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Strength and weakness of cultural influence on behaviour
Strength and weakness of cultural influence on behaviour
The role of body language in communication
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Journal 1 COM 125
An Instance of Unintended Communication
Nathan Lile
1.
Consider a time when you unintentionally communicated a message to someone through your behavior. How did this person interpret your behavior? What were the consequences? What steps did you take to correct the misinterpretation? Be sure to explain what the behavior was, how you knew it was misinterpreted, and why the misinterpretation occurred. What would you do differently in the future? My most striking instance of dramatic, unintentional communication occurred during my Sophomore year of Highschool. I was attending a New Year’s eve party hosted by a close friend while her parents were out of town. In addition to many good friends a young woman
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For me, this physical interaction was culturally a very important aspect of communication from my Italian background. This was particularly true when I was the receiver in the conversation. I was culturally conditioned to contribute by receiving conversation not only giving verbal cues of agreement or disagreement, but highly tactile ones as well. As the evening progressed, the young woman began providing tactile Feedback with increasing frequency. She touched my shoulder when she had a fresh insight into something we were discussing, put her hand on my side when she agreed with me, or playfully pushed me when I said something disagreeable. Having never been involved romantically unfortunately, and having a very Field of experience with women, I was clueless that she was flirting heavily with me. Sadly, I was not romantically interested with her in the slightest, so when half way through the evening, she leaned in and suggested that we “go upstairs” I was caught completely off guard. My look of total and utter shock must have been obvious, because she immediately asked me if I was ok. I managed to recover somewhat and, ham-handedly
Throughout the semester, we have been introduced to many topics related to interpersonal communication. I have come to believe that these concepts have allowed me to better understand interactions that occur in our daily lives. My knowledge of these concepts was challenged when asked to relate these notions to a movie. During the time that I was watching the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, I realized myself grasping onto what was going on and being able to relate certain scenes and situations to topics I had previously learned about. Interactions in My Big Fat Greek Wedding display concepts of conflict and politeness theory, which can be pointed out in a few specific scenes.
Steven Pinker distinguishes the difference between talking to man and women. Pinker showed a lady that was comfortable talking to another lady and the lady became angry when her talking to a man, not women (Pinker 2007 .p112, 113). People used intricacies method to achieve their needs and emotion instead of saying what they need to say directly. (Pinker 2007 .p113) Furthermore, even in a sexual situation, people twist and turn around and turn around their words. For example, “would you like to come up and see my etching?” (Pinker 2007.p113) Moreover, people use a kind word to order something from someone else without making a demand to the receiver or using indirect speeches to avoid a problem that may happen by mistake. (Pinker, 2007
This study is going to investigate touching behaviour of male and female pair interactions in social settings This is a naturalistic observational study based within a public premises, with opportunity data sampling and independent measures, that will include anonymously observing pairs without their concern, within two hours time-frame between 20 of December 2014 and 2 of January 2015, using independent subjects design and data analysis using nominal data charts, considering non-offensive and non-aggressive any kind of touch of any par...
It’s important to study and understand a culture and its norms before assimilating yourself into it so that you do not break a serious social norm, whether it be verbal or nonverbal. According to our book, “Nonverbal communication is an ever-present form of human expression,” and you are always communicating messages even if they are not stated explicitly. Nonverbal cues are there for a reason and they help us to form relationships when we learn how to pick up on those cues commonly used by certain people in our interpersonal relationships. Nonverbal norms help to shape our society in deciding what’s acceptable, help us to establish interpersonal relationships, and help us form a part of our
The one instance that really sticks out to me was a few years ago. It was an early winter day, and I was up early for some odd reason. It was just like any other day, I was eating a granola bar and watching the morning news. I was just sitting there on the couch, and then my mom walked in. I noticed that she was not quite herself as soon as she walked into the room. She was walking kind of funny and slurring her speech. I asked her if she was okay, and of course she said “yes, I am fine.” I continued to eat my granola bar and ponder the situation. She was still in the kitchen searching for something to eat, but she left with nothing. She returned back to her bed. I knew something was obviously wrong, but I didn’t know what to do. My mom hated when I asked her about her blood sugar, but I decided to ask anyway. I walked into
