You don’t need to speak to communicate…

We often relate communication with oral speaking. However, communication is a broad spectrum that has a lot of implications. Communication is not only what one can express through words, but what we express through our body language, sounds, gestures, appearance, and physical action (non-verbal communication). We use verbal communication consciously (we think before we deliver the message) while we use non-verbal communication unconsciously (we don’t think about the message we deliver). Tattoos, environment, hairstyle, clothing, etc. are implications that communicate a message to others about how you are as a person, your values, and/or social status. 

From personal experience, my facial expression is my major problem. There is a saying that I totally relate to “if my mouth doesn’t say it, my face definitely will.” There are a lot of times in which people assume I am rude or mean due to the reason that I always have a neutral facial expression. I don’t tend to smile at people if I don’t know them, which in my opinion is the reason why people misinterpret me. I am a very introverted person but as time progresses and I am more comfortable with the other person I become more friendly. But that doesn’t mean that I am rude just because I have a different way of portraying myself to others

Most of us have been taught that verbal communication is only oral communication, which is when we speak to one another. From chapter 2 we can learn that written communication is also part of verbal communication, as well as sign language. What is not part of verbal communication are the gestures, body language, when we laugh, cry or cough, these denominations are part of non-verbal communication. The difference between spoken communication and written communication is that spoken communication tends to be informal, while written communication is more formal. From personal experience I have to say that I have been mistaken all my life, thinking that verbal was kind of a synonym of speak and that is why I thought that verbal communication only involved spoken communication. When it comes to how we are supposed to talk, it’s very difficult to be formal. I work in customer service which involves a lot of oral communication. I have to say that people are very informal when it comes to speaking no matter where they come from. For example most customers use a lot of words such as “sum instead of something” or say “She do instead of she does.” In my head I am always “judging” people when they talk in that way due to the fact that I know that they are speaking in a very particular way that I sometimes don’t understand because I am not used to it but I am open to get to know the different ways in which people express themselves. 

Persuasion can be a destructive tool…

Individuals go through their life most of their time influenced by persuasive communication styles, advertisements used by people who are trying to convince the public of their opinions, politics and/or values. Aristotle was an Ancient Greek philosopher who enlightened communication with his theories of persuasion; he believed in the division of three main artistics proofs (Logos: logic, Pathos: emotions, Ethos: morality) in order to persuade others. I believe that one is encountered with persuasive communication strategies along their whole pathway. It is true that in order to get one person to do as you please, the person needs to be invaded with facts, or implications that either affect their morality or emotions. 

During the pandemic, approximately March of 2020. I was going through a very difficult time of my life, just like everyone else during this period of time. I think that many news articles, TV, social media and at some point the government applied persuasion into their business in order to get individuals to believe that everyone was dying from Covid-19 or that the vaccine was the “cure.” I got to a point in which I found myself scared to go outside, I was literally stuck in my aunt’s house for 2 months because I was panicked that if I went outside without being vaccinated I was going to die. In my opinion the news often uses persuasive strategies like pathos and logos because a lot of people get convinced really easily when the information they are receiving affects their emotions directly or indirectly.