allows you to make qualitative judgments about the communication encounter.
Feedback also affords you the opportunity to immediately correct and adjust your
next message. When appropriate, it even means that you can ask questions of
your communication partners so that you can better understand the nonverbal mes-
sages they are sending.
Because feedback is critical, you need tocreate an atmosphere that encourages it.
Communication skills that promote feedback include smiling, head nodding, lean-
ing forward, and even laughing. Although the nonverbal actions just mentioned are
found in Western cultures, they often produce positive reactions in other cultures as
well. Each of these nonverbal activities contributes to a relaxed atmosphere that
fosters an accurate “reading” of your receiver’s nonverbal response to your
messages.Know Your Culture
That you need to know your own culture should be obvious, as at this stage, you
have learned that perceptions of how you and other people use nonverbal commu-
nication is colored by culture. Aspects of communication, such as what is consid-
ered attractive or how close to stand to someone, are influenced by culture.
Therefore, a certain degree of introspection about your own culture is an important
step in improving nonverbal behavior. A cultural accounting can provide you with
important insights regarding how you might be presenting yourself and judging
other people.Monitor Your Nonverbal Actions
We turn to that overused yet significant expression“know thyself”as we conclude
this chapter. Our reason for this admonition is simple: What you bring to the
encounter influences all aspects of that encounter. The novelist James Baldwin
highlighted the idea of self-knowledge when he wrote,“The questions which one
asks oneself, begin, at last, to illuminate the world, and become one’skeytothe
experiences of others.”Hence, to understand these“others,”you need to monitor
your actions in order to better understand the experiences of others. By knowing
how you“present”yourself, you can gain insight into how people are reacting to
the messages you are sending. We urge you to consider some of the following ques-
tions that will help you understand the responses displayed by your intercultural
communication partner:^183
1.Is my behavior making people feel comfortable or uncomfortable? Am I smiling or
glaring at the other person? Am I standing so close that I am making him or her
feel uncomfortable? Does my body appear relaxed, or do I appear stiff and nervous?
2.Am I adjusting my nonverbal messages to the feedback I am receiving from my
communication“partner”? Does it appear that I am talking at such a rapid pace
that I am confusing him or her? Am I pausing often enough to allow the other
person to talk?336 CHAPTER 9•Nonverbal Communication: The Messages of Action, Space, Time, and Silence
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