Tuesday, April 23, 2013
COM 250 / Wk. #4 Discussion: Nonverbal communication and stereotype/prejudice
How is it that our nonverbal behavior can exhibit prejudice and discrimination? Have you ever subconsciously displayed prejudicial nonverbal behavior toward people (poor/rich, minority/mainstream, gay/straight, alien/fellow citizen, abled/disabled ... ) in your life? Do you regret about that? if not, why?
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I am a fairly shy person and when I do not know someone I have problems looking them in the eye, smiling at them, and just being awkward with everyone. This behavior on my part could be viewed by someone as prejudiced and/or discriminatory, even though I have absolutely no intention of acting like I am prejudiced. I am constantly aware of my weakness and I feel more aware of it when I am around someone who may think I am discriminating against them. The problem is when I try harder to act "normal" I get more awkward and it might possibly look worse. I am not prejudiced in the least bit, but unfortunately I think I might act like I am due to my social awkwardness and tendency to feel extremely uncomfortable. I remember in high school, other students always thought I was a "b*$%#", but in reality I was very shy and felt very uncomfortable. As I get older though, I am getting more socially inept and am able to function better around others without being so awkward, thankfully. Do I regret my behavior? Yes, I wish I could have pushed myself earlier to learn how to feel more comfortable in social situations, and avoiding behavior that others may see negatively.
ReplyDeleteWindy Joseph - COM 250 Spring 2013
Yes, it is possible that our awkwardness could be read as being aloof and "b#$%#." Like verbal communication, there are a lot of ambiguity involved in our transactions. we could be prejudiced by others when we act non-discriminatory.
ReplyDeleteI think this exhibition of non-verbal behavior to show discrimination and prejudice is unfortunately wired to our subconscious. It would be un-human to treat everyone equal because we aren't chemically wired to treat every single human being equal. There would be no war and no fights if we did though. As I was saying, humans are wired to treat people differently, and that's not always a bad thing, though sometimes it is. Often when we feel uncomfortable, our body movements and reactions become timid and closed off. We fold our arms, or shove our hands in our pockets when someone we don't know, or someone who looks threatening walks toward us. When we as human beings don't understand something personally, then we often close off and become narrow minded, and even though our words don't say it, our body language does, and that shows a kind of discriminating reaction to the thing or person that we don't understand. I'm not gonna lie, I think everyone's shown some sort of discriminatory non-verbal behavior in their life out of fear, or lack of knowledge of that person or group. I certainly have, growing up in a northwestern average city like Boise, I wasn't exposed to the extremities of poverty or wealth, so when I go to San Francisco or Dallas, I'm closed off and I hold my objects close to me because I fear for myself because of what I've heard. Do I regret that though? No, it's human to naturally be afraid of what you don't know, though the more you engage in that type of life style, the more accepting it will become and the more open you will be. So discrimination and prejudice expressed nonverbally is very much so a subconscious tool made out of fear for the unknown, and I think it's ok, as long as we can learn about the thing we are afraid of.
ReplyDeleteI think we all at some point in time stereotype or discriminate against someone else who is different--no matter whether it's social class, or race, or something else. Most people are polite enough to keep those thoughts to themselves, but the fact of the matter is they are still thinking it. I believe the culture shift from the 1970s up until now has influenced people to be judgmental and be prejudice against differences.
ReplyDeleteI think by being "different" has given me an advantage. Like I explained in last week's discussion, being part African-American in La Grande, ORE. has been an interesting experience, to say the least. I've never lived anywhere else than a country-side area where all the "rednecks" live. Because of this, my personality and identity is influenced by the local culture. Likewise, I've always been stereotyped against because I "portray indemnities like a white person" even though it's normal for me and I see no difference.
Because of other people's arrogant tolerance to me, I've been VERY judgmental and prejudice to other people. Sometimes verbally, but most of the time subliminally or non-verbally. I've found myself always thinking "Ugh, why are they here? They're just wasting taxpayer money" or "Why do you walk them down the hall when the rest of us are trying to go to class." Whether or whether not my thoughts are true, they are rude and prejudicial.
I do regret always been so judgmental towards the "handicapped" (examples above). I think that it was an eye opener for me and taught me something about treating other people. I realize just because people are racist, or discriminate against me doesn't mean I need or should stereotype others just to hide my feelings about being discriminated against. The most recent challenge I have been having is with the gay rights and gay "marriage" conflicts, both here and nationally. People see me as stereotyping, and discriminating against gays. HOWEVER, I continually try to tell people that I don't discriminate against gay people because a person is a person no matter what. I don't have a problem with the person. It is the CHOICES that they have, or continue to make. Homosexuality is wrong, not the people who practice it.
I think that everyone at some point in time is guilty of prejudicial non-verbal behavior whether they want to admit to it or not. I think one factor that has to do with non-verbal behavior and prejudice depends on where a person is raised. In Eastern Oregon, people for the most part act the same and are often not willing to accept what goes against what they believe. I think that people who are raised in more diverse places and bigger cities like LA don't experience prejudicial non-verbal behavior as much as someone from a rural, small town such as La Grande. With that being said, I am guilty of displaying prejudicial non-verbal behavior to a person who lived on the same floor as I did in a residence hall last year. Yes, I regret it because now the person is a really good friend of mine and I feel bad for taking part in that non-verbal behavior that was probably very off-putting at the time.
