Communication/Collaboration Week 2

Last night I recorded an episode of "What would you do?", which is a hidden camera show that takes different situations and evaluates people's responses to situations.  The main idea behind the show is to see if people will stand up and defend other people when given tricky situations.  I watched one part of the show where a woman had a young girl standing on a street corner wearing a sign that said something about stealing and lying.  With the volume off and a general understanding of what was happening, there were many non-verbal clues that I could identify.  It was clear that the two people knew each other, the woman and the young girl.  I assumed that they were mother and daughter and that the daughter was being punished based on what the sign said.  As people would walk by, many of them stopped and spoke with the woman.  Some of the non-verbal communication that I saw included putting their hands on their hips, tilting their head to the side, rolling of their eyes, high-fives, and hugs to the woman.  It was clear which people stopping to address the mother were supportive of her discipline and which ones were appalled at the situation.  The young lady's face was down and her demeanor was very defeated.  She was clearly not enjoying the situation.

When I went back and watched the segment again with the volume on, it was clear to me that my assumptions about the situation were correct.  The mother and daughter were standing on the corner because the mother was disciplining her daughter who had stolen and lied.  As people stopped the mother and engaged her in conversation, some were supportive (those who had high-fived and hugged her), and there were others who told her she was not doing the right thing in humiliating her daughter (those who had their hands on their hips, rolling their eyes, and tilting their heads).  Based on the daughters verbal responses to her mother, she was clearly being humilitated and was embarrassed by the situation.

I was amazed that even with the small amount of time that I spent watching the interactions that I was able to glean so much information from just the body language and non-verbal clues.  It was a good reminder to me to think about my own body language and what my non-verbal clues are saying when I am engaged in conversations with others.