Kinesics as a means of communication: facial expressions, gestures, gait, gaze

Human communication consists of many aspects that many do not think about, but they are the ones that help us read information and perceive others in one way and not another. It is important not only what a child says and how well he pronounces words, but also how harmonious his body language is. When talking about the comprehensive development of children, this issue also cannot be ignored or avoided, because all this lays the foundation for future communications and general development.

What is kinesics?

Kinesics in psychology is a science that studies the totality of gestures, facial expressions and pantomimes that accompany the process of human communication. People do not control their body movements as much as they control their words, so observing the interlocutor’s facial expressions and gestures makes it possible to obtain additional information. Often, with gestures and facial expressions, a person can express much more important information than what he is trying to convey in words.

There are other branches of psychology that study the characteristics of nonverbal communication. This includes proxemics, which studies the spatial relationships of people, and takeshika, which studies the language of touch.

What is prosody?

Here, the communication process is considered from the perspective of observing intonation, timbre, number and duration of pauses, the presence of sighs and general literacy. What is important is the vocal presentation of everything that is said, with all the “uh” and “mmm.”

By listening to the baby, the speech therapist can determine the child’s emotional state at the time of the conversation. This is necessary if you want to understand the baby’s anxiety and understand the underlying causes that cause speech development problems.

This area also includes psychophysical manifestations, including crying, coughing, sighs and laughter. That is, everything that complements any speech and does not seem like something complicated, although in fact it is difficult to overestimate the importance of such observations, especially at a young age.

Facial expressions

Voluntary and involuntary movements of the facial muscles are called facial expressions. Facial expressions are an important element of nonverbal communication. Movements of the facial muscles help a person more fully convey information to the interlocutor, demonstrate his mood and attitude to the topic of conversation. With the help of facial expressions, people express a basic set of emotions - joy, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, disappointment. A smile alone can have many meanings. She can be joyful, tense, contemptuous, polite, sad, etc.

Since a person is able to voluntarily move his facial muscles, he can consciously enhance or, conversely, restrain the expression of emotions. Therefore, for a more complete assimilation of information, it is necessary to take into account the words that the interlocutor speaks and his facial expressions.

Spatial zones

Hall identified four zones (sometimes called distances) that people observe when communicating:

intimate area;
personal zone;
social zone;
public area.

These zones can be schematically represented as follows:

Intimate area

It is most convenient to imagine the intimate area in the form of an imaginary bubble with a radius of about half a meter. There is a person in this bubble. If someone else is in this area, physical contact is expected, for example, touching, stroking, hugging, etc. (Here it is appropriate to use two terms: proxemics-takesika).

The intimate zone is observed by a person only when communicating with the closest people - relatives, family members or very close friends. Interestingly, the closer people are to each other in terms of relationships, the smaller the distance between them. Each of us has examples of this - just remember how we strive to close the distance with our loved ones.

The intimate zone gives people the opportunity to touch each other. If a person is not sociable enough, he will strive to expand the intimate zone, in particular when communicating with strangers. Such a person may avoid public transport or crowded places where people are in close physical contact with each other.

If a person is aggressive, he can also increase the intimate area, and he will do this unconsciously. For example, he can stand with his legs wide apart, wave his arms while talking, or sit imposingly on the sofa with his arms outstretched to the sides. If someone suddenly invades “his” space, he may become aggressive and angry.

Here are more examples: people who sympathize with each other will be located closer to each other; a person who dislikes his interlocutor will move further away from him; The distance between spouses with relationship problems will always increase. Remember different situations from your life, and you yourself will be able to find confirmation of these words, and this applies to both personal and business communication.

And some more practical information useful in life. Under normal conditions, you should not be too close to a person, otherwise you can provoke a conflict (the video presented above illustrates this perfectly). When a stranger invades the intimate area of one person, the first person’s body will release stress hormones, causing mental mobilization aimed at repelling aggression. This self-defense mechanism is inherent in us by nature.

Despite this, today's life often forces us to be in close contact with others. We all travel in the subway and elevators, stand in lines and jostle in the crowd. This is where certain compensating mechanisms were born - unspoken norms of behavior that are recommended to be followed. If you don’t want trouble (or you’re just thinking about others and don’t want to make them feel uncomfortable), you shouldn’t talk loudly on the phone (or in general), while being close to someone, without taking your eyes off looking at strangers, etc.

