Nursing is an occupation in which body language is important because the people nurses deal with, in addition to feeling unwell, may be apprehensive about an operation or about their chances of recovery, or may be worrying about whether everything is all right at home, and so on. They will be in particular need of comfort and reassurance.
Effective body language for nurses will include increased use of eye contact, smiling and other positive facial expressions, head nods when listening, open gestures, forward lean in posture, close proximity and direct orientation, increased use of bodily contact of a supportive nature (hand holding, arm round shoulder, light hugging, and the like), neatness in appearance, attention to synchronization when talking to patients, and the use of encouraging vocalizations ('mm-hmm', 'mmm', oh'). Television interviewers need to use more eye contact than average because of their role as listeners rather than talkers. Facial expressions should concentrate on showing interest and they should make liberal use of head nods for the same reason. The head cock will also be useful. Gestures should be kept to a
minimum as these may distract the interviewee. Posture may use either forward lean or asymmetrical leaning back according to whether the dominant requirement is to show interest or to put a nervous interviewee at ease by making the setting more relaxing. Proximity should be dictated by what the interviewee appears to feel comfortable with, yet people are often forced closer together than normal because of camera requirements. An indirect orientation is thus preferable, though directors seem to prefer a 00 orientation. There is normally no body contact and most people who appear on television seem to want their appearance to be as smart as possible. This is probably because their public image will be greatly affected by how the viewing audience, which may run into millions, reacts to them. Attention to synchronization will be important and non-verbal aspects of speech will be used to keep the talk going for as long as whatever time has been allowed, which is usually inadequate for the proper discussion of a topic.
On the other hand, interviewers who wish to unsettle an interviewee will deny eye contact, be frosty-faced, give no head nods, gesture frequently even when the interviewee is speaking, adopt an over-rigid or over-relaxed posture and a direct or turned-away orientation. They will also interrupt frequently with a new question before the previous one has been answered. The same is true of some job interviewers.
Business people need a different kind of body language. Eye contact needs to be dominant rather than submissive. Facial expressions will tend to be neutral, though there will be smiles on greeting and parting. Head movements will also tend to be restrained, with head nods and head cocking being subtler than in most other contexts. A reason for this is that in many situations businessmen and women have to keep their cards close to their chests. Body language can so easily give things away, so it is necessary for them to try to control it as much as possible. One of the most important lessons the business communicator needs to learn is to adapt his or her use of body language to that of the people with whom business is being done. What was said in the last chapter about differences according to culture should be of particular interest.
Other occupations have their special requirements. Receptionists need pleasant facial expressions, plenty of eye contact and a greater attention than usual to appearance. Shop assistants need to appear 'smart, but not necessarily stylish, and they also need
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1 40 to use smiles, a n upright posture and, i f they are dealing with sequences of people, anticipatory scanning techniques. Salesmen need to use plenty of eye contact, head nods and head cocks when customers are indicating their needs, and close proximity and bodily contact where this can be achieved without awkwardness and embarrassment. They also need to present a smart and conventional appearance.
Being a pop star is not normally regarded as an occupation, yet pop stars often work a lot harder than the rest of us. What looks like pleasure to us can frequently be quite arduous. It's not all tinsel and glitter in show business! Their body language contains prolonged eye contact with the audience, often done in a deliberately flirtatious manner. Facial expressions, both on and off stage, tend to be exaggerated. Smiles are broader and scowls more fearsome. Head movements also become more obvious and dramatic. Appearance is usually unconventional and may even be bizarre in the extreme, with heightened make-up (even on men) and outrageous hairstyles. These changes in appearance then filter down into society itself. Life imitates art.
One occupation in which mastery of body language is especially important, not least because of its influence over the young and their development, is teaching. Teachers can use body language to often devastating effect. On the basis of the research into non verbal communication, a profile of effective teacher non-verbal behaviour can be offered. In general terms, teachers should be friendly, warm and rewarding. They should be able to make contact with all-members of a group of students. They should be confident, well organized and emotionally stable. Attentiveness to student responses and contributions is important, as is avoiding appearing to ridicule or be sarcastic, hostile, angry or arrogant. Like many others, teachers need to be aware of cultural differences in the use of body language.
This kind of behaviour can be promoted non-verbally if teachers are aware of restrictions on bodily contact, if they are generally sensitive to students' non-verbal indications of appropriate proximity and respect their personal space. They should use a relatively upright posture to indicate their dominant role in classroom interaction, but use forward lean to show attentive ness. They should adjust their orientation to suit the competitive or cooperative nature of particular tasks in class. Expressive gestures should be used to support what is said, as well as head nods to reinforce, reward and encourage others to speak.
Smiles help to provide reassurance and indicate liking and approval, as well as showing willingness to interact. All facial expressions should help to present an appropriate self-image and to obtain positive responses from others. A high level of eye contact will usually be fitting, though it should be reduced if students exhibit signs of discomfort. It will mainly be used to obtain and provide feedback during classroom interaction. Stress, tone, pitch, volume, rate of speech and timing of utterances will all be varied to suit the situation. Speech errors and hesitations should be reduced as far as possible and pauses should be used to retain students' attention, for emphasis and to encourage student contributions. Appearance can be important in determining whether students accord credibility to what a teacher says and thus needs to be taken into account. Formal dress may not be necessary, but an over-casual style will tend to reduce student ratings of academic competence. Teachers may argue that how they dress in no way affects their ability. This may be true, but the evidence shows that students are influenced by this factor in forming their opinions about who are good teachers and who are not. Teachers who prize their standing with their students cannot afford to ignore it.