Malaysia Fogle

Journal Entry 3
Prof. Stephen Williams
30 June 2020
Nonverbal Communication

What types of nonverbal behaviors do you succeed at? Look to Chapter 4 for specific behaviors you
can speak about.
Out of all the nonverbal communication behaviors to have I would say I succeed at complementing.
When someone is talking to me, I always make sure to give them my full attention. I like when people
listen to me when I talk so I am going to make sure I do the same when someone is talking to me. When
someone talks to me, I make sure that I am pointed towards the person talking to me and giving them
eye contact. I have also noticed that I will nod or shake my head to agree to what the person is saying.
It is my way of showing I am actively listening without interrupting them.

Another nonverbal communication I succeed at is repeating. I talk with my hands when I verbally talk so
when I say yes I tend to nod my head the same way, or when saying something is over to the right I will
point in the direction. I feel like this nonverbal helps me a lot because I tend to get stumped when
saying this, so my nonverbal communication takes over. I think that having a nonverbal action repeat
what you are saying gives you listener confidence in knowing you mean what you mean.

What types of nonverbal behaviors do you need to work on? What might you do to improve? Look to
Chapter 4 for specific behaviors you can speak about.

I have quite a few nonverbal behaviors I need to work on after reading chapter four. You know, you
don’t notice you are using nonverbal behaviors until they are pointed out. One that has been pointed
out to me is a nonverbal gesture called adapters. I tend to talk with my hand when I am speaking; the
good thing about this is it helps me express myself. Now, the bad thing about it that I have noticed is if I
am in an uncomfortable environment this nonverbal behavior shows more. I tend to fidget, play with
my fingers, or even start to tap on my leg. I want to improve this nonverbal behavior by noticing when I
do these things to be able to stop. When I tend to tap on my legs, shake my leg, or get fidgety people
think I am upset or don’t want to be somewhere. Recently, at my boyfriend family event I ended up by
myself during a ceremony. I was asked by one of his family members later if I was okay because he
noticed I was slightly playing with my hat that was resting on my legs. He noticed I was nervous which I
didn’t want to put across in that way. I wasn’t nervous it was just weird sitting alone and I think that
nonverbal gesture came across as being nervous when I was just a bit anxious.

Another nonverbal gesture I need to work on is affect displays. Affect displays are things like facial
expressions. A perfect example of this in my life just happened as I was writing this at work. My
manager asked if I could work at a different location next week. As he was asking, he said I will like the
new girl who is working there because she has the same unfiltered facial expressions to people who ask
some questionable questions. I wouldn’t say I dislike this, but it is something I need to work on. Facial
expression says so much about someone before they even speak. This could break a lot of relationships
and make tensions high.