Essential Factors of Communication

     Communication is a vital element that has played an important role in the survival and evolution of species, most importantly Homo sapiens. Communication is the way by which one conveys a message. Archaic hominids most likely began to communicate by the use of body language and grunts; eventually leading to the formations of language. Scientists do not know when language arose, but many hypotheses and theories have speculated on its origin. In the following experiments, we will explore the problems and advantages that arise when essential factors of communication and language are excluded.

     Experiment #1 only allowed me to communicate through hand gestures, facial gestures and body movements; no symbolic language whatsoever. This hindered my ability to convey complex and abstract concepts; attempting proved to be a difficult endeavor. I was left with basic concepts and words such as—but not limited to—no, yes, I do not know, time, the past, numbers, weather, and feelings. This was very frustrating to say the least; it left me feeling helpless in a way similar to a baby trying to communicate. I had my cousin(A) and a friend of hers(B) take part in this. They felt that it was difficult trying to figure out what I was trying to say at times—B said that I’m not very good at communicating through hand gestures although A disagreed and proved to understand me more times. Due to this, they overcompensated by asking lots of questions—primarily B.

     Participant B was more in control of the conversation than A or me; also initiating and changing topics. B asked me questions that mostly needed elaborate explanations, but I tried to respond to the best I could—it felt like an interview. There were times when I was excluded from the conversation, not because the participants did not care what I thought, more like they didn’t realize I even wanted to say something. When that happened, I did not attempt to get their attention to communicate my message because I figured I would not be able to convey it and even if I attempted to, it would not have been in a timely manner—dragging on and losing the enthusiasm. If this were to have gone on for longer, I would probably suffer from learned helplessness. Learned helplessness occurs when someone feels they have no control over a situation and do not persevere for reasons such as “what’s the point?” That feels depressing to say the least, but I am glad to have experienced this as it lets me empathize in particular  with people that have communication disabilities. Due to this, participants B and A had the power in the conversation throughout the 15 minutes and not once was I in power.

     In a culture where one is able to use spoken language and another is not, the one that is able to use spoken language would have the huge advantage of communicating complex ideas over the other. There would be more efficient and faster communication between the population in that culture and if in any danger, would be able to avoid it better. The speaking culture would probably feel they are superior to the other, and evidently oppress that culture. This can be observed many times when traveling to foreign countries. Native people may at times see foreign people as inferior and vice versa due to them not knowing a particular language. They associate this with not being intelligent which is preposterous. Those with language impairments, such as aphasia, are another example of people who are oppressed due to them not being seen as competent

     Experiment #2 was even more difficult that the first one. I was not able to express emotion through any means whatsoever, only to use my monotone voice. I struggled as soon as the questions from the participants began, not being able to hold in my laughter at how odd it felt and catching myself expressing minimal cues of emotion through facial movements such as wrinkling my brows as I concentrated and fidgeting my fingers to cope with the uncomfortableness—I was not able to go without fidgeting my fingers, it was impossible! At first, A thought that it would be better if they were to communicate as I was to make me feel more comfortable, but that was a bit more uncomfortable and weird and I could not take it.

     Due to my incompetence, the participants failed to continue the conversation. It was not until around the 5th try, after the participants and I had settled down, that I was able to keep myself under control. A did not participate in the conversation this time, while B did, but was not really engaged. It was evident the participants were bored with the conversation and did not want to continue the conversation.

     Emotion is shown and emphasized through body language; it is a vital part of communication and with it, we are able to understand better how someone feels. Some people on the autism spectrum struggle in reading the subtleties of nonverbal language and may leave them misinterpreting what is being said. Another faction that struggles with nonverbal communication is those with Amimia. Someone dealing with Amimia cannot comprehend hand gestures, even if previously understood.

     Our eyes tell us a lot about what is going on in our minds. For instance, closing our eyes for longer than a blink is our way of not letting our brain process anything threatening or undesirable. Another example is eye contact; when someone is lying, they usually look away to avoid eye contact. This poses a problem, at times, in police interrogations where suspects who know about these nonverbal cues deliberately make longer eye contact to throw the investigator off. However, investigators have learned to observe other nonverbal cues, such as intonation, that is indicative of deception and to watch when normal eye contact becomes abnormal. Eye contact can also show love, hate, confidence, creepiness, or enthusiasm. Furthermore, posture can indicate whether we are tense, relaxed, interested, angry, or disgusted. Our posture can emphasize what our face/eyes are trying to convey, such as leaning forward to show interest and pulling back to show disgust or fright.

     Through nonverbal language, we are also able to pick up on the cues of deception, honesty, or love that serve more as an adaptive benefit. Eye contact is important in showing confidence—as well as posture— and in seeing if someone loves or hates us. This allows us to fend for ourselves more efficiently—by spotting danger—, obtain resources—if you are confident you will excel more and people will believe in you—, and reproduce successfully—with cues of interest and trust. Body language is distinctly different throughout each culture and should not be seen as universal. For example, eye contact is seen as a sign of respects in some cultures, while in others averting your eyes is. Some signs are different in other countries—a thumbs-up is seen as vulgar in Iran and pointing with the wrong finger, or anything other than your whole hand, can be offensive in many countries. However, facial expression is probably the only nonverbal communication seen as universal. It was Charles Darwin who has been noted to be the first to discern facial expression as universal in his book The Expression and Emotion in Man and Animals.

     These experiments were insightful and interesting, but at the same time amusing. It would be a good exercise to allow people to empathize with those that have communication impairments. Moreover, it was startling just how much of body language contributes to our comprehension of communication. Without this ability to comprehend body language, we most likely would not have survived for long.