication:
Express emotions
Express interpersonal attitudes
To accompany speech in managing the cues of interaction between speakers and listeners
Self-presentation of one’s personality
Rituals (greetings)
In regards to expressing interpersonal attitudes, humans communicate interpersonal closeness through a series of nonverbal actions known as immediacy behaviours. Examples of immediacy behaviours are smiling, touching, open body positions, and eye contact. Cultures that display these immediacy behaviours are considered high-contact cultures.

Criticism
An interesting question is: When two people are communicating face-to-face, how much of the meaning is communicated verbally, and how much is communicated non-verbally? This was investigated by Albert Mehrabian and reported in two papers. The latter paper concluded: "It is suggested that the combined effect of simultaneous verbal, vocal, and facial attitude communications is a weighted sum of their independent effects - with coefficients of .07, .38, and .55, respectively." This "rule" that clues from spoken words, from the voice tone, and from the facial expression, contribute 7 %, 38 %, and 55 % respectively to the total meaning, is widely cited. It is presented on all types of popular courses with statements like "scientists have found out that . . . “In reality, however, it is extremely weakly founded. First, it is based on the judgment of the meaning of single tape-recorded words, i.e. a very artificial context. Second, the figures are obtained by combining results from two different studies which potentially cannot be combined. Third, it relates only to the communication of positive versus negative emotions. Fourth, it relates only to women, as men did not participate in the study.
Since then, other studies have analysed the relative contribution of verbal and nonverbal signals under more naturalistic situations. Argyle,[13]using video tapes shown to the subjects, analysed the communication of submissive/dominant attitude and found that non-verbal cues had 4.3 times the effect of verbal cues. The most important effect was that body posture communicated superior status in a very efficient way. On the other hand, a study by Hsee et al.[18] had subjects judge a person on the dimension happy/sad and found that words spoken with minimal variation in intonation had an impact about 4 times larger than face expressions seen in a film without sound. Thus, the relative importance of spoken words and facial expressions may be very different in studies using different set-ups.

Interaction of verbal and nonverbal communication
When communicating, nonverbal messages can interact with verbal messages in six ways: repeating, conflicting, complementing, substituting, regulating and accenting/moderating. Conflicting Verbal and nonverbal messages within the same interaction can sometimes send opposing or conflicting messages. A person verbally expressing a statement of truth while simultaneously fidgeting or avoiding eye contact may convey a mixed message to the receiver in the interaction. Conflicting messages may occur for a variety of reasons often stemming from feelings of uncertainty, ambivalence, or frustration.[23]When mixed messages occur, nonverbal communication becomes the primary tool people use to attain additional information to clarify the situation; great attention is placed on bodily movements and positioning when people perceive mixed messages during interactions

Complementing
Accurate interpretation of messages is made easier when nonverbal and verbal communications complement each other. Nonverbal cues can be used to elaborate on verbal messages to reinforce the information sent when trying to achieve communicative goals; messages have been shown to be remembered well when nonverbal signals affirm the verbal exchange.

Substituting
Nonverbal behaviour is sometimes used as the sole channel for communication of a message. People learn to identify facial expressions, body movements, and body positioning as corresponding with specific feelings and intentions. Nonverbal signals can be used without verbal communication to convey messages; when nonverbal behaviour does not effectively communicate a message; verbal methods are used to enhance understanding.

Clinical studies of nonverbal communication

From 1977 to 2004, the influence of disease and drugs on receptivity of nonverbal communication was studied by teams at three separate medical schools using a similar paradigm. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, Yale University and Ohio State University had subjects observe gamblers at a slot machine awaiting payoffs. The amount of this payoff was read by nonverbal transmission prior to reinforcement. This technique was developed by and the studies directed by psychologist, Dr. Robert E. Miller and psychiatrist, Dr. A. James Giannini. These groups reported diminished receptive ability in heroin addicts and phencyclidine abusers was contrasted with increased receptivity in cocaine addicts. Men with major depression manifested significantly decreased ability to read nonverbal cues when compared with euthymic men.
In some subjects tested for ability to read nonverbal cues, intuitive paradigms were apparently employed while in others a cause and effect approach was used. Subjects in the former group answered quickly and before reinforcement occurred. They could not give a rationale for their particular responses. Subjects in the latter category delayed their response and could offer reasons for their choice. The level of accuracy between the two groups did not vary nor did handedness.
Freitas-Magalhaes studied the effect of smile in the treatment of depression and concluded that depressive states decrease when you smile more often.
Obese women and women with premenstrual syndrome were found to also possess diminished abilities to read these cues. In contradistinction, men with bipolar disorder possessed increased abilities. A woman with total paralysis of the nerves of facial expression was found unable to transmit or receive any nonverbal facial cues whatsoever. Because of the changes in levels of accuracy on the levels of nonverbal receptivity, the members of the research team hypothesized a biochemical site in the brain which was operative for reception of nonverbal cues. Because certain drugs enhanced ability while others diminished it, the neurotransmitters dopamine and endorphin were considered to be likely etiological candidate. Based on the available data, however, the primary cause and primary effect could not be sorted out on the basis of the paradigm employed.

Conclusion

Nonverbal communication is the process of sending and receiving messages from another person. These messages can be conveyed through gestures, engagement, posture, and even clothing and hygiene. Nonverbal communication can convey a very different message than a verbal conversation. This can tell someone whether they are likes, interesting or hated. Nonverbal communication and can have meanings in objects as well. Certain articles in a person’s life can say a lot about them and can sometimes even talk for them. A person’s handwriting can also tell a lot about the way they can communicate with others. Nonverbal communication can be easiest practiced when the two communicators are face to face. The nonverbal aspect of communication is easiest when the environment is right for all communicators involved, such as, when the environment is right or the moment is right. Nonverbal communication is an important aspect in any conversation skill people are practicing. Nonverbal communication will inhibit someone to be able to tell other person how they are really feeling without having to voice any opinions. People can interpret body signals better than they can talk most of the time.

Gestures are a form of nonverbal communication in which visible bodily actions are used to communicate important messages, either in place of speech or together and in parallel with spoken words. Gestures include movement of the hands, face, or other parts of the body. Physical non-verbal communication such as purely expressive displays, proxemics, or displays of joint attention differ from gestures, which communicate specific messages.
Gestures are culture-specific and can convey very different meanings in different social or cultural settings. Gesture is distinct from sign language. Although some gestures, such as the ubiquitous act of pointing, differ little from one place to another, most gestures do not have invariable or universal meanings but connote specific meanings in particular cultures. A single emblematic gesture can have very different significance in different cultural contexts, ranging from complimentary to highly offensive.
This list includes links to Wikipedia pages that discuss particular gestures, as well as short descriptions of some gestures that do not have their own page.

Single hand gestures

Okay sign
A-ok or Okay, made by connecting the thumb and forefinger in a circle and holding the other fingers straight, may signal the word okay; especially as a diving signal. The same gesture is offensive in parts of southern Europe and South America.
Abhayamudra is a Hindu Mudra or gesture of reassurance and safety.
Apology. It is a Hindu custom, when a person's foot accidentally touches a book or any written material (which are considered as a manifestation of the goddess of knowledge Saraswati) or another person's leg, it will be followed by an apology in the form of a hand gesture with the right hand, where the offending person first touches the object with the finger tips and then the forehead and/or chest. This also counts for money, which is considered as a manifestation of the goddess of wealth Lakshmi.[4]
Beckoning sign. In North America or Northern Europe a beckoning sign is made with the index finger sticking out of the clenched fist, palm facing the gesturer. The finger moves repeatedly towards the gesturer (in a hook) as to draw something nearer. It has the general meaning of "come here."[5] In Northern Africa (Maghreb), calling someone is done using the full hand.[6] In several Asian and European countries, a beckoning sign is made with a scratching motion with all four fingers and with the palm down.[7] In Japan the palm faces the recipient with the hand at head's height.[8]
Bellamy salute was used in conjunction with the American Pledge of Allegiance prior to World War II.
Benediction and blessing. The benediction gesture is a raised right hand with the ring and little finger fingers touching the palm, while the middle and index fingers remain raised. Taken from Ancient Roman iconography for speaking (an example is the Augustus of Prima Portawhere the emperor Augustus assumes the pose of an orator in addressing his troops), often called the benediction gesture, is used by the Christian clergy to perform blessings with the sign of the cross; however Christians keep the thumb raised — the three raised fingers (index, middle, and thumb) are frequently allegorically interpreted as representing the three Persons of the Holy Trinity.[9]
Blah-blah. The fingers are kept straight and together, held horizontal or upwards, while the thumb points downwards. The fingers and thumb then snap together repeatedly to suggest a mouth talking. The gesture can be used to indicate that someone talks too much, gossips, is saying nothing of any consequence, or is boring.[10]
Check, please. This gesture, used to mean that a dinner patron wishes to pay the bill and depart, is executed by touching the index finger and thumb together and "writing" a checkmark, circle, or wavy line (as if signing one's name) in the air.[10]

A clenched fist
Chinese number gestures are a method of using one hand to signify the natural numbers one through ten.
Clenched fist is used as a gesture of defiance or solidarity. Facing the signer, it threatens physical violence (i.e., "a thumping").

