Communication has two kinds of elements – verbal, which can be expressed in words and non verbal which cannot, these include – body language, gestures, voice and touch. Nonverbal communication involves the processes of encoding and decoding. Encoding is the act of generating the information such as facial expressions, gestures, and postures. Decoding is the interpretation of information from received sensations from previous experiences.
In this study, we have tried to study the encoding and decoding of non-verbal elements of communication. One section involved the decoding of facial expressions of a person, detecting the emotion they are trying to convey and generating an appropriate response. Each facial gesture of a human being is interlinked with an emotion. For example, raised eyebrows convey the emotion of surprise. Reacting to the emotions of the sender of the message by the receiver is extremely important for the process of communication, especially in a business environment.
Another aspect we covered in our study is how the emotional undertone of a simple verbal message can change if we add an electronic emotions tool i.e an emoticon. Written messages, lack the characteristic of gestures, voice, touch and environment. Hence an emoticon plays a pivotal role to convey a necessary emotional message behind the verbal message. This is highly needed in informal situations – like talking to friends, family especially on an Instant messaging service. However it’s usage in a professional environment is considered very immature.
CONCLUSION (Kartikeya Bhatotia)
The study done by our group dealt with the often disregarded aspect of communication, i.e non verbal communication. Our study focused on the ability of students to observe the facial expressions of a person (an interviewer) and infer the emotional message they are trying to send. For example a smile and inside-curved eye brows indicate that the person is rather glad, but a person