Nonverbal Communication Games Played as a Kid

While thinking about what I wanted to blog about for the week, I was babysitting. Since it was cold this afternoon, the kids on the street all managed to come over to the house of the child I am babysit for. There were about 6 kids- and one of them, who was about 9 years old, decided to teach all of the younger kids how to play charades. Which made me think, when we are younger, we play a few games that really do rely solely on nonverbal communication in order to be played correctly.

The first game I will talk about is charades. In order to play charades, all of the players write down words, phrases, activities, etc. that they will want their opponents to write down and act out. Then, all of those words, phrases, activities, etc. are all folded up and placed into a bowl for all of the other members to pick out and act out to the group. The one catch to the game is that there is no talking allowed. The guessers must rely on the actor's nonverbal communication skills in order to get their message across using nonverbal cues. The actor may do facial expressions, hand gestures, or even use objects in certain ways to help out the guessers, but no talking is allowed.

A second game that I personally remember playing in elementary school is Follow the Leader. In order to play Follow the Leader, one person is appointed to be the leader. Everyone else must follow that person around and do exactly what the leader does, and go exactly where the leader goes. At any given time, the leader is allowed to non-verbally transfer their powers to another player who had been a follower. The communication of the transferring of powers must be done without uttering a word, meaning that nonverbal communication plays a huge role in this game- from the changing of the leader, to the point of the game to follow whatever nonverbal cues the leader is doing.

These are just two of many games people play at even a young age using just nonverbal communication. When I made the connection, I did find it very interesting to think about how we are using nonverbal communication tactics even in games we play as young children.

Trip to Germany

I went on a quick "last minute" trip to Germany last week to go see a friend who is currently studying abroad in the city of Mannheim. This post may be a bit off topic in regards to showing emotion in nonverbal behavior, but I noticed something during my visit that I found very interesting.

I got to Germany at 6:30am last Wednesday morning. I had to catch a train from Frankfurt to Mannheim. I had some time to kill so I sat down on the left edge of a bench. It was a slow morning at the train station with not many people waiting for the next train and plenty of room to sit on many benches placed around the train station. Two middle aged girls come sit down, not only on my bench, but about a foot away from me. I found this a bit strange because there were so many other places ot sit.

I wasn't there long enough to sleep away any of the day so my buddy and I went straight into town to get breakfast. Mannheim isn't a big city but has a decent size downtown. Most of the transportation there is on foot because everything is so close to each other. As we were walking down the sidewalk I felt someone right behind me. They were so close I could hear them breathing. I once again found this very strange.

My friend has been living there for about three months now and said that the personal distance in the German culture is not as large as ours. That it was also something that he had to get used to.

This oost has to do more with proxemics than sharing emotion through nonverbal behavior but I found this very inetresting. In the States I would find this behavior strange and a bit rude, but over there it's normal.

Has anyone else traveled anywhere and noticed something like this?

How the GOP candidates show their emotions

Usually I can't stand politics, and a political themed article is about the last thing I'd ever be caught posting...but I found this article, and I have to admit it's kind of interesting. The author comes across sounding a little conspiracy theorist-ish, but he makes an interesting point. In this article, he's talking about a republican debate among candidates, and how their expressions tend to say more than they actually say out loud. The author spends a lot of time talking about quick smirks, and how those might be interpreted as contempt towards the opponent. With as bad of a rap as most politicians already have, it certainly is easy (and sort of fun) to buy into this and interpret that as just another sign that all politicians are self centered and think all their opponents are idiots. How reliable do you think these types of non-verbal expressions/communications are in telling the true personality of a politician, or what they are actually thinking?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/clark-freshman/gop-debate-body-language_b_953564.html

How to Portray a Dramatic Character

http://www.ehow.com/how_2066318_portray-dramatic-character.html

I found this website, ehow.com, to be very interesting when it comes how to portray your emotions on your face while acting in a play. They begin the article talking about how if you are by nature, a funny person, then it may seem impossible to all the sudden act as a serious character who does not joke around. I would agree with that- that does seem very hard.

