Nonverbal Communication Skills: Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography

There are three types of communication verbal, written, and nonverbal. Verbal communication is the relaying of facts, emotions, ideas, concepts, opinions, belief, attitudes, and instructions verbally. Written communication is the sending of messages, orders, instructions in writing through letters, manuals, reports, telegrams, office memos, and bulletins. Nonverbal communication sends messages through visual, auditory, and physical actions such as eye contact, gestures, posture, and body language. According to Shraddha Bajracharya’s “Why is Non-verbal Communication important?”, 75% of every body’s waking hours is spent sending messages through communicating with other people; however, 80% of that time is spent communicating nonverbally. When people think of communication they think of verbal and written communication and do not realize how much of their time spent communicating is done nonverbally. In addition, people use nonverbal communication without even realizing it or without even thinking about much impacts their everyday encounters.

However, non-verbal actions do not have fixed meanings throughout the world, and it is different from person to person and culture to culture. Here, in the U.S for example, maintain eye contact with a someone during a conversation can show a sign of attentiveness, let them know you are listening, and shows respect to the other person. In many other cultures, however, including Hispanic, Asian, Middle Eastern, and Native American, maintaining eye contact is seen as disrespectful or rude, and lack of eye contact does not mean you’re not paying attention to what they’re saying.

Eye contact in the United States is extremely important during conversation because in some cases eyes can speak more than words and establish an impressive first impression on someone. For example, using direct eye contact during an interview or conversation with someone of authority can greatly affect that other person’s perception of you and demonstrates that you are actively listening to what they have to say, seem attentive, and show respect. For my research paper, I am researching why eye contact is such an important nonverbal communication skill to use in the United States.

Bell, Arthur H. ‘More than Words can Say.’ Nursing, vol. 30, no. 5, 2000, pp. 68-9. ProQuest, https://login.iris.etsu.edu:3443/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/204556606?accountid=10771.

In this article, titled, “More than Words can Say” Arthur Bell, a nurse in Philadelphia, explains why sustaining eye contact when talking to someone may say more than words, especially in the occupation nursing. Sustain eye contact. Eyes that shift nervously from object to object suggest nervousness and a lack of self-confidence. Look into the other person’s eyes in an honest, accepting way. Don’t stare or glare. Instead, try to sustain contact during a majority of the conversation. This way you’re telling that person you’re comfortable and confident.

This article benefits my research topic because it provides information from someone who has been experienced the importance of maintaining eye contact in the real world. The article was issued in May 2000, making it twenty years old. This may seem out of date; however, this issue is still relevant because researchers are still writing about it in years more recent. The article did not contain information that I was not already familiar with and do not think anyone will have trouble reading this text.

George, Nancy L. “Ovid Nursing Collection on the Web97110Ovid Technologies Inc. Ovid Nursing Collection on the Web. 333 Seventh Ave. New York, NY 10001 (212) 563‐3006: Ovid Technologies, Inc URL: Http://Www.ovid.com Contact Ovid Technologies Inc, Variable, Updated as Necessary.” Electronic Resources Review, vol. 1, no. 11, 1997, pp. 127–129., doi:10.1108/err.1997.1.11.127.110.

In this article, titled, “The Eyes Have It” Linda Laskowski, who is the vice president of Emergency and Trauma Services at the Christiana Care Healthy System in Wilmington, Delaware, recalls a time when she was five years old that made her realize the importance of eye contact. When Linda was five, she told her next-door neighbor about her new tricycle. Her neighbor stopped mid conversation and said, “Whenever you talk to people, always look them straight in the eye.” Linda then explains that eye contact is one of the social skills that some are more comfortable with than others. There is often a thin line between too little and too much. This interpretation depends on the situation as well as the cultural norm. In certain societies, direct eye contact is considered rude.

This article supports my research because it provides information on the difference between eye contact cultures and explains why eye contact is so important in the United States, especially for occupations. The article was issued in April 2012, making it relatively new and viable information to use for my paper. Any person can read this article. There were not any phrases or words that I did not understand and had to find the definitions of.

Hall, Judith A. “Nonverbal Communication.” Annual Reviews, www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-psych-010418-103145.

