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.