Vocalics

http://youtu.be/nE72U19W574

For my video clip I chose a scene from Fresh Prince of Bel Air which was an argument between Will and his date. I had to watch the video several times to examine their vocalics and expressions once while watching the clip and a few without to get a feel of their voices how they expressed themselves. The clip mostly contains vocal properties such as change in pitch, volume and articulation.

The clip starts out with Will rapping at a low steady rate about how miserable he is, you can tell by how drawn out his voice is like he is bored and his pitch range was very low. Next his date complains how hungry she is and complains that Will doesn’t do anything for her. By listening to her talk you can also tell that she does not like doing things herself when she whines by asking Will to look for food for her. Her voice is also drawn out in a tired manner indicating she is also miserable.  Once Will responds the volume of his voice raises a little saying “Why don’t you look” indicating that he is impatient with his date and also upset she ate all his breath mints. She then tries to be somewhat nice to get him to feel bad and look food for her by saying, “I thought you liked doing things for me” where she has a shift in her pitch (close to a baby-talk but not quite) to sound more approachable. One thing I noticed Will has a hard time pronouncing “breath mints” by saying “breaf mints” which can show that he seems less educated by his lack of enunciation of words. His date then states that she does not need him but when she is struggling to open a jar of food she then switches her pitch again to sound innocent and helpless to try to get her way when asking Will to open the jar. Will then uses a buzzer sound as an illustrator when he asked her the magic word and she raised her voice and said, “NOW!”, he made a buzzer sound to indicate it was the wrong answer. Then they get into an argument and Will mentioned how she ate all his breath mints and the intensity of her voice got really high exclaiming she would scream if she heard him talk about breath mints again. Will then repeats the word over and over as an illustrator for dramatic effect, in hopes to make his date scream.

This clip was a great demonstration on how an argument works, two people use turn-taking as a structure for the argument. When they want to enhance something they are saying or make a point they either raise their voice to make it louder or they repeat themselves such as “NOW” and repeating the word “breaf mints”.  Also, along with trying to get one’s way we usually soften our voice and switch our pitch to almost a “baby-talk” voice to act innocent and helpless.

Spring Break

For my blog assignment I chose to interview my friend Tyler Kraus about his spring break. I would describe Tyler as "The Unwitting Expressor" because usually he facial expression is usually controlled and neutral but when he gets excited you can see his emotions burst out. Unlike all the students that go on trips during spring break, his vacation was more relaxed. He mostly hung out with friends, did yard work, and went hiking.

When he was talking about hanging out with his friends I could tell his eyebrows were somewhat knitted and his mouth was slanted in a way like he was upset or disappointed. After I noticed those expressions, he talked about how he didn't do much and I could tell he might have wished he done something more exciting with his friends.

As he moved on about talking about yard work his face started showing more excitement while displaying a genuine smile. I could tell it was a genuine smile is because his teeth were showing and some wrinkles appeared by his eyes. By him showing that, it could mean that he likes being outdoors and enjoys working outside. As I complimented him on how tan he looked his smile grew and his eyebrows rose a little bit in a flashing motion and I could definitely tell he had more excitement displayed on his face when talking about the outdoors.

Finally the last topic of Tyler's spring break he talked about how he went hiking; at this point of the conversation his facial expressions really came out during this part of the conversation. While he would talk about how much fun it was, his eyes would widen and his genuine smile eventually was a Duchene smile where it seemed like his smile was from ear to ear and you can see the excitement across his face. As we both talked about how we went hiking over break, you can see his emotion across his face that expresses happiness. His eyebrows were risen to the point his forehead wrinkled a little, and his eyes widened while we shared our hiking stories.      

Getting a little personal

This past weekend I was at a party with my friends. I figured this would be the best setting to observe people's nonverbal behavior, because at these settings so many people give off nonverbal cues whether it’s intentional or unintentional. Also it makes it more interesting because I believe when people are "feeling good" they give off a more nonverbal cues than compared to on campus in the library. When observing I came across one couple that I thought would be perfect to watch.