In this article, titled, “Nonverbal Communication” Judith Hall describes nonverbal communication and the significance it has on social interactions. Judith explains that the field of nonverbal communication involves several cue modalities, including face, voice, body, touch, and interpersonal space. In this review, she focuses on nonverbal communication as it pertains to individuals and social interaction. She concentrates specifically on the meanings and correlations of cues that are enacted by the senders and the perception of nonverbal cues. Measurement issues are discussed, and theoretical issues on how it can be effectively used in the real-world. Judith points out that the nature of nonverbal communication is evident in the growing body of research across many areas of scientific inquiry.

This article was written by Judith Hall, who works in the Department of Psychology in Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. This shows that Judith is very well educated in her field, and gives me confidence to reference her material. The article was published in 2019, making the information very recent and viable to use. This helps my research because it provides more information and statistics on nonverbal communication examples like eye contact.

Helminen, Terhi M., et al. “Eye Contact and Arousal: The Effects of Stimulus Duration.” Biological Psychology, Elsevier, 22 July 2011, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301051111001815.

In this article, titled, “Eye contact and arousal: The effects of stimulus duration” by Terhi M. Helminin, who researches the psychological effects that nonverbal communication can have on a person, a group of researchers conducted a study to investigate the effects of stimulus duration on skin conductance responses, or SCRs, evoked by different gaze directions of a person. The results showed that eye contact enhanced SCRs compared to looking away or having the eyes closed. In addition, their results suggested using a direct gaze or eye contact in everyday social encountering, increases autonomic sympathetic arousal.

This research would benefit my research topic because it provides me with another supporting point on why eye contact is so important in our culture. This article was published in September 2011, which would be considered relatively recent information. The article was fairly easy to read. There were not any words or phrases that I had to find the definitions of to understand.

Henry, Stephen G., et al. “Association between Nonverbal Communication during Clinical Interactions and Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Patient Education and Counseling, Elsevier, 6 Aug. 2011, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738399111003739.

This peer reviewed journal article, titled “Association between nonverbal communication during clinical interactions and outcomes: A systemic review and meta-analysis” by Stephen Henry details an experiment that was conducted to observe the affects of associations between clinicians’ and patients’ nonverbal communication during real clinical interactions. The researchers found that as the clinicians’ passion for the patient increased by being less negative, making eye contact, and greater listening, the patient’s satisfaction also increased.

This journal article was issued by Dr. Henry in March 2012, making it a recent and relevant source to use for my research paper. It was very easy to understand what Dr. Henry was explaining throughout the text. In addition, it would benefit my paper, because I can use it as a real-world example, of the impact of nonverbal communication skills in everyday situations. Stephen G. Henry is an Assistant Professor in General Medicine at the UC Medical Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. His specialties include Internal Medicine, Geriatric Medicine, and Bioethics. Dr. Henry researches patient-clinician communication, chronic pain management in the primary care setting, research methods related to face-to-face communication in healthcare.

Islam, R. (2016). My non-verbal communication skills made a big difference. Nursing Standard (2014+), 30(46), 36. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7748/ns.30.46.36.s41

In this peer reviewed journal article, titled “My non-verbal communication skills made a big difference” a general pediatric nurse, Rukshana Islam, wrote about a teenage girl who was admitted as a patient with high blood glucose levels. According to Rukshana, this patient had total loss of hearing and English was not her first language. She was soon diagnosed with type one diabetes was being taken care of by the diabetes specialist nurse, who used a sign language interpreter to relay information. However, during the patient’s one week stay it was impossible to have the interpreter there during every shift. Rukshana had went to school with children with learning disabilities and was taught sign language to communicate with them. Rukshana saw this nurse in need of an interpreter, so she put those skills in good use to communicate with the patient for their nurse. Effective communication is essential to a patient-nurse relationship; however, since none of the other nurses knew how to sign, finding someone that can is necessary. Communicating with the patient would have been more challenging had Ruskshana not been there to help.

Rukshana made it clear throughout the text that she was nurse. This helps me trust her judgments and beliefs on the idea that nonverbal communication is essential in the healthcare field. The source was issued in 2016, so it provides up to date information on the subject. This source would be beneficial to my research, because it explains another real-world example, of why nonverbal communication is a necessary skill to have.

