Critically discuss nonverbal communication as a means that could influence social perceptionSocial perception is the study of how people form impressions and make inferences about other people (how we see ourselves).Read more the more other people rely on information from their physical appearance and verbal and nonverbal communications. Social perceptions occur through the processes of impression formation and attribution. Attributions also influence social perception. Communication does not have to be verbal (written or spoken words) to convey a message. A look, a stare, a smile, a frown, a provocative movement of the body all convey meaning. This example demonstrates that no discussion of communication would be complete without a discussion of nonverbal communication whereby anyone who has ever been to a singles bar or nightclub knows that communication does not always need to be verbal to send a message . This includes body movements, the intonations or emphasis we give to words, facial expressions, and the physical distance between sender and recipient. The academic study of body movements has been labeled kinesics. It refers to gestures, facial configurations and other body movements. There may be ways in which people communicate without words, including through facial expressions, tone of voice, body position and movement, touch, and gaze. Charles Darwin believed that human emotional expressions were universal and that all humans expressed and interpreted expressions in the same way. Modern research suggests that Darwin was correct regarding the six main emotional expressions: anger, happiness, surprise, fear, disgust and sadness. They help people make inferences about why others behave the way they ... middle of paper ... communicate so that people are able to understand what is being conveyed. People's perceptions matter to a large extent because that will be the impression they receive that will last the longest. From the image that it is a non-verbal communication, most will take the image as a contradictory image because they have the awareness that it is a job for men and now that they can see that it is also done by women they will respond with a verbal or non-verbal communication . Some may see it as reinforcing a stereotype. Therefore, social perception is also influenced/influenced by non-verbal communication to a greater extent than whether people are able to understand the message or not due to the mode of communication used (non-verbal). If nonverbal communication is incorrect or improper, people will interpret the image differently and some will get it wrong, some will get it right.