1. Demonstrate for yourself that it is impossible to avoid communicating nonverbally by trying not to communicate with a friend or family member. (You
be the judge of whether to tell the other person about this experiment beforehand.) See how long it takes for your partner to inquire about what is going on and to report on what he or she thinks you might be thinking and feeling.
2. Interview someone from a culture different from your own, and learn at least three ways in which nonverbal codes differ from the environment where you were raised. Together, develop a list of ways you could violate unstated but important rules about nonverbal behavior in your partner’s culture in three of the following areas:
Eye contact Voice
Posture Touch
Gesture Time
Facial expression Clothing
Distance Environmental design
Territory Ter ritory
Describe how failure to recognize different cultural codes could lead tomisunderstandings, frustrations, and dissatisfaction. Discuss how awareness of cultural rules can be developed in an increasingly multicultural world.
3. Watch a television program or film, and identify examples of the following nonverbal functions Creating and maintaining relationships Regulating interaction
Influencing others or self Concealing or deceiving Managing impressions If time allows, show these examples to your classmates.
4. Learn more about the nonverbal messages yousend by interviewing someone who knows you well: a friend, family member, or coworker. Ask your interview participant to describe how he or she knows when you are feeling each of the following emotions, even though you may not announce your feelings verbally Anger or irritation Boredom or indifference
Happiness
Sadness
Worry or anxiety Which of these nonverbal behaviors do you
display intentionally, and which are not conscious?
Which functions do your nonverbal behaviors perform in the situations your partner described: creating/maintaining relationships, regulating in–
teraction, influencing others, concealing/deceiving, and/or managing impressions?
5. Explore your territoriality by listing the spaces you feel you “own,” such as your parking space, parts of the place you live, and seats in a particular classroom.
Describe how you feel when your territory is invaded, and identify things you do to “mark” it. Share your findings with a group of classmates and see if they have similar or different territoriality habits.
6. This activity requires you to observe how people use space in a particular setting and to note reactions to violations of spatial expectations. Select a supermarket, department store, college bookstore, or some other common setting in which people
shop for things and then pay for them on a checkout line. Observe the interaction distances that seem usual between salesclerks and customers, between customers as they shop, and between customers in the checkout line.
a. What are the average distances between the
people you observed?
b. How do people respond when one person comes
too close to another or when one person touches
another? How do people react to these violations of their space? How could they avoid violating each other’s personal space?
c. Try to observe people from a culture other than your own in this store. Describe their use of spatial distance. If this is not possible in the store, think back to a foreign film or a film that contains interaction between North Americans and people of another culture, as well as people from that same culture.
