A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION

Abstract

The study of nonverbal communication started in 1872 with the publication
of The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin. Darwin
began to study nonverbal communication as he noticed the interactions between
animals such as lions, tigers, dogs etc. and realized they also communicated by gestures
and expressions. For the first time, nonverbal communication was studied and its
relevance questioned 1 . Today, scholars argue that nonverbal communication can
convey more meaning than verbal communication. Some scholars state that most
people trust forms of nonverbal communication over verbal communication. Ray
Birdwhistell concludes that nonverbal communication accounts for 60–70 percent of
human communication, although according to other researchers the communication
type is not quantifiable or does not reflect modern human communication, especially
when people rely so much on written means.