LANGUAGE POST
Part 1- LOSING MY VOICE
This part consists of lots of circular hand movements, opening my mouth without sound coming out, and my brother trying to make me laugh. What I first did was set a timer for 15 minutes. My partner in this assignment was my brother he knew only the surface of my assignment. He started the conversation with basic questions where I could nod my head with a yes or no. It was pretty easy in the beginning. He asked if I had a good day at work, if I was hungry, etc. I found that the assignment was easier than I expected. My expectations were low with how well I could be able to complete the 15-minute duration. The reason I found it easy was the way the conversation just took off without having a "voice" in it. My brother didn't really change the way he normally talks to me. However, this was getting to the parts after the basic yes or no questions. He now was asking me questions I couldn't just nod yes or no I had to respond using my body language. One of the questions he asked was what classes I was taking he knew about my Anthropology class only because of this assignment the rest he was guessing. To my surprise, I was doing well in the conversation. He guessed my business and business communication classes right.
My partner(brother) was in control of the conversation. He was the one who was changing each topic we were conversing about. We had a family discusses with me making little contributions here and there with my hand and body language. Definitely, everyone who had a "voice" had more power with engagement. during the whole conversations with my partner the balance between both of us I would say it was a 40/60 percent. 40 percent that I had contributed without my voice and the balance between him being able to understand me. And 60 percent my partner because he was the one who held most of the conversation.
The two cultures of language, spoken and non-spoken, one had more of the advantage than the other. Spoken being on top in this world. Roles could be reversed of most of the population was non-spoken.
Part 2- LOSING MY MIND
This part consists of frustration to the maximum. In the beginning, started off I put another timer for 15 minutes this time I knew that it would be difficult for myself to complete this task because I am a person with who uses body language to express emotions in the way I communicate. This part was actually the harder part I didn’t anticipate how hard it would be to not use my hands, body or face structure to talk. The way my partner reacted to my lack of body language was in his words "creepy". He response was "why are you talking like that" and "why can’t you move". My brother had no difficulty in understanding what I was trying to express during our whole conversation.
The importance of this experiment in using body language to effectively communicate what we are trying to get across to our audience or anybody in particular. Information received from others when reading body language is how they are adjusting to the conversation. In certain situations, if someone is uncomfortable, their body can tell so much without them speaking. For example, if someone is uncomfortable with a conversation they could shake their legs, fiddling with their hands, or just not looking at you and looking elsewhere.
The benefits of being able to read body language are crucial to one survival as a person. One situation that I can describe how body language can help a person survive is in cases of rape victims who are too scared to come forward but you can tell a mile away that something is wrong with just the way they act.
Some people have difficulty reading body language as in many cases people might not be able to read people in general. Which is not a bad thing but could hinder how to act around people in certain situations. I can only think of one situation where it does not benefit to read body language perhaps in the military when someone is being tortured it is best for not to be able to read body language. Everyone needs to know how to read body language because this way people can quickly know when they could be in danger. For example, school shooters have some sort of body language to be identified before they are on an act. It essential for everyone to know how to read body language.
Part 1:
ReplyDeleteGood opening description of your first experiment and good discussion on the issue of power and control in the conversation, but I'm going to challenge you on the 60/40 ratio you assigned to the conversation. Did you really have any control? Could you change topics at will? Ask questions? Steer the conversation where you wanted it to go? And if you did feel this way, could it be because your brother let you do this? If you had engaged in this discussion with a stranger on the street, just how much control would you have had? Would they have patiently tolerated your limited communication or might they have just walked away? Did you really have control? Or did your brother give you the control? In which case, was it really yours to begin with?
"The two cultures of language, spoken and non-spoken, one had more of the advantage than the other. Spoken being on top in this world."
Okay, but the question here is about communicating complex ideas, so more explanation was needed here.
"Roles could be reversed of most of the population was non-spoken. "
I don't understand what this is referring to. All cultures have some form of symbolic (i.e., "spoken") language.
Missing the real-life example that mirrors the conditions in this experiment?
Part 2:
Good opening description, but why do you think your brother was so bothered by your lack of body language? The explanation goes beyond what is considered "normal". What information was he missing from you that would make him uneasy?
I don't disagree with your conclusions regarding the information we receive from body language, but you are only considering the situation where body language matches and supports the information you receive from spoken language. What does it tell you when the body language doesn't match the spoken language? Humans tend to use body language as a type of lie detector. If spoken words don't match with the body language, we are more inclined to believe the body language and doubt the words. Think about how being able to detect liars might help an individual's ability to survive and reproduce (which applies to the next section).
Okay on the benefits of body language, but what type of benefits do you get by being able to detect liars?
"Some people have difficulty reading body language as in many cases people might not be able to read people in general."
Like all human traits, there is normal variation in expression, and the ability to read body language is no different. But beyond that, there are groups of people who have great difficulty or an outright inability to read body language due to physical or mental disability, such as those who are in the autism spectrum or those who are blind (though they can read vocal intonation).
"Everyone needs to know how to read body language because this way people can quickly know when they could be in danger."
I would generally agree with that, but that is assuming that the information you get from body language is accurate. But is there any situation you can think of where body language might actually mislead you, not because the person is lying but because you don't know how to read the body language? Do all cultures use the same system of body language? They all use different systems of spoken/written language, so why would we assume their body language isn't different? If you travel to another country, can you trust the information you get from their body language?