Kennedy's gesture seen here withNikita Khrushchev.
Clinton thumb. The gesture dubbed the "Clinton thumb" after one of its most famous users, Bill Clinton, is used by politicians to provide emphasis in speeches. This gesture has the thumb leaning against the thumb-side portion of the index finger, which is part of a closed fist, or slightly projecting from the fist. An emphatic, it does not exhibit the anger of the clenched fist or pointing finger, and so is thought to be less threatening.[11] This gesture was likely adopted by Clinton from John F. Kennedy, who can be seen using it in many speeches and images from his political career.[citation needed]
Crossed fingers are used to superstitiously wish for good luck or to nullify a promise.
Cuckoo sign, touched or screw loose. In North America, making a circling motion of the index finger at the ear or side of the head signifies that the person "has a screw loose," i.e. is speaking nonsense or is crazy.[7][10]
Dap greeting is a form of handshake recently popularized in western cultures, related to the fist bump.

The "fig sign" is an ancient gesture with many uses.
Fig sign is a gesture made with the hand and fingers curled and the thumb thrust between the middle and index fingers, or, rarely, the middle and ring fingers, forming the fist so that the thumb partly pokes out. In some areas of the world, the gesture is considered a good luck charm; in others (including France, Greece, Japan, Russia, Serbia and Turkey among others), it is considered an obscene gesture. The precise origin of the gesture is unknown, but many historians speculate that it refers to female genitalia. In ancient Greece, this gesture was a fertility and good luck charm designed to ward off evil. This usage has survived in Portugal and Brazil, where carved images of hands in this gesture are used in good luck talismans.[10] This hand-shape is also used for the letter T in ASL.[12]
The finger is an obscene hand gesture used in much of Western culture.
Finger gun is a hand gesture in which the subject uses their hand to mimic a handgun. If pointed to oneself, it may indicate boredom or awkwardness; when pointed to another, it is interpreted as a threat of violence, either genuine or in jest as if to say "Bam".
Fist bump is similar to a handshake or high five which may be used as a symbol of respect.
Fist pump is a celebratory gesture in which a closed fist is raised before the torso and subsequently drawn down in a vigorous, swift motion.
Handshake is a greeting ritual in which two people grasp each others' hands and may move their grasped hands up and down.
High five is a celebratory ritual in which two people simultaneously raise one hand and then slap these hands together.
Hitchhiking gestures including sticking one thumb upward, especially in North America, or pointing an index finger toward the road elsewhere to request a ride in an automobile.
Hook 'em Horns is the slogan and hand gesture of the University of Texas at Austin used as a greeting or to cheer for sports teams. The gesture is made by pointing the index and pinky fingers upward to resemble a steer's horns, while the thumb clasps the middle and ring fingers.

The ILY sign, "I Love You"
ILY sign combines the letters 'I', 'L', and 'Y' from American Sign Language by extending the thumb, index finger, and little finger while the middle and ring finger touch the palm. It is an informal expression of love.[13]
Knocking on wood is a superstitious gesture used to ensure that a good thing will continue to occur after it has been acknowledged. However, it is sometimes used after speaking of a plausible unfortunate event, so that it does not actually occur.
Kodály hand signs are a series of visual aids used during singing lessons in the Kodály method.
Loser, made by extending the thumb and forefinger to resemble the letter L is an insulting gesture.
Money sign. The thumb rubs repeatedly over the tip of the index finger and middle finger. This gesture resembles the act of rubbing coins or bills together and is generally used when speaking about money.[10]
Moutza is a traditional insult gesture in Greece made by extending all five fingers toward the person being insulted.
Nazi salute or Hitler salute was used in Germany during World War II to indicate loyalty to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.
Pitchfork or trident gesture is used at Arizona State University athletic events. It is made by extending the index, middle, and pinky fingers.
Pointing with index finger may be used to indicate an item or person. In North America, an extended index finger may be used to point at something.[7]
Poking, tapping or jabbing a person with an extended finger, may be used to call for attention or to tease the person poked.

Pollice Verso by Jean-Léon Gérôme.
Pollice verso was a gesture used in Ancient Rome to pass judgment on gladiators with one's thumb.
Raised fist is a salute and logo most often used by leftist activists.
Roman salute is a salute made by a small group of people holding their arms outward with finger tips touching. It was adopted by the Italian Fascists and likely inspired the Hitler salute.
Salute refers to a number of gestures used to display respect, especially among armed forces.
Scout handshake is a left-handed handshake used as a greeting among members of variousScouting organizations.
Shaka sign consists of extending the thumb and pinky finger upward. It is used as a gesture of friendship in Hawaii.
Shocker is a hand gesture with a sexual connotation. The ring finger and thumb are curled or bent down while the other fingers are extended.
Sic 'em Bears is the yell and hand gesture used to support Baylor University athletics. The gesture is made by raising one hand and curling the fingers to resemble a bear's claws.
Sign of the horns is a hand gesture made by extending the index and pinky finger straight upward. It has a vulgar meaning in someMediterranean countries and is used in rock and roll, especially in heavy metal music.
Talk to the hand is an English language slang expression of contempt popular during the 1990s. The associated hand gesture consists of extending a palm toward the person insulted.
Telephone. Thumb and pinky outstretched, other fingers tight against palm. Thumb to ear and pinky to mouth as though they were a telephone receiver. Used to say, "I'll call you," or may be used to request a future telephone conversation or to tell someone of a call.[14]
Three-finger salute (Serbian) is a salute used by ethnic Serbs, made by extending the thumb, index, and middle fingers.

Thumb up
Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down are common gestures of approval or disapproval made by extending the thumb upward or downward.
Two-finger salute is a salute made using the middle and index fingers. It is used by Polish Armed Forces and byCub Scouts.
United Macedonia salute is a salute used by some nationalist Ethnic Macedonians. It resembles the A-Ok gesture.
V sign is made by raising the index and middle fingers and separating them to form a V. With the back of the hand facing outwards this is an offensive gesture in the United Kingdom. With the palm facing outwards this sign began to be used during World War II to indicate "V for Victory". In the 1960s, the hippie-movement began to use the V-sign to mean "peace", especially in the United States. It is also used in most coastal east Asian nations, in either oriention, as an indication of cuteness when being photographed. Examples are China[15], Japan[16], South Korea[17], Taiwan[18] and Thailand[19],
Varadamudra is a mudra for dispensing boons. It is made with all fingers of the left hand pointing downward.
Vulcan salute was used in the television program Star Trek. It consists of all fingers raised and parted between the ring and middle fingers with the thumb sticking out to the side.
Waiting gesture is made by rapidly tapping with the fingers on a rough surface. The thumb is usually not used, and the other four fingers hit the surface in turn; the tapping sequence may be repeated a few times. The gesture denotes either impatience or feeling mildly insulted.
Wanker gesture is made by curling the fingers into a loose fist and moving the hand up and down as though masturbating. The gesture has the same meaning as the English slang insult, "wanker", or might indicate a failure or waste.
War Chant, also known as Tomahawk Chop, is used in cheering for various athletic teams, including All Blacks rugby[citation needed],Atlanta Braves baseball, and the Florida State Seminoles. It is made by extending all fingers and moving the forearm in a chopping motion.

Waving
Wave is a gesture in which the hand is raised and moved back and forth, as a greeting or sign of departure. The gesture can be used to attract attention at a distance. Most commonly, though, the gesture means quite simply "hello" or "goodbye".[10][20]
World's Smallest Violin (also called "How Sad" or "World's Smallest Violin Playing Hearts and Flowers") is made by rubbing the thumb and forefinger together, to imitate bowing a violin. This gesture is used to express sarcasm and lack of sympathy, in response to someone exaggerating a sad story or unfair treatment.
Zogist salute is a military salute instituted by Zog I of Albania.

Two-hand gestures
Air quotes are made by raising both hands to eye level and flexing the index and middle fingers of both hands while speaking. Their meaning is similar to that of scare quotes in writing.
Añjali Mudrā is a sign of respect among yoga practitioners. It is made by pressing the palms together.
Applause is an expression of approval made by clapping the hands together to create noise.
The Awkward turtle is a two handed gesture used to mark a moment as awkward. One hand is placed flat atop the other with both palms facing down, fingers extended outward from the hand and thumbs stuck out to the sides. The thumbs are rotated to symbolize flippers.
Batsu. In Japanese culture, the batsu (literally: ×-mark) is a gesture made by crossing one's arms in the shape of an "X" in front of them in order to indicate that something is "wrong" or "no good".
Bras d'honneur is an obscene gesture made by flexing one elbow while gripping the inside of the bent arm with the opposite hand
Chironomia refers to the use of gestures to support oratory.
Forefinger Rub — pointing one index finger at a person and rubbing the other against it — conveys the meaning "shame on you" and is usually performed when the other person has done something shameful or inappropriate.
Gator Chomp displays support for University of Florida athletic teams. The gesture is made by extending both arms in front of the chest and clapping the hands vertically.
Guns Up is the slogan and hand signal of Texas Tech University. The gesture is made from a closed hand by extending the index finger forward and the thumb up. This hand sign may be made with one or two hands.
Hand-rubbing, rubbing both hands together, indicates either one feels cold or one is expecting or anticipating something.
Jazz hands are used in dance or other performances by displaying the palms of both hands with fingers splayed.

