Non-verbal Communication Awareness

Non-verbal communication conveys strong messages and can get you into trouble in conflict situations, especially if what you are conveying non-verbally is not congruent with what you are conveying verbally. Most times we focus on verbal communication and reason as tools to help calm a situation. If you find yourself trying to reason with someone without the desired effect, it may be because your body language is conveying a different message.

Our life experience, our belief system and our judgement collectively help us to interpret both the words and body language of situations and the communication of another person. Because we all have different life experiences, different belief systems, and different levels of judgment ability, we never know which of our behaviours might lead to another person’s agreement—or hostility. Our best bet is to be flexible both verbally and non-verbally.

Since you have little control over others, the focus for study of non-verbal communication must be on yourself, and what you are communicating to others.

This assignment reflects your learning for Module 3 Outcome 6: Analyze how you communicate non-verbally in conflict situations.

Don’t forget, the purpose of these assignments is for your instructor to evaluate your understanding of the course content. Make sure you are referring to the content of Module 3 in your submission.

Note: Remember that the only recognizable name in this assignment should be yours. Your information will remain confidential. Only you and the instructor will see this assignment.

Assignment

The assignment will have the following components:

Cover Page – use format from APA Style Guide
example on p. 4

Introduction (to format headings and the headers throughout your paper, see p. 15 of APA Style Guide). You are expected to include an introduction which starts with a brief description of the importance of nonverbal behaviours in conflict sutuations as per course content. This is also where you will indicate what you are going to talk about in the body of the assignment; hence, providing a road-map of your paper to the reader. There are resources online which can help with how to write an introduction and you can also access our Learning Cafe online resources.

My Non-verbal Behaviours

For each of the emotions listed below, describe the non-verbal behaviours through which you communicate that emotion (knowingly or unknowingly). Finish each sentence with at least two non-verbal behavioural indicators. For example, the first statement is “When I am angry, I …”. Your response might be “When I am angry, I raise my voice and clench my fists.

You will find it helpful to discuss this with someone who knows you well (your best friend, your Mom or Dad, or maybe a sibling) and has seen you in situations where you have experienced these emotions. Often, we have not thought about or are aware of our non-verbal behaviours, so another person’s perspective will help.

Please use bullet points in this section as indicated below

When I am angry, I …
When I am sad, I …
When I am frightened, I …
When I am nervous or unsure of myself, I …
When I am confident, I …

Reflection

This is the section where you will analyze your non-verbal behaviours based on your work above. in paragraph form, reflect on the following types of topics (Be sure to apply the non-verbal terminology and content that you learned within Module 3 as you complete this section):

– Describe your awareness of these non-verbal behaviours prior to this exercise. Were there any that you were unaware of or ones that surprised you?

– Describe your experience with other people and how they have interpreted these behaviours in the past. Would you say that they have interpreted your non-verbals accurately (in other words did they know the emotion behind the behaviour or did they misunderstand)? If there has been misunderstanding by others, describe why you think this was the case.

– Now that you are more aware of the non-verbal behaviours that are attached to specific feelings, describe changes that you intend to make. Also describe the steps you will take to make How will the changes

Conclusion

Summarize your findings. What did you learn from this assignment?
There are resources online which can help with how to write a conclusion and you can also access our Learning Cafe online resources.

The paper must be double-spaced and created in MS Word. Upload it to the assignment submission space here on or before the due date.

Refer to the marking rubric below for information as to how this assignment will be graded.