ReplyDeleteI have worked in food service since I was 15. Unfortunately I have caught myself being prejudice numerous times towards many different people. My first job was a waitress at a mexican restaurant in my hometown, and I found myself getting frustrated with the fact that I was the only one that could speak english. When I eventually got a job elsewhere, I could see that no matter where I went, dealing with people that could not speak english was not my strong suit. Now I am not racist, and I have no problem with people from other countries. But after working at a Subway and having to serve them, I have not been very nice. Yes, I regret it. I have multiple friends that are of a different race than myself, and I have no problem with them. I think that people that have thoughts such as these are not necessarily meaning to be rude, but some people become very frustrated with others that are different from them. In our society today it is more common for people to be judgmental, and others accept it, feed off of it, and continue with the abuse.
ReplyDeleteI have found myself in a particular situation where I was very frustrated. I had bought a clothing item from a store and they forget to take the security tag off. I ended up going back to the store and asked the lady at the customer service counter if they could take it off. She was talking very loudly and I could not understand what she was saying so I was getting extremely frustrated. I know my body language was saying it all to her how annoyed I was. I do regret how I was acting but I was so caught up in the moment at that time.
ReplyDeleteFrom what we've learned in class I can say our nonverbal communication exhibits a prejudice and discrimination effect because of the way people perceive our interactions. Through our body language, facial expressions, and other nonverbal interactions we suspiciously and consciously. On the subject of this I can say I tend to consciously make these discriminatory gestures to others because I make assumptions about people based on the way they walk, dress, and speak with others. The majority of the people I interact with don't cause me to judge them, however when I do come across the few people who I do judge I make these assumptions.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say I feel bad or regret making these actions towards others because I believe they make the same assumptions about me. Why should I feel bad about being discriminating towards others if they do it to me? Although this is bad it's hard not to because of the access to social media and the social "stars" that we try to shape our lives around. If a movie star or other social media stars say something that sway our minds towards a certain group then the people who follow that person will also think in the same manner. An example of this would be when a new phrase or cool word goes around a group, then a community, and eventually the whole country is using it.
Regardless if the majority of people discriminate against others or not we cannot help ourselves because it has become a part of our subconscious mindset and probably will never leave our everyday decision making situations when interacting with others.
I was in the middle of typing my discussion on the subject of nonverbal behavior and prejudice along with discrimination and I went over the 11:59 pm deadline. I got off work late and missed the deadline by a few minutes, so I figured I would post my discussion on this website. I found this weeks discussion interesting, I think that our nonverbal behaviors definitely show prejudice and discrimination by the way we look at others our eye rolls and our body movements, the way we express our facial features. I have demonstrated this behavior with out even realizing it. I live in a community that is multicultural and I am sure that I have rolled my eyes at a person once or twice, I have even made judgement's towards someone that was different than myself. I was raised in a household with my great grandmother who was in her 90's, we were very different, so different that I was embarrassed to live with her, I was young and wasn't very nice to her. I would make fun of her when she would hobble out to the curb to feed the pigeons. That was only one of the times that I can recall. I really regret that because I was just a kid and I wasn't able to realize what I was doing. After numerous years I realized how very fortunate I was to have grown up around all of the history with my great grandmother.
ReplyDeleteI have expressed nonverbal prejudice against people that were not a part of my high school, like a rivalry against other high schools like in football, and other school sports. I think we are all brought up to do this so it shows good sportsman conduct.
ReplyDeleteOur nonverbal behavior can exhibit prejudice and discrimination mainly through our facial expressions. I have found myself subconsciously displaying prejudicial nonverbal behavior towards other people before. When I find someone who differs from me I find myself judging them just based off of their appearance. I have no insight of this person but just off of things I have heard or have seen make me place judgment. My nonverbal behavior tends to be stand offish and tend to not seem accepting to the people for them to approach me. I regret these behaviors because I shouldn’t place judgment on someone I have no idea about. Maybe a person dresses a certain way based off their income. Or just because someone is a different color from me doesn’t make them bad or mean or any different from myself. People tend to stereotype based off of their parent’s beliefs. I find myself more opened minded then most because I’m in the military and I’ve found myself in a more diverse scenario than others. I’ve seen more to a person than just their color or appearance and have tried to learn about their culture. But as I’ve said I do still find myself placing a prejudgment of others in a nonverbal manner.
ReplyDeleteNonverbal communication can trigger and express prejudice and discrimination. Nonverbal messages can be very ambiguous which is why these messages can be misinterpreted so often. I had rare situations when I read someone's nonverbal communication incorrectly, but however, I can have many situations when someone else misunderstood my nonverbal messages. I know on various occasions my mother has walked into the room to see me hunched over my computer with my face crinkled up and has asked me what’s wrong, maybe thinking I am upset. I send out an upset or stressed vibe even though I’m not upset at all and am just struggling to write an essay or conduct research for a class. I think there are a couple different ways people can increase their accuracy of interpreting nonverbal messages. I think it is not a good idea to read deep meaning into everything from signs, gesture and so forth. Being aware that it’s easy to misread nonverbal communication will help us to keep an open mind about people’s actions and intentions. I also believe that it’s important to keep the idea of culture and gender in mind since it can be a leading factor in nonverbal communication regarding . Nonverbal communication can be a tricky concept to navigate but by letting ourselves be aware and open minded, as well as drawing on our surroundings, we can increase the accuracy with which we decode these messages.
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