Download Nonverbal Communication

Nonverbal Communication: Reread the sections on proximity, eye contact and touch in our textbook.
Visit locations where groups of singles congregate (dances, church, the school cafeteria, etc.) and watch
the non-verbal behaviors of the singles. If married folks are in the room, it might be interesting to
compare their nonverbal behaviors to those of the single people. What types of nonverbal behaviors do
you observe? Are there any differences in the nonverbal behaviors of the males and the females? Are
there singles from different cultures in the room? Do the males and females from those cultures have any
unique nonverbal behaviors? This does not have to be done in one sitting and may involve several
locations.
Observing the nonverbal communication that occurs in the cafeteria was very interesting. In
Bingham’s cafeteria there are several different groups to observe and while there are no married couples,
there are couples all around. In addition to dating couples, there were groups of friends, people sitting
alone, and groups of just boys, just girls, or mixed company. Just as these groups are diverse, the
nonverbal communication and how it was perceived was diverse as well. With so much noise it was hard
to notice the nonverbal communication going on, but once I took a second look it was easy to see that it
was abundant.
The first nonverbal that came to my attention is that used by the people sitting alone. They avoided
eye contact with those passing by and had a hunched over posture as though they were trying to be as
small as possible. They had also claimed the surrounding seats with their possessions and were on their
phones. Overall they gave off the air of “Don’t talk to me”. That was a nonverbal communication that
others seemed to respect.
Another group that I observed was groups of friends. They all sat really close and were louder.
They would laugh and talk yet did not seem to make direct eye contact very often. They were obviously
listen to each other and responding appropriately, yet hardly made eye contact with the speaker. There
was also more than one conversation going on at once, and most of those were nonverbal ones with
other members of the group. These groups also seemed to have their own nonverbal gestures. What I
found interesting was that these things I observed seemed to be the same for most of the groups of
friends I observed as well as my own friend group.
Amongst the groups of a single gender I noticed a lot of differences between male and female
interaction. In the group of females, there was a lot of nonverbal communication that was made just by
the exchanging of looks. While the males had next to none nonverbal communication. As far as I could
tell they had nothing that set them apart in how they communicated nonverbally. If the group was mixed in
gender, there was a lot of nonverbal communication going on. Often there was a girl trying to get a certain
guy’s attention and her friend cheering her on all without any speaking. If she was trying to show him that
she was interested, she would make eye contact while he was speaking more than the other members of
that group. She also was in close proximity to him.
When watching the singles in the room and those people in a relationship, I noticed that it was
easy to tell who was in a relationship and who was not. Those in a relationship had more constant eye
contact while speaking. The couples were also usually touching. Along with the physical contact and the
more constant eye contact, those in relationships had a nonverbal behavior of intimacy to them. They
seemed to be connected at a deeper level. Comparing this to the singles in the room was interesting. The
couples seemed to be there for each other while the single persons were not as committed to who they
were sitting with. Another observation I had was how the single people reacted to those in a relationship.
They seemed either like they felt uncomfortable at the couples’ closeness or in a way jealous of them
having a relationship of that sort. While observing the difference between these groups, I was surprised
at how easy it was to tell who was in a relationship just by their nonverbal behavior.
The amount of nonverbal communication I observed in just a few minutes in the cafeteria proves
to me that we really are constantly communicating with one another whether we intend to or not.
Strong, Bryan, and Theodore F. Cohen. The Marriage and Family Experience. Custom Edition ed.
Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning, 2013. 616. Print.