Language: A human art.
Part 1: talking to someone who is not allowed to use
any version of a symbolic language (no speaking, writing, or ASL).
The experiment proved to be a difficult situation for both parties involved that much was certain. The real problem was that we didn't plan on what to talk about in the beginning of the conversation once we started, but I was able to steer it at the start. My partner for the conversation experiment was able to understand what exactly I wanted to talk about, although the entire process envoled a bunch of trials and errors. To explain, I wanted to begin a conversation exploring a specific component inside his phone, and the process to even get there involved my partner focusing and figuring out what I was getting across based on what I was pointing at and the body gestures I gave. It was mostly my partner figuring what I was communicating by being patient and attempted.
As a result of this, I was in control of the flow of the conversations topics. Although the experiment was only 15min. my partner and I were able to only to change the conversation near the end after I was able to stop my partner on a specific subject as he was explaining something in our previous conversation in order to ask further questions about it. The balance of power in this conversation was ultimately up to my partner who was the source of information/discussion, as all I could do with my limited abilities is try and grab his attention during his time talking using actions/ gestures that we had a mutual understanding in the definition or meaning they held, an example being head gestures signaling yes or no, or hand movements indicating stopping or continuing.
To illustrate the actual power dynamics in play, try imagining both my partner and myself as two different neighboring civilizations. People in my society can communicate but our methods need to be simple and to the point because the more complex actions or gestures rely to much on visually clarity and time to be used for practical purposes thus making the only limiting factors being Individual's physical fitness and eyesight, the closest modern comparison to further illustrate my point would be isolated native tribes in south America, but my neighbor's civilizations is very much like our own, with all of it's conveniences and complex structures of both thoughts and towers that dwarf my own and all I can do is try and grab it's attention utb not knowing where to start or even worth the effort. When my partner discussed his experience, he said it was similar to his experience handling of toddlers or babies, being attentive of what I was doing and figuring it out.
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Part 2: talking to someone who is not allowed to use without any physical embellishments (no hand signals, not vocal intonation, not head, facial, or body movements).
Compared to the previous experiment my partner had an easier time communicating to me for the 15 minute duration of the entire procedure, I however had my own unique set of obstacles to address trying to commit to the process. Limiting my own physical expression and embellishments proved difficult and focus intensive, but this maybe just do to my own personal style of communication. Regardless, my partner did not slow down or alter his speech pattern for me, but did Acknowledge my limited input during our conversation and my still and slower speaking tone.
The result of the experiment was more apparent to myself more so than my partner when it came to the importance of non-speech language techniques. You don't realize how often you nod your head when you speak to signify quickly you're agreement or use your hands to emphasize the significance of certain phrases your saying, until they are stripped. You can gather a lot of context by studying the body and facial gestures, from mood, health status, and even general intentions.
The Benefits of being able to read body language is both social and intimate in nature. Simple put, it's a language that can not normally be silent unless trained to, it's the emotion we Express through our faces and stances. It's this skill that allows us to avoid or be aware of incoming stressful or awkward Individual's ,but it can also act as a conformation tool on another person's mood and feelings i.e. knowing if someone else is intrested in you with example being constant staring, blushing, or fidgeting when near by.
Really shows what you can miss out by not being able to see body language if say you were visually impaired. However as more and more of our conversation and Interaction are done digitally and online, body language is more of a liability as they can be altered or faked to trick others for cash or information. I mean the desire and desperation that some people have for human interaction both online and in real life is the backbone for many industries.
any version of a symbolic language (no speaking, writing, or ASL).
The experiment proved to be a difficult situation for both parties involved that much was certain. The real problem was that we didn't plan on what to talk about in the beginning of the conversation once we started, but I was able to steer it at the start. My partner for the conversation experiment was able to understand what exactly I wanted to talk about, although the entire process envoled a bunch of trials and errors. To explain, I wanted to begin a conversation exploring a specific component inside his phone, and the process to even get there involved my partner focusing and figuring out what I was getting across based on what I was pointing at and the body gestures I gave. It was mostly my partner figuring what I was communicating by being patient and attempted.
As a result of this, I was in control of the flow of the conversations topics. Although the experiment was only 15min. my partner and I were able to only to change the conversation near the end after I was able to stop my partner on a specific subject as he was explaining something in our previous conversation in order to ask further questions about it. The balance of power in this conversation was ultimately up to my partner who was the source of information/discussion, as all I could do with my limited abilities is try and grab his attention during his time talking using actions/ gestures that we had a mutual understanding in the definition or meaning they held, an example being head gestures signaling yes or no, or hand movements indicating stopping or continuing.
To illustrate the actual power dynamics in play, try imagining both my partner and myself as two different neighboring civilizations. People in my society can communicate but our methods need to be simple and to the point because the more complex actions or gestures rely to much on visually clarity and time to be used for practical purposes thus making the only limiting factors being Individual's physical fitness and eyesight, the closest modern comparison to further illustrate my point would be isolated native tribes in south America, but my neighbor's civilizations is very much like our own, with all of it's conveniences and complex structures of both thoughts and towers that dwarf my own and all I can do is try and grab it's attention utb not knowing where to start or even worth the effort. When my partner discussed his experience, he said it was similar to his experience handling of toddlers or babies, being attentive of what I was doing and figuring it out.