Jazz hands
Time-out — a "T" formed with the hands, with one hand with flat palm placed perpendicular to the other hand with flat palm, roughly in the center — originates in American sports. It is used by players to signal for a time out, or brief pause in play. In basketball, the gesture is additionally used by referees to indicate that a player or coach is guilty of a technical foul.[citation needed]
Victory clasp is used to exclaim victory by clasping the hands together and shaking them to one's side.
Whatever - made with the thumb and forefinger of both hands, to form the letter “W”. Used to signal that something is not worth the time and energy. Popularized by the movie Clueless.

Gestures made with other body parts
Air kiss conveys meanings similar to kissing, but is performed without making bodily contact.
Akanbe is performed by pulling a lower eyelid down to expose the red underneath, often while also sticking out one's tongue, and is a childish insult in Japanese culture.
Anasyrma is performed by lifting the skirt or kilt. It is used in some religious rituals.
Biting one's thumb was an old rude British gesture. It is comparable to "the finger" in modern terms. In William Shakespeare's playRomeo and Juliet, Capulet's servant Sampson precipitates a brawl by biting his thumb at the Montague's servant Abraham (Act 1, Scene 1).[27] In the scene, it appears that biting one's thumb in Verona is a non-verbal equivalent of fighting words. Sampson explains the meaning of the gesture to his companion Gregory, suggesting that the gesture could have been unfamiliar even to the original audience of the play. The play does not describe the gesture in detail, but in performances of the play it is often enacted by placing the thumb upright (as in a "thumbs up" sign) just behind the upper incisors, then flicking the thumb outward in the direction of person the gesture is meant to insult. The gesture implies cowardice, someone who would "take the fig"[citation needed]. The gesture is also a traditional Sicilian insult meaning 'to hell with you'.[28]
Blowing a raspberry or Bronx cheer signifies derision by sticking out the tongue and blowing to create a sound similar to flatulence.
Bowing, lowering the torso or head, is a show of respect in many cultures.
Cheek kissing, pressing one's lips to another person's cheek, may show friendship or greeting.
Chicken - performed by making one's arms into wings by putting the hands onto one's chest, extending the elbows outwards and flapping them, often accompanied by chicken noises (bwuck-bwuck-bwuck!). This gesture is done to make fun of a cowardly person afraid to do something risky or go somewhere scary, usually provoking the person to overcome their fear to get them to stop.

The choking sign
Choking sign to indicate that one is choking is to hold the throat with one or both hands as if strangling oneself. This is recognized as a request for immediate first aid for choking. It is promoted as a way to prevent onlookers from confusing the victim's distress with some other problem, such as a heart attack, when the person cannot speak.
Curtsey is a gesture of greeting typically made by women. It is performed by bending the knees while bowing the head.
Dhyanamudra, sitting with both hands in the lap, signifies concentration.
Drinking sign. In UK, the gesture for drinking (used for example as an invitation to "go down the pub") is made by putting the back of the thumb just below the lower lip, while the other fingers are close together as if holding an imaginary pint of beer, tipping it repeatedly. This gesture can also be used to imply that somebody is drunk, either literally or insultingly.
Elbow bump is a greeting similar to the hand shake or fist bump made by touching elbows.
Eskimo kissing is a gesture in Western cultures loosely based on an Inuit greeting. It is performed by two people touching noses.
Eye-rolling, performed by rotating the eyes upward and back down, can indicate incredulity, contempt, boredom, frustration, or exasperation. The gesture can be unconscious or can be performed consciously. The gesture occurs in many countries of the world, and is especially common among adolescents.

Facepalm
Facepalm is an expression of frustration or embarrassment made by raising the palm of the hand to the face.
Genuflection is a show of respect by bending at least one knee to the ground.
Hand-kissing is a greeting made by kissing the hand of a person worthy of respect.
Hand over heart involves placing one's right hand, palm outstretched and facing in, over one's heart. Male hat or cap wearers typically remove their hats and hold them in this hand. In some cultures, it is used as a gesture of respect towards flags or during singing of a national anthem. In the United States, it is also performed as a part of the rituals of the Pledge of Allegiance.
Hat tip or doff is a salutation or show of respect made by two people removing their hats.
Kowtow shows respect by bowing deeply and touching one's head to the ground.
Mooning is a show of disrespect by displaying one's bare buttocks.
Mudra refers to ritual gestures in Hinduism or Buddhism.
Nod, tilting the head up and down, may indicate assent in Western Europe, North America, and the Indian subcontinent, among other places. It also means the opposite in other places, such as Bulgaria.
Touching or tapping the side of the nose with the index finger means "we share a secret". It is of British origin and then was popularized in America by the movie The Sting.
Orant is a gesture made during prayer in which the hands are raised with palms facing outward.
Puppy face consists of tilting the head down with eyes looking up. It has a number of uses.
Putting a slightly cupped hand, with palm down, under the chin and then flicking the fingers out (usually once or twice) is a common gesture in Italy for expressing indifference. This gesture became the center of a controversy in March 2006, when Supreme CourtAssociate Justice Antonin Scalia was photographed allegedly making the gesture to illustrate his response to his critics. Boston Heraldreporter misinterpreted it as "obscene" but Scalia later explained that he merely meant "I couldn't care less."
Shrug, lifting both shoulders, indicates lack of knowledge or concern.
Salaam is an Arabic gesture of greeting or respect consisting of low bow with the hand touching the forehead.
Sampeah is a Cambodian greeting or gesture of respect made by lining up the palms and fingers together while bowing.
Scout sign and salute refers to the use of the Three Finger Salute by Scout and Guide organizations.
Shush gesture is used to demand or request silence from those to whom it is directed. The index finger of one hand is extended, with the remaining fingers curled toward the palm with the thumb forming a fist. The index finger is placed vertically in front of the lips.[32]
Sign of the Cross, used in many Christian rituals, consists of drawing the shape of a cross over one's body or in the air.
Thai greeting, or wai, shows respect or reverence by pressing the palms and fingers together.

The "cut-throat" or throat slash sign
Throat slash is made by moving one's finger across one's throat; the gesture imitates cutting a person's throat with a blade. The gesture indicates strong disapproval, extreme anger, or displeasure with others or with oneself. It can also be a direction to another party to bring an action to an end and is done in order for the sign initiator to avoid speaking, whether for social decorum, for audio recording purposes or inability to communicate vocally.
Thumbing the nose is a sign of derision in Britain made by putting your thumb on your nose and wiggling your fingers. This gesture is also known as Anne's Fan or Queen Anne's Fan, and is sometimes referred to as cocking a snook.
Twisting the cheek. Thumb and forefinger are placed against the cheek, and a screwing motion, as if making a dimple, is made by twisting the wrist. In Italian culture this can mean "I see a pretty girl" or that something is delicious. In Germany the gesture can be used to suggest that someone is crazy.
Zemnoy poklon or "Great bow" is used in some Eastern Orthodox Christian rituals. It consists of bowing deeply and lowering one's head to the ground.
Interpersonal Communication
Forms of Interpersonal Communication
Direct interpersonal communication involves a direct face-to-face relationship between the sender and receiver of a message, who are in an interdependent relationship.
Dyadic communication. Dyadic communication is a level of communication that involves two people. Example: Two friends talking.
Group communication
Small group communication. Small group communication involves three or more persons, and a maximum of twelve persons.
Organisational communication. Organisational communication deals with communication within large organizations such as businesses
Family communication. Family communication focuses on communication patterns within nuclear, extended and blended families.
Symposium. Symposium may consist of four to eight participants who engage in a spontaneous discussion of a topic with a moderator. They are usually seated in a semi-circle formation facing the audience
Panel Discussion. A panel discussion is a discussion that consists of a moderator and several speakers. The moderator introduces the topic and the speakers.
Debate. A debate is a speaking event in which two teams or sides argue about a particular issue or subject. The primary goal of each team is to convince a panel of judges and the audience that their arguments of the other.
Meetings. Meetings are held to inform the members of important decisions and to discuss or decide on important issues.
Preparing for and Participating in a Group Discussion

How to Prepare For Group Discussions
If you are participating in a group discussion, it is important to make sure you're prepared before the discussion begins. While small groups may not be good for the distribution of information, group discussions are excellent for situations where members need to learn concepts or solve problems.

