Verbal and nonverbal communication is everywhere. Wilmot (DeVito, 2003) defines nonverbal communication as, “communication without words” (p.126). Nonverbal communication may, or may not be easy to pickup on, depending on who your are communicating with. For this paper, I decided to go out to the mall, and observe the people there.
I would go in stores I like, look around, and closely observe people and their actions. The first situation I observed, was a mother and daughter shopping in a department store. The daughter wanted as expensive pair of shoes, but he mother told he they could not afford them. The daughter then began to argue with her mother, accenting her verbal messages by crossing he arms angrily, rolling her eyes, while stopping off. Their action showed me, they would be considered a consensual type of family, because they were very open to communication. The daughter used a combination of verbal and nonverbal messages.
She was verbal and let her mother know that she wanted those shoes, and she made sure to express her opinion through her dramatic body language as well. There were a lot of teenagers out at the mall, and it is very interesting to see how they interact with each other. There were a group of boys, group of girls, the couples, and the group of couples. I observed the single boys checking out the single girls, and vise versa. I use the term “check out” to describe how people access other peoples appearance, in order determine if they find them sexually attractive. If the boys thought any of the girls were attractive, they would turn and look at them after the girls would pass.
The girls always caught them looking, when they did, the girls would smile and giggle. The boys would them give them the two . .er the chance to speak. The cashier changed the price to what she said it was, he finished ringing her up, and she left the store. This exercise was actually pretty interesting.
I was able to visually see the things people were trying to say without them using their words. I also had the unpleasant privilege of learning how some people are able to use their words in an aggressive manner, while adding superfluous nonverbal messages. Most importantly this exercise made me question the way I use verbal and nonverbal messages in my everyday life. I found myself asking “do I sometimes act like the elderly woman in the store”? I also noticed that I share some similarities with teenage girls, when it comes to other girls looking at my boyfriend. Communication plays a major role in my everyday life, by realizing this, I choose to learn how to communicate more effectively.