Following these simple rules can make your life and the lives of those you encounter more comfortable.

Personal zone

The personal zone is a space for friendly and business communication. The distance in this case can be from half a meter to 1 meter 20 centimeters, i.e. there is near and far personal distance. In the first case, relatives and friends are allowed into the personal area, and in the second - business partners, colleagues, etc.

The personal zone differs in that, as a rule, there is no physical contact. It can also be called the “zone of sympathy”, and here, as in the first case, sympathy affects the distance - the more people like each other, the less distance between them.

It is also interesting that the size of the “sympathy zone” can vary dramatically among different people, depending on their personal characteristics. For example, sociable people, optimists and extroverts reduce their personal distance, while closed, complex or insecure people, “negatives” and introverts will increase this distance. In some cases, a wide personal zone creates the illusion of security for a person.

In addition, personal distance may also depend on age factors. You probably yourself have noticed that children and older people strive to be physically closer to those with whom they communicate, while young people and middle-aged people, on the contrary, feel more comfortable when located further away from their interlocutor. Proxemics explains this (in psychology) by how confident and protected a person feels.

Social zone

As one might expect, the boundaries of the social zone are even wider - they range from 1.2 to 3.7 meters. Business communication almost always corresponds to these limits. By the way, the phrase “sit down at the negotiating table” also has an interesting interpretation from the position of proxemics: the table is an indispensable component of negotiations, and its size corresponds to the social zone. The same applies to the shape of the table and how the interlocutors are located at it.

Note that the location of the interlocutors at the table itself divides the space into personal segments. As a rule, the border is always located in the center of the table, and a person perceives the part up to the border on “his” side as personal (sometimes even intimate) territory. And if someone suddenly puts something on someone else's half, it can become an invasion of a personal (or intimate) area and cause a negative response.

And again, a little bit of practice. For a boss-subordinate conversation, psychologists advise choosing rectangular or square tables and placing chairs opposite each other. In this case, it is necessary that the boss’s chair has a higher back and is generally more massive. This creates a certain mood, because the boss seems to “rise” over the subordinate, and the latter already initially feels “weaker”.

In the case of business negotiations or any other communication, for example, for a meeting of a large group of friends, it is worth using an oval or round table without sharp corners and the same chairs for everyone. In this situation, all communication participants will feel in the same position.

And a little more about psychological comfort. Take note that whenever there is some movement behind a sitting person (for example, someone is constantly walking, a door is constantly opening/closing, the noise of cars outside the window is heard, etc.), he is in a stressful situation . This can affect the state of the interlocutor and communication in general. Therefore, if you want your partner to be comfortable, if possible, sit him with his back to the wall or to a part of the room where nothing is happening.

Let us note one more feature: social distance offers a knowledgeable person an important advantage - if he does not want to communicate with his interlocutor, is tired or is simply not interested, he can look away from his partner without harm, and this will not be perceived as something tactless.

Public area

The public zone is familiar first hand to teachers, lecturers, speakers and all those who have to speak in public, because it is intended specifically for communication with the audience. The size of this zone varies from 3.7 to almost 8 meters, and this is exactly the distance at which in most cases the speaker is located in front of spectators or listeners.

A public area is a means of communication that allows information to be conveyed to a group without the use of aids such as projectors, loudspeakers or microphones. And this applies not only to verbal, but also to a significant part of non-verbal information. However, one point needs to be taken into account here - if the room is small, then you should be located at the minimum distance from the audience for a public area, and if it is large, then the distance should be increased.

These are the four zones that proxemics defines. Communication is a real art, and psychological science makes it possible to use things to master it that we often don’t even think about.

You, of course, noticed that certain attention is paid in proxemics to the location of interlocutors in space, and not just the distance between them. And here, too, there are several important features that are important and need to be taken into account when communicating.

Sight

The look is closely related to facial expressions. Eye contact is very important during a conversation. By the look of the interlocutor you can understand whether he is telling the truth or lying, whether he is interested in the conversation, whether he feels confident or embarrassed.

The more relaxed the conversation participants feel, the more often their views intersect. An interlocutor who hides his eyes does not inspire confidence. The pupils can also tell you a lot. Pupil dilation indicates that the person is in a good mood, excited, or interested in a conversation. Constriction of the pupils, on the contrary, indicates a bad mood.

What is proxemics?