To obtain a higher level of thinking, it is important for the group to focus on a specific goal. Being prepared before the discussion starts will allow you to effectively communicate your ideas to the group. To make sure you are prepared for group discussions, there are a number of guidelines you will want to follow.

It is important for all the member of a group discussion to use reasoning. It is also important for you to ask questions that will allow you to determine how many the other members know about a specific topic. This is called analysing their knowledge. Asking these questions will allow you to learn more about the other members of the group. It is also essential to avoid conflicts. Conflicts will kill the group discussion, and will not allow it to be productive. You should not make a statement which gives your opinion about the accuracy of a comment that has been made by another member. You should not even make statements like “I think that is an excellent question." The reason for this is because you may send a message saying that all other questions are irrelevant.

If the members of the group are required to gain certain types of information on their own, you will not want to provide them with it. This will hinder them from being able to conduct their own research. If you are the one who is planning or leading the group, it is important to make sure every member contributes something to the discussion. A decision should always be made by the group instead of a single individual. A simple way to do this is to cast a vote. If the majority agrees on a specific plan of action, this is the plan that should be taken. If you notice that someone is not participating in the discussion, ask them what they think about the issue at hand. It is important for everyone to feel like they are a member.

It is important to make sure everyone is talking about the topic. The students should talk and make statements regarding the topic. Everyone should be able to voice their own opinion. The best way to approach the topic of discussion is to start with a concept that is simple before moving to one that is complex. While you don't want the member to become bored, you also don't want the topic to become so complicated that no one gains anything from it. Whenever people get together in a group, there will be interpersonal issues among some of the members. Each person will have a different personality type, and some will not work well with others.

If you see a potential problem, deal with it before it becomes a major issue that disrupts the group discussion. Whenever you notice that the group or members of the group are straying away from the topic, it is important for them to avoid this. While you will want to look at the group as a whole, it is also important to monitor each member as well. If you are the leader of the group, and you notice that some members are having problems with reasoning or expression, you will want to assist them. To prepare for a group discussion, it is extremely important to make sure you are prepared beforehand. You should understand the topic of the discussion, and if necessary, you should research it. Once you have researched the topic, you should develop your own thoughts or opinions about it.

When the members of a group discussion are prepared, this will allow the discussion to blossom. However, when they are not prepared, the goals of the discussion will not be easy to achieve. To successfully participate in group discussion, you must know how to work well with others, and you must understand the topic or materials that are being discussed. When you are prepared for a group discussion, you will be able to benefit from it.

Preparing for and Participating in a Group Discussion. While selection tools and techniques like tests, interviews etc. provide good data about an individual, they fall short in providing real life data of how an individual would be performing in a real life situation especially a group situation. Team work being an integral part of the BPO work profile, it is important to ascertain group and inter-personal qualities of an individual. Group discussion is a useful tool to ascertain these qualities and many organizations use GDs as a selection tool along with Personal Interviews, aptitude tests etc. A GD is an activity where
Groups of 8-10 candidates are formed into a leaderless group, and are given a specific situation to analyse and discuss within a given time limit, which may vary between twenty minutes and forty-five minutes, or
They may be given a case study and asked to come out with a solution for a problem
They may be given a topic and are asked to discuss the same
1. Preparing for a Group Discussion: While GD reflects the inherent qualities of an individual, appearing for it unprepared may not augur well for you. These tips would help you prepare for GDs:
Reading: This is the first and the most crucial step in preparation. This is a never ending process and the more you read, the better you are in your thoughts. While you may read anything to everything, you must ensure that you are in good touch with current affairs, the debates and hot topics of discussion and also with the latest in the IT and ITES industry. Chances are the topics would be around these. Read both for the thoughts as well as for data. Also read multiple view points on the same topic and then create your point of view with rationale. Also create answers for counter arguments for your point of view. The electronic media also will be of good use here.
Mocks: Create an informal GD group and meet regularly to discuss and exchange feedback. This is the best way to prepare. This would give you a good idea about your thoughts and how well can you convince. Remember, it is important that you are able to express your thoughts well. The better you perform in these mocks the better would be you chances to perform on the final day. Also try to interact and participate in other GD groups. This will develop in you a skill to discuss with unknown people as well.
2. During the Group Discussion:
What do the panelists assess: Some of the qualities assessed in a GD are:
Leadership Skills - Ability to take leadership roles and be able to lead, inspire and carry the team along to help them achieve the group's objectives.
Communication Skills - Candidates will be assessed in terms of clarity of thought, expression and aptness of language. One key aspect is listening. It indicates a willingness to accommodate others views.
Interpersonal Skills - People skills are an important aspect of any job. They are reflected in the ability to interact with other members of the group in a brief situation. Emotional maturity and balance promotes good interpersonal relationships. The person has to be more people centric and less self-centered.
Persuasive Skills - The ability to analyze and persuade others to see the problem from multiple perspectives.
GD is a test of your ability to think, your analytical capabilities and your ability to make your point in a team-based environment.
These are some of the sub-skills that also get assessed with the skills mentioned above:
Clarity of thought
Group working skills (especially during a group task of case study discussion)
Conflict handling
Listening and probing skills
Knowledge about the subject and individual point of view
Ability to create a consensus
Openness and flexibility towards new ideas
Data based approach to decision making
While, it is not possible to reflect all these qualities in a short time, you would do well if you are able to show a couple or more qualities and avoid giving negative evidence on others

Successful Group Discussion Techniques
There are a number of things you can do to help your group become successful. By following the guidelines that are presented in this article, you will be able to actively participate in group discussions and help the team achieve a specific goal. First, there is nothing wrong with being quiet. At the same time, you don't want to be too quiet. However, speaking too much is not recommended. Before you speak, you will want to think about what you are going to say. It is important to make sure the statements you make are concise and to the point. You don't want to give the other members the wrong impression by making statements that are not clear.

It is also important to make sure you fulfil the tasks of any role you've been given. For example, if you are given the role of a team leader, it is important to make sure you carry it out to the best of your abilities. Once you agree to a specific role, do not ask to be changed to something else. If you do this, you will convey a message that you are indecisive. If you don't understand a statement or question that has been made by someone else, it is important for you to make sure they clarify it. In group discussions, it is important to avoid conflict as much as possible. You will always want to respect the contributions that are made by the other members. Even if you don't agree with their views, it is important to look at things from their perspective.

If you are the leader of a group discussion, it is important to make sure all the members are given equal amounts of time to voice their views or participate. If you give some members more time than others, you may convey a message that certain members are more valuable than others, and this can lead to conflict. In any group discussion, conflicts should be expected. However, it is the method you use to deal with them that will determine the success or failure of a group. There are certain words and phrases that you will want to avoid using when you are in a group discussion. For example, responding to a statement made by another member by saying "that doesn't make any sense" will lead to conflict.

If you don't agree with the statement, instead of saying "that doesn't make any sense," it would be better to say "I don't know if I agree. Could you elaborate?" When you use this statement, it will not be as offensive as the other statement. You should never ridicule the idea or statement of another member by calling it dumb or stupid. Instead, you could simply say you disagree with them, and offer an explanation of why your feel the way you do. To give another example, instead of using the statement "that is not what the assignment asked us to do" you could say that "I think it would be better if we refer back to the assignment."

To be successful in group discussion, it is important to avoid conflict statements. These statements could lead to problems between you and other members that can make the group less productive. An example of a conflict statement is telling another member that they are wrong about something. Instead, you will want to disagree with them by using phrases such as "it may be better to...." or "have you ever thought about doing it this way?" It should be easy to see the difference between these two phrases and the first one.

Being able to avoid conflict in a group discussion is crucially important. Once the conflict has started, it is very difficult to deal with. Everyone is different and will have strong beliefs about a topic that may differ from others.

However, they should be respectful in how they deal with the differences. Using statements and questions which avoid conflict will allow you to be respected by the other members, and you can help the group successfully move forward. Respect the opinions of others, and never try to push your ideas on the other members. Remember, the purpose of having a group discussion is to solve problems, not create them.

Public Speaking

Public speaking is the process of speaking to a group of people in a structured, deliberate manner intended to inform, influence, or entertain the listeners. It is closely allied to "presenting", although the latter has more of a commercial connotation.
In public speaking, as in any form of communication, there are five basic elements, often expressed as "who is saying what to whom using what medium with what effects?" The purpose of public speaking can range from simply transmitting information, to motivating people to act, to simply telling a story. Good orators should be able to change the emotions of their listeners, not just inform them. Public speaking can also be considered a discourse community. Interpersonal communication and public speaking have several components that embrace such things as motivational speaking, leadership/personal development, business, customer service, large group communication, and mass communication. Public speaking can be a powerful tool to use for purposes such as motivation, influence, persuasion, informing, translation, or simply entertaining. A confident speaker is more likely to use this as excitement and create effective speech thus increasing their overall ethos. [1]
In current times, public speaking for business and commercial events is often done by professionals, with speakers contracted either independently, through representation by a speaker’s bureau paid on commission of 25-30% [2], or via a new crowd sourced model such as thespeakerwiki.org website.

