Key Elements of NVC

IDevice Icon Elements of Nonverbal Communication
There's a lot going on when humans interact. Communication scholars have paid attention to an amazing variety of elements that make up Nonverbal Communication. These key aspects can organized as follows:

Kinesics - Body Movement

  • Emblems - gestures that substitute for spoken words
  • Illustrators - support spoken words
  • Affect displays - emotions
  • Regulators - motions used to regulate interaction
  • Adaptors- behaviors/actions dealing with social anxiety (self & object)
  • Posture-body orientation & stance

Vocalics - Use of Voice - Sounds that are not words.

  • Quality of the voice
  • Volume: how soft or loud voice is
  • Pace/rate: how quickly or slowly we speak
  • Intonation: inflection, accent
  • Pitch: high to low
  • Segregates: “uh-huh”, “shhh”, “mmm”
  • Silence/pauses

Proxemics - How we use and manage space

Haptics - Use of Touch

When combined, these elements make up the unique messages that are sent by us, intentionally or not.

In the next sections we will explore these topics in a bit more depth.


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