This addresses the norms of ongoing communication and the child’s reaction to them. In any dialogue, a person builds several limits with spatial and temporal norms at once. The specialist’s goal in this case is to understand how the baby perceives and uses personal space in a conversation, how open he is to strangers and how closely he is ready to interact with his parents. This takes into account the baby’s reaction to violation of these boundaries and associated gestures.

Gestures

Gestures are various movements of the hands and head. Gesticulation during a conversation, as well as facial expressions, carries a lot of information. The more active the conversation, the more intense the gesticulation of its participants becomes.

There are several main types of gestures:

Communicative - gestures that people use to greet, say goodbye, attract attention, etc.
Modal - with their help, a person expresses his attitude towards the interlocutor or situation (approval, disapproval, satisfaction, trust or distrust).
Descriptive - gestures that are used only in the context of a specific conversation.

For representatives of different cultures, the same gestures can have completely different meanings. For example, greetings are expressed differently among different peoples: with a nod, a bow, a raise of the hand, a kiss, a handshake, and even a collision of heads. For some nationalities, it is customary to sniff each other, hit a friend on the head or shoulder with a fist, bend your arms in a certain gesture, and much more.

As a result, misunderstandings often arise between representatives of different cultures. To foreigners, many gestures seem strange and unusual. For example, in many countries the main greeting gesture is a handshake. But representatives of some nations consider physical contact between strangers unacceptable.

What is takeshika?

A branch of communicationology that focuses on the child’s interaction with the environment. In this case, the specialist observes how the baby carries out his direct communication by shaking hands and various touches.

With age, the number of types of communication increases, but simple and effective means and methods of learning are given to us from birth in conditioned reflex and verbal forms. Ultimately, when communicating, a person can demonstrate different types of interactions: Professional or business, ritual, friendly and hostile, and loving touches are distinguished.

Pose

The postures a person takes during communication can also tell a lot. The position of the body is least subject to conscious control, therefore the pose of the interlocutor speaks about his true state much more eloquently than facial expressions and gestures.

This happens because people are taught from a very early age to control their emotions and facial expressions, but are not taught to control their posture. Therefore, it is the body position that the interlocutor takes during a conversation that best reveals his true feelings. During the communication process, depending on the direction the conversation has taken, the postures of its participants can change significantly. This is also important to consider when transferring business or personal information.

Psychologists distinguish three main groups of postures:

Openness or closedness. If a person is inclined to communicate, he smiles, his posture is relaxed, his palms are open, his torso is turned towards the interlocutor. If a person is closed, he crosses his arms and legs, leans away from the interlocutor, interlocks his fingers.
Dependence or dominance. A person striving for dominance can hover over his interlocutor, pat him on the arm, shoulder, or look down on him. Dependence is expressed by looking up and lowering the head.
Harmony or opposition. Harmony is expressed in a posture that matches the position of the interlocutor. Confrontation manifests itself in the form of clenched fists, a forward shoulder, a militantly raised chin, and hands placed on the sides or hips.

Why should you contact specialists?

Sometimes, the simplest and seemingly harmless habits of a child can be alarming signs that will affect the future success and self-realization of the child.

It is impossible to track all these points without preparation and practice, so if your goal is to comprehensively develop a child, giving him all the necessary skills, then you simply cannot do without experienced speech therapists. Our specialists will develop a lesson plan based on the individual needs and characteristics of the child.

Publication date: 01/11/2022. Last modified: 01/11/2022.

Gait

Gait is the style of movement of a person. This includes the width and rhythm of the step, movements while walking, the position of the torso and head. Gait includes components that can tell about a person’s physical and mental well-being, the characteristics of his character and temperament.

A heavy gait is characteristic of people who are in a bad, depressed mood; a light gait, on the contrary, is characteristic of optimists. An insecure person walks with his head down and his back hunched. Confident – holds himself upright with his head held high and shoulders back.

Active and proactive people walk quickly and confidently, often swinging their arms while walking. Secretive people keep their hands in their pockets or behind their backs. A person engaged in mental activity walks slowly, with a thoughtful look. People of a demonstrative nature lift their chins high, walk on straight legs, trying to emphasize their superiority.

Personal zones in different cultures

In his research, Edward Hall, as befits a professional cultural scientist, paid great attention to intercultural differences and analyzed various cultures. In the course of studying the spatial perception of representatives of different nations, Hall identified several features that are worth paying attention to for anyone interested in the topic of proxemics in general and the topic of improving relationships with others in particular.