History

Cicero Denounces Catiline, fresco by Cesare Maccari, 1840-1919
Early training in public speaking took place in ancient Egypt.[3] The first known Greek work[specify]on oratory, written over 2000 years ago, elaborated principles drawn from the practices and experience of orators in the ancient Greek city-states. In classical Greece and Rome, the main component was rhetoric (that is, composition and delivery of speeches), and was an important skill in public and private life. Aristotle and Quintilian discussed oratory, and the subject, with definitive rules and models, was emphasised as a part of a liberal arts education during the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

The art of public speaking was first developed by the ancient Greeks. Greek oration is known from the works of classical antiquity. Greek orators spoke as on their own behalf rather as representatives of either a client or a constituency, and so any citizen who wished to succeed in court, in politics, or in social life had to learn techniques of public speaking. These skills were taught first by a group of self-styled "sophists" who were known to charge fees, to "make the weaker argument the stronger," and to make their students "better" through instruction in excellence. Plato, Aristotle, and Isocrates all developed theories of public speaking in opposition to the Sophists, and their ideas took on institutional form through the development of permanent schools where public speaking was taught. Though Greece eventually lost political sovereignty, the Greek culture of training in public speaking was adopted virtually wholesale by the Romans.
With the political rise of the Roman Republic, Roman orators copied and modified Greek techniques of public speaking. Under Roman influence, instruction in rhetoric developed into a full curriculum including instruction in grammar (study of the poets), preliminary exercises (progymnasmata), and preparation of public speeches (declamation) in both forensic and deliberative genres. The Latin style was heavily influenced by Cicero, and involved a strong emphasis on a broad education in all areas of humanistic study (in the liberal arts, including philosophy), as well as on the use of wit and humour, on appeal to the listener's emotions, and on digressions (often used to explore general themes related to the specific topic of the speech). Oratory in the Roman empire, though less central to political life than in the days of the Republic, remained important in law, and became (under the second Sophistic) an important form of entertainment, with famous orators or declaimers gaining great wealth and prestige for their skills.

This Latin style was the primary form of oration in the world until the beginning of the 20th century. After World War II there began a gradual deprecation of the Latin style of oration. With the rise of the scientific method and the emphasis on a "plain" style of speaking and writing, even formal oratory has become less polished and ornate than in the Classical period, though politicians today can still make or break their careers on the basis of a successful (or unsuccessful) speech. Abraham Lincoln, Adolf Hitler, Marcus Garvey, John F. Kennedy, and Bill Clinton all advanced their careers in large part due to their skills in oratory.
These basic principles have undergone modification as societies, and cultures have changed, yet remained surprisingly uniform. The technology and the methods of this form of communication have traditionally been through oratory structure and rely on an audience. However, new advances in technology have allowed for more sophisticated communication for speakers and public orators. The technological and media sources that assist the public-speaking atmosphere include both videoconferencing and telecommunications. Videoconferencing is among one of the more recent technologies that is in a way revolutionising the way that public speakers communicate to the masses. David M. Fetterman of Stanford University wrote in his 1997 article Videoconferencing over the Internet: "Videoconferencing technology allows geographically disparate parties to hear and see each other usually through satellite or telephone communication systems". This technology is helpful for large conference meetings and face-to-face communication contexts, and is becoming more widespread across the world.

The new millennium has seen a notable increase in the number of training solutions offered in the form of video and on-line courses. Video can provide significant training potential by revealing to the student actual examples of behaviours to emulate in addition to verbal knowledge transfer. There are also numerous agencies who offer one to one training in the delivery of a speech.

General
The objectives of a public speaker's presentation can range from simply transmitting information, to motivating people to act, to simply telling a story. Professional public speakers often engage in on-going training and education to refine their craft. This may include seeking guidance to improve their speaking skills—such as learning better storytelling techniques, for example, or learning how to effectively use humour as a communication tool—as well as continuous research in their topic area of focus.
People who speak publicly in a professional capacity are paid a speaking fee. Professional public speakers may include ex-politicians, sports stars and other public figures. In the case of high profile personalities, the sum can be extraordinary.
The common fear of public speaking is called glossophobia (or, informally, "stage fright"), although many people simply confuse normal nerves and anxiety with a genuine phobia.
Public speaking and oration are sometimes considered some of the most importantly valued skills that an individual can possess. This skill can be used for almost anything. Most great speakers have a natural ability to display the skills and effectiveness that can help to engage and move an audience for whatever purpose. Language and rhetoric use are among two of the most important aspects of public speaking and interpersonal communication. Having knowledge and understanding of the use and purpose of communication can help to make a more effective speaker communicate their message in an effectual way.
'The soul of delivery is in the manful assertion of the orator's personality, in the revelation of the high purpose by which he is actuated, in the profound conviction of the truth of his course, in the firm resolve to establish it, in the dauntless spirit that faces all obstacles, and, conquering them, sweeps onward to the desired goal.'
Leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Winston Churchill, Sukarno, and Adolf Hitler are notable examples of effective orators who used oratory to have a significant impact on society. The speeches of politicians are often widely analysed by both their supporters and detractors.

Tools
Rostrums hold papers for speakers. Public speakers may use audience response systems. For large assemblies, the speaker will usually speak with the aid of a public address system or microphone and loudspeaker.
The "Occupy" protests use a Human microphone to amplify sound while avoiding restrictions on loudspeakers.

Effective Public Communication
By Nicole Papa, eHow Contributor

Communication is a complex process of exchanging messages through words, symbols, expressions and body language. Public communication involves the sending and receiving of messages on a large scale to and from the general public. Public communication includes mass media, public relations and public speaking, but can include any form of sending a message to a large group of people. Effective public communication is a skill that is learned and perfected over time.

Definition
Public communication is the sending and receiving of messages on a large scale that impacts groups of people. For the communication to be considered effective, the messages must be clearly and accurately sent and received with full comprehension.

Purpose
The purpose of effective public communication differs based on the intention of the message. For example, a public relations representative might use mass media to repair a company’s public image after an alleged scandal breaks out. In this situation, effective public communication is intended to inform the public. On the other hand, a billboard's intention is to entice an audience to buy a product or service. Effective public communication is used to inform, educate, persuade and inspire the audience.

Types
Effective public communication can manifest itself in different ways. Public speaking in any form is considered public communication. This can be a school assembly, a business meeting or a presidential speech. Mass media, the use of TV, radio, newspaper or any other mass-produced medium, is another type of effective public communication.

Results
The result of effective public communication is the successful delivery of a message to a large group of people where each individual is impacted and moved to take action. Effective public communication is able to relate to the individual needs of the listeners while speaking to the masses. Effective public communication causes listeners to respond to the public communications message.

Considerations
Effective public communication must refrain from biased words, philosophies and ideologies. For example, when the president is making a speech, his words and thoughts need to be portrayed in a universal way so that one group does not feel isolated or left out. Effective public communication keeps statements generic and neutral to gender, race and religious beliefs.

Public speaking: guidelines

Know the room.
Be familiar with the place in which you will speak.
Arrive early, walk around the speaking area and practice using the microphone and any visual aids.

Know the audience.
Greet some of the audience as they arrive.
It's easier to speak to a group of friends than to a group of strangers.

Know your material.
Practice your speech and revise it if necessary.
If you're not familiar with your material or are uncomfortable with it, your nervousness will increase.

Relax.
Ease tension by doing exercises.

Work from your personal brand (Try the exercise)
Visualize yourself giving your speech.
Imagine yourself speaking, your voice loud, clear, and assured.
When you visualize yourself as successful, you will be successful.

Realise that people want you to succeed.
They don't want you to fail.
Audiences want you to be interesting, stimulating, informative, and entertaining.
They are on your side!

Don't apologize.
If you mention your nervousness or apologize for any problems you think you have with your speech, you may be calling the audience's attention to something they hadn't noticed.

Concentrate on the message -- not the medium.
Focus your attention away from your own anxieties, and outwardly toward your message and your audience.
Your nervousness will dissipate.

Turn nervousness into positive energy.
Harness your nervous energy and transform it into vitality and enthusiasm.

Gain experience.
Experience builds confidence, which is the key to effective speaking.
A Toastmasters club can provide the experience you need.

Types of Public Speaking

Different types of public speaking require different speaking styles and skill sets. Here's a brief overview of 4 broad kinds of public speaking, plus a miscellaneous category with a few others.

Informative. This category is fairly self-explanatory. Informative speeches are meant to inform. You'll find these at technology conferences, scientific conventions, idea seminars, business meetings, and other times when speakers introduce new information. Specificity and accuracy are key to delivering effective informative speeches.

Persuasive. A persuasive speech is meant to convince people of an idea or to commit them to action. You'll find these speeches in sales, politics, religion, and other arenas where viewpoint and action are paramount. A persuasive speech is most effective when it appeals to the audience on both the emotional and logical level, and then presents to the audience a specific action.

Ceremonial. These speeches include toasts, recitations, graduation speeches, and other formal events. They must be tailored to the occasion and to the people present.

