Language Blog Post.
Part 1.
This part was pretty easy, I tried to communicate with my mom by trying to show her how to work our new cable box. All I did was point to the power button on the box (trying to get her to turn it on, which she did), and then I handed her the remote and tried to ask her to put on a favorite movie of mine, which was playing on channel 55 on the time. I pointed to the remote, held up all of my ten of my fingers (this confused her a bit, she thought I meant channel ten. I had to hold up each hand individually for her to get that I was asking for channel 55), then pointed once more to the tv and she got it.
My mothers reactions were fairly normal, excluding the part where she got confused as to what channel I was asking her to put it on. She didn't alter much of anything, like I said she was just confused at one point but nothing too out of the ordinary.
I feel that the culture that would have the advantage would be the one who tried to communicate first- just because they were the first to put their culture out to the other person so the other would feel more obliged to try and really understand the other person, at least that's how I feel. The advantage that the speaking culture would have would be the ability to use their vocal ranges and tones more- it's an easy way to stress how happy, sad, angry, or confused someone might be. People are deaf definitely have difficulties using the spoken language, simply because they are unable to hear the other person, so they rely on physical movements to speak and communicate effectively.
Part 2.
This part was definitely way harder for me. I didn't realize how much I move when I talk or how much I shake my head or wave my hands around. I was able to last the full 15 minutes, but it was an agonizing 15 minutes to say the least.
I used my boyfriend for this part of the experiment, but I didn't tell him what it was so when he noticed that I wasn't moving around or using my vocal ranges to explain what I was thinking, he thought something was wrong because I was being so monotone and boring. It's not how I usually talk at all.
For me, it says that psychical communication can sometimes be just as important as spoken communication. Being able to read and see how someone is really feeling without them explaining much is something I've always been good at- it's usually very easy for me to read someone based off just their body language and it's easy for me to tell when something is wrong.
I'm sure there are some people who have difficulty reading body language- maybe the people who don't use much psychical communication in their lives to begin with? I feel like the people (like myself) who are constantly using their bodies to communicate are most in tune with it and have a slight advantage over the others in regards to reading a person's body language. As for environmental conditions where it might be better to not read body language? I can't think of anywhere or any time where that would come in handy.
posted by Unknown @ 12:26 PM
4 Comments
4 Comments:
Hey Savannah! Interesting blog post you wrote here. We had different outcomes with this experiment, which was a little bit of a shock, however I found it interesting how you were able to communicate with your mom about what channel you wanted to watch on TV. I think it depends what you are doing at the time of this experiment that makes it either really easy or hard. I also believe that physical communication is important in conversations, it definitely gives it a lot more meaning!
Hiya Savannah! You brought up an interesting point that I hadn't thought about; you said that a person who speaks would have the advantage with a person who doesn't because they have the added benefit of vocal intonation to show their emotions.
The way I thought about it, I assumed that in two different cultures, the two people would at first be unable to understand one another because their symbols would differ with their backgrounds. But I then thought that the person who used mainly body language would have the advantage because they're more accustomed to using body language, so their ideas would be more easily communicated since both can share through gestures.
However, I hadn't taken into account that they would likely not have the advantage of vocal intonation, like you said. Vocal intonation is a huge tool in getting to know another person; getting to know their likes and dislikes, and how they react to things. And between people of different cultures, beyond learning their spoken language, this would probably be the second most important thing to learn about them to better one's understanding, so that was a really good point!
Hi, I too had a different outcome, which is why I am replying to your blog. I found your post interesting and easy to read and understand. I found it interesting in regards to communicating over the TV. It was a very clever way to run the experiment. I ran the experiment of the first part with a bit of difficulty but still quite interesting to me. I believe that it only depends on how you choose to run the experiment that will determine the difficulty.
Great job though!
Okay on your descriptions of Part A, but I'm willing to challenge you on the claim that your mom's responses were "normal". I guess they were to be expected if she understood the parameters of the experiment, but does she talk like this with you all the time, in yes/no questions? Could you have had a more in depth conversation if you had chosen to? The point was not to see if your partner responded as expected (i.e., "normal") but how they communicated differently than when you use spoken language.
The question about culture asked which culture would have the advantage communicating complex ideas, a culture that used symbolic language or a culture that used only body language. You seem to be assuming both cultures are speaking, which is not the case. Would you be able to explain a complex idea, such as natural selection, without symbolic language?
Can you give more specifics on how your boyfriend responded for Part B? He thought something was wrong, so how did he behave?
There are people who cannot read body language, notably those in the autism spectrum, but those who are blind also have difficulty, though they can hear vocal intonation.
With regard to situation where there is a benefit to NOT reading body language, can you think of a circumstance where body language might give you false information? Do all cultures use the same system of body language?
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