Cut Off From Symbolic Communication!

PART 1

1. This experiment proved to be very difficult - especially since it was conducted with friends. The first part where I had to refrain from speaking at all was challenging. Being among friends, communication is very important; it is how you maintain your relationship. I found myself struggling not to blurt out my view and join the conversation. However, the second part was much harder. Once you concentrate on doing nothing but speaking, you really become aware of how much more is involved in communicating than just talking. Trying to cut off any other cues such as body language, facial expressions, and even the curbing of tone is very difficult.

2. I didn't tell my friends about the experiment until after I was done. During the first part when I wasn't speaking, they asked me what was wrong and if I was ok. Just shaking my head in assurance that I was fine and smiling in response didn't convince them I was completely fine [especially since I'm normally a talker]. My monotone voice in the second part had a more negative response because this time I had a tone of indifference. Communication with me dwindled a little because I didn't seem to be emotionally involved and gave the impression of being upset.

3. I think the culture who uses symbolic communication has more of an advantage of communicating complex ideas because symbolic language is more complex than using nothing but just a voice. People communicate far more with their tone, expressions, and body language than with just their words. The speaking culture would most likely be wary of the culture who does not use symbolic language because they would not be able to read the non-speaking culture very well. Also, there would probably be a lack of in-depth understanding because like I said, the way we say things and the gestures that go along with them are full of ten times more info than just our words.
People who cannot speak at all have difficulty with spoken language. They have ways of communicating with writing and sign languages but most people who can speak don't fully understand. Different languages use different tones, and when two people who have spoken different languages their whole life meet, there has to be a bit of discrepancy in their communication.




PART 2
1. I caved on each half of the experiment about ten minutes in. It was necessarily because I couldn't do it or that I was afraid I was making my friends mad or worried, it was because not speaking when I wanted to and taking part in the conversations "normally" made me feel like an outsider. Cutting myself off from communicating with my friends in an in-depth manner made me feel cut off.

2. Once I told my friends what the experiment was, they just laughed it off, but they told me how they felt about it. First off, they felt as though something was wrong - because I'm usually always talking - and for some reason I wasn't today [that's something I do when I'm upset or stressed]. Knowing that, they took my silence as a sign of distress from me and despite my smiles and shaking my head in answer that I was ok, they didn't believe me fully. When I was talking, but using a mono-tone voice, they really thought something was wrong. They said I seemed completely indifferent and it was frustrating because even though I said I was fine, my tone and body language said something else. Not using verbal cues and body language really threw them off.

3. The use of "signs" in our language is extremely important. It portrays how we're really feeling and allows people to understand what we mean or feel more in-depth. Tone hints at mood and so does body language. When there is no use of it, we assume anger or indifference. Wires get crossed when we can't figure out what another person is thinking which makes us upset. Also, by listening to a person and watching them, we learn more about them than what they tell us. We learn about how they feel about certain things, what they like, dislike, etc.

4. Yes, some people don't fully understand body language. They don't get the usual cues someone else might take as a signal to leave them alone, or that they don't like something. The adaptive benefit of reading body language is that we can recognize how to make people happy, recognize when people are sad and try and help them, all things that bring people closer. Also, with being able to use symbolic language we can recognize when certain people are threats or lying and to stay away from those people who could cause us damage emotionally or physically. Body language is so useful all over the world, and benefits us in every aspect of our lives, that not reading body language doesn't seem beneficial anywhere. Not reading body language would cut us off from people, which we need for the sake of our emotional well-being.  With that, I don't think there is an environment where not reading body language is a benefit.