Malikeh Beheshtifar and Taebe Norozy. ‘Social Skills: A Factor to Employees’ Success’. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, March 31, 2013, Sunday. https://advance.lexis.com/api/document?collection=news&id=urn:contentItem:58HT-GY01-DXH0-K0RJ-00000-00&context=1516831. Accessed February 25, 2020.

In this article, titled, “Social Skills: A Factor to Employees’ Success” highlights the necessary skills to increase your chances of securing a job. The authors exclaim that social skills are important because they allow us to interact with the receiving person with predictability, so we can more readily be understood and understand the person we are communicating with. Social skills can promote more interpersonal interactions, which can then lead to effective job outcomes. These actions also can allow an individual the opportunity to express both positive and negative feelings in interpersonal situations.

This article is perfect for my research paper because it uses the action of acquiring a new job as an example to explain how important nonverbal cues can be to an important encounter. The article also uses eye contact throughout the text to support their claim. The article was written by Malikeh Beheshtifar and Taebe Norozy who both work in the Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, which shows me that they have most likely studied this issue for some time, and are very credible to refrence. The article was issued in 2013, which is relatively up to date and provides me viable information to use for my paper.

“Nonverbal Communication in Humans.” Taylor & Francis, www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10911359.2013.831288.

In this article, titled, “Nonverbal Communication in Humans” the authors define nonverbal communication as being most important in the structuring and occurrence of interpersonal communications. Nonverbal actions aid in regulating the system of communication by signaling priorities among communicators. This provides flow through the conversation and feedback. These actions are crucial between sender and receiver. People use body language without being aware of it by constantly perceiving and interpreting other people’s body language without thinking about it. Information can be conveyed through numerous body languages from body posture and facial expressions to a smile and maintain eye contact.

This article breaks down in great detail, nonverbal communication. This article would be necessary for my research because it provides various different examples of nonverbal communication and the uses of each that I can reference back to in my paper. The article was written by Fatik Baran Mandal, the head of the Department of Zoology at Bankura Christian College in India. Unfortunately, his profession is not studying the nonverbal communication and the affects; however, his information seems very credible and relates to other sources that were written by reputable authors. The article was issued in 2014 making it relatively up to date, and viable information to reference.

Siposova, Barbora, et al. “Communicative Eye Contact Signals a Commitment to Cooperate for Young Children.” Cognition, Elsevier, 28 June 2018, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010027718301628.

In this article, “Communicative Eye Contact Signals a Commitment to Cooperate for Young Children”, researchers investigated whether minimal nonverbal communication can be taken as a commitment to cooperate. To conduct this experiment, they instructed five to seven-year-old children to play a coordination game, in which they needed to decide if they were going to play cooperatively or individually. The children began looking around and making eye contact with the other children they wanted to cooperate with and did not show any interest in the children they did not want to partner with. In this study, researchers found that communicative actions like eye contact produced an expectation of collaboration between other children.

The article was written by Barbara Siposova, who researches the psychology children. This shows me that she is very credible and makes it easy to reference her material. This article supports my research because it explains why nonverbal communication can tell someone as much information as verbal communication. I can use this evidence to support the reasons why the nonverbal communication, eye contact, is so important in the United States. The article was issued in October 2018, which is very recent, making this valid information to use in my research paper.

Soukup, Paul A., S.J. ‘Nonverbal Communication.’ Communication Research Trends, vol. 38, no. 1, 2019, pp. 3-47. ProQuest, https://login.iris.etsu.edu:3443/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/2204830586?accountid=10771.

In this article, titled, “Nonverbal Communication” Paul Soukup defines nonverbal communication by addressing studies on sign language and specialized types of nonverbal communication. Paul explains that the human face provides a significant amount of information, which people use for everything from managing interactions to expressing emotions and ideas. Eye behavior appears so important and so central to human interaction and serves so many multiple essential functions that robotic researchers use nonverbal studies to assist in designing robot eyes that will provide eye contact and direct joint attention in a naturalistic manner.

Paul Soukup researches nonverbal communication trends in Santa Clara. This makes him credible enough to use for my research paper because he studies this information regularly. In addition, the article was issued in 2019, which is very up date and viable. This article does require a little education in sciences because it references several scientific terms. So I would not recommend it to just anyone. However, it was a very interesting article to read, and it would benefit my topic because it provides more information about how you can use eye contact in the real world.