This article gives you a step by step process to portraying the emotions you may want to portray as an actor. A very interesting part the article spoke about was to think about something in your past that may make you upset, if you need to be upset while acting, or to think of something happy if you need to be really happy, but you are not feeling happy at that moment while acting. Another way they claimed you could accomplish this is to talk to people who may have been in the same position as the person you are pretending to be in a play. They could explain to you how to act and what would be the appropriate way to act while portraying this character in front of an audience.

I never thought about how actors have to use their nonverbal expressions to portray emotions that they may not really be feeling at that time, so I found this article to be very informative and interesting.

Old Pictures

The above pictures are of me that I just happened to find while looking through my old facebook pictures. In the top picture, I was tired and sort of frustrated that I could not get the picture to come out quite right. This is shown by the slackness of my shoulder and my half lidded eyes. In the below picture, I was sort of nervous (for what reason, I'll never remember), which is shown by my half smile. Are there any other emotions that can be identified in these pictures?

Portraying Characters

Last night I had a murder mystery dinner party at my apartment, and I realized that it was a perfect example of using non-verbal communication to portray emotion. Everyone was assigned different, and completely ridiculous, characters ranging from Otto Van Schnapps, an eccentric art dealer millionaire, to Marilyn Merlot, a Hollywood starlet. There were ten of us at the party, and looking around the table it was so funny to see the body language that was used to portray the character's personalities. Some characters sat up very straight, with perfect posture, giving off the impression that they were very uptight and formal. Others slouched and kept their eyes lowered, giving the impression that they were sketchy and not to be trusted. I thought it was interesting how there are common behaviors and postures used to portray different personality types. To me, these are especially noticeable in theater or in TV shows, where they are over dramatized to add to the persona of the character. What are some common character body languages you guys have seen?


Just for fun, here's a picture of all our characters from last night!

Drawing Cartoon Facial Expressions

I found the below link to be very interesting:
Drawing Cartoon Facial Expressions : How to Draw Eyes Expressions in Cartooning Part 1 « How to Draw Step by Step Drawing Tutorials

The person who wrote this article really made me think, even cartoon characters must have facial expressions in order to help them communicate a message! The article explained about how the eyes are one of the most expressive parts of a persons face. The website teaches a person how to draw these facial expressions so that if you were to draw your own cartoon, you would be able to nonverbally get your message across since cartoons do not verbally speak. Cartoons rely on facial expressions in order to help portray the mood their character is in since a cartoon in the newspaper cannot speak out loud and only has very few words that can be written before the cartoon would become pointless for the reader to read.
Look at this example of eyes and tell me if you agree that these eyes look scared or not.
http://drawinghowtodraw.com/stepbystepdrawinglessons/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/eyes-scared-expressions.png
I do agree with this writer that the eyes do look scared, and without that emotional expression, the voiceless character can communicate to the reader that they are scared of something that will be happening in the future.

Pouting in the Playoffs

This is a picture of the Green Bay Packers vs. the Chicago Bears game in the winter of 2010. Jay Cutler, the quaterback for the Chicago Bears, earlier in the game was reported "injured" and would not return back into the game. Instead of sitting looking as if he was in pain on the sidelines, Cutler walked around the sidelings looking as if he was moping or pouting. This sparked a huge debate on all the sports radio and TV shows covering the playoffs. Everyone was talking about how Cutler's "body language" looked as if he "didn't care" about the game.

As you can see in this picture, Cutler is walking around with his head down, not cheering on his team in what was their biggest game of the season. This is showing emotion through nonverbal communication at it's finest. We can't hear what Jay Cutler is saying or read what he's thinking but the body language that he is sending out reads nonverbally that he could care less about the game.

Well, the Bears ended up losing that game and the Packer's went on to win the Super Bowl. Let's just say Jay Cutler hasn't been the most loved player in Chicago since that game. Anyone remember this game? Non-verbal communication at it's best!

