Chapter 19

After reading this chapter , I found a person’s semiotics are always sending messages, with our facial expressions, body language, clothes, use of language, etc., and others are reading those messages, while at the same time they are sending us messages about themselves. The facial expression a person has tells others many things about them. The chapter lists many of these things that include affective state, cognitive activity, temperament and personality, truthfulness, and psychopathology. Through basic research, scientists have found that facial expressions can identify when specific mental processes are occurring. Facial expressions also hold promise for applied medical research. When a person reads a face they look for certain signs that express or indicate emotions, moods or other phenomena. The author states that we read a face when we read a person, however most of us are amateurs and don’t really know how to do it. Facial expressions provide much more information about a person than many people realize and can be a tool that creates many opportunities in different areas.

Chapter 18

After reading Chapter 18, I found that a person’s nonverbal clues are something that contributes greatly to the process of communication. Nonverbal communication may include facial expressions, postures, movements and gestures. When a person’s words contradict what their nonverbal actions are saying, others may be suspicious of what one is actually trying to communicate. The chapter also discusses the three primary ways a person communicates nonverbally, which are liking or disliking, dominance, and responsiveness. Psychologists believe people look for reinforcement through communication in their basic values and beliefs. If a person likes or dislikes somebody’s actions (nonverbal actions), then they transfer those feelings over to whatever it is they were talking about. The second primary nonverbal dimension is dominance, which refers to a controlling versus a submissive attitude. An example of dominance would be a king’s noble postures contrasted to a shrinking posture of a submissive person. The third nonverbal dimension is responsiveness, which refers to the extent of awareness of and the reaction to another. Nonverbal communication is extremely important as it shapes the way a person will interpret and respond to what one says.