Where do we stand?

In this short article, Davis focuses on cross-cultural differences in the use of personal space and on the conflicts and misunderstandings that often arise from these differences. She maintains that, with enough training or coaching, people can learn the nonverbal habits of other cultures and minimize intercultural problems.

According to Lisa Davis, the types of nonverbal communication are: Personal space, eye contact, touching, greeting (shaking hand), kissing, bowing, smiling, body orientation and posture and smell. They can be grouped under proxemics (the study of variations in posture, inter-personal distance and tactile contact in human communication), haptics (relating to or involving the sense of touch) and olfactics (connected with the sense of smell).

The major cause of non-verbal conflicts is the tendency for people to interpret the nonverbal patterns of another culture in terms of the patterns within their own culture. This ethnocentric viewing of reality often results in misinterpretations, negative value judgments and feeling of discomfort. In this article, the writer maintains that cultural differences exist in the use of personal space, and this often leads to intercultural conflicts and misunderstanding, especially, in an increasingly global world. With enough training and practice, however, people can learn the nonverbal patterns of other cultures and minimize problems.