Behaviour as Communication: What Actions Are Telling Us

In the complex tapestry of human interaction, our behaviours often speak louder than words. Every gesture, expression, and action carries meaning—sometimes more profound than verbal communication. When someone withdraws from social activities, exhibits unexpected emotional responses, or engages in repetitive behaviours, they’re communicating something significant about their internal experience. Understanding this silent language is critical, especially for those supporting individuals with communication challenges. As Paul Watzlawick famously noted, “You cannot not communicate”—even in silence, our actions continuously transmit information about our needs, feelings, and responses to the world around us.

Why Do We Need to Understand Behaviour as Communication?

The ability to interpret behaviour as communication forms the cornerstone of meaningful human connection. Research indicates that 60-65% of interpersonal communication occurs through non-verbal channels, underscoring the importance of behavioural interpretation in both clinical and everyday settings. This becomes particularly crucial when working with individuals who have limited verbal capacity—such as young children, people with autism spectrum conditions, or those experiencing cognitive decline.

Understanding behaviour as communication helps us:

• Identify unmet needs that cannot be verbally expressed
• Recognise early warning signs of distress or mental health challenges
• Develop supportive environments tailored to individual requirements
• Reduce restrictive practices by addressing underlying causes rather than symptoms
• Foster dignity and respect by acknowledging all forms of communication

When we miss these behavioural signals or misinterpret them, we risk overlooking essential information about a person’s wellbeing, potentially leading to increased distress and deteriorating mental health outcomes.

How Do Different Theoretical Frameworks Explain Behavioural Communication?

Several theoretical frameworks help us understand the complex relationship between behaviour and communication, each offering unique insights into how and why we communicate through our actions.

Watzlawick’s Axiom and Communication Inevitability

Paul Watzlawick’s fundamental axiom—”You cannot not communicate”—challenges the distinction between voluntary and involuntary actions. This principle suggests that all behaviour in social contexts carries communicative value, regardless of intent. Even seemingly unconscious actions like yawning, shifting posture, or avoiding eye contact transmit information about emotional and physiological states.

This understanding proves particularly valuable when working with individuals experiencing communication barriers. For example, repetitive movements often dismissed as “stimming” in autistic individuals frequently serve as coded messages about sensory overload, anxiety, or attempts at self-regulation.

The ABC Model of Behaviour

The Antecedent-Behaviour-Consequence (ABC) model provides a structured approach to understanding the communicative function of behaviour:

• Antecedent: What happens immediately before the behaviour occurs
• Behaviour: The observable action itself
• Consequence: What happens immediately after the behaviour

This framework helps identify patterns and triggers, revealing what the behaviour might be communicating. For instance, a child’s tantrum (Behaviour) triggered by denied access to a toy (Antecedent) might persist if it successfully secures parental attention (Consequence).

Social Cognitive Theory

Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory introduces a triadic reciprocity model where personal factors, behaviours, and environmental influences interact dynamically. This framework proves essential in understanding how societal attitudes shape behavioural communication and emphasises the importance of environmental adaptation rather than focusing solely on changing the individual’s behaviour.

In Australian disability support contexts, this has translated into a shift from viewing “challenging behaviours” as problems to solve, to interpreting them as expressions of unmet needs—a perspective that informs modern support practices.

What Are Behaviours Communicating Across Different Life Stages?

Behavioural communication evolves throughout the lifespan, with different expressions emerging at various developmental stages.

Early Childhood Communication

Pre-verbal children rely entirely on behavioural communication, with cries, gaze patterns, and motor movements signalling needs, discomfort, or attachment desires. Research like the “Still Face Experiment” demonstrates how infants escalate grimacing and limb movements when caregivers withdraw responsiveness, illustrating the biological necessity of behavioural signalling.

As children develop, their behavioural communication becomes more sophisticated but remains a primary channel—even as verbal skills emerge. Tantrums, withdrawal, or play patterns often communicate emotional needs that children lack the vocabulary to express directly.

Adolescent and Adult Communication Patterns

In adolescents and adults, behavioural communication often reflects complex emotional and psychological processes:

• Withdrawal from previously enjoyed activities may signal depression
• Increased irritability or aggression might communicate anxiety or feeling overwhelmed
• Changes in sleep or eating patterns often indicate stress or emotional distress
• Risk-taking behaviours sometimes communicate identity exploration or distress

Gender differences also emerge in behavioural communication patterns. The Victorian Population Health Survey reveals that men are 40% more likely to express psychological distress through substance use, whereas women predominantly exhibit somatic symptoms like insomnia.

Communication in Cognitive Decline

For individuals experiencing cognitive decline or dementia, behaviour often becomes the primary communication channel as verbal abilities diminish. Behaviours like wandering, repetitive questioning, or agitation frequently express unmet needs:

• Wandering may communicate boredom, restlessness, or searching for something familiar
• Agitation or aggression often signals pain, discomfort, or fear
• Repetitive behaviours might indicate anxiety or an attempt to create predictability
• Withdrawal could communicate sensory overload or fatigue

A 2025 Victorian study found that 68% of aged care residents’ “challenging behaviours” correlated with undiagnosed pain or environmental overstimulation—highlighting how behaviours often communicate physical needs when words cannot.

