Building on the example of responding to a situation with facial gestures associated with frustration
before you even have time to think of an appropriate verbal response, let’s ask the question, what would
you believe, someone’s actions or their words? According to William Seiler and Melissa Beall, most people
tend to believe the nonverbal message over the verbal message. People will often answer that “actions
speak louder than words” and place a disproportionate emphasis on the nonverbal response. [7] This is
why it is important for us to be aware of our own nonverbal communication and ensure we are
communicating what we mean. In our next section, we will discuss some of the specific types of nonverbal
communication.
• Reduction in eye contact while engaged in a conversation
• Awkward pauses in conversation
• Higher pitch in voice
• Deliberate pronunciation and articulation of words
• Increased delay in response time to a question
• Increased body movements like changes in posture
• Decreased smiling
• Decreased rate of speech