It was a boy and a girl talking, and just to show how much a small world it is the boy was a friend of mine my age and the girl a freshman went to my high school. Making this observation a little personal I decided to observe them because this boy claimed he "liked me" and my luck he talks to someone from my high school. Anyways, both of their postures were face to face and congruent. I could tell the girl was interested in him because of her preening behavior; she would fix her hair, and puff out her chest.  As they were talking he would playfully hit her arm as if she made a flirty joke. They had all the stages of quasi-courtship: they kept a steady eye contact but occasionally look around the room, throughout the conversation they would realize they were slouching and would fix their posture, and then they moved closer to prevent an invasion from a third party. As soon as they moved closer together and since I’m a psychology major I decided to have fun with this assignment and threw in that third party invasion. I simply told my friend (who is from the same high school as the girl and I) to go over and join the conversation. I watched her walk over and put her arm around the girl. Immediately the boy glared at my friend as she invaded his personal space between him and the girl. The girl had a genuine smile on her face and you can easily tell she was excited as she greeted my friend with hug. This motion completely blocked the boy out and as he was standing waiting for their converstation to end he simply gave up and walked away.

My(own)Space

This is my home away from home. I claim this side of the room my personal space, with only given space in a dorm and sharing it with another person it can be hard to arrange everything to make both parties satisfied with their own space. My roommate and I have unspoken rules of our spaces. For example we are not allowed to go in each other closets, fridges, or snack containers without permission. Keeping my things close together is easier to maintain my own space in the room, it gives out an imaginary line between me and my roommate.

The way I used my half of the room I have my desk by the door, my fridge, and then my bed, having everything on one side marks my side of the room. I like to have my bed against the wall for safety and comfort. Also the way the door is positioned and how my desk covers half my bed when you walk in it is almost as if I have a little private section. Having my bed there makes some sense because I tend to be a private person and enjoy my own little nook when I want to be alone. Next to my bed is my fridge, other than the reason that’s the only place it fits I like having my fridge next to me because I tend to get thirsty late at night. On the top of my desk I have my IPod dock, hair care products, perfume, and lint rollers. These items also send out nonverbal messages about me which could say: I like to listen to music, keep clean, and like to maintain my hair as much as possible.

For the most part my room is somewhat neat, there is laundry that needs to be put away by my bed and on my chair. Usually in the morning my bed is not made until I return from classes in the afternoon and there are a variety of shirts that I will try on in the morning to make my outfit for the day. So, I try to keep neat and tidy but sometimes it does not work out so well.

Other than furniture giving nonverbal information about myself, I also try and decorate my side to express myself. For example one of my favorite movies is a poster of GoodFellas. To the left one can see the peacock picture that I drew myself which shows that I can be artistic. Another way I express my creativity is using hooks to hang up my jewelry (since I have no other places to put them without tangling).

My Reflective Cycle

Inventory Self- I have always been interested in nonverbal language. After a few classes I started asking myself: What nonverbal message do I send off? One came to me immediately because my father (and most of my family) always point this out. "You always look like a miserable child!" I guess I wouldn't smile or give off friendly facial expressions as often as my family would like. My dad would always tell me to smile and of course being a teenager it could be the "cool thing" to express as much attitude as possible. I don't want to send off wrong signals to people to think that I am unhappy. Generally, I'm a happy, laid back person, usually not much bothers me. Usually, I receive complements from others (or I think they're complements) on how laid back, and easy going I am.
Change Self- What I would like to change is find a way to smile more often as my family would like but not too often that I end up looking like one of those freaky dolls in scary movies. Not only that I would like to just get rid of my "poker face" in general. I would like to find a way to display emotions evenly and to show when I am in an actual good mood versus when I am not.
Inventory others- First of all, people watching are one of my favorite hobbies, therefore, I am always looking at their nonverbal signals. Generally, I have noticed that people around campus have mostly a bland look, they aren't smiling, and they aren't frowning either. Unless, they are walking with someone or on the phone, then their facial expression has a little more life to it along the lines of smiling. Now, if we were off-campus at a party, generally more people are smiling more and there is a wider range of facial expressions.
Transact with others- Nonverbal communication is how we communicate with each other most of the time. After taking inventory of my own nonverbal behaviors, I realize that just smiling can make a huge difference and makes me more approachable compared to the "poker face".
 With the reflective cycle, I am striving to make improvements and hope next time I go home my facial expressions are a lot better and I am giving off the right vibes on how I'm feeling.