Communication Skills and Styles

I decided to watch “Life in Pieces”, which is a show I have never seen before. In the beginning of the episode with the sound off, I believe the relationships between the initial characters were a husband and wife who were having a conversation with a babysitter. In addition to this, I thought the wife was interacting with her son, which turned out to be her nephew. Based on the nonverbal behaviors that I observed throughout the episode, I thought the characters were arguing with each other based on the different facial expressions they were making and the hand gestures that matched those expressions.

            After watching the episode with the sound on, I realized that I did have the relationship of husband, wife and babysitter correct, however, I thought these three individuals were arguing when it turns out the married couple was trying to give the babysitter advice about breaking up with her boyfriend and their band. The babysitter talked the women into going to explain to the nephew that his girlfriend no longer wanted to be a part of the band. When she did that, the nephew talked her into staying to sing with the band, only later to fire her. When the nephew fired his aunt, she appeared to be very angry and was yelling at her nephew, pointing and making facial expressions to show anger. I was able to determine there was a fight even without the sound on. The most challenging part of watching the show without the sound was determining the initial relationship between the characters and determining what the hand gestures were referencing. My assumptions would have been more correct if I had the sound on because pairing language with gestures provides more detail and a deeper representation of what is happening.

            I learned that in order to fully understand what a person is saying you must consider all aspects including what they are saying verbally while also watching their nonverbal cues. I realized that when you are unable to hear what an individual is saying you can make incorrect assumptions which could create conflict. I found that this could happen often within the education setting if colleagues make assumptions about a person strictly based on the nonverbal cues they gathered from across the room. I learned that nonverbal cues can be interpreted in many ways therefore, one cannot go strictly off of the nonverbal cues to understand a person, relationship, or scenario.