Language Assignment Experiment

Justin Shepherd

3-24-15P

• • 
      Did you find this experiment difficult or easy? Explain. (5 pts)
    1. I found this experiment to be a tad difficult but after coming up with an activity I could apply this to it made it a tad bit easier. What I decided to do is show my friend ( without words) how to do a transmission flush on a car. I did this with out words by pointing to everything needing to be removed, where the tools were, how much fluid etc etc. I found it to be a lot easier doing this than just sitting down and having a face to face conversation.
    
  •   What were the impressions of partners in the conversation? Did they alter their way of
    communicating with you because of your absence of symbolic communication? Describe. (5 pts)
    2. The impressions of my partner during this experiment was somewhat normal. Outside of the Experiment we are pretty good at communicating with-out words so he did not have to alter much of his communication. Most questions were able to be answered by a head nod or shake, other answers could be pointed to or physically shown.
    
  •   Imagine that you and your partners in the conversation represent two different cultures meeting
    for the first time. Which culture has the advantage in communicating complex ideas? What attitudes might the speaking culture have toward the culture that does not use symbolic language? Identify individuals in our culture that have difficulty communicating with spoken language and explore how that affects how those who do speak interact with those individuals. (10 pts) 
    3.  The culture that has the advantage is the one that is able to listen to words being spoken. Language is a very important part of communication so to understand it is a huge advantage. The attitude of the speaking culture could be different, if there is an understanding about something and there is patience than attitudes can be positive. On the other hand it could be very frustrating.
    
       
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  PART 2
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  •   Were you able to last for the full 15 minutes of using only speech for communicating? What made this experiment difficult for you? (5 pts)
    While it was a bit awkward at times I was able to last the entire 15 minutes using only speech. What made this difficult was trying to adjust to not moving and making 15 mins of eye contact. Normally there is a lot of body movement and hand signals involved in a conversation so it was a tad different not being able to do those things. 
    
  •   How were your partners in this part of the experiment affected by your communication limitations? Explain. (5 pts)
    My partner reacted normally for the most part, being there was a lot of questions involved it made it easier. 
    
  •   What does this experiment say about our use of “signs” in our language, i.e., how important is non-speech language techniques in our ability to communicate effectively? (5 pts)
    This experiment shows that hand signals and body language is a huge part of conversation, most of the time people don't even notice their body language but when one tries to not use any, it becomes apparent how important it is and how hard it can be to not use. 
    
  •   Are there people who have difficulty reading body language? Describe the adaptive benefit to possessing the ability to read body language. Can you describe environmental conditions where there might be a benefit to not reading body language? (5 pts)
    
    Yes, there are indeed people who have difficulties reading body language. Being able to read body language can go a long ways if you don't understand the verbal language being spoken. If you are not quite sure about something i wouldn't rely solely on body language to come to an understanding. One might not understand the body signals and get the wrong impression.