Bobby Knight & a Chair

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvRO2GE4x4M

This is a famous video of Bobby Knight throwing a chair on to the basketball court after the he believed the referee had made a bad call. This was in 1985 when Bobby Knight still coached basketball at the University of Indiana. Bobby Knight throughout his life has constantly been in the spotlight, mostly for doing yelling or doing crazy things such as throwing this chair on the court. I felt that this video was a good one because you can’t actually hear what Coach Knight is saying to the referees rather you can only see his non-verbal communication at its best.

When the video first begins you see Coach Knight with his hands on his hips, just as any other coach usually is, portraying concentration and a bit of stress. If you had paused this video after those first three seconds you might just think that this is another coach just standing there with no problems, just a bit concerned. A couple seconds later Coach Knight turns around, picks up a chair, and throws it across the court!

Mad? Angry? Frustrated? I would say just about everybody in that gym that night picked up on that non-verbal cue. The part I like is right after he throws the chair he immediately turns around with his back towards the referees as if to say “don’t talk to me.” The referees non-verbal communication was also great to watch. They sprint right over to Coach Knight and give him the “Technical Foul” gesture which is where one makes a T with their hands. Even though you cannot hear what Coach Knight and the referee are saying to each other you can tell by Coach Knight’s hand gestures that he was trying to make a point that did not require feedback. We talked about this in class when we were studying the topic of gestures. Where a palm up in a interpersonal conversation means looking for feedback or a response and palm down means trying to make a point.

Obviously this was an easy video to pick up on what type of emotion Coach Knight was portraying through his non-verbal communication, but being that there was no sound and we could not hear the dialect between Coach and the referees I felt that this was a great example.

Any other non-verbal cues shown here in this video that I may have missed? If not let me know what you think!

"Lie to Me"

One of my favorite shows is "Lie to Me" which, thanks to Netflix, I have watched almost every episode of in the past month. The basis of the show is described in the article below.

I've always thought the idea of reading micro expressions to interpret what someone is really feeling is so interesting. I found this article that talks about how much of what they do in the show is actually possible. It's pretty long but definitely worth reading...

On Fox’s new drama, “Lie to Me,” Tim Roth’s character, Dr. Cal Lightman, is a human lie detector with the ability to recognize a variety of body language cues that indicate deception. The show’s science is based on solid research in emotions and nonverbal communication. But is it really that easy to spot a liar?

Well, yes . . . and no.

Yes, liars can “leak” nonverbal information in telltale “micro expressions” (those genuine emotions that flash across someone’s face in less than one-fifth of a second) and “suppressed expressions,” which slip out before realized and are then replaced with more acceptable reactions.

Yes, there are behaviors that suggest deception. Some examples are:
o Incongruence between what’s being said and the speaker’s body language (like saying “no” while nodding “yes”).
o An increased blink rate or eyelid flutter.
o Gazing downward after asserting innocence.
o Shorter, less descriptive statements.
o Incomplete gestures, like a shrug that uses only one shoulder.
o A decrease in hand gestures, especially those used to illustrate speech – like drawing pictures in the air to help explain what is meant.
o Fidgeting feet that shuffle, wind around each other, stretch and curl or kick out.
o Dilated pupils.
o Face touching – especially around the mouth and nose.
o Discrepancies in timing: When the lie is well rehearsed, deceivers start their answers more quickly than truth-tellers. If taken by surprise, however, the liar takes longer to respond.

It’s also true you are already subconsciously picking up on signals of deception. Your ability to do that is one of your basic survival instincts. In human’s early history, rapidly deciding if someone was dangerous or duplicitous was often a matter of life or death.

But, as innate as this ability may be, and as compelling as the scientific research is, it’s not all that easy to catch a liar. Here’s why . . .

1) There is no fool-proof signal for deception. Most cues, including blink rates, vocal tone, pupil dilation, etc., are signs of heightened anxiety and stress. But there is no way of telling if the observed stress is caused by lying or by something else. Likewise, incongruence, where gestures contradict words, may be a sign of deceit or simply an indication of some inner conflict between what the person is thinking and saying.

2) Although done with ease on television shows, micro expressions are difficult for most of us to spot without video footage to review. (Suppressed expressions are somewhat easier to see because they appear more often and last longer.)