Extemporaneous/impromptu. Off-the-cuff speeches may be any of the types above, the only difference being that they are given without significant preparation. Generally, one should follow a preconceived and easy-to-remember organizational pattern in order to ensure effective delivery despite minimal preparation.

Other types of public speaking exist in other settings. Most of these are just combinations and iterations of the four forms discussed above.

1. Debate is a persuasive speech combined with extemporaneous rebuttals.
2. Broadcasting may be informative or persuasive, but must be tailored to the medium.
3. Religious talks may be ceremonial speeches mixed with a good dose of persuasion. These forms and others are best understood when looked at in light of their basic elements and communication mediums.

The Different Types of Speeches

Aug 11, 2009Carol Rzadkiewicz

There are three main types of speeches, but what kind a speaker delivers depends upon the speaker's objective.
The three main types of speeches are the informative, the persuasive, and the special occasion. Before deciding which best suits their purposes, however, speakers should first establish their objective in delivering the speech.

For example, if a speaker hopes to convince the audience at a political-party banquet to support a new campaign strategy, the objective is to persuade the audience to act in support of the strategy. If a speaker, however, intends to instruct a group of senior citizens at a community center on how to select a healthcare supplement to Medicare, the objective is to inform the attendees of insurance options. Yet, if the speaker’s objective is to commemorate the signing of the Civil Rights Act at a meeting of the NAACP, the objective is to express shared feelings of pride and accomplishment.

Once speakers have the objective clearly established, they are then equipped to make the most suitable choice regarding what type of speech to deliver; however, before making this decision, they must have a clear understanding of the three main types of speeches.

The Informative Speech Defined
As the word “informative” implies, an informative speech “informs” those in attendance by providing them with information. Therefore, the speaker is a teacher, and his or her purpose is to educate the audience regarding a topic; and that topic may be an object, an event, a concept, or a process.

Speeches About Objects
Objects are things that are tangible and, thus, recognized through sight, hearing, taste, or touch; so speeches about objects include those about people, places, animals, structures, etc.; for example:
What to look for when purchasing a new computer system
Why President John F. Kennedy was the Prince of Camelot
Is Ethanol a Viable Alternative to Fossil Fuel?

Speeches About Events
Events are happenings or occurrences, both past and present, so possible speech topics include the following:
The origins of the holiday known as Halloween
What led to the Salem Witch Trials
The Primary Causes of World War II

Speeches About Concepts
Concepts are ideas, philosophies, hypotheses, and arguments, etc., so informative speeches might address topics such as these:
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Speech Performance – Basic Tips
How to Begin and End a Speech
How to Deliver a Successful Speech
The Big Bang Theory
Karl Marx’s concept of socialism
The principles of Feng Shui, the Ancient Chinese Art of Placement

Speeches About Processes
A process is how something is made, how something is done, or how something works; therefore, possible topics include these:
How pearls develop in oysters
How to administer the Heimlich maneuver
How to organize a plot for a novel

Note: Given their visual nature, most informative speeches are more successful if the speaker uses visual aids such as PowerPoint presentations, flip charts, graphs, models, etc.
The Persuasive Speech Defined
A persuasive speech usually challenges an audience’s beliefs and/or tries to move those in attendance to change existing viewpoints or at least recognize the validity of opposing viewpoints. For this reason persuasive speeches are the most difficult to deliver, at least successfully, since they usually deal with controversial topics about which people in the audience already hold strong, deeply engrained opinions.

Types of Persuasive Speeches
There are three main types of persuasive speeches: those that deal with questions of fact, those that deal with questions of value, and those that deal with questions of policy.

Examples of Questions of Fact
Will the stock market rally in 2010?
Did Lee Harvey Oswald act alone in assassinating President John F. Kennedy?
Examples of Questions of Policy
Should pro-athletes have mandatory tests for performance-enhancing drugs?
Are smokers being unfairly singled out for higher taxation?
Examples of Questions of Value
Do people have the right to choose to die with dignity?
Should dogfights be legalized?
Note: When preparing a persuasive speech, speakers must accept that at least some listeners are going to disagree, perhaps adamantly so, with their viewpoint, which is why speakers should attempt to anticipate objections and counterarguments and address them during the course of the speech.

Speeches for Special Occasions
There are myriad special occasions in life, for example, birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, weddings, bar mitzvahs, christenings, award presentations, retirement dinners, and funerals. In fact, there are so many special occasions that it’s impossible to list them. However, whatever the occasions, chances are that someone will be asked to deliver a speech, which could be anything from a toast to a couple who have been married for 50 years to the eulogy for a departed loved one.
Regardless of the occasion, however, there are several important points to keep in mind:
The speech must fit the occasion. If the occasion is formal, for example, the speech should be as well; but if the occasion is casual, the speech should reflect a similar mood.
The speech must meet the allotted time. Speakers should be neither too brief nor too longwinded.
Intended remarks must be accurate. For example, if someone is presenting an award and intends to begin with interesting facts about the recipient, these facts must be correct.

At some point in life most people will be called upon to deliver a speech, some formally, others quite informally; yet, as long as they possess an understanding of the different types of speeches and have their objective clearly in mind, they will be capable of delivering a speech that the audience will remember for a long time to come.
Lucas, S. The Art of Public Speaking: Sixth Edition. Boston: McGraw-Hill. 1998.

Speech Performance – Basic Tips

Apr 30, 2010Christoffer Johannessen

Being able to perform speeches is important in many different settings, both professionally and in private life. Here are some basic tips to get started.

Many students and professionals are required to hold some sort of speech either regularly or at some point in their educational span or career. Privately most people also encounter situations in which knowledge and training in writing and performing speeches well is advantageous. The speech genre is closely related to essay writing, but some crucial differences are important to pay attention to, mainly because the oral form is used rather than the written form of essays.

In the following basic tips and guidelines for good speech performances in different settings and forms will be investigated.

The Persuasive Speech – Preferred Genre in Education and Professional Life
Students everywhere in the world, but especially at colleges in Britain and the U.S., every year are tweaking and fearing when preparing for their persuasive speech performance. Although perhaps not with the same fear, politicians and business people also regularly resort to the persuasive speech in order to reach their different aims.

The speech genre generally does not impose specific rules on performers, but in the case of persuasive public speaking the school, workplace or situation at hand often determine some limitations with regards to topic. Furthermore the mentioned aspects affect the formality, length, wording, and use of professional or colloquial language and the goals of the performer.

How Speech Topics Influence Content and Some Suggestions

When choosing a topic for any speech it is important to keep in mind the consequences of that choice, just as is the case when choosing topics for essays. The number one consideration to make is who the audience of the performance will be. A college professor calls for different topics and approaches than the board of a company or a constituency. This consideration and the chosen topic further affect the ensuing choices of length, wording etc., something which adds further weight to those two main pillars.

In the next paragraph toasts at family gatherings and special locations will be examined. In such toasts the topic is almost always predetermined. Thus the following list of suggested topics fits best with oratories of persuasive or informative speeches:

READ THIS NEXT

The Different Types of Speeches
Public Speaking Class Resources
Types of Public Speaking
The Rise and Fall of the British Empire (informative)
1776 - A Defining Moment in History (informative)
Cause and Effects of the International Credit Crunch in the Light of 1929 (informative)
The Importance of the Internal Combustion Engine - Environment and Economy (informative)
The History of the Winter Olympics (informative)
Why National Budget Deficits are Necessary in a Recession (persuasive)
Cultural Imperialism as a Fuel for Terrorism (persuasive)
The Failure of the International Neo-Liberal School in Russia (persuasive)
Why Nuclear Power is Not the Solution for Global Warming (persuasive)
Why the Euro will Fail (persuasive)
Progressive Liberalism Equals American Exceptionalism (American political speech)
American Values at Home - Economic Liberalism Abroad (American political speech)
Social Equality Makes Britain Stronger (British political speech)
Britain in the World - Reclaim Former Glory! (British political speech)
Free Trade in a United Europe as a Guarantee Against Unchecked Americanization (European political speech)
Flexible Income Models in the Online Era (business)
Credit Crunch Marketing (business)
How to Renew Confidence in the Financial Markets (business)
Re-Location Equals Job Security (business)
[Product] - A Wanted Revolution (business)
The Art of Toasting – How to Impress Family and Friends

Most adult people will have to give a toast at least once a year when attending family or business social gatherings, often related to special occasions like weddings, birthdays, funerals and the like. The best advice regarding any toast is that the performer recognises his or her strengths and uses them actively during the speech. The audience usually have an understanding that the performers are not professional speech writers, and will accept lower quality with just as much appreciation and applause as brilliant performances.

A second useful advice is to choose the level of formality with care. A funeral might call for a certain amount of seriousness, but even here the speaker can afford to use informal tools like humour and colloquial anecdotes to his or her advantage. It is always the guest of honor who should benefit the most from the toast, and so the performer should try not to bore or embarrass, but rather add to the overall experience of the occasion.

