Part I:
When I first read the instructions for this assignment I thought it would be a easy and not troublesome one, but as I proceeded to complete it, I discovered how death wrong I was. When I did the first part which consisted in 15 minutes of not talking, writing or using ASL as a way of communication, I felt like time couldn't go any faster and even frustrated. I had to remember myself really often that I couldn't answer. I'm a really talkative person, so I tent to have an answer or a comment for everything during a conversation and to not been able to do it, well that was really hard for me. My friends, who I was doing the experiment with, quickly noticed the change in my attitude and in various occasions asked if there was something, sadly they got nothing back as an answer. This however, didn't stop them from having their conversation, at this point it was obvious I was no longer in charge of the conversation; they tried changing topics or asking me questions to see if I would participate, but nothing worked. They eventually gave up and ignored my "attitude." At this point it was them who was in all charge of the conversation and I was just an outsider for them. If this experiment would have been a comparison between two cultures, in my opinion the one with the communication skills would have been the one with the advantage and the winner. In my life I have had similar experiences. An example of this was when I came to the U.S. from El Salvador. In that time I knew very little English, so I was often excluded from conversations because people made little effort into including me or I simply gave up since I didn't understand what they were saying. I feel that many people that come to a country where they don't share the same language as their native country find this disability for not been able to communicate quiet often.
Part II:
The second part for this assignment was just as complicated as the first one. The difference was that, at least in part II, I could do use of my voice but, I was not allow to put any emotion or non-speech techniques. This only made me sound like a robot, emotionless to what I was saying. For this part of the assignment I failed terribly. Not even ten minutes into the activity and I was already altering my voice to make my point clear. The group of people that I did this part with thought at some point that I was mad or irritated at them, and that I wasn't excited about the weekend. What I learned the most from this experienced is that non-speech language techniques are necessary to make a point clear or to demonstrate your actual feelings towards a situation. The variation in the voice, the facial expressions and the body language help the receiver understand what you are trying to say, making it easier for them to understand your feelings, needs and wants. The ability to be able to read body language is so important. Because someone might sound excited about something, but with their body language the receiver can really tell what are the feeling towards such. For example of someone doesn't really feel like going somewhere, but they still agree to go, you can notice their unhappiness in the situation in their facial expression (frown) or their body language (haunched back and shoulders) if you pay close attention you can tell that they are not happy, even if they are agreeing to attend. I feel that maybe one of the only times you can't not rely in the body language is when you are talking through the phone because you can't see them.
When I first read the instructions for this assignment I thought it would be a easy and not troublesome one, but as I proceeded to complete it, I discovered how death wrong I was. When I did the first part which consisted in 15 minutes of not talking, writing or using ASL as a way of communication, I felt like time couldn't go any faster and even frustrated. I had to remember myself really often that I couldn't answer. I'm a really talkative person, so I tent to have an answer or a comment for everything during a conversation and to not been able to do it, well that was really hard for me. My friends, who I was doing the experiment with, quickly noticed the change in my attitude and in various occasions asked if there was something, sadly they got nothing back as an answer. This however, didn't stop them from having their conversation, at this point it was obvious I was no longer in charge of the conversation; they tried changing topics or asking me questions to see if I would participate, but nothing worked. They eventually gave up and ignored my "attitude." At this point it was them who was in all charge of the conversation and I was just an outsider for them. If this experiment would have been a comparison between two cultures, in my opinion the one with the communication skills would have been the one with the advantage and the winner. In my life I have had similar experiences. An example of this was when I came to the U.S. from El Salvador. In that time I knew very little English, so I was often excluded from conversations because people made little effort into including me or I simply gave up since I didn't understand what they were saying. I feel that many people that come to a country where they don't share the same language as their native country find this disability for not been able to communicate quiet often.
Part II:
The second part for this assignment was just as complicated as the first one. The difference was that, at least in part II, I could do use of my voice but, I was not allow to put any emotion or non-speech techniques. This only made me sound like a robot, emotionless to what I was saying. For this part of the assignment I failed terribly. Not even ten minutes into the activity and I was already altering my voice to make my point clear. The group of people that I did this part with thought at some point that I was mad or irritated at them, and that I wasn't excited about the weekend. What I learned the most from this experienced is that non-speech language techniques are necessary to make a point clear or to demonstrate your actual feelings towards a situation. The variation in the voice, the facial expressions and the body language help the receiver understand what you are trying to say, making it easier for them to understand your feelings, needs and wants. The ability to be able to read body language is so important. Because someone might sound excited about something, but with their body language the receiver can really tell what are the feeling towards such. For example of someone doesn't really feel like going somewhere, but they still agree to go, you can notice their unhappiness in the situation in their facial expression (frown) or their body language (haunched back and shoulders) if you pay close attention you can tell that they are not happy, even if they are agreeing to attend. I feel that maybe one of the only times you can't not rely in the body language is when you are talking through the phone because you can't see them.
Good description of Part A and great discussion of the cultural differences point. I appreciate how you brought personal experiences into the discussions. That provided good clarification.
ReplyDeleteGood description of Part B.
You circle around a key point in your discussion of the information you get from body language and the adaptive benefit of reading body language accurately, but you don't quite get there. Yes, non-spoken language contributes meaning and clarification, but it also allows people to verify what you are saying, kind of like a lie-detector. If your body language doesn't match the words you are saying, this tells the person that you aren't telling the truth and perhaps can't be trusted. Why would this be beneficial in an adaptive sense? You approach this point when you talk about a person agreeing to go somewhere even if their body language says they are not happy about it, but think of this in terms of survival. If you ask someone for help and they say "yes" but their body languages says "no", do you trust that person to help you?
Can you think of a group of people who are not able to read body language?
When you use the telephone, you have little body language to read (other than intonation) so it isn't a situation where body language will mislead you... it just isn't there to read. So when might body language give you false information? Do all cultures use the same system of body language?
Hola Gaby, good job on your post, I enjoyed reading it and learning little about you. I am also from El Salvador! :) I really enjoyed reading about your experience in the first part of the assignment and noticed we share a lot of similarities. I to, became very frustrated and wanted to quit. I also completely understand what you said about the cultural differences, it can be very hard to integrate and not knowing the language is definitely a crutch, but I commend you on doing so. I think you also explained your experience in the second part of the experiment very well. Good job on your post, keep up the good work!! Suerte con la clase (Good luck with the class)!!
ReplyDelete