Beyond words;: An introduction to nonverbal communication (Prentice-Hall series in speech communication)

by Randall P. Harrison

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0130761419
• ISBN13: 9780130761415
• Release Date: January 1974
• Publisher: Prentice-Hall
• Length: 210 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Nowhere near 'boring'...

Randall Harrison is well known in psychological field. He used to work in the Communication Department at Michigan State University, USA. Generally, `Beyond Words...' seemed to appear informative, accessibly written and enjoyable on both occasions. In order to provide a sufficient evaluation of the above mentioned work, a concise summary of the book as well as the author's approach to issues and theories discussed and critical evaluation of the strengths and limitations of the book are the essential aspects which must be taken under consideration. In the book, the author explores the multifaceted field of nonverbal communication. The book is designed to provide useful materials about nonverbal communication which then would enable the reader to benefit from this knowledge and apply it in his every day life in order to achieve and maintain successful communication with others. The aims of the book are clearly outlined in `To the Reader' section which mainly informs about what issues are going to be explained in further reading. The above mentioned section can be found at the very beginning of the book. The author divided his work into four main parts: I- Introduction, II- Systems, III- Codes and IV- Conclusion. At the end, Harrison also included appendices in which he enclosed subject-related materials such as tests, exercises, tables and glossaries. The author begins the `journey to the pinnacle of the nonverbal domain', as he calls it in conclusion, with an interesting, eye-catching interactive exercise. The goal of this exercise is predominantly to gain the attention of the reader as well as to `increase the reader's sensitivity to nonverbal cues'. The second part of the book provides useful information on the communication systems and code systems. The author believes that humans interact in specific communication systems and that these systems play an essential role in communication processes. Among these systems, there exist both simple and complicated code systems. The messages which are sent in order to communicate, tend to be encoded. The receiver of the message must, however, exist in the same environment or community in which the code operates. The third part of the book presents more practical aspects of nonverbal communication. Here, the author focuses on the various types of nonverbal codes used in everyday communication process, such as human sounds, facial expressions and eye behaviour, hand and body movements. There is also information on the artifactual codes and messages of space and time as well as on the messages of media. Interesting and outstanding ideas and viewpoints presented by the author are the essence of this book. Harrison's theoretical assumption on communication systems appears to be the most interesting and, apparently, clearly noticeable and true. The author claims that most of the times, if not always, the nonverbal cues exchanged by communic