Sources / Useful Resources

Toastmaster International's Tips & Techniques - Retrieved on April 30

Speech Preparation #1: How to Prepare a Presentation

by Andrew Dlugan
Feb 27th, 2008

Proper preparation prevents presentation predicaments!

Speech preparation is the most important element to a successful presentation, and also the best way to reduce nervousness and combat fear.

The Speech Preparation Series is a series of articles examining each of the six steps which are necessary to properly prepare for a speech.

These steps are briefly introduced here, and investigated in more depth in later articles:

The Speech Preparation Series
How to Prepare Your Presentation
Select Your Speech Topic
Plan Your Speech Outline
Writing Your First Draft
Editing Your Speech
Add Speech Impact with Rhetorical Devices
Staging, Gestures, and Vocal Variety
Practicing Your Presentation
Self-Critique: Preparation for Next Time
Winning a Toastmasters Speech Contest
1. Select a speech topic
This may seem like an easy task, but there are infinite public speaking topics. How do you choose the right one? How do you select a topic which is a perfect fit between you and your audience?

Your topic leads to your core message — the entire presentation aims to deliver this core message to your audience.

The second article in this series focuses on selecting a speech topic.

2. Create a speech outline
Your speech needs structure. Without structure, your audience will either wonder what your core message is or they will lose interest in you entirely. Sadly, this step is often skipped to “save time.” A planned outline is vital.

The third article in this series shows how to craft a speech outline and provides several examples.

3. Write the speech
Speech writing is an iterative process which begins with your first draft. Writer’s block can handicap speakers at this stage. The fourth article in the series discusses how you can avoid that trap to write your first speech draft.

Once the first draft is created, speech writing involves iteratively massaging your speech into its most effective form. Keeping your ego in check, you are wise to edit mercilessly. The fifth article in the series shows you how to edit your speech for focus, clarity, concision, continuity, variety, and impact.

Remember that speeches should be written for the ear; adopting figures of speech will keep your speech from sounding like an essay or legal document. The sixth article in the series shows you how to add impact and beauty to your speech with rhetorical devices.

4. Apply gestures, staging, and vocal variety
At this stage, the words are ready, but that’s all you have — words. A presentation is not read by the audience; it is listened to and watched.

The seventh article in the series explains how to choreograph your speech with vocal variety, gestures (micro movements), and staging (macro movements). These elements should seamlessly complement your words and punctuate key phrases.

5. Practice and solicit feedback
Great speakers seem natural when they speak, almost as though they are speaking the words for the first time. Nothing could be more wrong. Rehearsing your speech makes you a master of the content. Soliciting feedback and acting on it gives you confidence that your presentation will be a success. The eighth article in the series explains how to achieve maximum benefits from your rehearsal time.

6. Self-Critique: Prepare for the next speech
Although listed as the final step in the process, it’s really the first step in preparing for your next speech. After you’ve delivered your speech, examine your performance objectively. This will solidify lessons learned as you prepare for your next speech challenge.

The ninth article in the series provides examples of questions to ask yourself as you critique your own speech.

The article series concludes with advice aimed at preparing to win a Toastmasters speech contest.

See the Six Steps in Action
Throughout this series of articles, I’ll be showing you how I applied these steps when preparing for one of my own speeches. My hope is that these practical examples will help you apply the techniques to your own personal presentation.

The speech I’ll reference is an inspirational speech I prepared and delivered for the Toastmasters International Speech Contest in 2007 titled Face the Wind.

Watch it now, and then read the articles to see how a short conversation with a friend months earlier led to this speech.

I would like to thank Chuck Denison for allowing me to use the Face the Wind video for this article series. Chuck has been the videographer for all recent Toastmasters District 21 contests. Videos are produced by Golden Memories Video Productions and available from him [email]. Chuck provides services to speakers who wish to produce a video to enhance their marketing strategy. On top of all that, he’s very friendly and professional.
The Speech Preparation Series
How to Prepare Your Presentation
Select Your Speech Topic
Plan Your Speech Outline
Writing Your First Draft
Editing Your Speech
Add Speech Impact with Rhetorical Devices
Staging, Gestures, and Vocal Variety
Practicing Your Presentation
Self-Critique: Preparation for Next Time
Winning a Toastmasters Speech Contest
Join the conversation. Share your experiences and describe what you do to prepare for a speech.

Next in the Speech Preparation Series
The next article examines how to select a speech topic which is the perfect fit for you and your audience.
Read more at Suite101: Speech Performance – Basic Tips | Suite101.com http://christoffer-johannessen.suite101.com/speech-performance---basic-tips-a231985#ixzz1oO3OapYX

Speech Preparation #2: Selecting a Speech Topic by Andrew Dlugan
Feb 28th, 2008

The first article in the Speech Preparation Series outlined how to prepare a speech in six steps. In this second article, we examine the first of these steps — how to select a speech topic.
Selecting a speech topic sometimes feels like shooting an arrow in a random direction and hoping that it hits a target. If this is your approach, you are probably quite frustrated.
Your topic — and, more specifically, your core message — must be selected carefully. If it isn’t, then you won’t be able to effectively deliver the speech, and your audience won’t be interested or prepared to receive your message.
This begs the question: How do you choose a great speech topic?

What is your general purpose?
There are three basic types of speeches:
1. Speeches that Educate
e.g. a seminar about real estate investments; a course about leadership; a corporate briefing outlining the status of a pursuit
2. Speeches that Motivate
e.g. a candidate’s election speech; a fundraising pitch; a business proposal to investors
3. Speeches that Entertain
e.g. a story read to children; a dramatic tale; a humorous after-dinner speech
Decide which of these you want to accomplish as your general purpose. This decision will influence many decisions you make as you prepare for your speech, so it is important that you are clear on your overall motive.
“Selecting a speech topic sometimes feels like shooting an arrow in a random direction and hoping that it hits a target.”
What is your core message?
Your core message is the central idea of your presentation. All other speech elements should support the core message.
Clarity: Aim to express your core message in a single sentence. If you cannot do this, you need more clarity.
Passion: Your core message must be something you believe in.
Knowledge: What do you know about this core message? Can you draw stories from personal experience? Have you researched the topic?
We like to believe that our entire presentation will be remembered. The reality is that the audience will retain only one or two points. Your speech should be designed to ensure that your audience remembers your core message.
How is this message related to the audience?
Your audience is not an innocent bystander who just happens to be in the room when you deliver your presentation. They are an integral part of the communication path. Great delivery by a speaker does not guarantee a successful speech; a successful speech is one where the audience receives the message.
Audience analysis is needed to determine which messages the audience is willing to receive from you:
What are the key audience demographic?
Are they technical or non-technical? Students? Elderly? Parents? Athletes? Business leaders? Predominantly male or female?
How is your audience related to you?
Is the audience filled with your peers? Subordinates? Superiors? Are you an outsider? Are you viewed as an expert? Are you unknown to them?
How large is the audience?
Is it small enough so that everyone will see sweat on your brow? Are you in a large theatre? Is the audience in the room, or is there a remote audience too? (Or a future video audience?)
What message does the audience want to receive?
This is just as important as asking what core message you want to deliver.
If you are passionate, but your audience doesn’t care, your presentation will fail. (They will tune out.)
If you deliver what the audience desires, but you don’t care, your presentation will fail. (Your delivery will be flat.)
If you attempt to speak on a topic where you have no expertise or experience to draw from, your presentation will fail. (Your content will be empty and shallow.)
However, if you find a topic where you have both expertise and passion, and the audience is interested, you will succeed.

What is the scope of your presentation?
“We like to believe that our entire presentation will be remembered. The reality is that the audience will retain only one or two points.”
Before you proceed, you still need to determine the scope of your presentation. The scope is naturally influenced by elements discussed earlier:
Your general purpose
Your core message
The needs of your audience
There is one further key element to consider: what are the constraints on your presentation?
How much time is allowed?
Suppose your core message is “Live your dreams”. If you have two minutes, then the scope of your talk is probably going be one story illustrating that message. There’s no time for more. On the other hand, if you have four hours, then you may study biographical details of famous dreamers, discuss methods for aligning your life decisions with your dreams, or explore other avenues.
What is the context of your presentation?
There are dozens of factors that come into play which only you can know, but one of the most common is knowing whether or not others will be speaking at the same event on similar topics. If so, then your scope will generally be very narrow (and perhaps quite deep). If you are a keynote speaker and nobody else has touched on your domain, then you may choose to a broader, more shallow scope.
Example of Speech Topic Selection — Face the Wind
As we’ll do throughout the Speech Preparation articles, let’s see how these concepts were applied in a real-life speech: Face the Wind.
The genesis for this speech was a party conversation four months before the speech was written or delivered. Everyone was animated about the devastating impact of the recent wind storms on trees throughout the area. My friend relayed the theory of arborists as to why so many trees were knocked over in the storm. I was fascinated by the theory, and thought that I might someday craft a speech around that core idea.
Months later, with a speech contest on the horizon, I was searching for a speech topic. Maximus’ birth was a very recent joyous event in the family. I connected the determination of his parents with the theory of the fallen trees, and I felt that I had a core message: Face your problems head on!
Once I had that central idea, I questioned whether it would work for the contest speech:
The only common characteristic of the audience is that they all live in British Columbia where the storm was a massive news story a few months prior. This common experience was an advantage since the audience already had vivid mental images of the storm and the trees.
The context was the Toastmasters International speech contest. Any topic is allowed, but inspirational or motivational topics are most common. I had what I felt was a meaty topic; my general purpose was to motivate my audience.
Not only was the core message not fluffy, but it has universal appeal. Everyone in the audience has problems, so everyone in the audience should be interested in the message.
I believe in the core message, and I have personal experiences from which to draw speech content.
The timing was approximately seven minutes. I judged this would be more than adequate to tell a few stories about trees, the storm, and baby Maximus, and to tie it all together.

