what are non verbal representations? explain with reference to the details given in the text.
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Nonverbal communication (NVC) is the transmission of messages or signals through a nonverbal platform such as eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, posture, and the distance between two individuals. It includes the use of visual cues such as body language (kinesics), distance (proxemics) and physical environments/appearance, of voice (paralanguage) and of touch (haptics).[1] It can also include the use of time (chronemics) and eye contact and the actions of looking while talking and listening, frequency of glances, patterns of fixation, pupil dilation, and blink rate (oculesics).
Understanding each other through hand and eye expression; seen in a street near the bell tower of Xi'an, China
The study of nonverbal communication started in 1872 with the publication of "The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals" by Charles Darwin. Darwin began to study nonverbal communication as he noticed the interactions between animals such as lions, tigers, dogs etc. and realized they also communicated by gestures and expressions. For the first time, nonverbal communication was studied and its relevance questioned.[2] Today, scholars argue that nonverbal communication can convey more meaning than verbal communication.[3] Some scholars state that most people trust forms of nonverbal communication over verbal communication. Ray Birdwhistell concludes that nonverbal communication accounts for 60–70 percent of human communication,[4] although according to other researchers the communication type is not quantifiable[5] or does not reflect modern human communication, especially when people rely so much on written means.[6]
Just as speech contains nonverbal elements known as paralanguage, including voice quality, rate, pitch, loudness, and speaking style, as well as prosodic features such as rhythm, intonation, and stress, so written texts have nonverbal elements such as handwriting style, spatial arrangement of words, or the physical layout of a page. However, much of the study of nonverbal communication has focused on interaction between individuals,[7] where it can be classified into three principal areas: environmental conditions where communication takes place, physical characteristics of the communicators, and behaviors of communicators during interaction.
Nonverbal communication involves the conscious and unconscious processes of encoding and decoding. Encoding is called "nonverbal expressivity", according to (Rosenthal et. al, 1979), which was defined as our ability to express emotions in a way that can be accurately interpreted by the receiver(s). Decoding is called "nonverbal sensitivity", according to (Rosenthal et al., 1976). It is defined as the ability to take this encoded emotion and interpret its meanings accurately to what the sender intended.[8] Encoding is the act of generating information such as facial expressions, gestures, and postures. Encoding information utilizes signals which we may think to be universal. Decoding is the interpretation of information from received sensations given by the encoder. Decoding information utilizes knowledge one may have of certain received sensations