Observation Of Communication- Essay, Research Paper
Observation of Communication-
Women are more noticeably shy then men. Non-verbally, their
“body language” seems to communicate feelings of great uncertainty and
self-consciousness. For example, I observed a woman in a bus en route
to the Cherry Hill Mall. Her and a young man sitting directly across
from her were engaged in what was apparently a mutual flirt. But the
man seemed much more confident and cocky than did the female. For one
thing, he was calm and relaxed. The woman, however, kept her arms
folded over a purse that she clung to rather tightly. Moreover, the
female had a strong tendency to look down more often than the
male and although her admiration for him was obvious,– she seemed to
be trying especially hard to conceal it.
Further evidence of greater communicative differences exist
between males and females in various other social settings as well.
Consider, for example, those individual employed in customer
service-related capacities. While in Shoprite, I noticed that female
customer service representatives were more apt to offer immediately
friendly assistance than were the male attendants whom I observed on
another occasion. Males are not as cocky nor as confident in this sort
of situation; their eyes tend to dart around the area while the eyes
of a woman remain focused upon the eyes of the customer. The man seems
to communicate with fewer smiles–apparently they have to get past a
certain “ice-breaking” point before they will feel comfortable with a
genuine look of happiness.
Verbally, the actual process of speech is also quite different
between males and females. The former usually tends to have a more
base-orientated voice and a faster rate of speech while the latter is
more calm and soft-spoken. Men seem to speak more nasally and women
seem to have a better control over the English language. Over the
course of a few days, I noticed hearing significantly fewer “ums” and
“errs” from women than I did from men. This did not necessarily
indicate that they presented themselves more confidently, just with
greater fluency. Men have a tendency to use their hands more often
while speaking than do their female counterparts. In one observed
instance, several men and women had gathered in a local pizzeria and
the amount of hand motions and gesture that the guys were using seemed
to be infinite. One guy practically drew out an entire picture of his
car in the air while describing it to the group of friends. Meanwhile,
the girls’ hands remained on their food or their drink or on the
table. Girls nodded much more than boys– but made no other gesture
with as much frequency.
Finally, it can be inferred from my observations that certain
cultural models causes the witnessed patterns of speaking and
communication. Girls are “taught” to be shy an inferior– and this is
evidenced in their non-verbal coyness while speaking in a one-to-one
situations with males. But men are taught that over-happiness is
“queer” and so smiles are not nearly as common on the male’s face as
they are on the female’s face. Both sexes certainly seem to enjoy
talking– but each is more comfortable in their own different
scenario.