“It is really hard to completely re-learn how to express yourself without using words. When you take away speech, you have to re-invent the way you express yourself. You have to exaggerate your body language and your facial expressions.”
“We’re losing social skills, the human interaction skills, how to read a person’s mood, to read their body language, how to be patient until the moment is right to make or press a point. Too much exclusive use of electronic information dehumanizes what is a very, very important part of community life and living together.”
While most people would point to verbal languages as the focal point of most human communication, the expressive power of the human body (and those of many animals!) cannot be denied. Increasingly, psychologists and other social scientists believe body language holds substantial attention and weight in social interaction. Because of the relevance and interest in the topic, we were happy to welcome Edgar Arceo this week to discuss some of these phenomena with us.
