Demonstrative Communication
Mark van de Gohm
BCOM 275
August 1st, 2012
Strozzo

Demonstrative Communication
Have you ever been talking to someone and get mixed signals? Maybe they are checking their watch, or rolling their eyes while you are trying to explain something. These are examples of demonstrative communication, also called nonverbal communication, which is any form of communication that does not use words. It has been shown that the actual words account for only seven percent of the meaning we are trying to express (pg 88). Demonstrative communication can be difficult to perceive the information with one hundred percent accuracy. The sender and receiver must be able to encode and decode each other’s demonstrative communications.
Examples for the Sender and Receiver
When communicating nonverbally, we must make sure that the demonstrative communication used is effective and understood in a positive way. Nonverbal communication is ninety three percent of our daily communication, although many times the sender and receiver misperceive some of the nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication can also be seen in a positive and negative way depending on the way the sender or receiver interprets it.
Effective
Effective nonverbal communication depends on the receiver’s ability to comprehend all the sender’s cues. An example of effective nonverbal communication would be; walking by a coworker’s office and giving a “thumbs up” sign. This demonstrative communication can be conveying “good job” or “did the situation we talked about earlier go well?” Instead of stopping and having a lengthy verbal communication, the entire conversation was summed up into one nonverbal hand signal.
Ineffective
Ineffective demonstrative communication is also seen in our daily lives. When a facial expression after a coworkers comment seems to portray dissatisfaction,