首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Nonverbal Communication Like all animals, people communicate by their actions as well as by the noises they make. Language
Nonverbal Communication Like all animals, people communicate by their actions as well as by the noises they make. Language
admin
2010-03-26
72
问题
Nonverbal Communication
Like all animals, people communicate by their actions as well as by the noises they make. Language is obviously essential for human beings, but it is not the whole story of human communication.
There are many different cultures in the world, and in each of them the children must learn a great many things that are expected of everyone who participates effectively in that culture. These things are taken for granted by everyone who shares the culture. When I say that they are taken for granted, I mean that nobody needs to describe them or write them down or try self-consciously to teach them to children. Indeed, the children begin to learn them before their linguistic skills are far enough developed to understand a verbal description of what they are learning. This kind of learning has sometimes been called "imitation," but that is much too simple an explanation for the complex processes that go on when a child learns what is normal and expected in his own community. Most of the norms (标准) are communicated to the child nonverbally, and he internalizes them as if no other possibilities existed. They are as much a part of him as his own body; he would no more question them than he would question the fact that he has two hands and two feet, but only one head.
What is an example of the sort of thing that children learn nonverbally? One of the simplest examples to observe and analyze and discuss is the way people use clothing and bodily ornamentation (装饰) to communicate. At any particular time in any particular culture there is an accepted and normal way to dress and to arrange one’s hair and to paint the face and to wear one’s jewelry. By adopting those conventions for dressing himself, a person communicates to the world that he wants to be treated according to the standards of the culture for which they are appropriate. When a black person in America rejects the normal American dress and puts on African clothing, he is communicating to the world that he wants to be treated as an Afro-American. On the surface, dressing up in unusual costumes would seem to be one of the more innocent forms of dissent that a person would express, but in fact it is deeply resented by many people who still feel bound by the traditional conventions of their culture and who become fearful or angry when those norms are violated. The nonverbal message that such a costume communicates is "I reject your culture and your values," and those who resent this message can be violent in their response.
Eye contact also has an important role in regulating conversational interactions. In America, a typical pattern is for the listener to signal that he is paying attention by looking at the talker’s mouth or eyes. Since direct eye contact is often too intimate, the talker may let his eyes wonder elsewhere. As the moment arrives for the talker to become a listener, and for his partner to begin talking, there will often be a preliminary signal. The talker will often look toward the listener, and the listener will signal that he is ready to talk by glancing away.
Such eye signals will vary, of course, depending on what the people are talking about and what the personal relation is between them. But whatever the pattern of eye signals that two people are using, they use them unconsciously. If you try to become aware of your own eye movements while you are talking to someone, y6u will find it extremely frustrating. As soon as you try to think self-consciously about your own eye movements, you don’t know where you should be looking. If you want to study how the eyes communicate, therefore, you should do it by observing other people, not yourself. But if you watch other people too intently, of course, you may disturb them or make them angry. So be careful!
Eye communication seems to be particularly important for Americans. It is part of the American culture that people should be kept at a distance and that contact with another person’s body should be avoided in all but the most intimate situations. Because of this social convention of dealing with others at a distance, Americans have to place much reliance on their distance receptors, their eyes and ears, for personal communication. In other cultures, however, people normally come closer together and bodily contact between conversational partners is as normal as eye contact is in America. In the Eastern Mediterranean cultures, for example, both the touch and the smell of the other person are expected.
Other cultures have different spatial (空间的) norms. In Latin America, for example, impersonal discussion normally occurs at a distance of two or three feet, which is the distance that is appropriate for personal discussion in North America. Consequently, it is impossible for a North and South American both to be comfortable when they talk to one another unless one can adopt the zones that are normal for the other. If the South American advances to a distance that is comfortable for him, it will be too close for the North American, and he will withdraw, and one can chase the other all around the room unless something intervenes to end the conversation. The North American seems aloof and unfriendly to the South American. The South American seems hostile or oversexed to the North American. The South American Anthropologist Edward Hall mentions that North Americans sometimes cope with this difference by barricading (设障碍) themselves behind desks or tables, and that South Americans have been known literally to climb over these barriers in order to attain a comfortable distance at which to talk.
Sticking out the tongue and quickly drawing it back can be a gesture of self-castigation (自责) in one culture, and admission of a social mistake, but someone from another culture might interpret it as a gesture of ridicule or contempt, and in the Eskimo culture it would not be a gesture at all, but the conventional way of directing a current of air when blowing out a candle. Just a little better communication on the nonverbal level might go a long way toward improving international relations.
For the larger distance kept in a conversation with a North American, a South American seems to think that his conversational partner is rather ______.
选项
答案
aloof and unfriendly
解析
此句的答案可从第七段第五句“The North American seems aloof and unfriendly to the South American.”中得出。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/FHk7777K
0
大学英语四级
相关试题推荐
TheUnitedStatesranksfirstamongWesterncountriesasfarasdivorcerateisconcerned.Peoplefromdivorcedfamiliesaremo
A、Industryandtransportation.B、Financeandeducation.C、Medicineandcommunication.D、Alloftheaboveandmore.DWhataspects
Whymoreandmorepeoplebecameinterestedinbecomingcomputerprogrammers?Whatcanweinferfromthispassage?
Peoplenowadayshaveawidechoiceofleisuretimeactivities.Somepeopleenjoyquietleisuretimeactivitiesafteralonghard
Inhisyouth,KnuteAxelbrodwantedtolearnmanylanguages,toknoweverythingabouthumanhistory,to【B1】wisebyreadinggreat
Duringtelevision’sfirst20years,deafpeoplemissedmostofthefunbecausethey______."closedcaptions"arecaptionsthat
Duringtelevision’sfirst20years,deafpeoplemissedmostofthefunbecausethey______."opencaptions"arecaptionsthat_
Duringtelevision’sfirst20years,deafpeoplemissedmostofthefunbecausethey______.Adecoderisamachineto______.
随机试题
火灾事故中重伤10人以上事故属于()火灾事故。
你认为事件一中材料供应商的做法是否正确?为什么?你认为事件二中施工单位的做法是否正确?为什么?
某炼钢厂转炉车间消防员王某对自动喷水灭火系统定期检查时发现,系统报警阀报警管路误报警,发生这种故障的原因可能有()
影响我国金融市场运行的主要因素包括()。Ⅰ.欧元区的形成Ⅱ.股指期货Ⅲ.国际资本流动Ⅳ.美元汇率改革
中央银行作为“银行的银行”体现在()。
家庭联产承包的特点是()
所谓新闻侵权是指行为人通过新闻媒体(包括通讯社、报刊杂志、广播电视、公共新闻网站等)向社会公众传播不真实的情况,或情况虽然真实但属于法律禁止传播的事项,从而侵害了他人的合法民事权利,依法应当承担法律后果的行为和事实。根据上述定义,下列各项不属于新闻侵权的是
不规则需求是指某些物品或者服务的市场需求在不同季节,或一周不同日子,甚至一天不同时间上下波动很大的一种需求状况。根据上述定义,下列哪项属于不规则需求?()
Whatdoesthemanwant?
A、Tocooksomethingforhim.B、Towaitforhim.C、Toeatoutside.D、Tohaveamealanddrinkbyhimself.DWhatdidthespeakera
最新回复
(
0
)