Demonstrative Communications

Jeffrey Hill

Demonstrative Communication Paper

BCOM 275 Business Communications

John O’Brien.

August 5, 2013

Demonstrative Communication Paper

Demonstrative Communication is a way of communicating that normally does not involve speaking or writing. Speaking and writing may be included along with demonstrative communication but are not required. This type of communication goes on around us all the time, hundreds of times a day and we see it and respond to it, whether we are conscience of it or not (Cherry, n.d.).

There are many types of demonstrative communication, the most common being facial expressions. Facial expressions are easily recognizable all around the world, as things like happiness, anger, sadness and fear are universal in that they appear on basically the same on all people’s faces (Cherry, n.d.). Surprise on the face of someone in America is the same as surprise on the face of someone in Italy for example. A smile or a grimace can be worth a thousand words.

Another common form of this type of communication is gestures. Gestures can be deliberate, such as waving and pointing, (Cherry, n.d.) or they can be unconscious actions as in waving hands while upset or blocking something coming at you out of instinct. Another type of demonstrative communication is paralinguistic. This type concerns a person’s voice, how are they speaking? Yelling, whispering, the pitch and inflection, (Cherry, n.d.) the listener can determine a lot by the sound of a voice, and the speaker can convey his meaning in a more convincing manner.

Body language and posture can provide much information, things like arm crossing and leg crossing, slouching, sitting up, etc… a lot of these can convey moods and attitudes as in someone slouching in school can appear as indifferent and bored. Another type is Proxemics, this is a need for personal space, and people getting to close inside our bubble can be very intimidating if you...