Non-Verbal Communication

Artifactual Communication

Artifactual communication is a way we express non-verbal communication through judging others by their appearance.  People also make inferences about our age, social and economic status, education level, group membership, athletic ability, personality, and relationships to others by the way we dress, our use of artifactual communication provides important nonverbal clues to a person.  Many people react to us on the basis of our clothing which impacts first impressions and exert influences that lead to acceptance and rejection.  Either way you look at non-verbal communication, the truth is that it communicates information about you. 

           
The environment and social and cultural artifacts are vital for understanding of nonverbal communication.  The environment is the physical place in which communication takes place.  The objects in the environment can provide a form of stimulus to the communicators.  This all plays a role in something called proxemics which can be defined as personal space and what we do with our personal space.

The choices we make in the colors we wear, clothing, hairstyle, and makeup are all means of nonverbal communication.  Different colors can invoke changes in mood and affects humans psychologically through their emotions and acceptance of colors.  Color psychology has demonstrated that different colors can invoke changes in mood.  Physiological reactions of others, their judgement and interpretations can be altered by our appearance.  Just think of all the subtle judgments you quickly make about someone based on his or her appearance. These first impressions are important, which is why experts suggest that job seekers dress appropriately for interviews with potential employers.  

Nationality is another way we communicate non-verbally.  It shows us the nationality we belong to and our appearance is another way we use communicative artifacts.  The picture shows an example of how someone might judge another person based on their nationality just be looking at their personal appearance.  Tattoos and the jewelry we wear is another type of artifactual communication.  Notice this man has put different a gage in his ears and his body is full of tattoos that all communicate a variety of messages to others.  Some people may react negatively to body art and some may see it as a sense of creativity.  But, most humans tend to treat others based on these stereotypes.  This type of space decoration informs others about their working status, interest, and priorities.  One way to get to know each other better is to pay attention to artifactual communication to get a better understanding of each other and what our interests are.

Language

What information did you find interesting in the article you chose? Why?

I found the article The Truth About Change interesting because it talks about the influence that Language change has in social circumstances.  The reason I found this to be interesting because they speak about a person’s accent having such an effect on social context such as their fixin to move.  I believe that some hesitations could also fall into the change of language and how we perceive what other’s are telling us.

What did you learn that you did not previously know?

I learned what I previously did not know about American society and the English language is now following a single path of change under the irrepressible, homogenizing influence of mass media.  But, language is far too resourceful and social culture is far to complicated to follow any single path and that change is one of the inevitable facts in life of any language.

 What information did you find fascinating and wanted to learn more about?

I found that women often lead the way when it comes to change and my be different from the popular concept.  Most language change starts subtly and unconsciously among middle-class speakers and spreads to other classes and women often lead the way, and we also use language to  separate ourselves into social groups.

Finally, how will you use this new information in the future? Where? How?

I will use this new information in the future when speaking with co-workers and I will pay more attention to the grammatical changes that influence the way we speak.

Stereotyping to me is when someone makes a judgment about someone that isn’t true because they do not know the person.  I would most likely be stereotyped by the class I belong to because I may not always dress up or brag about what I have it does not mean that I do not have anything.  Many stereotype me on the clues they see around them about my particular class and not what the true facts are.  Many say that we grew up very poor and that there was no money.  But my great grandfather was a wealthy man and my grandmother inherited that wealth.  So I don’t want to say we do have a lot of money and I don’t want to say we don’t.  I believe stereotypes can be harmful because they could lead society to believe something about the particular group I belong to be untrue.  Stereotypes can be helpful to try and benefit from society’s views on a particular group.

Self Concept

This photo symbolizes that others see me and I see myself as a mother.  This part is the open part to my Johari, because everyone sees me as a mother.  

The second photo symbolizes the area of my Johari I keep hidden.  I have always had this feeling or a need for peace within my life and my relationships. It is hard for others to see the peace within me and my need for peace from others.  I always feel like I am trying to keep peace with everyone.