What are several reasons why individuals need to improve their understanding of nonverbal communication? Be sure to include in your discussion some of the research findings regarding how much nonverbal communication contributes to meaning

What will be an ideal response?

Researchers do not agree on a specific percentage that nonverbal communication contributes to meaning; however, they do agree that nonverbal communication is very important in communication and meaning creation. Some estimates indicate that nonverbal communication contributes over 90 percent of meaning in interactions, while other estimates are closer to 62 percent. Part of the difficulty in studying and understanding nonverbal communication is that we use multiple channels simultaneously and continuously to create meaning. So even though researchers can isolate and study a specific nonverbal behavior (e.g., eye contact, vocal stress, etc.), it is difficult to know how much one variable contributes to meaning compared to others that are occurring simultaneously.

Because nonverbal communication has a large bearing on meaning, it is important to study and improve one's nonverbal communication skills. Additionally, nonverbal communication requires interpretation and nonverbal clues can be unclear. Therefore, the more one knows about different contexts, culture, relationships, and nonverbal cues, the more likely one will able be to interpret the message as intended.

Furthermore, nonverbal communication functions to warn us whether others are a threat to us. As nonverbal communication can have different meanings based on a variety of factors, better understanding of nonverbal communication can protect us (or at least save us some embarrassment).

Finally, nonverbal communication affects many aspects of social life. For example, nonverbal communication can affect public policies such as dress codes. Those in power use nonverbal communication to set norms and expectations about what is desired or beautiful. Every day we are influenced by nonverbal communication.