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Emblems are specific nonverbal gestures that have a direct verbal translation or meaning, allowing them to stand alone as a form of communication. These gestures are often culturally specific and can convey messages without the need for spoken words, making them an essential component of nonverbal communication. For instance, a thumbs-up can indicate approval or agreement, while a peace sign ...
Kinesics refers to body movements and posture and includes the following components:. Gestures are arm and hand movements and include adaptors such as clicking a pen or scratching your face, emblems such as a thumbs-up to say “OK,” and illustrators such as bouncing your hand along with the rhythm of your speech.
- Kinesics. The word kinesics comes from the root word kinesis, which means “movement,” and refers to the study of hand, arm, body, and face movements. Specifically, this section will outline the use of gestures, head movements and posture, eye contact, and facial expressions as nonverbal communication.
- Haptics. Think of how touch has the power to comfort someone in moment of sorrow when words alone cannot. This positive power of touch is countered by the potential for touch to be threatening because of its connection to sex and violence.
- Vocalics. We learned earlier that paralanguage refers to the vocalized but nonverbal parts of a message. Vocalics is the study of paralanguage, which includes the vocal qualities that go along with verbal messages, such as pitch, volume, rate, vocal quality, and verbal fillers (Andersen, 1999).
- Proxemics. Proxemics refers to the study of how space and distance influence communication. We only need look at the ways in which space shows up in common metaphors to see that space, communication, and relationships are closely related.
Examples of emblems in communication can range from the thumbs up gesture to the peace sign. Emblems are nonverbal gestures that have specific meanings within a particular culture or group. These gestures can vary across different cultural differences and can be used to convey messages without the need for verbal communication.
For example, you might use hand gestures to indicate the size or shape of an object. Unlike emblems, illustrators do not typically have meaning on their own and are used more subconsciously than emblems. These largely involuntary and seemingly natural gestures flow from us as we speak but vary in terms of intensity and frequency based on context.
A hitchhiker’s raised thumb and the “OK” sign with thumb and index finger connected in a circle with the other three fingers sticking up are all examples of emblems that have an agreed-on meaning or a meaning within a culture. Emblems can be still or in motion; for example, rolling your hands over and over in front of you says, “Move on.”
Emblems are gestures that have a specific agreed-on meaning. A hitchhiker’s raised thumb, the “OK” sign with thumb and index finger connected in a circle with the other three fingers sticking up, and the raised middle finger are all examples of emblems that have an agreed-upon meaning or meanings within a specific culture.
