Social Science-Nonverbal Communication

Length: Minimum 2 full pages

Format Requirements: Typed, Double-Spaced, Times New Roman 12-point font, 1-inch margins. Reference page in APA citation format if any outside material is used. Your name, your professor’s name, and the date should be typed single-spaced in the top left-hand corner of the paper. A title should be centered underneath. See the paper format sample for an example of how the paper should look. Turn essay into this dropbox as an attachment only. Do not write the paper in the submission blanks on Blackboard.Attach as a .doc, .docx, or .pdf file.

Grade: This paper is worth 10% of your final course grade.
Prompt:

Observe a stranger’s nonverbal communication from a distance for a short period of time. Try to guess the answer to the following questions:

1. Is the stranger single? Does the stranger have children?

2. What type of job does the stranger have? What type of education does the stranger have?

3. What type of car does the stranger drive?

4. How old is the stranger?

5. What are the stranger’s hobbies?

Make your guesses based on the stranger’s nonverbal behaviors. After you have made your guesses, approach the stranger and ask them the questions to see how close your guesses were. Do so in a safe and non-confrontational manner. For instance, you might do so in the campus cafeteria or another such public space. You may also bring a friend with you for the outing.

Discuss whether your guesses were correct or not and why. Also consider the stranger’s nonverbal communication when you approached him/her. What did that say about how the stranger felt about you? Consider the vocabulary of the course in your discussion:

• Emblems: gestures that have a direct verbal translation and can stand alone such as the “ok” sign.
• Illustrators: gestures that complement our words such as pointing when giving directions.
• Regulators: gestures that may prolong or terminate the conversation such as looking at your watch, walking away or nodding and leaning forward.
• Adaptors: gestures that make you feel more comfortable in a communication situation such as twirling your hair or tapping your fingers.
• Affect Displays: facial expressions motivated by emotion such as a smile or frown.

How did you interpret these nonverbal cues? Why did you interpret them in that way?

Be sure to include ideas derived from the course lecture in your essay.

Guidelines:

• This is a formal essay, fulfilling the course Gordon Rule requirement. As such it should be written in essay form with an introduction, body, and conclusion and transitions between points. Do not write as a list. Do write as a narrative.
• Professional work is expected. Therefore, the essay should be free of spelling, punctuation, formatting, and other grammatical errors.
• The essay should be substantive. This means you should 1) give examples as evidence to support the claims you make in the essay, 2) incorporate the vocabulary of the course and the lecture material, and 3) draw connections between what you have learned in the course and in everyday life.