Interpreting Nonverbal Communication

I found this week’s blog assignment fun and interesting. My husband often comments that I am a people watcher. When I have commented that a person’s actions do not match what they are saying he has asked “How would you know that?” In the past I have replied “I don’t know, I just do.” This week I quoted the text on page 123, where it stated that “women exhibit greater sensitivity to nonverbal messages” and “they also decode others’ nonverbal behavior more accurately, particularly those involving the face” (O’Hair & Wiemann, 2009). He found it amusing!

For this week’s assignment I chose to watch a new sitcom on ABC called Bunheads by executive producer Amy Sherman-Palladino. I watched the pilot episode using the onDemand feature of my cable network, the first time with the sound off and the second with the sound on.

The show began focusing on two chorus girls on a Vegas stage. They are talking during the performance, so my interpretation was that they are friends. It moves to a scene back stage where a man arrives and the lead female character is obviously uncomfortable, she does not seem to know him well. He arrived bearing gifts and does not seem persuaded by her lack of interest.

They later appear dining together, she is drinking heavily and he seems to be trying to persuade her about something. Then they are in a car with what appeared to be an engagement ring on her finger.

There is an additional storyline in the show. I next saw an older woman teaching ballet class. There is a definite focus on four of the teenage girls in the class. The eye-rolling and dismissive looks by one character lead me to believe there is a pecking order in this group of friends. Another girls constant self-grooming leads me to believe she is self-conscious and probably the one at the bottom of the order.

These storylines intersect when the original couple arrive at their destination and meet the older woman. There is a lot of hand gesturing and what appears to be yelling. Through eye contact I interpret it is the man that knows the older woman and she is not happy about something that has taken place.

When I watched again with the sound on I found that my assumptions were pretty accurate.

The dancer, Michelle, is being pursued by a man named Hubbell who is not from Vegas but loves her from afar. On their dinner date, as she talks about how she is unhappy with her life right now, he convinces her to get married. I thought they were only engaged. The older woman is Hubbell’s mother who is not at all happy that her son got married to someone she did not know. I was also accurate in my observation of the dance students, but verbal communication between various characters reveals that the girl at the top of the pecking order has many insecurities of her own.

My assumptions would have been more accurate if I was watching a show I know well because I would have had more background information on the characters and their relationships to each other. I would have had more experience interpreting how the characters communicate through verbal and nonverbal means.

Reference

 O’Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2009). Real communication: An introduction. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s.