I spent some time at the airport in check-in, security and the departure gate situations with the aim of observing nonverbal communications in terms of interpersonal relations. In the process, I observed movements & body position, physical, eyes gazing patterns as well as non-verbal cues of voice patterns.

As people walked towards each other greeting were much prominent in these situations. This even marked the first stage of communication as certain gestures were being appreciated. People used to look at each other’s eye and shake right hands. People wearing hats lifted their hats with one hand and then leave it on during conversation. As sign of respect was indicated when one removes cloves before making shaking hands. In addition, in posture was much important in determining attention or involvement, different social status existing between social classes, as well as the fondness that people have towards the other communicator. According to interpersonal relations, mirror image congruent postures, meaning that one’s left side ought to be parallel to the other communicator’s right side is perceived as a positive segment. Posture was being understood in terms of lean direction, orientation of the body as well as body openness.

Another thing in movement and body position included gestures which in one way or the other expressed some sort of meaning. They were being articulated with hands arms and even the body.  This also involved head movement faces as well as eyes like nodding or even rolling eyes. There were gestures like hand waving which gesture analyzed has concluded that it replaces hallo or goodbye. Another gesture category included those that accompanied speeches, as they were being used in conjunction with speeches. This was being used to emphasize on some matters. For example, gestures depicting an explosion might have meant something explored.

By observing haptics which involves touching in non-verbal communication. Some of the touches include handshakes, kissing back slapping and high five which indicate love, peace and harmony. Such behaviors were used in the process of sending massages that reveal intentions or even feelings to a communicator. This happened majorly at the departure gates and check in. the meanings that touching conveys depends much upon the context of the condition, relation between communicators, as well as the manner of touching. Human closeness was being depicted through various actions grouped together as immediacy behaviors. Such behaviors included smiling; touching and open body position as well as eye contacts. According to touch studies, this activity is one of the most important senses for humans and provision of information about surfaces as well as textures, which are very important components of non-verbal communication regarding interpersonal relations, and very vital in the process of conveying physical intimacy. At the airport, they were platonic like hugging and tickling. One interesting thing I observed at the security points was that, there were people, who were against head touching. in addition, at security points, there happens to be striking, kicking, pushing as well as strangling which in one way or the there depicted physical abuse. However, at the departure gates, there was some form of emotional touches due to departure of loved once.

Another pattern was eye gazing, which has been referred to by many as oculesics. This mostly happened at check in and security points. Eye contact in backs or in vehicles indicated attention and involvements. Individuals like security men, and check in attendants as well as passengers and other visitors were using eyes to indicate their attention and interest with more than frequently known practices of winking as well as eyebrow slight movements. Eye evasion on the other hand was used to mean hiding something from the security points or check in. in general, eye contact as well as facial; expressions are means of providing very important social as well as emotional information. “People, perhaps without consciously doing so, probe each other’s eyes and faces for positive or negative mood signs. Gaze comprises the actions of looking while talking, looking while listening, amount of gaze, and frequency of glances, patterns of fixation, pupil dilation, and blink rate”.

Non-verbal cues of voice patterns included paralanguage or vocalic. check in and security and departure situations, individuals used to speak in different tones, pitch as well as ascents, which are collectively referred to as prosody. In one way or the other, they were being used with the aim of changing the meaning. Voice sets were being to indicate gender and mood.

Physical patterns were brought about by: proxemics which indicates physical space around people. There were different space sizes between communicators depicting different cultures and interpretations. Another element of physical pattern was chronemics. This involved the manner in which people structured their time. This included punctuality to catch their plan especially at departure, where, individuals at one time were not willing to hear different speeches from their people, as one would look at the plane direction every now and then.

Concerning the role of gender in verbal communication, women play the role of decoding and encoding non-verbal behaviors of those telling the truth, while men are being used in the process of detecting lies. This is especially at security points. Now, concerning emotions and facial expressions, men and women expresses different skills related to sending as well as receiving emotions. Eakins, B. & Eakins, G. stated that, “women are more emotionally expressive, whereas men conceal or control their emotional displays”. Women tend to show their emotions through facial expressions as well as interpersonal communication, while men expresses emotions through actions like engaging in aggressive behaviors. In addition, at check in points, there were more females as they smile often, as compared to male. Another thing is that, women have higher chances of being sad and engage in interpersonal communication about their problems as compared to male.

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