Here are some of Hall's observations:

representatives of Western culture focus not on the space between objects, but on the objects themselves;
The Japanese are more receptive to in-between spaces, i.e. to the intervals between people and objects;
North Americans and Europeans prefer to furnish rooms along the walls and separate them with baseboards and edgings;
The Chinese and Japanese love sliding walls because... this allows them to use the same spaces for different purposes;
Arabs, when touching their interlocutor, strive to express sympathy, while the Japanese perceive such gestures negatively;
residents of many Arab countries, the Mediterranean and Latin America have smaller spatial bubble sizes than residents of Western Europe, Australia and North America;
in Brazil it is quite common to talk in a personal and intimate area, which causes considerable discomfort, for example, to visiting Americans or Western Europeans;
The social distance of Russians is less than that of Americans, but greater than that of Latin Americans.

National characteristics have a huge impact on people's communication, and they should always be taken into account. It is precisely because of ignorance of the intricacies of spatial perception that misunderstandings and conflicts can often occur between people.

The same Japanese person, who was touched by an Arab while expressing good attitude, will be discouraged by his “unceremoniousness,” and the Arab will perceive the Japanese’s distance as arrogance. A Russian or Brazilian can put an American in an awkward position by constantly closing the distance, because this is how he is used to communicating in his country, and an American will seem to a Russian or Brazilian to be a suspicious type who avoids people, but in the USA it is simply customary to be located at a greater distance from a communication partner .

There are many such examples, and they all indicate that we must respect other people’s spatial norms, because the same communication means can be perceived differently even by people in the same country, not to mention different cultures.

Proxemics can be a wonderful tool and means of communication, and by and large, anyone can easily acquire knowledge of spatial relationships. You just need to set a goal, communicate wisely and always remember that everyone deserves to be treated with respect.

We wish you good luck in improving your communication skills, and finally, we offer some communication tips from psychologist Evgeniy Zakharov.

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Most common gestures

There are a great many gestures with which a person can express the whole gamut of feelings. As an example, we can consider the most common gestures and their meaning.

Touching the ear or scratching it indicates that the person does not like what the interlocutor is talking about.
Propping your chin indicates boredom and a desire to end the conversation as quickly as possible.
Stroking or scratching the chin indicates thought and reflection.
Tapping your fingers or other objects on the table, glancing at your watch, tapping your feet on the floor, or swaying your feet indicate impatience.
Open palms and an unbuttoned jacket or jacket indicate a willingness to communicate and openness.
Crossing arms and legs, a closed posture indicates distrust or reluctance to communicate.
Rubbing or scratching the neck indicates doubt and uncertainty.
Hands placed behind the back or behind the head indicate the interlocutor’s desire to show his superiority.
Removing and wiping glasses, biting the temples indicate reflection.
Covering your mouth with your palm means secrecy or lying; the interlocutor is not saying something or is telling deliberately untrue information.
Hands in pockets indicate secrecy or reluctance to participate in the conversation. If the thumbs protrude outward from the pockets, the interlocutor seeks to dominate.

There is a lot of literature devoted to means of nonverbal communication. By studying the meaning of facial expressions, gestures, postures and glances, you can learn to better understand people, see their true feelings, distinguish truth from lies in conversation. This knowledge will help you significantly improve your life and achieve greater success in your career and interpersonal relationships.

Why is it necessary to take into account kinesics, prosody, takesics and proxemics in combination?

The thing is that some knowledge comes to us at the physiological level, it helps the child from birth and contributes to the first successful relationships with the world. But most of the required skills and reactions are not built into the human psyche at the level of instincts, so it takes time and effort to develop them.

Can this be ignored? The modern world is an interweaving of many skills and knowledge. It is not enough to pronounce sounds clearly, you need to be able to speak and interact with people and objects around you, and these abilities do not develop without outside help.

A striking example of such “neglect” is the “Mowgli” children, unadapted to life, whose lack of these skills is expressed as clearly as possible. In many cases, human communication norms and gestures are replaced by the animals that raised these babies. Children who grow up in an ordinary environment adopt such knowledge from their parents and their immediate environment, but this is not enough.

Observing and studying these aspects of social interaction allows not only to improve communication skills, but also to influence the development of personality. It has been proven that the role of education and development is enormous, in which not only the underlying data develops, but also manifestations of individuality that are not always readable are formed, up to the habit of organizing personal space in one way or another.