Facial expressions are another form of nonverbal communication. Sometimes people might think we are communicating something with our facial expressions, even when we don’t mean to!
Subhadra was telling her friend Bronte what she thought about a movie they had just watched. Suddenly, Subhadra said, “We can talk about something else.” Bronte said, “But I was enjoying talking about the movie!” Subhadra told Bronte that she thought Bronte was bored because Bronte’s face was expressionless. Bronte assured her that she really did want to keep talking about the movie and the two kept talking.
In this example, there was a miscommunication; because facial expressions are such a common form of nonverbal communication, Subhadra was looking for communication that wasn’t there; she incorrectly assumed Bronte’s neutral facial expression was a sign of boredom.
Subhadra was telling her friend Bronte what she thought about a movie they had just watched. Suddenly, Subhadra said, “We can talk about something else.” Bronte said, “But I was enjoying talking about the movie!” Subhadra told Bronte that she thought Bronte was bored because Bronte’s face was expressionless. Bronte assured her that she really did want to keep talking about the movie and the two kept talking.
In this example, there was a miscommunication; because facial expressions are such a common form of nonverbal communication, Subhadra was looking for communication that wasn’t there; she incorrectly assumed Bronte’s neutral facial expression was a sign of boredom.
