7.1 Nonverbal messages

* Because nonverbal messages can be ambiguous, they are open to misinterpretation. Have you ever been wrong about the meaning of someone’s nonverbal message? Describe what happened. How can people increase the accuracy with which they interpret nonverbal messages.

Absolutely! I actually mentioned something of this nature last week. The most memorable experience I had in regarding to the ambiguity of nonverbal messages was when I first moved to America. Someone made the gesture “Ok” in response to something I said. I thought this was so outrageous, so disrespectful! Later on talking to my husband about this incident, he explained to me that this gesture has different meaning in Brazil and in America. In Brazil, the American gesture for "OK" is like giving somebody the middle finger.

As stated by Trenholm (2008), people can increase the accuracy with which they interpret nonverbal messages by “being cautious in interpreting nonverbal messages, by giving more attention to nonverbal cues, by becoming more aware of the messages they may be inadvertently sending, and by remembering that nonverbal they consider to be perfectly innocent can be invasive and even threatening to others” (pp. 135-136).

In my view, we can also increase the accuracy with which we interpret nonverbal messages when we live abroad. But I acknowledge that this is not always the most viable option, given its costs and logistics constraints. So, other options would be making sporadic trips to foreign countries, reading books, browsing the Internet, and of course, talking to natives is another fabulous way to increase the accuracy with which we interpret nonverbal messages.

Ibirapuera