Language, Nonverbal, Listening

What do you think the characters’ relationships are based on the ways in which they are communicating?

What are they feeling and expressing based on the nonverbal behavior you are observing?

I decided to watch The Real Housewives of Atlanta.  This show was focused on three women and their names are Kandi, Sheree, and Kim.  I turned the volume off and begin to watch.  The camera went back and forth to each of the three women; it looks like they are arguing about something.  There seem to have been some type of disagreement because they were raising their eyebrow, raising their voice, leaning forward at each other, and used hand gestures like pointing at each other and themselves.  Hands were raised in the air, heads were shaking and one of the women hopped up and sat back down.  They used lots of eye contact and their facial expression showed anger.

Now, watch the show with the sound turned on.

What assumptions did you make about the characters and plot based on the ways in which you interpreted the communication you observed?

Would your assumptions have been more correct if you had been watching a show you know well?

I went back to the show with the volume turned up and I was correct.  My assumptions were all correct; there was certainly an argument-taking place. They were arguing about having gone a trip to South Africa.  Sheree told Kim that Kandi said Kim wouldn’t want to hold a black baby at the Orphanage.  Kandi said she did not say that.  Kandi and Sheree were arguing about whether she said it or not and what she inferred when she said it.  Kim and Kandi were arguing because Kim said that was a racist remark toward her and she would hold a black baby. Kandi said she never meant it in that manner.  Kandi, Kim, and Sheree at one point were all talking at the same time.

This is not a show I watch on television.  However, they did express miscommunication and it caused an argument between the women.  What one person stated caused the argument because of the other person interpretation of what was said was communicated differently.  People perceive information differently.  “Our thoughts and cognitions influence how and what we communicate to others and at the same time influence the way that we interpret the behaviors and messages that others send to us” (O’Hair & Weimann, 2009, p. 38).

Reference

O’Hair, D. & Weimann, M. (2009). Real Communication: An Introduction. New York:

     Bedford/St. Martin’s.