Editing Sympathy (section)

==Communication==
Verbal communication is one way individuals communicate feelings of sympathy. People can express sympathy by addressing the emotions being felt by themselves and others involved and by acknowledging the current environmental conditions for why sympathy is the appropriate reaction.

Nonverbal communication includes speech intonation, facial expression, body motions, person-to-person physical contact, nonverbal vocal behavior, how far people position themselves in relation to each other, posture, and appearance.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Harper|first1=R. G.|last2=Wiens|first2=A. N.|last3=Matarazzo|first3=J. D.|year=1978|title=Nonverbal communication: The state of the art|publisher=John Wiley & Sons}}</ref> Such forms of expression can convey messages related to emotion as well as opinions, physical states (e.g. fatigue), and understanding. People produce emotion-specific facial expressions that are often the same from culture to culture and are often reproduced by observers, which facilitates the observers' own understandings of the emotion and/or situation. There are six universal emotions: happiness, sadness, fear, surprise, disgust, and anger.<ref>{{cite journal|first1=Magali|last1=Batty|first2=Margot J.|last2=Taylor|title=Early processing of the six basic facial emotional expressions|journal=Cognitive Brain Research|volume=17|number=3|year=2003|pages=613–620|issn=0926-6410|doi=10.1016/S0926-6410(03)00174-5|pmid=14561449 }}</ref>

[[File:Portret van een man005.jpg|thumb|right|alt=|Facial expressions can communicate sympathy and other emotions nonverbally.]]

Nonverbal communication cues are often subconscious and difficult to control. Deliberate regulation of emotion and nonverbal expression is often imperfect. Nonverbal gestures and facial expressions are also generally better understood by observers than by the person experiencing them first-hand.<ref>{{cite journal|last=DePaulo|first=B. M.|title=Nonverbal behavior and self-presentation|journal=Psychological Bulletin|year=1992|volume=111|issue=2|pages=203–243|doi=10.1037/0033-2909.111.2.203|pmid=1557474|s2cid=1416280 }}</ref>

Communicating using physical touch has the unique ability to convey affective information upon contact.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wang|first1=R.|last2=Quek|first2=F. |title=Proceedings of the fourth international conference on Tangible, embedded, and embodied interaction |chapter=Touch & talk|year=2010|pages=13–20|doi=10.1145/1709886.1709891|isbn=9781605588414|s2cid=14720543}}</ref> The interpretation of this information is context-sensitive. The touch of the hand on the shoulder during a funeral might be the fastest method of conveying sympathy. Patting a person on their back, arms, or head for a few seconds can effectively convey feelings of sympathy between people.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hertenstein|first1=Matthew J. |last2=Holmes|first2= Rachel |last3=McCullough|first3= Margaret |last4=Keltner|first4= Dacher|title=The communication of emotion via touch|journal=Emotion|year=2009|volume=9|issue=4|pages=566–573|doi=10.1037/a0016108|pmid=19653781 |citeseerx=10.1.1.421.2700 |s2cid=6565857 }}</ref> Nonverbal communication seems to provide a more genuine communication of sympathy, because it is difficult to control nonverbal expressions and therefore difficult to be deliberately insincere in that medium. The combination of verbal and nonverbal communication facilitates the acknowledgment and comprehension of sympathy.