Speech Preparation #3: Don’t Skip the Speech Outline by Andrew Dlugan
Feb 29th, 2008

The previous article in the Speech Preparation Series described how to select your speech topic and your core message.
This article describes how tosupport your core message with a speech outline, and provides numerous examples. This is the second step in the six-step speech preparation process.
Writing an outline is, unfortunately, a step that many skip. The most common excuse is simply “No time.” This is unfortunate because time spent on an outline is time wellspent. It is necessary to ensure that you craft a coherent and focussed presentation.

Writing a Speech Outline
An outline is a blueprint for your presentation.
It highlights the key logical elements. i.e. what points are being made to logically support the core message?
It highlights the key structural elements. e.g. introduction, body, conclusion, stories, high-level concepts
It links these elements together in a sequence, perhaps allocating very rough timings.
It can also map out the transitions between elements, although this may be deferred to a later stage of preparation.
Basic Speech Outlines
“An outline is a blueprint for your presentation.”
The basic speech outline template for structural elements is:
1. Introduction
2. Body
3. Conclusion
Similarly, the basic speech outline template for logical elements is the familiar advice:
1. Tell them what you’re going to say
2. Tell them
3. Tell them what you’ve said
Put these together, and you have the start of a generic speech outline:
1. Introduction — Establish topic and core message; list supporting points
2. Body
1. Supporting Point One
2. Supporting Point Two
3. Supporting Point Three
3. Conclusion — Recap main points; summarize core message; call-to-action
It is surprising how well this simple 3-part outline template works for a wide range of speech topics. Incidentally, this same basic formula can be seen in novels, short stories, movies, plays, reports, business briefings, emails, memos, and many other forms of communication.
For many more examples, check out Why Successful Speech Outlines follow the Rule of Three.
Variants or Examples of Speech Outlines
Example: Story-based Outline
Some people believe that stories are the best building blocks for speeches. For example, in The Story Factor (Annette Simmons), the author claims that storytelling is the key to business communications.
1. Attention grabbing opening which introduces the topic and core message
2. Tell a story.
Make a point
3. Tell another story.
Make another point.
4. Tell another story.
Make another point
5. Memorable conclusion which ties together all three stories to support the core message.
Example: Scientific Conference Talk Outline

The outline for many scientific talks mirrors the scientific method:
1. Define the problem needing a solution
2. Describe the hypothesis which will explore one aspect of the problem
3. Describe the experiment performed to test the hypothesis
1. Detail 1 — schematic
2. Detail 2 — photograph
3. Detail 3 — description
4. Show the data collected and subsequent data analysis
1. Data analysis 1 — chart
2. Data analysis 2 — chart
3. Data analysis 3 — table
5. Draw conclusions relating back to the hypothesis
6. Suggest future actions
Example: Community Association Meeting Speech Outline
1. Story to introduce the symptom (e.g. vandalism)
2. Use facts and evidence to trace back to the core problem (e.g. lack of “safe” activities for youth)
1. Statistics
2. Reports
3. Interviews
3. Suggest a solution
1. Budget
2. Volunteers
3. Stakeholders
4. A strong call-to-action motivating the audience to join the cause
Example: Business Proposal to Investors
1. Be direct: “Invest $___ for %___ of the shares”
2. Story to illustrate the need for the product XYZ
3. Story to describe the vision of how product XYZ improves lives
4. Demo of product XYZ
1. Benefit #1 (focus on benefits, not features)
2. Benefit #2
3. Benefit #3
5. Invest now and make product XYZ possible
1. Story illustrating strength of the team
2. Market analysis
3. Financial projections
6. Repeat call-to-action: “Invest $___ for %___ of the shares”
Other Speech Outline Writing Tips
“When sequencing your outline points, try to avoid random order. Seek and extract the meaningful relationship.”
Note that all of these speech outline examples are appropriate for a short six to ten minute speech. Longer time windows will obviously allow for more detailed outlines.
You may be able to customize one of the generic speech outline formats for your speech; more likely, you will need to craft your own to fit your situation. A few other things to consider:
The granularity of your outline should be roughly one outline point per minute of speaking time, perhaps less for lengthy presentations.
For presentations which are complemented with slides, your outline might include slide concepts, but no finer details.
Remember that your presentation is much more than your set of slides. Your outline should reflect your speaking elements which the slides complement.
When sequencing your outline points, try to avoid random order. Seek and extract the meaningful relationship.
Chronological – e.g. a biographical speech
Spatial – e.g. an entertaining travel speech
Cause-effect – e.g. speech relating crime rate to drug use
Low to high importance – e.g. reasons to exercise
Broad vision to specific details – e.g. a management speech outlining new company direction
Your outline is not the same as cue cards, but they are related (if you use cue cards). An outline contains high-level speech elements; cue cards might additionally contain selected speech details e.g. transition phrases, key words/phrases, key numbers, or punch lines.
Speech Outline Example — Face the Wind
Here is the original outline that I put together for the Face the Wind speech. Comments follow which represent my thinking at the time of writing the outline.
1. Opening humor – connect with audience as typical home owner
2. Story #1 – Backyard tree battle
“Strong roots… strong tree”
Foreshadow: neighbour’s monster tree falling
3. Story #2 – Winter storms knock over many trees
National news (trees falling on houses), but our house okay
Arborists: “Wind came from a different direction”
Establish key analogy – Trees cannot face the wind.
4. Story #3 – Baby Maximus
Michelle and Lance have strong roots
Maximus is born
5. Conclusion
Call-to-action: “We must face our problems”
Comments on Face the Wind Outline
At the outline stage, I set up many key elements of the speech. I determined the three main stories, planned humorous opening, identified a few key phrases to incorporate, established contrast (tree/people), used a metaphor (roots of people), and concluded with a call-to-action.
Opening – I wanted to open with humor to offset the drama later in the speech. Also, I wanted to connect with the audience as a homeowner as many in the audience are also homeowners.
Story #1 – I wanted the first story to establish the “strong roots… strong tree” connection. By establishing that trees have strong roots, it makes the fact that they were toppled in the storm (story #2) more dramatic.
Story #2 – This story was essentially an expansion of the “wind came from a different direction” theory of arborists that I picked up several months prior from my friend. The fact that trees cannot face the wind is the key analogy in this speech, although the audience doesn’t know it yet.
The Speech Preparation Series
1. How to Prepare Your Presentation
2. Select Your Speech Topic
3. Plan Your Speech Outline
4. Writing Your First Draft
5. Editing Your Speech
6. Add Speech Impact with Rhetorical Devices
7. Staging, Gestures, and Vocal Variety
8. Practicing Your Presentation
9. Self-Critique: Preparation for Next Time
10. Winning a Toastmasters Speech Contest
Story #3 – This story tells about the struggles which eventually led to the birth of Maximus. The key element here is the contrast between trees and people (who canface the wind).

Read more at Suite101: The Different Types of Speeches: What are the Main Categories in Public Speaking? | Suite101.com http://carol-rzadkiewicz.suite101.com/the-different-types-of-speeches-a138156#ixzz1oO1JeFrI

Read more at Suite101: The Different Types of Speeches: What are the Main Categories in Public Speaking? | Suite101.com http://carol-rzadkiewicz.suite101.com/the-different-types-of-speeches-a138156#ixzz1oLggiaEA

Resources:

http://www.shkaminski.com/Classes/Handouts/Communication%20Models.htm

http://www.people-communicating.com/listening-skills.html

http://www.typesofcommunication.org/communication/verbal-communication/verbal-communication/

http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Verbal_communication

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonverbal_communication

http://www.eruptingmind.com/verbal-communication-skills

http://www.exforsys.com/career-center/group-discussions/how-to-prepare-for-group-discussions.html

http://www.studygs.net/speaking.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_speaking

http://www.speech-time.com/types-of-public-speaking.html

Read more: Effective Public Communication | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_6672164_effective-public-communication.html#ixzz1njZwuohp

http://carol-rzadkiewicz.suite101.com/the-different-types-of-speeches-a138156

http://sixminutes.dlugan.com