We use Nonverbal Communication for
survival specifically to quickly avoid danger, find food and water, mate and raise
young safely. We see, hear, and feel, and our body responds with the Freeze,
Flight, Fall/Faint, or Friend response. Nonverbal communication is given out
and processed in the limbic system, which is designed to respond quickly, and Word
language is processed in the Neocortex.
For example, we can form an accurate
first impression to assess someone is safe to approach in less than 1/300th
of a second. (Fun fact we can recognize a smile from 300 feet away, and we have
limbic system stranger danger assessment at 15 feet that is constant across
different cultures) So are "gut" impression is often formed and acted
upon before any words are spoken. In addition, we use and can rely on Nonverbal
Communication which is, for the most part, subconscious communication to be
more accurate than word language that is filtered through the Neo Cortex and
can be manipulated.
Even a two-year-old covered in cookie
crumbs from their cookie jar theft can look you right in the eye, lie and say, "I
didn't steal the cookie." But since we can give out thousands of cues in
less than a minute, the child cannot typically control them all they may turn
their body away, swing their back foot, give a lopsided smile, and speak with awkward
pacing, all forms of nonverbal leakage that reveal that their lying.
