Principles of Non-Verbal Communication

I found the eight principles of nonverbal communication to be a useful explanation on the factors of communication that most of us take for granted and do autonomously. The principles outline the minute interactions that are continuously carried out during group communication. I think that understanding nonverbal communication as a system of principles creates manageable actions that one can think about and act upon during interaction inter personally and in small groups. I found the two most interesting principles to be how interpretation of nonverbal communication is guided by the context and power relationship in which they are sent, and the statement that women, in general, are more sensitive to sending and receiving nonverbal cues. These two concepts, at least in my own life, seem to always be true.
Understanding that nonverbals can be interpreted differently depending upon the levels of power between the parties, or the environment in which they are sent, is a valuable thing to know. I think that we all have an intrinsic understanding of this concept, as we are constantly exemplifying it. An easy place to find context/power playing upon our nonverbal would be at work. Our workplaces, as environments, contain many societal and cultural norms that may change or restrict our use of nonverbal. Understanding how these norms and regulations on the signals we are sending in a workplace context is important. Say you were to send a emblem at work to someone that placed more significance upon the context of non verbals in the workplace , you might get into trouble. Something like winking and smiling in the workplace could be interpreted much differently by a coworker than by someone you meet in a bar.
This bring me to the next principle about nonverbals that I find constantly happening in real life. The principle stated that women are more sensitive to sending and receiving, and responding accurately to non verbal messages. I've noticed that this principle proves true fairly often. Girls I hang out with constantly seem to notice cues that I would have never noticed. I've also noticed that this sensitivity can be a double-edged sword, because sometimes over interpretation of signals can produce more confusion than needed. My mother and I are constantly battling because of this. She seems hypersensitive to nonverbal communication that she perceives me to be sending, and this can often cause conflict over the meaning of the signals. However, I don't want to generalize or overstate that this principle is always true, because I think that another big area of confusion between men and women is that men think that women are perceiving every little signal they send.
This goes to show just how important understanding nonverbals can be. We can become much better at avoiding confusion if we improve our abilities to properly recognize, interpret, and send nonverbal communication.