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Part 2: talking to someone who is not allowed to use without any physical embellishments (no hand signals, not vocal intonation, not head, facial, or body movements).
Compared to the previous experiment my partner had an easier time communicating to me for the 15 minute duration of the entire procedure, I however had my own unique set of obstacles to address trying to commit to the process. Limiting my own physical expression and embellishments proved difficult and focus intensive, but this maybe just do to my own personal style of communication. Regardless, my partner did not slow down or alter his speech pattern for me, but did Acknowledge my limited input during our conversation and my still and slower speaking tone.
The result of the experiment was more apparent to myself more so than my partner when it came to the importance of non-speech language techniques. You don't realize how often you nod your head when you speak to signify quickly you're agreement or use your hands to emphasize the significance of certain phrases your saying, until they are stripped. You can gather a lot of context by studying the body and facial gestures, from mood, health status, and even general intentions.
The Benefits of being able to read body language is both social and intimate in nature. Simple put, it's a language that can not normally be silent unless trained to, it's the emotion we Express through our faces and stances. It's this skill that allows us to avoid or be aware of incoming stressful or awkward Individual's ,but it can also act as a conformation tool on another person's mood and feelings i.e. knowing if someone else is intrested in you with example being constant staring, blushing, or fidgeting when near by.
Really shows what you can miss out by not being able to see body language if say you were visually impaired. However as more and more of our conversation and Interaction are done digitally and online, body language is more of a liability as they can be altered or faked to trick others for cash or information. I mean the desire and desperation that some people have for human interaction both online and in real life is the backbone for many industries.
Post submitted late. Comments on time for full credit. Keep an eye on those deadlines.
ReplyDelete________________________________________________________________
Part 1: Okay on your description but...
"My partner for the conversation experiment was able to understand what exactly I wanted to talk about, "
Really? :-) You must be good at charades. Just curious about who you conducted this with? I do wonder if, because you were focused on the phone, there was a missed opportunity to have your partner focus on the discussion and not his/her phone?
" I was in control of the flow of the conversations topics"
Yes, this is my concern over how you conducted this experiment. You shouldn't have been left with this impression. You should have found that it was difficult, if not impossible, to change topics and ask questions and discuss anything of depth. Here's how you test this out... 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 partner just give you the control? In which case, was it really yours to begin with?
I appreciate that you recognized the "power" was still with your partner. That will be important for the next section.
Missing the key point in the next section. The first question asks about communicating *complex* ideas, not just communicating in general. Back up and understand what "complex ideas" actually are. Would you be able to explain Darwin's theory of natural selection or Einstein's theory of relativity without symbolic language? I don't think I could. If body language was better at communicating these complex ideas, we wouldn't need spoken symbolic language. Because symbolic language is pervasive in all cultures, that tells us that it is advantageous in communication, particularly with concepts that are just ideas and not things to demonstrate and show.
In your real-life (not modern) example, understand that this has nothing to do with how modern or "civilized" a society is. Anytime you have a person entering a culture not their own, using a language not their own, they will demonstrate the power differential you experienced in the experiment. This would be true if a person from the Amazon rain forest moved to Los Angeles OR if a person from Los Angeles moved into a village in the Amazon rain forest. We see this in the interaction between English speakers and non-English speaking immigrant populations. Think about how non-English speaking immigrants are treated in Southern California? Are they treated as equals?
Google limited the length of my comment, so I will finish it here:
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Part 2: Okay on your description here, but usually the most interesting part of this experiment is the response of the partner. Some have actually gotten angry and stormed out. It would have offered more information for both you and your reader if this had been expanded. I would have also liked to know who you were conducting this with. Results will be different depending upon if the person is your spouse or your child or a friend.
Your next section is a little limited. There is a lot more information you can gain from body language beyond this, which is why I would have liked more detail in your description. Body language provides context and emotion for the spoken words. It provides emphasis and can indicate importance or the lack their of. It can be used to draw people in or push people away, to attract or repulse. And perhaps most importantly, it can provided validity to the spoken word. 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. This is why some partners respond so strongly to this experiment... because they can't tell if the student is lying to them or not. That makes people very uncomfortable. Think about how being able to detect liars might help an individual's ability to survive and reproduce.
Yes, those factors can help with relationships, but can body language go beyond this? Can it communicate urgency when passing on information about a threat of some sort? Can it help communicate leadership when trying to persuade a large group of people? And what about the ability to use body language to detect liars? Wouldn't that be helpful to know when you are trying to decide whether you should cooperate with a person or trust them to follow through on a promise or trade? Body language is nearly as vital to communication as spoken language and, like all traits, some are better at reading body language than others. This impacts a person's survival and reproductive success.
Yes, those who are blind have difficulty reading body language, though they can hear vocal intonation and read some spatial cues. Those in the autism spectrum would be another example.
Is body language really a "liability" in online discussions? Or have we adapted body language for that as well? :-) Emojis have replaced body language in digital communications, not because they are fun, but because they are necessary so that intentions are not misinterpreted. So that a joke is not misread as being serious. So that an honest inquiry is not brushed off as superficial. It's a fascinating example of how adaptive our systems of communication actually are.
I don't see where you address the final point? It asked for an example of when it would be an advantage for you to not read body language of another person. So when might body language of others mislead you and it would be better to ignore it? 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?