Body Language and Its Uses

University of Sheffield

Management English

August 2009

Yan, Li

001505650

Body language and its uses

Andy

Group 4

Body language and its uses

Aug. 2009

Li Yan

Contents

Contents 2

PartⅠIntroduction 3

1.1 Background 3

1.2 Definition 3

PartⅡ Literature Review 4

2.1 First impression ---- body language is crucial 4

2.2 The voters’ choice 4

2.2.1 Why body language matters? 5

2.2.2 Body movement to convey power 6

2.2.3 Getting the upper-hand 6

Part Ⅲ Discussion 7

3.1 Body language can be misread 7

3.2 Body language can betray us 8

3.3 Critical opinions on body language 9

Part Ⅳ Conclusion 9

Part Ⅴ Reference 10

Table of Pictures

Picture 1: Kennedy-Nixon Debate 5

Picture 2: Iraq conflict, 2003 6

Picture 3: The 32nd 8G summit 7

Picture 4: The 32nd 8G summit 7

Picture 5: 2000 summit 7

Picture 6: Bill Clinton’s Response 8

PartⅠIntroduction

1 Background

Many people consider communication to be just messages sending by words, despite the fact that long before vocal sounds turned into words, phrases and paragraphs, body language has been playing a central part of communication ever since our ancient ancestors were born. Research, which conducted by Professor Albert Mehrabian of the University of California, Los Angeles, had shown that 7 percent of human communication is through the actual words, and 93 percent of what we communicate with other is nonverbal. Important as body language is in communication, not until 60 years ago has it been seriously studied. (Elizabeth Kuhnke, 2007)

The pioneer of the original study of nonverbal communication was an American anthropologist----Ray Birdwhistell (1918-1994), who estimated that in every 10 to 11 minutes conversation, sentences take only about 2.5 seconds. What’s more, similar to the results researched by Mehrabian, less than 35 percent of information in one conversation is conveyed by verbal and more than 65 percent of message is sent...