3) Deceit signs may differ from individual to individual. Take eye contact, for example: Some liars shift their gaze and won’t meet your eyes, while others give too much eye contact. One person may raise her vocal pitch when she lies while another speaks in a flat, unemotional tone.

4) Nonverbal cues need to be evaluated in what is called a “gesture cluster” – a group of movements, postures and actions that reinforce a common point. A single gesture can have several meanings or mean nothing at all. So when you are trying to catch a liar, you can never do it from a signal deceit behavior.

5) It’s tough to spot deception unless you know a person’s baseline behavior under relaxed or generally stress-free conditions. The more you understand which gestures or postures are part of someone’s unique repertoire, the more you can spot significant deviation from these patterns.

6) All nonverbal communication is influenced by cultural heritage, and the higher the stress level, the more likely it is that culture-specific gestures will show up. It is extremely difficult to judge nonverbal deception cues in people from another culture.

7) No one, not even with the aid of a fMRI to track brain activity, can identify liars who believe the lies they are telling.

Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D., is a professional speaker, executive coach, and the author of THE NONVERBAL ADVANTAGE – Secrets and Science of Body Language at Work.  For more information, contact Carol by phone: 510-526-1727, email: CGoman@CKG.com, or through her web site: www.NonverbalAdvantage.com.

Wearing Our Emotions on Our Face

I just found this image, which really demonstrates alot of different emotions that one person can have. Each emotion that the man has in these photos nonverbally communicates to the reciever exactly how he feels.

Going from left to right, row by row, I will label each emotion as I see it portrayed.

1. content

2. excited

3. perplexed

4. angry

5. nonchalant

6. angry

7. worried

8. teasing someone

9. sad

I feel that most people in our culture would depict these emotional expressions the same way that I did. It is very interesting to me how, without saying a word, the reciever of another person's nonverbal emotional expression can tell the reciever exactly how the other person feels.

I like to think about how I use these emotions, above, in my own life. My family has always told me that I wear my emotions on my face, and after taking this class, I see how obviously I was communicating to my family exactly how I felt just by my expressions, without saying a word.

What emotions do you all think these expressions portray?

IMAGE FROM:

http://www.nosweatpublicspeaking.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Expressions1.jpg

Using Non Verbal Communication While Listening

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E0hTktMIyE

I ran across this video on youtube and thought it was pretty interesting. It also reminded me a lot of one of our recent assignments where we intentionally held steady eye contact, or maintained no eye contact at all while in a conversation to see how it affected the speaker.

This video talks about how the non verbal behavior of the listener can send cues to the speaker. I've always found this topic kind of interesting. I feel like when I am talking with my friends, or someone I am comfortable with, my non verbal cues happen naturally and I don't even notice them. On the other hand, when I'm talking with someone I'm not as comfortable with, I'm very aware of my non verbal communication and I attempt to manipulate it to say certain things about me.

The best example I can think of is job interviews. Whenever I am interviewing with someone, I find myself extremely aware of the messages I am sending via my face and body language. For instance, I usually make a pretty concentrated effort to sit with perfect posture, and I really over exaggerate positive facial expressions to try and show them how interested I am in the conversation. Several times in the past I have caught myself grinning excessively (and probably causing them to wonder what was wrong with me in the process), making overly intense eye contact, and nodding my head to almost everything they say.

I am sure this behavior didn't come across as I had intended, and instead looked very awkward. That got me thinking...is natural or forced non verbal behavior more effective and reliable when being sent from a listener to a speaker. Natural behavior can obviously be argued to be the one that speaks most honestly. Is it really as effective as we think to used forced non verbal communication to try and get a point across? Does it instead end up looking awkward and missing the mark all together? What do you guys think?

Introduction

Our group is made up of Sarah Wolfe, Evan Wilkinson, Seanne Kay and Kendall Davis. The focus of our blog will be how we use non-verbal communication to express emotion.

We chose this topic because we all share a common interest in the manner in which we express emotions non-verbally, and we hoped to encounter instances of such expressions that would expand our understanding beyond a surface level. Of particular interest to the group are non-verbal communication methods across differing cultures, and the true extent to which a person is able to express emotion without using words.