March 8-14 (question 1)
1). Because nonverbal messages can be ambiguous, they are open to misinterpretation. Have you ever been wrong about the meaning of someones nonverbal message? Describe what happened. How can people increase the accuracy with which they interpret nonverbal message?
Absolutely! I’ve been wrong with analyzing someone’s nonverbal communication, especially when I first met my girlfriend. It was difficult to analyze whether she liked me at the time because of her nonverbal communication. Since we had class together, I would sometimes sit next to her and try to spark a conversation with her. One day, she walked into class late. There were three seats open and one next to me. She scanned the area and picked a seat that was closest to the entrance door. As she scanned the room for the seat, she also looked confused and squinched both eyes while choosing her seat. By then, I thought to myself that she wasn’t interested in me. A couple of weeks passed by and I run into her outside of class. From then I learned that she wears prescription glasses and asked why I hadn’t sat next to her in class. I learned that I should not assume that every nonverbal communication act is intentional and that I should check for other interpretations to increase accuracy.
Hi wfredo! You mentioned the word 'intentional' in your post. How often, if you had to quantify this, are nonverbal messages intentional? Think about the nonverbal messages you convey on a daily basis. How often and in what situations do you intend to send a nonverbal message? What are some examples?
ReplyDeleteThis is a very good example of how non-verbal communication can be misunderstood because I am also very guilty of doing the same thing. By not completely understanding reasons and the whole situation can lead to assuming actions mean one thing or another.
ReplyDeleteNice post because I can relate 100%!