How Can We Interpret Behaviour in Mental Health Contexts?

In mental health contexts, behavioural changes often precede formal diagnoses and provide valuable clinical insights. In Australia, 22% of adults experience mental illnesses annually, with behavioural changes frequently serving as early warning signs.

Behaviour Pattern	Potential Communication	Common Mental Health Association
Psychomotor retardation (slowed movements)	Energy depletion, emotional numbness	Depression
Fidgeting, restlessness	Internal tension, difficulty relaxing	Anxiety disorders
Pressured speech, increased goal-directed activity	Elevated mood, racing thoughts	Bipolar disorder (manic phase)
Social withdrawal	Emotional overwhelm, fear of rejection	Depression, social anxiety
Substance use	Self-medication, emotional avoidance	Various conditions, trauma responses
Risk-taking behaviour	Emotional dysregulation, identity distress	Borderline personality traits, trauma

Non-verbal cues play a critical role in suicide risk assessment. Research finds that 62% of individuals who died by suicide displayed behavioural warnings like giving away possessions or social withdrawal. Mental health first aid guidelines now prioritise recognising these behavioural indicators, as only 23% of suicidal individuals directly disclose their intent verbally.

These patterns highlight the importance of monitoring behavioural baselines—the typical patterns of behaviour for an individual—to detect subtle deteriorations that might signal declining mental health.

What Frameworks Help Us Respond to Behavioural Communication?

Understanding behaviour as communication is only the first step—developing appropriate responses forms the critical second phase. Several evidence-based frameworks guide this process.

Positive Behaviour Support (PBS)

The Positive Behaviour Support framework combines functional assessment, skill-building, and environmental adaptation. This approach, widely adopted in Australian NDIS services, focuses on:

1. Functional Analysis: Identifying what the behaviour is communicating through observation and assessment
2. Replacement Skill Training: Teaching alternative communication methods that serve the same function
3. Environmental Engineering: Modifying triggers to reduce the need for challenging behaviours

Victorian data shows PBS implementation reduces restrictive practices by 42% when combined with staff training on behavioural interpretation—demonstrating the effectiveness of this communication-focused approach.

Cross-Cultural Considerations

Behavioural interpretation varies significantly across cultures, requiring nuanced approaches:

• In some Southeast Asian communities, smiling might mask distress rather than indicate happiness
• Middle Eastern cultures may express grief through heightened religious practices rather than overt emotional displays
• First Nations Australians might communicate trauma through storytelling traditions rather than direct disclosure

These cultural variations highlight the importance of avoiding universal interpretations of behaviour and considering cultural context when decoding behavioural communication.

Technology-Enhanced Approaches

Emerging technologies now support behavioural interpretation through quantifiable measures. Wearable biosensors measuring physiological indicators like heart rate variability and skin conductance can help predict emotional escalation before visible behavioural changes occur. These technological approaches complement, rather than replace, human observation and relationship-based interpretation.

How Can Families and Support Networks Better Understand Behavioural Communication?

For families and support networks, developing skills in interpreting behavioural communication creates stronger connections and more responsive support. Key strategies include:

Establishing Behavioural Baselines: Understanding what constitutes “normal” behaviour for an individual allows for earlier detection of changes that might signal distress.

Using ABC Analysis: Documenting the Antecedent-Behaviour-Consequence pattern helps identify triggers and functions of behaviours, revealing their communicative purpose.

Creating Communication-Rich Environments: Ensuring individuals have access to appropriate communication tools—whether verbal, visual, technological, or behavioural—reduces the need for challenging behaviours to communicate needs.

Practicing Reflective Listening: Rather than reacting to the behaviour itself, responding to the underlying message with statements like “I notice you seem uncomfortable when…” validates the communication attempt.

Seeking Professional Support: When behavioural communication becomes complex or challenging to interpret, professional guidance can help decode the messages and develop appropriate responses.

Understanding the Language of Actions

Behaviour as communication represents one of humanity’s most fundamental languages—a complex system of signals that conveys our needs, emotions, and responses to the world around us. By recognising that all behaviour serves a communicative function, we move beyond simple categorisations of “good” or “challenging” behaviours toward a deeper understanding of human experience.

This perspective shift transforms how we respond to behaviours that might otherwise be labelled as problematic. Instead of asking, “How do we stop this behaviour?” we ask, “What is this behaviour telling us?” This question opens pathways to more compassionate, effective support that honours the communication attempt while helping individuals develop more adaptive ways to express their needs.

As our understanding of behavioural communication continues to evolve through research and practice, so too does our capacity to create environments where all forms of communication are recognised, respected, and responded to with dignity.