Key Systems of Nonverbal Communication

Understanding your conversation partner is one of the main factors for success in both business and personal relationships. Any communication process includes both verbal and nonverbal channels for transmitting information. Nonverbal signals are harder to consciously control, which makes them a reliable source for assessing a person’s behavior during negotiations, interviews, and meetings.

Some nonverbal cues can be analyzed with high accuracy to draw meaningful conclusions. To do this, it’s important to know what these signals are and which aspects of communication they regulate. Nonverbal communication is based on several systems. Let’s take a closer look at the main ones.

Kinesics

Kinesics is the study of facial expressions, gestures, and body postures in the communication process. Many movements are not consciously registered (but can be unconsciously perceived), yet they fully convey a person’s mood and thoughts. Kinesics allows us to assess not only individual personality traits but also to analyze the content of communication for signs of lying, lack of knowledge, or stress.

When trying to understand someone, we first look at their face. Subconsciously, we pay more attention to expressive movements—facial expressions and illustrative gestures—than to specific features. These reflect the true emotions a person experiences during communication. By analyzing facial expressions, you can determine someone’s real attitude toward their conversation partner or the situation. It’s important to note that genuine emotions are always fleeting, appearing in facial expressions for just fractions of a second. Only a very attentive observer can catch them.

Along with facial expressions, many gestures are used in communication. They can be divided into two main types: accompanying and self-soothing. Accompanying gestures add meaning to what’s being said and help the speaker tell their story. When analyzing these signals, it’s important to observe what exactly the person is showing and whether it matches their words. Self-soothing gestures are meant to reduce tension or anxiety during communication, helping the person regain control of the situation.

Properly interpreting gestures is impossible without comparative analysis. To draw accurate conclusions, you should first observe the person’s behavior and gestures in a calm state, consider their physiological state, culture, and professional habits, and then compare their movements after, for example, a difficult question.

A person’s posture reflects their level of attention or engagement in the conversation, as well as their status or sympathy toward the other person. Usually, posture is evaluated together with other nonverbal signals.

It’s important to remember that kinesics cannot be effectively analyzed without considering context, environment, and other factors. In stressful situations, a person’s nonverbal signals may change, becoming more controlled or, conversely, more reflexive. This is due to the specifics of thinking and changes in the nervous system.

Proxemics

Proxemics is the study of personal space in communication. Regardless of how limited the surrounding area is, everyone has their own personal zone that they instinctively try to protect from intrusion. How much space does a person need to feel confident and comfortable? What positions should people take to avoid discomfort during communication? Proxemics helps answer these and many other questions.

To determine the optimal distance between people, you need to consider the level of their relationship. There are four main zones:

• Intimate (6 to 18 inches): Reserved for people in close emotional contact (family, close friends, etc.).
• Personal (18 inches to 4 feet): Usually separates well-acquainted individuals.
• Social (4 to 12 feet): The distance people tend to keep from strangers.
• Public (over 12 feet): The most comfortable distance when addressing a large group.

If you intentionally reduce the distance during communication, the other person will unconsciously make movements to reestablish their comfortable space. Someone skilled at reading these nonverbal signals can understand the level of relationship or even influence the course of communication.

Haptics

Haptics is the branch of psychology that studies communication through touch: pats, handshakes, pushes, and so on. It draws on knowledge from psychophysiology, sociology, and cognitive science.

Understanding and analyzing touch is important when evaluating the behavior of people who know each other well. These signals reflect upbringing and culture and allow conclusions about the nature of interaction between participants.

In modern society, touching is regulated by many social norms. Since touch directly invades personal space, most people are cautious about it. Actions like patting someone on the shoulder or back, or touching their cheek, can be perceived negatively. However, among relatives or close friends, such actions may be seen as expressions of affection. The ability to understand and interpret the “language of touch” helps assess the level of trust and closeness in a group, even if people try to appear distant.

One of the most common forms of touch is the handshake. In most countries, it accompanies greetings and farewells. However, this is not universal. For example, in Japan, people do not typically greet each other this way. Attitudes toward handshakes in Japan depend on how much a person follows Western etiquette.

It’s important to remember that touch is a rather ambiguous form of behavior. It can only be interpreted correctly by considering context, cultural aspects, the nature of relationships, communication style, and other factors.

Paralinguistics and Extralinguistics

From a nonverbal communication perspective, it’s not just what someone says, but how they say it that matters. The voice produces many sound signals that accompany speech. These are not part of the language system but play a significant role in the communication process.

Paralinguistics and extralinguistics help recognize these signals. These fields complement each other and are often studied together.

Paralinguistics is the study of non-language means of communication that convey nonverbal information. This includes individual sounds and sound complexes used during communication, as well as various vocal parameters (tone, volume, clarity of articulation, etc.).

Extralinguistics is the study of all kinds of non-speech elements, such as pauses, sighs, and other signals. Non-speech signals can reflect a person’s emotional state and thought processes, or they may be physiological (accidental) in nature.

It’s important to analyze paralinguistics and extralinguistics together with other nonverbal systems for effective profiling.

Oculesics

Oculesics is the study of visual behavior in communication. It analyzes various aspects of gaze: direction, eye movement during conversation, duration of eye contact, and more.

When considered separately from other nonverbal systems, oculesics is not very reliable. There are many myths in this area, such as the idea that you can detect lies by the direction of someone’s gaze. It’s important to understand that this method does not provide reliable information. Despite its popularity, it remains just a myth. Additionally, in domestic scientific literature, this system is described less thoroughly than in Western sources and requires further research.

Oculesics can reflect emotional and cognitive processes. However, recognizing and correctly interpreting these signals is only possible with specialized equipment. During negotiations or other verbal interactions, this channel is difficult to track.

Olfaction

Olfaction is the science of the language of smells and its role in communication. This system includes both natural human scents and artificial aromas (perfume, incense, etc.).

As with oculesics, accurately detecting these signals requires specific skills or tools. For this reason, oculesics and olfaction are less significant than other systems, offer less practical value, and are less reliable for assessment.

Conclusion

Understanding nonverbal communication systems helps improve relationships between conversation partners and provides a wealth of additional information. However, modern scientific materials often combine different fields, confuse concepts, or focus on a single “universal” signal or method that supposedly works flawlessly in any situation. This makes interpreting nonverbal signals challenging. Moreover, some scientific tools are still not fully explored. The three most thoroughly studied areas are kinesics, proxemics, and haptics. These are the main focus when assessing nonverbal communication. It’s important to use them together and supplement your analysis with additional information to increase the relevance and accuracy of your conclusions.