Editing Nonverbal communication (section)

==Gestures==
[[File:India - Kolkata traffic cop - 3661.jpg|thumb|Policeman directing traffic by gesture]]
[[Gesture]]s may be made with the hands, arms or body, and also include movements of the head, face and eyes, such as [[winking]], [[Nod (gesture)|nodding]], or [[Eye-rolling|rolling one's eyes]]. Although the study of gesture is still in its infancy, some broad categories of gestures have been identified by researchers. The most familiar are the so-called emblems or quotable gestures. These are conventional, culture-specific gestures that can be used as replacement for words, such as the [[Waving|hand wave]] used in western cultures for "hello" and "goodbye". A single emblematic gesture can have a very different significance in different cultural contexts, ranging from complimentary to highly offensive.<ref>{{harv|Ottenheimer|2007|page=130}}</ref> For a list of emblematic gestures, see [[List of gestures]]. There are some universal gestures like the [[shrug|shoulder shrug]].<ref name="Pease_2004"/>

Gestures can also be categorized as either speech independent or speech related. Speech-independent gestures are dependent upon culturally accepted interpretation and have a direct verbal [[translation]].<ref name="Knapp_Hall_2007"/>{{rp|9}} A wave or a [[V-sign|peace sign]] are examples of speech-independent gestures. Speech-related gestures are used in parallel with verbal speech; this form of nonverbal communication is used to emphasize the message that is being communicated. Speech-related gestures are intended to provide supplemental information to a verbal message such as pointing to an object of discussion.

Gestures are not just for the audience but can also help a speakers elaborate their thoughts, process their ideas more fluently.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=KRAUSS |first1=ROBERT M |title=Advances in experimental social psychology |last2=Chen |last3=Chawla |date=1996 |publisher=Academic Press |isbn=780120152282 |edition=Volume 27 |location=New York |publication-date=1996 |pages=389–450 |language=English }}</ref> A simple example is giving someone a direction for a place you start pointing left and right to remind yourself of the right direction. That is not only help the listeners but also help you visualize the road as you were going through it.

[[Facial expression]]s, more than anything, serve as a practical means of communication. With all the various muscles that precisely control mouth, lips, eyes, nose, forehead, and jaw, human faces are estimated to be capable of more than ten thousand different expressions. This versatility makes non-verbals of the face extremely efficient and honest, unless deliberately manipulated. In addition, many of these emotions, including happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, disgust, shame, anguish and interest are universally [[Emotion perception|recognized]].<ref>{{cite book| vauthors = Ekman P |year=2003|title=Emotions revealed: Recognizing faces and feelings to improve communication and emotional life|location=New York|publisher=Times Books|isbn=978-0805072754|url=https://archive.org/details/emotionsrevealed00paul}}</ref>

Displays of emotions can generally be categorized into two groups: negative and positive. Negative emotions usually manifest as increased tension in various muscle groups: tightening of jaw muscles, furrowing of forehead, squinting eyes, or lip occlusion (when the lips seemingly disappear). In contrast, positive emotions are revealed by the loosening of the furrowed lines on the forehead, relaxation of the muscles around the mouth, and widening of the eye area. When individuals are truly relaxed and at ease, the head will also tilt to the side, exposing our most vulnerable area, the neck. This is a high-comfort display, often seen during courtship, that is nearly impossible to mimic when tense or suspicious.<ref name="Navarro_2008">{{cite book| vauthors = Navarro J |year=2008|title=What Every Body is Saying|location=New York|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers|isbn=978-0061438295}}</ref>

Gestures can be subdivided into three groups:

===Adapters===
Some hand movements are not considered to be gestures. They consist of manipulations either of the person or some object (e.g. clothing, pencils, eyeglasses)—the kinds of scratching, fidgeting, rubbing, tapping, and touching that people often do with their hands. These behaviors can show that a person is experiencing anxiety or feeling of discomfort, typical when the individual is not the one in control of the conversation or situation and therefore expresses this uneasiness subconsciously. Such behaviors are referred to as adapters. They may not be perceived as meaningfully related to the speech in which they accompany, but may serve as the basis for dispositional inferences of the speaker's emotion (nervous, uncomfortable, bored.) These types of movements are believed to express the unconscious thoughts and feelings of a person, or those [[thoughts]] and emotions one is trying to consciously hide.

===Symbolic===
Other hand movements are gestures. They are movements with specific, conventionalized meanings called symbolic gestures. They are the exact opposite of adaptors, since their meanings are intended to be communicated and they have a specific meaning for the person who gives the gesture and the person to receive it. Familiar symbolic gestures include the "raised fist," "bye-bye," and "thumbs up." In contrast to adapters, symbolic gestures are used intentionally and serve a clear communicative function. [[Sign language]]s are highly developed systems of symbolic gesture. Some educators that work with deaf learners use a combination of cued speech and lip speaking and reading that helps deaf and hard hearing individuals (D/HH) to code and decode words based on their phonetics.<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08856257.2019.1581399 |access-date=2022-04-05 |journal=European Journal of Special Needs Education |doi=10.1080/08856257.2019.1581399|title=Strategies of oral communication of deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/HH) non-native English users |year=2019 |last1=Domagała-Zyśk |first1=Ewa |last2=Podlewska |first2=Anna |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=156–171 |hdl=20.500.12153/3179 |s2cid=150491109 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> In addition to the supplementary aspect of the cues like location and movement, every culture has their own set of gestures, some of which are unique only to a specific culture. For example, the phonological and lexical repository of D/HH individuals is highly dependent on their social background and richness of language.<ref name=":02"/> Very similar gestures can have very different meanings across cultures. Symbolic gestures are usually used in the absence of speech but can also accompany speech.

===Conversational===
The middle ground between adapters and symbolic gestures is occupied by conversational gestures. These gestures do not refer to actions or words but do accompany [[speech]]. Conversational gestures are hand movements that accompany speech and are related to the speech they accompany. Though they do accompany speech, [[conversational]] gestures are not seen in the absence of speech and are only made by the person who is speaking.

There are a few types of conversational gestures, specifically motor and lexical movements.  Motor movements are those which are rhythmical and repetitive, do not have to be accompanied by anything spoken due to their simple meaning, and the speaker's hand usually sticks to one position. When paired with verbal communication, they can be used to stress certain syllables. An example of this would be pointing someone in the direction of an individual and saying, "That way." In this case, the "That" in the sentence would be stressed by the movements. Lexical movements are more complex, not rhythmic, or repetitive, but rather lengthy and varied. An example of this would be something like giving elaborate directions to somewhere and pairing that with various hands movements to signal the various turns to take.