I can't think of a time when I had mistakingly read someone else's nonverbal language, but I can think of a time when someone mistakingly read mine. Most of the time when I am in a bad mood my girlfriend can tell just by my nonverbal ques. Most of the time she is right, but there have been a few when she is not. Sometimes she will ask me what's wrong when there is nothing really wrong besides the fact that I'm tired. Sometimes she thinks I'm angry at her when I am really just tired. There always has to be an emphasis on context like the textbook said.
Considering the context of the situation when reading nonverbal language is very important. nonverbal language is never a given and that has to do with the ambiguity of it. This also reminds me of the last discussion question about judging people and putting them into groups. If you don't know what a person has been through before you make a judgement about their nonverbal language your estimate may be wrong. The best way to increase the accuracy of nonverbal language reading would be to consider all the posibilities of the language being used and try to pick the best explanation.
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I enjoyed reading your post, i agree that you really need to think of the context of the situation before you assume what someone is communicating non-verbally. I have been in the same situation as you and your girlfriend with my boyfriend before.. Many times when he says he is tired from work, I feel that he is maybe just not happy to see me, but in reality he says he just wants to rest. I think that men and women have different non-verbal communication. I think that women want to be assured that you are not upset with them when you are tired, because we might assume by your non-verbal language that you just want to be left alone. While men usually seem to not read into it as much, and they would just assume that you are tired and need a rest..
ReplyDeletejrmCOMM105 and marikamania,
ReplyDeleteYou both have great posts about non-verbal communication. I think this topic relates well with last weeks question about how do men and women use language differently. I think men and women have different types of non-verbal communication. Sometime it is not fair to judge someone on their first appearance based on their non-verbal communication. For example, if you meet someone that is not smiling, you must assume that they are unhappy. This may not be the case at all. Some cultures are taught to show no emotion. On the inside they may be very happy, but they are just not showing it through non-verbal communication. I learned about this last year in my Intercultural Communications class.