View source for Unconscious communication

{{Short description|Unconscious verbal and nonverbal cues}}
{{redirect|Honest signals|honest signals in evolutionary biology|Signalling theory}}

'''Unconscious''' (or '''[[intuition (knowledge)|intuitive]]''') '''communication''' is the subtle, unintentional, unconscious cues that provide information to another individual. It can be verbal (speech patterns, physical activity while speaking, or the tone of voice of an individual)<ref name="MIT News">{{cite web |last=Chandler |first=David |title=Tuning in to unconscious communication |url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/signals-1021.html |access-date=27 February 2012 |work=MIT News|date=21 October 2008 }}</ref><ref name="Wise Geek">{{cite web |last=Ejim |first=Esther |title=What is unconscious communication? |url=http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-unconscious-communication.htm |access-date=27 February 2012 |work=wiseGEEK |publisher=Conjecture Corporation}}</ref> or it can be [[nonverbal communication|non-verbal]] (facial expressions and [[body language]]<ref name="Wise Geek" />). [[Signaling theory|Some psychologists]] instead use the term ''honest signals'' because such cues are involuntary behaviors that often convey emotion whereas body language can be controlled.<ref name="Honest Signals">{{cite web|last=Pentland|first=Alex|author-link=Alex Pentland|title=The Impact of Unconscious Communication|url=http://gmj.gallup.com/content/122711/impact-unconscious-communication.aspx|work=Gallup Management Journal|access-date=2012-03-03}}</ref> Many decisions are based on unconscious communication, which is interpreted and created in the right hemisphere of the brain.<ref name="Projective Identification">{{cite web|last=Schore|first=Allen|title=Projective Identification, Unconscious Communication, and the Right Brain|url=http://www.continuingedcourses.net/active/courses/course064.php|work=Courses for Mental Health Professionals|publisher=ContinuingEdCourses|access-date=2012-03-03}}</ref> The right hemisphere is dominant in perceiving and expressing body language, facial expressions, verbal cues, and other indications that have to do with emotion but it does not exclusively deal with the unconscious.<ref name="Projective Identification" />

Little is known about the [[unconscious mind]] or about how decisions are made based on unconscious communications except that they are always unintentional. There are two types of unconscious communications: intrapersonal and interpersonal.

Research has shown that human [[working memory|conscious attention]] can attend to [[The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two|5–9 items]] simultaneously.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}} All other information is processed by the unconscious mind. For example, the unconscious mind sometimes picks up on and relates non-verbal cues about an individual based on how they have arranged their settings such as their home or place of work.

== Unconscious mind ==
Not much is known about the unconscious mind but it is believed to contain the biological instincts that humans act on every day, such as sex and aggression.<ref name=Three>{{cite book|last=Malandro, Barker, and Barker|first=Loretta A., Larry L., and Deborah Ann|title=Nonverbal Communication, 2nd ed|year=1989|publisher=Addison-Wesley|location=Reading, Massachusetts}}</ref> A person is completely unaware of what happens within the unconscious mind.

Psychoanalyst [[Sigmund Freud]] made the concept of the unconscious popular; and he based most of his theories on [[psychoanalysis]] on the concept. According to Freud, the [[subconscious mind]] rests right below the conscious mind, and has easy access to the thoughts and feelings that are kept in this state – as opposed to the unconscious mind (access to which is, in Freud's view, impossible). Freud believed that we projected our unconscious emotions onto others.<ref name="Projective Identification" />

== Intrapersonal ==
[[Intrapersonal communication]] is language use or thought internal to the communicator. It includes many mental activities such as thinking, calculating, planning, talking to one's self, [[internal monologue]], and day-dreaming.<ref name=Seven /> Intrapersonal communication affects how people perceive themselves: either in a negative or positive way.<ref name=Seven>{{cite book|last=Gill and Adams|first=David and Bridget|title=ABC of Communication Studies|year=1989|publisher=Nelson Thornes Ltd|isbn=978-0-333-46757-2|pages=94–95}}</ref> [[Joseph Jordania]] hypothesized that intrapersonal communication was created to avoid silence because as social creatures we{{Who|date=February 2016}} feel uncomfortable with extended periods of silence.<ref name=Nine>{{cite book|last=Jordania|first=Joseph|title=Times to Fight and Times to Relax: Singing and Humming at the Beginnings of Human Evolutionary History|year=2009|pages=272–277}}</ref> Intrapersonal unconscious communication is when dreams, previous experiences, or hypnosis affects a person's choices or experiences unconsciously.<ref name="Wise Geek" />

== Interpersonal ==
[[Interpersonal communication]] includes message sending and message reception between two or more individuals. This can include all aspects of communication such as listening, persuading, asserting, non-verbal communication, and more. Interpersonal unconscious communication includes unintentional facial expressions, body language, tone of voice, and speech patterns while interacting with another individual that the other individual interprets for their own knowledge.<ref name="Wise Geek" /> Studies suggest that when presented with an emotional facial expression, participants instinctively react with movement in facial muscles that are mimicking the original facial expression.<ref name=Six>{{cite journal|last=Dimberg|first=U.|author2=Thunberg, M |title=Unconscious facial reactions to emotional facial expressions|journal=Psychological Science|year=2000|volume=11|issue=1|pages=86–89|doi=10.1111/1467-9280.00221|pmid=11228851|s2cid=67858 }}</ref>

There are six different reasons for non-verbal communication:<ref>{{cite book|last=Malandro, Barker & Barker|title=Nonverbal Communication, 2nd ed.|year=1989|publisher=Addison-Wesley|location=Reading, Massachusetts}}</ref>
# Complementing: adding extra information to verbal communication
# Contradicting: the non-verbal messages contradict one's verbal messages
# Repeating: emphasize or clarify the verbal message
# Regulating: coordinate the verbal dialogue between people
# Substituting: when a non-verbal message is used in place of a verbal message
# Accenting: emphasizing a particular point in a verbal message


This system may have been evolutionarily evolved to hint to other people emotional cues. When a person uses one of the following points, as stated above (i.e. intonation, facial expression...) they may do so to regulate the emotion of one or more people. The subject or the contents of the message may be less of importance rather than the transmission of emotional cues itself.

Additionally, the manner of phrasing sentences and selection of words that the brain subconsciously generates are used as well to regulate other peoples emotions. Since a particular utilization of words may affect people differently such as ''"That painting is unattractive."'' and ''"That painting is ugly."'', whereby the latter sentence will have a worse emotional impact than the former upon hearing. And here again the contents of the message are less of relevance than the actual emotional impact it will deliver.

==See also==
{{Columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* [[Rapport]]
* [[Sympathy]]
* [[Hypnosis]]
* [[Telepathy]]
* [[Body language]]
** [[Eye contact]]
** [[Facial expression]]
** [[Human voice]]
** [[Gesture]]
** [[Human position|Postures]]
* [[Subliminal message]]
* [[Tacit knowledge]]
* [[Unconscious mind]]
* [[Unsaid]]
}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Nonverbal communication}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Unconscious Communication}}
[[Category:Human communication]]
[[Category:Unconscious]]