The
first part of the experiment was definitely the easier of the two
phases. While my communication was restrained to simple concepts and
responses, there was little to no loss of communication as my partner
understood my handicap and adjusted their form of communication to aid
me so. My partners communication was wildly opposite from mine, as they
used big hand gestures, and detailed, precise language to demonstrate
what they wanted to communicate. There form of communication became
exaggerated due to my lack of communication abilities. If this
experiment were represented as two different cultures meeting for the
first time and one was able to verbally communicate and the other
wasn't, the culture that was able to verbally communicate would have a
great advantage in communicating complex ideas. The speaking culture
might feel superior to the non verbal culture because of their ability
to express more complex ideas, more concisely. This can be expressed in
our culture by how the deaf and mute communicate. While the deaf and
mute use highly developed sign language that can express abstract and
complex ideas, their communication can only be expressed with the
minority of our society who know sign language. This can lead to those
who don't use sign language and use verbal communication to see the deaf
and mute as inferior or in lacking the proper tools for their form of
communication.
Maintaining a conversation for 15 minutes and the restraints of the second phase of experiment made communication extremely difficult. I personally could not maintain the requirements of the experiment, and often burst into laughter because of the ridiculous nature of this phase. Non verbal communication signifiers and expressions are just as important as the phonetic and grammatical rules that define our language when communicating with one another. Words and phrases can take on entirely different meanings when paired with hand gestures or facial expressions. My partner had great difficulty with maintaining interest and in absorbing any sort of emotional cues from me, and any kind of joke or sarcastic remark was lost in translation. People who suffer from Aspbergers Syndrome and Autism tend to have difficulty in reading body language. This drastically hampers their social interactions because they are unable to pick up on emotionally symbolic cues and can come off as emotionally unresponsive to someone who does possess this ability in recognition.
Good post. Isn't it interesting how partners tend to overcompensate in the first part of the experiment to make up for the lack of verbal communication on your part? You can see that in tourist behavior as well when they travel to a different country that doesn't speak their native language.
ReplyDeleteIt is also interesting how partners "tune out" in the second part of the experiment, as though the conversation without body language is no longer worth their time. Good catch on the issue of Aspergers. Can you think of any evolutionary advantage to not being able to ready body language?
I also could not stop laughing during this entire assignment. It is so funny to watch someone try to explain something and have no hand movements or face gestures, they simply look lost! Not using any body language was the hardest part! People usually do tune out when in a conversation with no body language because the conversation just looses interest and gets boring.
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