Nonverbal Communication Emblem Analysis

On Feb 28, 2012, Dr. Neha Sangwan reminisce her time at an international conference in Saudi back in which a question a question from the crowd completely changed her career. In the talk, she mentioned that communication, not only with others but also with oneself, could prevent the most fatal diseases like stroke and heart attack. She gave a little background story of what she does in the before the conference in Saudi happened. She used to ask her patients why they got their disease and gave a few examples of their responses. She did not imagine that she would be asking herself the same question. She latter realized that the key to wellness is communication with the body and soul. Dr. Sangwan finished the talk with a thought about communication …show more content…
The book refers emblem as a gesture that is significant to a certain culture (Lilienfeld et al., 2015, pg. 428). It could be crossing a finger for good luck in North American culture, lighting up fireworks on Chinese New Year and even wearing hijab. The speaker had a perfect example of nonverbal communication through emblems using a back scarf. When Dr. Neha Sangwan landed to Saudi wearing a black scarf, she showed her respect to the Saudi’s culture. The prince appreciated the gesture and had a positive view of her even before they engage in a conversation. The simple scarf can show respect even without verbalizing it. However, nonverbal cues can also be misunderstood within culture and more so cross-culturally. Another shared motif is motivation or the lack there of. The textbook defines it as a psychological drive that stirs us to a certain path (Lilienfeld et al., 2015, pg. 440). The speaker talked about her motivation of coming to the conference and having the courage to change her career to follow what she wanted to do. She also touched on her lack of motivation to change when she started ignoring her “symptoms” and even providing with a relatable equation to get through a stressful day. This motivation is parallel to the Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. When she had no motivation to change she was on the bottom of the pyramid with her minimally satisfying her calorie count for the day. When she finally had a motivation to …show more content…
The textbook explains the types, mechanism and components of language. The textbook went into further detail about how language was acquired and processed in the brain. Although they have the same topic, this Tedtalk put has given communication a different light than what is presented by the textbook. According to the text, communication allows exchange of ideas that consist of cognitive, social and physical skills (Lilienfeld et al., 2015, pg. 297). Communication in this context seemed an automatic response. Dr. Sangwan had expressed communication as a medicine for the soul. She revealed that through asking her patients about their illness and through self-reflection she was able to figured out what she want in life and cure her soul from the exhaustion of her body. Self-reflection helped her to know the reason behind her burnout. The speaker also used a few example of her patient answering the questions she asked about their illnesses. She claimed that most of them had ignored some aspects of their life that had brought them to their illness. As promising her claim is, it has not been tested and most likely cannot be falsified. Despite of the different view of communication, the ted talk expanded on the idea of nonverbal communication. Body language, like emblem mentioned above is an unconscious action that comes with an emotion (Lilienfeld et al., 2015, pg. 428). The speaker