“Nonverbal communication is vital to our communication efforts. Can you imagine any conversation without nonverbal communication? The closest approximation of this would be emailing a stranger on the internet. However, this does not even apply completely as emotions such as ;) and :( are widely used to replace nonverbal communication by those communicating via the internet. Your challenge is to watch and analyze nonverbal communication as a researcher.”
Method:
- Tune in to your favorite television program, but watch it with the sound turned off. You need to view a show you are familiar with because it will allow you to make educated assessments of the communication that is taking place. For example, are people who are usually friendly displacing adversarial behavior?
- Watch the entire program without sound. As you view the program, examine the non verbal communication that you see taking place. Who is sitting close to other people? Who is motioning wildly as he/she speaks? Hate? Do you see anyone breaking a social norm? what about personal appearance?
- Now, that you have all these observations, you are ready to write a paper.
- Collect your observations and carefully read them. Decide what one area would be most important and locate a source using the library or the internet that further examines that area.
- Now, compose a paper in which you discuss what you observed. Include the title, date and characters involved in the television program that you viewed in the introduction. In the body, discuss the behaviors that you observed as they relate to the nonverbal concepts covered in this unit. (Note: Grouping these by category will ease the ease of writing the paper. For example, all the displays of affection can be discussed in one section.)
- Then, write a conclusion where you assess the nonverbal communication and note the effect that it seemed to have on the characters involved. These are suggestions, however, as each person will have different observations.
- The paper must be two double-spaced typed pages.
- Use 12-point Times Roman or Arial font
- Use 1-inch margins on all sides of the paper
- Include a title pageou will need to cite using APA style all the sources used, minimally the television program/movie, the located source.