Nonverbal Communication Essay

Did you know, “men and women talk differently because they are raised in something like two different cultures: a male culture from which young men learn to speak like men and a female culture in which young women learn to speak like women?”(Cooper and MacDonald 9). Well, not actually from two separate cultures, but the idea of men and women being opposites as pointed out in the opening. Deborah Tannen has made her theory that a male culture and female culture each exist, very popular with the human population and has written an extensive book on her theory.

On September 12, 2008, I observed two people; Person A and Person B. The observation took place at Applebee’s, a local restaurant, beginning at 7:21 p.m. and ending observation at 8:06 p.m. I was serving their table for the evening, enabling myself to observe them closely. The restaurant had died down from the dinner rush, leaving them one of three tables in the smoking section, normally filled with eight. Along with the outside light fading, the lighting indoors was dim, making the dining experience feel more quiet and intimate. The background noise was filled with a light roar of other group’s conversations, and a jazz station played quietly from the speakers overhead.

Stephen Jay Gould, a paleontologist and evolutionary scientist, in his essay “Women’s Brains” (1980), argues that previous claims about the intellectual superiority of men over women are based on misinterpreted experimental results and therefore hold no scientific significance.

The three primary arenas of research to explain biological differences between men and women are is the evolutionary theory, brain research, and endocrinological research. The evolutionary psychology declares an ability to explain psychological differences between women and men through their evolutionary trajectories (Kimmel 24). Therefore, women and man have not change

I decided to go to Panda Express at 5:30 pm for my observations, while there I was able to observe just how much people rely on nonverbal communications to get their point across. Although I witnessed several encounters of unique body language, there were also a few actions that reoccurred several times in several different people. For example, when a customer would approach the counter where employee served the food, the employee would raise her eyebrows and smile at the customer. The employee’s smile, however, did not reach her eyes suggesting that while it is her job to smile and be welcoming to the customer, she most likely did not want to be at work. Additionally, I noticed that when customers approached the counter about 90 percent of them had their arms crossed. The act of crossing ones arms usually means that a person is trying to put a barrier between them and a situation that they either don’t like, or are uncomfortable with. This may mean that the customers were displeased with having to wait in line to get their food, on the other hand it may be that they were simply comfortable folding their arms. Once they reached the front of the line, every customer pointed to the food they wanted along with verbally telling the employee. This made their communication more effective as it helped to overcome the barrier of sound because the restaurant was noisy.

Around the mid-nineteenth century until today’s times, three beliefs about women and men has become a major aspect for part of biology

Furthermore how would we be able to transfer all of our knowledge to the next person, better yet, how would we improve our capacity of knowledge as a whole. We

Any communication interaction involves two major components in terms of how people are perceived: verbal, or what words are spoken and nonverbal, the cues such as facial expressions, posture, verbal intonations, and other body gestures. Many people believe it is their words that convey the primary messages but it is really their nonverbal cues. The hypothesis for this research paper was: facial expressions directly impact how a person is perceived. A brief literature search confirmed this hypothesis.

Over this summer course I have learned a lot about communication. I learned how significant nonverbal and verbal communication is, along with listening. I never fully understood how big communication is in our daily lives. I now realize that it is a huge aspect of how we continue in our lives. This course has showed me different levels of communication.

In a romantic relationship, it is easy to have miscommunication between a man and a woman. “Most researchers agree that 70% or more of the meaning of any message is communicated through nonverbal channels like eye contact, facial expressions, posture, hand gestures, etc.” (Stinnett, 2015). Verbal and nonverbal messages are like a relationship, they work well together that way the message is sent and delivered appropriately and that there is no miscommunication. Women have their way of expressing themselves to their boyfriend, fiancé, and or husband and vice versa for men. This paper will focus on the varying behavior of gender in expressing the different type of emotions using nonverbal communication in a romantic relationship. Following

Psychologist, and researcher from the Kinsey Institute, June M. Reinisch believes that biology and culture shape gender differences. She believes that men and women aren't the same. Simply that "equality does not mean being the same, it means having equal opportunities" (Men, Women).

In her paper on the biological differences in cognition between men and women, Doreen Kimura suggests that the social differences between genders arose out of biological necessity (Kimura 46). Even so, it is difficult to argue that social factors do play a large part in gender in society today. A closer look at both biological and social perspectives will reveal more about the processes that determine gender roles.

Studies have also been carried out into whether or not there are differences between male and female brain size and whether this affects how we relate to each other in terms of gender. Simon Baron-Cohen believes that male brains are wired towards systematic understanding and females are wired towards empathy. In addition he says that this is not necessarily always the case but the majority are wired in this way: “Both sexes have their strengths and weaknesses. Neither sex is superior overall.” (Baron-Cohen, S. 2003).

One thing we all have in common is that we must all communicate in one form or another. Everyone communicates even if they know it or not. Both verbal and nonverbal communication is used during conversations. Using both forms helps convey and support the message you are trying to send.

“Systematic research on the role of nonverbal behavior in social interaction has been common only in the past 20 to 25 years.”(Edinger and Patterson, 1983, p. 30).because that statement was published in 1983, it is apparent that the study of nonverbal behavior has been around for roughly 50 to 55 years. However, that is still a relatively recent amount of time compared to research in other science fields such as chemistry or biology. Despite the fact that this field is relatively recent there are many theories about our interaction with others. This paper will discuss the nonverbal expectancy theory along with two other theories, and describe how these theories can work together.