This week's Blog assignment was so much fun! I have a long list of recorded shows already on my DVR so I chose to watch an episode of Monk. Now this show is very difficult to watch even with the volume turned up however, when you watch it with the volume turned down, the facial expressions and body language tell one story but when I turned the volume up and watched the show again, the verbal communication changed my perception of the story all together.
The episode I watched was showed a party scene where men and women were having a party. A couple seemed to be having a good conversation from the looks of their facial expressions and body language with the volume turned down, however, when I watched the episode again with they were actually arguing and the woman (to my surprise) was threatening to kill the man. In the end, she was found to be guilty of that murder however, she played the part as the grieving wife throughout the episode. Of course Monk solved the case but even he was deceived throughout most of the episode.
I learned through this exercise that nonverbal cues alone, can lead to misinterpretations of the message someone is trying to send. However, nonverbal cues coupled with verbal communication gives a more clear and effective message to the receiver of the message.
I have found that I pay very close attention to not only what a person is saying but also to the nonverbal messages the person sends when talking to me. Sometimes that is the true message and not so much the words that are coming out of the person's mouth. "Women usually pay more attention to both verbal and nonverbal cues when evaluating their partners and deciding how much of themselves they should reveal to those partners, whereas men attend more to the verbal information alone(O'Hair & Wiemann, 2012)."
Being able to read a person's nonverbal cues is a great tool to use when working in the field of early childhood education because many times a child will not open up to you unless you are able to read their nonverbal cues and ask more open-ended questions that will help the child feel more comfortable about sharing.
Communication is very intriguing and it has been a very interesting journey so far learning about the many different ways to do so both verbally and nonverbally.
Hi Berdetta, This was a very interesting assignment. It certainly did give us a good idea of how reading non-verbal can be misleading or in some instances spot on. I feel it depends upon how well you know someone and how observant you are. I enjoyed reading your post. Cindy Ferguson
ReplyDeleteHi Berdetta, I used to love to watch Monk. He is such a character. This assignment has taught me that things are not always what they seem. I love the title of your post because I found out as well that what I thought was said was not the case. Keep up the great posts! Janine
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