Physical appearance is a type of non verbal communication. It is usually associated with one’s dress sense, hairstyle, body types – basically anything on the physical side.
Here is a clip on a recent movie – “Bridewars”, which shows an example of such non verbal communication used.
In this case, the costume designer chose the appropriate clothing that would help project each character’s personality in the movie. We can see the contrast between the two ladies, where Liv (Kate Hudson) being better off than Emma (Anne Hathaway). This was shown where they had different brands and styles of clothing, and the former was able to afford the more expensive stuffs. Even colours played a part too. For instance, Liv was mostly in cool colours wear, while Emma’s clothing had more vibrant colours. These differences were made in their physical appearance, so as to distinct the two characters in the movie.
Say about physical appearance. It decides how people treat and look upon on us. I hate to agree with this, but we cannot deny that physical appearance does matter a lot.
Like in the movie, Liv is a lawyer character. She has to be in the right attire - formal and neat, in order to convince her clients that she is able to handle the given task. If you had watched the movie, there was a scene where Liv was totally out of control. She had her hair dyed blue, and was in improper dress. This made her lose the opportunity of clinching the deal. Thus, this showed how important physical appearance was to her. It affected the way her client thinks of her – having doubts of her credibility.
It is through physical appearance that we draw a conclusion about a particular person without any form of verbal communication used. I must say it plays an important part in the first impression that one gives. It is like meeting new friends on the first day in school. You will first observe, before taking the decision whether or not to approach them. Hmm. Unless you are under forced circumstances.
Yet, looks can be deceiving at times too. One may not necessary be the kind of person that you see him/her as, based on their physical appearance. I guess it acts as a camouflage for us humans at times, for our true inner self are not really shown. Similar to the theory of wearing a mask on your face.
So. Physical appearance is either a true reflect of us or a diguise for us. I think both works for us in different situations.
What is your take?
I think it is more of a true reflection of the person itself.. even if not all the time, then at least most of the time.. after all, what really constitutes as a disguise? maybe it could haf started off as a disguise but this cannot carry on forever.. if it maintains this way for a long while.. then mayb this IS the true reflection and not the disguise anymore..
ReplyDeletetrue. i guess thats why we need verbal communication too. physical appearances are really wrong at times.
ReplyDeletephysical appearance is a true disguise for us. i donno how does that oxymoron make sense but there are times where the line becomes so blurred that people don't know if they are disguising their true self or using their physical true self appearance as a disguise for something else.
ReplyDeletephysical appearance is something rather abstract as i donno who is MBi said.
that is true that at times a disguise becomes reality and vice versa. hence the irrelevance of appearance as a baseline of some sort.
problem is we are human beings after all and we
will instinctively judge a person by such a manner. it might be a primal thing which explains a certain amount of hard wiring that we can't avoid no matter how most of us try when judging people by their first impression.
Hmmm. I guess that physical appearances do matter, to some extent. After all, humans are shallow beings, no? However, I feel that there are more aspects to a first impression other than outer appearances, like maybe their speech, or choice of words. Naturally, you'd avoid people who *coughcough* spew vulgarities like it's second nature to them. It might just be a habit of that person's, but surely it doesn't reflect him/her in a good light, does it?
ReplyDeleteAlso in today's context, people tend to judge on outer appearances more. They 'have no time' to waste on somebody who gave them a negative first impression. It might be just me, but i highly doubt it. When you get negative impression of somebody, usually you close your mind to that person, effectively (almost) reducing contact with the person to ZERO. Which leads me to another point; how effectively we make friends, actually depends on how open our minds are towards people.
What say you?
I agree, also, I believe that our desire not to deal with other people's problems contribute hugely. Whenever I see a negative person my first impression is that they have a problem to deal with and associating means helping with the problem, especially if you can see it non-verbally like weak body-language or a bad smell or a way of dressing different to one's own. Those all mean dealing with differences and problems we just want to avoid ourselves.
DeleteNormally when people think non-verbal communication they forget about smell and body posture which is part of it also in the animal kingdom. Even animals avoid negativity when it comes to smells, territory or being subordinate to an alphas body-language, etc.
DeleteWell, somehow how you dress do reflect some of your characteristic but, maybe just a few percent of it? What if a person keep changing his/her of dressing? I think it has to do with your own sense of design, as to what kind of clothes suit you, what kind of clothes doesn't.
ReplyDeleteAlso, sometimes I do contradict myself about first appearance. Although, I told my not to judge a person by its looks, but sometimes I do and I am right about the person, but there are times when I am wrong about a person too. So, it is quite confusing acutally. Haha. Personally, I don't quite like people to judge me based on first appearance. Because, my first appearance is definitely not me. =)
Yup I do think that having proper and appropriate dressing is important for different occasions as it will really affect one's first impression on you.
ReplyDeletePhysical appearance is definitely important aspect of communication and it determines the first impression. For instance, you wont want your boyfriend to dress like a beggar when he visits your parents? Physical appearance is usually the first thing people will look at before knowing a person. During a job interview, the boss will take note of the way one dresses so as to check whether one is tidy/untidy. If one lacks the judgment to dress professionally, do not be surprised when people assume one has deficiencies in other areas also. Bride wars is a good show. Must-watch show =)
ReplyDeletelester,
ReplyDeleteyea. think you raised a point there. i cant deny that i have the tendency to do that. unpleasant appearances of beings do put me off sometimes. but then again, i wont mind giving them a second chance. if possible.
Physical Appearance speaks volume on first encounters. Unfortunately we all judge others at some time or another by each other's appearances. I agree about dressing appropriately for different occassions. I sometimes dress according to the way I feel.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your post, physical appearance does matter a lot, and it houses a substantial importance in non-verbal communications.
ReplyDeleteHow we dress does not only stimulate our appetite for the opposite sex (like our appetite for colorful foods), it also conveys our personality whether we are modest, playful, seductive. I agree totally. Awesome post. :)
As regard to my take, well, hmmm... I think
Non-verbal communications is after all the first ones we can engage in, unless however we are blind. In the case of deaf people, they only use non-verbal. Both are equally important... and with the true reflect of self or disguise part, I fully agree... Often, when people know you are a psychologist or a journalist people feel as though they cannot disguise themselves or as though you are going to be invasive and analytically judgmental, ergo I think disguise also factors in a great deal of comfort with others, because we all have bad qualities and we do not want to feel exposed by them, so we tend to want hold on to a sense of mystery while building rapport with others, not necessarily deceptive (possibly), but more a survival based social intuitive nature.