Empyrean Iris Story Collection Vol. 4

Nonverbal Behavior

Report ID 2245678

Author: Dr Krill

Published: Journal of Xenobiology and Behavioral Science

It is estimated that 70-93% of human communication is done nonverbally. This is not simply an estimation that has been made by nonhuman scientists, but a figure that the humans themselves purportedly support. Evolutionary evidence suggests that humans developed their extreme reliance on nonverbal communication primarily because of how dangerous their original environment used to be. In order to survive, humans had to hunt in packs to take down even the most simple of prey, not even considering the larger and more dangerous animals they often hunted. In these cases, going up against animals with superior hearing, humans relied heavily on their ability to communicate nonverbally and without sound.

Today there are entire languages based upon the use of bodily movements rather than verbal communication. These languages were developed primarily for use in those without the ability to hear, but even those humans who do not use sign language as their primary source of communication still use nonverbal behaviors in excess amount.

If one is to understand humans, then they must understand the basics of nonverbal human communication.

As a caveat, I must inform the reader, that nonverbal communication can vary person to person, and from culture to culture. Not all humans will demonstrate the same pattern of nonverbal behavior as other humans, in fact nonverbal behavior in humans is extremely individualized, and this paper will only cover generalities. Even humans have struggled with this particular understand, and have fought to develop techniques of lie detection based on nonverbal cues, though the research has yet to support any such technique, as nonverbal behavior tends to be so varied.

The eyes

1. Human eyes are an important source of nonverbal communication. In fact, it is known that dogs, specifically bread by humans for humans, and evolved along side humans for thousands of years, have developed the ability to read and understand human facial expression, including eye movement.

2. There is some controversy regarding the eyes when it comes to nonverbal behavior. Out of all the species on their planet, humans are known to have the most visible difference between sclera and iris. Many animals have brown sclera, while human sclera is dominantly white, and takes up a large portion of the eye. Some researchers believe that this development resulted as an evolutionary change which made it easier for humans to give each other nonverbal cues. For instance other humans can tell in what direction another human is looking, based on the orientation of their iris and sclera.

a. Unlike Vrul, humans know when someone is looking at them, increasing social understanding

b. Humans often use eye rolling as a nonverbal technique to demonstrate annoyance or displeasure

c. Human eye contact is also purported to be important in mating rituals. The human pupil is said to dilate in response to cues it finds attractive or interesting, this being a subtle nonverbal indicator of interest between two humans

3. Cognitive effort can cause changes in human eye movement. For instance when a human is thinking hard about a specific subject, the eyes tend to drift upwards and towards different corners of the eye.

4. In many cases you may be able to detect when a human intentionally or unintentionally unfocused their vision out of boredom or illness, or intoxication. This is a term humans have coined as "Glassy"

Note: The existence of visual impairment or blindness may negate the usefulness of eye contact, and or social cues stemming from the ability to see eyes all together.