First, let me say I had a lot of fun with this. I thought it would be hard to find someone that would be willing to try this experiment out with. It definitely becomes weird. The first 15 minutes of communication, or lack thereof, wasn't too bad. Almost immediately my cousin (who participated in these antics with me) converted to the way I was non-speaking. I had a hard time communicating to him that he was free to speak but I was not. He ended up trapping himself in this game of broken communication. It felt like a very difficult game of Charades.
When thinking about two cultures meeting for the first time it's easy to see that whoever has a more effective way of communicating is dominant. Asking for a glass of water without any language takes an unnecessary amount of time when I can simply vocalize my desire for that glass of water and have it quicker. The attitude toward non-symbolic speakers would be hard to gauge. I try to think of someone who is deaf or mute and have to use ASL to communicate. My attitude toward them isn't different I simply realize I can't communcate with them yet.
So the second 15 minutes were ridiculous. I pretty much sat there staring into space limiting my communication completely. My cousin could only laugh at me then ignore me because communication was completely cut off. There is a lot to be said for body language and very simple gestures we take for granted like pointing at something.
Are there people who have difficulty reading body language? Definitely! And you'll find that these people aren't the most effective communicators because body language accounts for a tremendous part of communication. People who can read body language fluently can see deeper into every social interaction they have. When men and women court each other, there are very clear indications that are not only communicated through tonality and words. There are smiles, fleeting glances, hair fiddles, ancy movements, and other subtleties to account for. We communicate on many levels and that's exciting to learn.
That's very interesting that your cousin adopted the no-speech communication. Out of sympathy? :-) It does become a game of charades between two people. Other students that have tried this with a group find that they just end up getting excluded from the conversation.
ReplyDeleteWhen you discuss the attitude toward individuals who don't use symbolic language, I was speaking more generally than how YOU think of them. Consider how speaking people tend to respond or act when communicating with people who communicate differently, such as people who are deaf or who don't speak the same language. Does there tend to be a positive response, or do we (as humans) tend to react negatively... Think of the "ugly American" concept when considering this. How do American's tend to act when traveling to a different country?
Why did your cousin ignore you in Part B? You were able to use language... so why was communication cut off? I would have liked to have seen some exploration into this apparent paradox.
Can you think of specific groups of people who are unable to read body language? And can you think of any situations where there might be an advantage to NOT reading body language?
Good descriptions.
Hey Chris. I am curious about how your non-symbolic conversation went. Were you ever able to communicate? Or did you spend 15 minutes just doing charades? When trying to communicate with a deaf/mute person you say that you would not treat them differently and you realize that you are not able to communicate with them, does that mean you give up? Or at what point do you turn away from them and seek someone that you can communicate with?
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