Analyzing Communication

The blog this week required me to watch an episode of a show I have never seen without the sound on and make assumptions based upon non verbal cues and the way the characters communicate. After watching the show with the sound off, I then watched the show with the sound on to evaluate whether or not my assumptions were correct.

I decided to watch an episode of a show called “Baby Daddy”. Based upon the way the characters are communicating, it appears that the characters consist of four friends. Three of the friends are roommates. There is a knock on the door and they open the door to find a baby. The look on their faces when they saw the baby was complete shock. There eyes bulged out and their mouths were open. There surprise look meant they did not know who this baby belonged too and they had no idea how to care for a baby. Their eye brows was raised, shoulders up and hand out as if to say what do we do with this baby. One of the guys tried holding the baby. He held the baby away from him like an object with his eyes looking confused and he appeared uncomfortable with the idea of holding a baby. It was clear without the sound that all three men had no idea how to take care of a baby. There is a knock on the door and there is a young lady who appears to be a friend. She clearly had experienced with babies because she automatically walked in and looked at the baby pleasantly while smiling. She then picked the baby up and hugged her to soothe her.

After watching the show with the sound on, I was surprised to see that my predictions were spot on. The only thing I was not able to figure out while watching the show with the sound off is who dropped the baby off. The baby was actually dropped off by one of the men ex-girlfriend. He had no idea he had a baby. The mother ran off and left the baby at the door.

This activity affirmed to me that communication is not only based on verbal cues. I was able to watch a show I have never seen without sound and was able to get the synopsis of the storyline. Although I didn’t fully get the whole story I think I was able to get the main idea without hearing the verbal cues. Taking part in an activity like this allowed me to appreciate that communication can be achieved with  non- verbal cues and has made me more aware of the non-verbal cues when I am communicating with others.