My observation of the two girls at Starbucks allowed me to take ten minutes of my twelve hour day to stop and just observe and interpret these vague cues. My initial assessment of the two girl across from me was that they were friends catching up after a long day from work, as the clock ticked and they became more comfortable, their nonverbal cues showed me that they were more than friends, they are lovers. Taking the time to observe other people has shown me that verbal communication isn’t the only thing that I should be taking into consideration when getting to know an individual. A person usually reacts by instinct, the cognitive mind isn’t the one to cue the sincere smile or dishonest look in an individual’s face. Learning to pay attention to others affects displays, like facial expression and body movement could potentially get you out of a tough situations. After all, actions speak louder than
The first point I would like to illustrate is the way body language can have different effects on people. For example, in England the use of hands when you are speaking is quite rare, the odd movement of the hand may be seen but the most common use of hand signals or motions is when someone is making an insult. I will use the Italians as an example of at times exaggerated and frequent use of hands. The Italians often use their hands as a way of secondary communication. As they speak they dramatise their conversations which can be mistakenly perceived by some people as confrontation when in fact they are having a simple conversation. This is where the lack of knowledge of a culture can cause a misunderstanding. Another example of communication which can cause raised eyebrows is the way the French acknowledge one another is doing something called the “bises.” This is where they give a kiss on each cheek. (Depending on the region this could be two, three even four kisses.) It is considered rude to just verbally greet someone so the “bises” is the norm for them. However when they are out of their country they could receive strange looks because people don’t understand their reasons and therefore could be perceived that French m...
Several weeks ago I observed a woman at the Mall. She and a young man sitting directly across from each other were engaged in what was apparently a mutual flirting. But the younger man seemed much more confident and cocky than did the woman. For one thing, he was more relaxed and calm. The woman, however, kept her arms folded over a bag that she was holding on to very tightly. The woman also had a strong tendency to look down more often than the man. Although her admiration for him was obvious, she seemed to be trying hard to conceal it. Often women seem to be more noticeably shy than men. Non-verbally, their “body language'; seems to communicate their feelings of great uncertainty and self-consciousness.
Henningsen, D. (2004). Flirting With Meaning: An Examination of Miscommunication in Flirting Interactions. Sex Roles, 50(7/8), 481-489.
One also has to be mindful of unspoken language. Unspoken language includes implied hands gestures, facial expressions, physical greetings, eye contact, and the manipulation of personal space (Moreno, 2006). One great example illustrating the body language barrier between different cultures can be taken from a simple thumbs up. In the US, it is perceived as "all right" or "ok", but in Italy this gesture is professed as being vulgar! Languages are only the beginning when coming to conclusions about cultural differences, religion also plays a huge role.
As men and women are socialized differently, females tend to express politeness more than men. One common facilitative device is ...
An example of this might be going to dinner or the movies with a prospective mate, rather than the casual encounters that someone might have with them in everyday interactions. Intimacy does not only pertain to specific acts, but also to verbal and non-verbal expressions of love. Although verbal expressions of intimate feelings through self-disclosure are important to relationship quality, the nonverbal expression appears to be more important. In general, people rely more on nonverbal than verbal cues to interpret messages. Some examples of these nonverbal cues include touch, gaze, gestures, and time spent together.
I received the same response from my male friend, however instead of taking a step back he commented about it when I got a bit too close for his liking. The same experiment with my family produced different results. Whenever I got closer to my family, especially with my face the only response I got was a kiss to the cheek and no nervous response at all. When I explained to them what I was doing, they all laughed saying they thought I just wanted a kiss from them. I tested the response from 2 acquaintances last. The result was a bit more drastic of a response from the female, she visibly got a bit nervous and told me to back off, before I could explain what I was doing. She visibly relaxed when I explained and walked off. In the male case, however, he started fidgeting nervously and I backed off and explained what I was
Problems in every society usually derive from one specific thing. Miscommunication. How many times have you gotten in an argument or a disagreement with someone over what someone said, and then you later found out that that person meant something completely different from what was running through your head? How many times have you gotten off the phone with someone—someone important, --and wondered, what in the world were he or she talking about? I often get this feeling after class.
This sort of communication takes a large role in how we interact with those around us. Nonverbal communication reflects our cultural background. We should always be aware of whom we speak to and show we do it, this also applies to our actions. For example in Europe it is frowned on and offensive when you extend your right hand to shake another. This is because most cultures in the past used their right hand to clean themselves after using the restroom.