I performed this experiment with my
older brother and it was quite an interesting experience. The assignment was
difficult because I had to do something that was quite out of the ordinary and
something I was not used to. My brother had to alter his way of talking by
making sure he would ask mostly yes or no questions because answering yes or no
with a simple head movement is the easiest way to communicate. The most
difficult part of this assignment was that my brother could not ask very descriptive
or detailed questions because it was very hard for me to give him an easy to understand
answer.
My
brother was in control of most of the conversations because he had to start all
of the topics. It was mostly him asking questions and me acknowledging him
through yes or no answers. As for a balance of power, my brother had most of
the power because he was able to speak and I could not. It was hard for me
start anything in the conversation because I usually rely on words to say what I
am thinking and I did not know how to communicate without words.
If
there were two cultures, one who could communicate through language and one
that could not, the ones who could speak would have the advantage. This is
because in this instance, both groups of people can hear things but one is at a
disadvantage because they cannot speak. If the non-speaking group does not
understand something from the other group, it harder for them to explains their
thoughts while the speaking group could explain in different words what they
are trying to say. The speaking culture might even display attitudes of
frustration towards the other group because they simply cannot understand
everything they are trying to communicate. One situation where this occurs is
when communicating with an infant. They do not have the ability to speak but
they can express their feelings through crying or pointing at something.
I used
my big brother again to communicate without any body movements. The experience
was much easier then not speaking because I was able to relay my thoughts.
Although it was not as easy without the use of my hands, I simply used more words
or used a certain tone to help him understand what I was trying to say. My
brother did not believe it was too hard to understand me without body language
because I was being very descriptive. One may believe that we use our body as a
way of conveying emotions or out current moods, but I believe the tone of one’s
voice can help relay what their current mood was.
I do
not think signs in our language are that important because we can still
understand each other well enough without it. Through hand gestures and such,
one could more easily tell one’s or maybe be able to point someone in the right
direction when they are looking for something, but I do not think it is that
important.
A
benefit to being able to read someone’s body language is that they can tell
what one may be thinking without even talking to them. This can apply to maybe
meeting a stranger for the first time or trying to talk to someone that does
not want to talk to you. We experience both of these situations more often then
we think.
Children
can have difficulty reading body language such as when their parents are highly
stressed and they constantly ask for something. A situation where reading
someone’s body language is not that beneficial is possibly when one has an
encounter with a criminal. The criminal may seem to be nice at first but inside
their minds they could want to bring you harm instead.
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