What Can We Learn From Animals About Non-Verbal Communication?
It is not necessary to plan a trip to the savanna to realize that animals communicate with each other permanently. It is enough to pay attention to the behaviors of the furry friends who sleep with us or at the foot of our bed; to the birds that perch on the cables just beyond the balcony: purring, barking, vivid humming in the early hours of the morning, all to communicate.
However, perhaps it could happen that, being so accustomed to a reality divided by verbal language, we miss small details about the communication that many species of the animal kingdom use. When the cat whips the air with its tail after we are on top of it or when the dog urinates on every tree in the neighborhood when we take it for a walk, they are communicating without the need to make sounds. In case it is necessary to clarify, we also communicate this way when we raise our shoulders to express “I don’t know” or when we wrinkle our nose because a food is aversive, but there is a cosmos of communication beyond gestures and looks — such as pigmentations, tactile signals, pheromones—in which other species are experts and from which we can learn many things to incorporate into our world of meanings. In this article, we will develop what we can learn from animals about non-verbal communication
The discipline that is responsible for studying communication between non-human animal species is zoosemiotics. It is based on the basic premise that all animals need to communicate through signals since they are all social in nature. Some of them are acoustic or auditory, but they can also be achieved without involving the emission of a sound, as is the case of communication through the segregation of chemical substances or visually through gestures or specific behaviors.
It is something very complex as well as very interesting. Ants, for example, communicate by releasing pheromones. Depending on the amount of these chemicals that are secreted, the type of message that an ant tries to transmit varies. Thanks to pheromones, ants are able to transmit a wide range of signals, from warning others of the possibility of being attacked to leaving a trail on the road to indicate where the food is. Fortunately for our fellow humans, we cannot accuse the Brothers Grimm of plagiarizing the ants for Hansel and Gretel’s ingenious method of marking the way home—advances in zoosemiotics came later; But we can borrow some ideas from non-verbal communication in ants to reflect on the type of links that human beings establish.
Although some scientists seemed to have discovered something like a “human pheromone”, the reality is that this idea does not have sufficient support today. However, even though our biology (apparently) has not given us the right hand in this, our virtuosity with spoken language gives us the possibility of learning something from species that communicate through the segregation of chemical substances, but how? To advance this issue, let us imagine and ask ourselves the following: if it were possible to communicate through the release of chemicals, would that make our lives easier?
Verbal or non-verbal communication?
It is true that emanating a substance to call our children to eat without losing our voice along the way would be a real spectacle, but let’s think about it seriously: is there any reason why a human of the 21st century would want to communicate in such a way, knowing that it counts? with such a phylogenetic advantage as a language that allows us to develop abstract concepts, establish bidirectional relationships or make inferences about reality?
The first answer we could give would be no, since our language enables degrees of abstraction and specificity worthy of the envy of any insect, fish, reptile or dog. Thanks to human verbal language we can know with a simple warning that we should not approach a fence because it could give us electricity. On the other hand, other species would need to first touch the fence and experience the pain and then learn that this strategy is not convenient. Human language seems to be a superior wild card to any other form of communication, but is this always the case?
What often happens is that, despite having such an ability, communicating with other people can be difficult. We have the ability to clearly express what we feel and what we need from others, but we don’t always get the most out of it While the content of our thoughts and the concatenation of them uses language, people can fall into the trap of assuming that the other understood what we wanted to say, that we were clear and precise, or that they will act in the way they intended. which we believe should be done. Because human verbal communication opens up endless interpretive possibilities, people can be very unassertive; It is only enough to review our personal stories to realize how many misunderstandings can be generated because of this.
What can we learn from non-verbal communication if we observe animals?
For its part, as we mentioned previously, human beings also communicate through movements, gestures and postures. The body speaks for us. Non-verbal communication can have that advantage: it can express what we were not able to capture in words. However, the human paradox is that we are not even free from verbal language when we communicate non-verbally. The interpretation of non-verbal communication, after all, is usually done based on words.
This is where animal species that have not developed a language with such characteristics can teach us something extremely valuable for our lives. In the case of the ants that we exposed, chemical communication leaves no loose ends to the message it is trying to convey: “the food is there, let’s go look for it.” The non-sound communication of other animals, despite being much more limited than the language that humans have developed, is extremely direct, explicit, there is little room for confusion. On the other hand, we can carry out an infinite number of interpretations of a non-verbal message, often harmful and, even worse, assume the meanings we create as absolute truths.
Definitely, The lesson that the non-verbal communication of other species gives us is that we must learn to be clear with what we want from others, express clearly how we consider the actions of others to impact ourselves. We can also learn the importance of limiting our tendency to make hasty readings of reality, the gestures of others or their words. To establish stronger bonds, we need to be specific when communicating in order to achieve joint goals and objectives. And, just by observing how the little ants in our garden cooperate to carry those leaves that quadruple their size, we can see how good it would be for us humans to learn a little about them.
Communication is a fundamental tool for the work of psychologists. On the one hand, psychologists must be able to express themselves correctly so that their patients understand them. This involves using clear and simple language, adapted to the patient’s level of understanding. Additionally, psychologists must be able to actively listen to their patients, to understand their needs and concerns.
On the other hand, psychologists must learn about non-verbal communication to understand their patients 100%. Non-verbal communication is an important part of human communication, and can be used to convey a large amount of information. For example, psychologists can use nonverbal communication to assess the emotional state of their patients, or to detect signs of deception.
In conclusion, since Mediterranean School of Psychology We support the claim that the ability to communicate effectively is essential for psychologists. Psychologists who know how to express themselves correctly and who learn about non-verbal communication are in a better position to help their patients. Nonverbal communication is a powerful tool that can be used to improve the therapeutic relationship between the psychologist and the patient. Psychologists who learn to interpret their patients’ nonverbal communication can better understand their thoughts, feelings, and experiences. This can help psychologists establish a trusting relationship with their patients and provide more effective care.
