Forms of Body Language Used - Essay Example

Lecturer: Forms of Body Language Used Participants in this televised discussion, Jack and David used a wide range of body language in their conversation which included facial appearance, gestures, personal space use, eye contact and touching among others. Jack used facial expression quite often, which demonstrated his feelings regarding the comments of David. He frowned many times in the course of discussion while sometimes his face expressed doubt concerning a point raised by David here and there. On the other hand, David maintained an uninterrupted gaze as Jack talked and sometimes he could raise his arm while bending his face a little and at this point Jack would stop talking and pass his palm over his hair as if in confusion state. This was an indication of interruption of person Jack’s speaking. David would then take over speaking while counting the fingers on one hand from one to five, which is a gesture that can be attributed to the intensity of the issue at hand. At some point Jack’s face looked depressed and his eyes looked wet with tears. However, this facial expression changed when David began to smile as he talked and it seemed he was raising a point of encouragement since his smile was accompanied by a pat on the back of Jack. Apart from when David pated Jack on the back, touching as a form of body language was also evident in the manner that the two people greeted each other when they met. They shook hands firmly and moved their bodies close together and patted each other’s back smiling. This demonstrated the closeness between them and also the happiness of meeting. David welcomed Jack to sit by a show of hand towards a seat as he sat on an adjacent seat. David applied proxemics by moving his seat now and then closer and further from Jack and at times he could use his walking stick to draw figures on the ground as if he was demarcating boundaries. These movements varied between one to three feet from the position that Jack initially sat. It seemed David commanded great authority over Jack by virtue of his body language with regards to the utilization of the space around him. This was augmented by the hat that he wore, which indicated status in the society. Jack on the other hand seemed to be on the receiving end as his body language ranged from being attentive to reacting emotionally to what David was saying. The diagrams drawn on the ground by David seemed to carry a lot of meaning to Jack by virtue of the way he gazed at them without blinking and shaking his head in acknowledgement. Sound Back-up From the sound back-up, I learnt that the discussion was about family matters that had gone sour because of Jack’s absence for a long time from home despite him being the most appropriate person to offer a solution. The initial frowning and doubts emerged when David described how family property was confiscated by the bank as a result of failure to honour a loan agreement. Jack could not figure out why the family property was undervalued by the bank when he had the capacity to repay the full amount of the loan in one instalment. When he wanted to mention this, David interrupted his speech and said that at that moment Jack’s capacity did not matter as the property had already been auctioned. This was quite confusing to Jack and he could only rub his palm on his hair in dumbfounded. David narrated how on five occasions a message was sent to Jack to call back home but he ignored. Jack was moved to tears when the story unfolded on how his father died out of depression, yet he deliberately refused to go back home because of a minor misunderstanding between him and his younger brother who also died out of alcoholism that was associated with the seizure of family property. However, David informed him that his mother was alive and well and was longing to see him. He was also informed that his two sisters had passed their elementary exam well and had won scholarships for higher education. David and Jack were long-time childhood friends and shared a lot in common but had been separated for three years when Jack left for the city. When they met, each of them was overwhelmed with happiness. They met in Jack’s compound but David was determined to ensure that his friend changed his altitude with regards to his people back home. Moreover, David had been appointed the new village administrator which was a coveted position back home and hence the feeling of authority over Jack who was tired of the expensive city life. This is the reason behind David showing Jack to sit despite being in his compound. In their culture, the elder or the one with greater authority in the village is the one to initiate discussions including welcoming others to take their seats on the discussion area. David fully understood his role and authority as a leader and emphasised his points by use of his walking stick. He used it to demonstrate the new boundaries after the seizure of family property that needed quick attention because there was a possibility of the land brokers annexing a greater portion than the one they were allocated by the bank. Jack was very attentive and eager to know if there was anything he could salvage for his family. He was also trying to recall how his family property looked like amid the terrifying occurrences that were unfolding to him. Accuracy in the Interpretation of Body Language The accuracy in the interpretation of body language was above average. For example, I accurately understood that David and Jack were long-time friends by the manner in which they received each other at the onset. People who do not know each other well may not shake hands very strongly or embrace each other with smiling faces without a third person being there to introduce them. Furthermore, I also interpreted that they had missed each other for a long time from the initial contact. The manner in which David gestured for Jack to sit was also correctly interpreted in the mind that David had greater authority, which also was evident later on by his gestures to stop Jack from speaking further as he takes over the discussion. The facial expressions of Jack were accurately interpreted that something was wrong with regards to the information contained in the discussion. He kept on frowning and shaking his head gently and this indicated to me that something unpleasant was unfolding to him. I later confirmed through the sound track that in deed he was disappointed in course of the discussion. Nevertheless, when I saw his face light up with a smile I realized that there was a change in the discussion and also the encouragement gestures by David were correctly interpreted as hope within an unpleasant situation. All these interpretations were confirmed in the sound track. I could not figure out exactly what David was drawing on the ground with his walking stick but I thought he was emphasizing a point revolving around a particular area somewhere that I could not tell. However, I later learnt that indeed he was drawing sketches of the neighbourhood of Jack’s family property. Counting the fingers also correctly informed me that the issue of discussion involved time as David counted the number of times something occurred. It later emerged that they were the number of times that Jack refused to honour summons back home. In conclusion, I was able to interpret most of the body language applied in the discussion. I realized that body language is a significant component of the communication process and that it can be used to convey an important message to onlookers who are not directly involved in a discussion. Read More