Language, as a very powerful tool, acts like a bridge between our inside world and the external reality. It helps spectate the huge variety of sights, sounds, sensations, and emotions people may become the attackers of in the course of their lives and to get one handle on which they can reach. Through this communication, such experiences get labeled with others and, so to say, lend themselves to pain in the service of joint attention and collective comprehension of the world. The word’s expanse into the generations—vital—force that gives us the wherewithal to share the experience, an excited roll of the roller-coaster ride, the satisfied quiet of a shared meal, the pressed heaviness of loss—it weighs like eggshells, brings us so close to meaning. But also, we have to bring word not to stretch the whole way into an experience itself. It’s like trying to paint a vibrant sunset with a single stroke of color. Naming can lead us to believe we’ve fully understood something, neglecting the richness that lies beneath the label. Here’s why experience goes beyond the word we choose to represent it.

Nomenclature can make one feel as though he understands it all in its fullness, whereas in reality, the whole richness might be enclosed under the label. This explains why the experience goes further than the word picked to name it.

The Nuance of Experience

Experience nuances impressions, for it is the context that, along with the emotional and intellectual makeup it contains, carves from general experiences the individual impressions. Such a word as “joy” might hold experiences that run from the rush felt by winning a competition, the serene satisfaction of time spent with family, or perhaps even the melancholy gratification in getting a tough job done. Each instance of “joy” holds distinct emotional nuances that a single word can’t fully capture.

With the sights, sounds, and smells of things. Words are abstractions, and experiences tend to be rich with sensory details. There is, for instance, an enormous difference between the experience of the “sunshine” and maybe having to sweat while lying in a field underneath some really bright rays. “Sunshine” does call a picture to mind, kind of, but it hardly sustains the same feeling. Countless studies show that naming something may help us remember it later, but it does not duplicate even most of the full sensory immersion which defines the original event.

Experience is, by nature, evolving what might first come off simply as “sad,” given a moment of reflection, can eventually lead to meaning tinged with frustration, perhaps anger, or surprising relief. The meaning of that experience can also continue to change as it has the opportunity to process our emotional responses and to gather many potential new perspectives. Words, however, are stationary.

Perception Subjectivity: 

Two people can be right next to each other, share a similar experience, and give two very different interpretations. A first kiss to one is exhilarating, to another, awkward. A tough hike could be looked at as frustratingly difficult by one person but a thrilling test of endurance by another. Naming experiences becomes yet more ungraspable.

Importance of Non-Verbal Communication

The importance of non-verbal communication is that most of human communication exists within the gamut of these cues. Facial expressions, body language, and tone-of-voice allow the contribution to the richness of an experience beyond the words that predominantly fail. They do come to suffice the landscape relevant to the context of an event.

However, naming isn’t without its merits. Here’s how it can enhance our experiences:

Making a shared understanding: labels help us share with the other people. With the help of common words, we have an ability to create a bridge toward different people or other cultures. By sharing the word “grief,” we are able to connect to other people who may have lost a loved one.

“Here, it’s happening because the language is so closely related to the memory material. Emotion identification is a power tool of processing emotions, and knowing the true name of the feeling behind the covers just makes it easy for us to deal with it. This way, being able to identify an experience as “anger,” one can now come to realize where it’s coming from and be able to address it in a healthful way.

Building knowledge: Naming helps build a shared body of knowledge. Just by naming the experiences and feelings attaching to them, we are actually building the shared body of knowledge over some life conditions.

The Key: Finding a Balance This is probably one of the most significant things here. Words are only some tools for explaining experience, but not the experience itself. That is, naming makes effective communication and shared understanding possible, though it should never become the focus of things.

This is the beginning of a series of articles. Throughout this journey, I shall disclose interesting insights to human psychology that is intrinsically related to the domain of the persona in marketing.