Saturday, September 15, 2012

Assumptions in Communication



     I watched an s how called Dance Moms. This is what I observed with the sound turned down. The following are my notes. Moms and their daughters are at a dance competition. It’s the last practice before a big dance competition. The relationship is between parents versus children. There was a scene where one of the moms was yelling at another mom, their mouths were moving real fast. The one parent got up and walked out of the room. The same parent can be seen crying, the other parents seemed to be consoling her. The relationship seems good between parents and children, however, there seem to be animosity between one of the parents and the dance instructor.

Some feelings I expressed in the show are: Love, Frustration, anger sarcasm, hugging and smiles, there were  clapping of  hands /moving of  lips.

I then turned the volume up and watched the show again, and the following are my notes of what I heard. I did not make any assumptions about the characters and plot. I was right on point. I used my eyes more so than if I was initially watching it with sound. I had to have patience, because I had to carefully watch their facial expressions and body language. I also tried to read their lips.

It does not matter if I have seen the show before or not, if I am using my nonverbal skills I should be able to tell others about the actors/actresses and the show and be as close as I can on what the plot maybe in the show.

I feel that all my communication skills are important however, there are times I have to depend on my nonverbal skills to understand a child or adult. The difference between the two is having patience .We sometimes are in a hurry and just do not want to take the time to hear what is being said. There are also times when we may have a language barrier and have no choice but to depend on these skills.

6 comments:

  1. Like you, I was able to find out a lot about the show I watched by observing nonverbal communication, though I thought I may have been more accurate had I known who the characters were and their relationships with one another before hand. Peoples different experiences with this project are interesting!

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  2. You can learn a lot through watching the nonverbal communication between people. Sometimes you may catch things you may not have noticed if you were just listening to what was going on. With the show I chose to watch there was a lot of nonverbal communication but without the sound you were unaware of all the humor that was going on in the show also. So you do miss out on some key components when you are unable to communicate verbally.

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  3. I have nerver watched this show before but I have heard so much about it. Observing the nonverbal communication skills between others is important as it gives a more accurate depiction of what they are truly feeling. You picked a show that appeared to show almost every emotion, I know that their nonverbal communication was very apparent.

    Thanks for your post!

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  4. I, too, had never watched this show but have heard about the drama behind it all. Personally speaking, I do not think the type of communication they exhibit should be neither tolerated nor promoted for others to see and use. It is different to see a show while being able to hear it versus just watching without sound. With a show such as this one that is filled with so much emotion, I bet it is quite easy to get a feel of what they are saying without even hearing it. thank you for sharing your experience!

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  5. Edilma,
    Nice post. I've passed that show on T.V. You are absolutely right, they have a lot of yelling on that show. The dance instructor uses her head to do a lot of nonverbal communicating to her parents as well as her mouth. When communicating whether nonverbal or verbal we should be respectful of the listener.

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  6. I am also one who hasnt watched the show either but I have heard of the drama and I am sure it is easy to understand and see all of that even without sound.

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