Demonstrative Communication

Communication is the process of sending and receiving messages. The key to effective communication is shared understanding of the information. It can be accurately defined as a shared understanding between the sender and the receiver of the message sent (Cheesebro, O'Connor, & Rios, 2010). Communication is imparting or interchanging thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs (Nayab, 2011). People can communication in three different ways they are verbal, nonverbal, and visual. This paper will focus on nonverbal or demonstrative communication and how it can be effective and ineffective for the sender and the receiver. It will also look at how demonstrative communication involves listening and responding.

Demonstrative communication is communicating by sending and receiving messages without words. Demonstrative communication includes things such as facial expressions, tone of voice, body language, and so forth. Demonstrative Communication is used to replace or reinforce someone’s verbal communication. For example, someone direction traffic replaces verbal communication by point in the direction the driver needs to turn (Lee, 2011). Body language and facial expression are the common forms of demonstrative communication and according to Nayab (2011), research estimates that body language, including facial expression, account for 55% of communication.

Demonstrative communication can be effective and ineffective, positive or negative, for sender and receiver depending on how it is read. Sometimes one’s nonverbal communication doesn’t align with their verbal communication (Lee, 2011). For example, a speaker at a lecture is standing upfront with his or her arms crossed during the whole speech. His or her body language tells the receives that he or she are not open to their response. When, in fact, the sender didn’t mean this, and he or she was just cold. The way one dresses, how firm his or her handshake is, or his or her ability to keep eye contact can speak volumes about the kind of person he or she is. Demonstrative communication also can be easily misread or imprecise. For example, when someone meets someone who looks scruffy and assume he is lazy, just to learn that he