NONVERBAL BEHAVIOR

ANTHROPOLOGY 105

SOCIOLOGY 105

Fall 2010

COMMUNICATION VIA GESTURE

IT’S ALL IN THE HANDS, BODY & EYES

Anthropology/Sociology 105 Dr. Monica Rothschild-Boros

SYLLABUS

I AM GOING GREEN – YOUR SYLLABUS IS IN BLACKBOARD (Bb)

THE REST OF THE INFORMATION NEEDED IS ALSO IN BLACKBOARD YOU MUST GO ONLINE TO GET THE REST OF THE MATERIALS.

YOU DO NEED TO BRING THIS ‘BOOKLET’ TO CLASS FOR EACH MEETING.

Text: Nonverbal Communication Behavior in Interpersonal Relations, by V. Richmond & J. McCroskey, 6th edition

How to gain Access to your course:

https://www.orangecoastcollege.edu/myocc/

Once you have accessed the course in Bb be sure to close the MyOCC window

Or

https://occ.blackboard.com/

This is the ‘back door’ to your Bb course site – be sure to bookmark this as a favorite – you may prefer using this entrance then going through MyOCC – going in this way will ensure that you are not LOCKED out of Bb.

Be sure to read the items in the menu at the left but if you are still confused and need support staff help – call 1-877 – 500 - 4622

HOW TO REACH ME: E-MAIL ME AT

DO NOT LEAVE A VOICE MESSAGE at my telephone extension! – IT IS VOICEMAIL AND NOT ATTACHED TO A PHONE THAT I SEE FLASHING “YOU HAVE A MESSAGE!”

Whenever you send me an e-mail you must have your name in the subject area as well as the content-- see examples

"Amy Lee (Anthro 105) - don't understand or HELP ….. "; "Ali Sharif (Soc 105) - family crisis"

This is what will appear in the subject. That way I will know how to prioritize my answers so that emergencies and time sensitive issues can be answered first. Then in the body of your e-mail you can go into detail about your problem or work etc.

Many of you have e-mail addresses that do not include your name - such as “Whalelover or Donuteater” and then you make things worse by forgetting to sign your messages. I will not answer any e-mail that is not formatted as indicated above. I will not spend the time "guessing" who the message is from! I will just send it back to you –to be fixed!

PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME JOKES, CHAIN LETTERS OR ASK ME TO FILL OUT INFO FOR YOUR ADDRESS BOOK. IT IS ALSO YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO ENSURE THAT MY E-MAILS TO YOU ARE NOT BLOCKED OR CONSIDERED ‘SPAM’.

HOW I REACH YOU:

I will communicate with the class using your OCC email address. That means you MUST check your OCC email twice daily. You never know when I may send a class wide email and you cannot afford to miss any of them.

I will also post announcements in Bb.

Make sure that you bookmark the OCC mail url so that you can access it WITHOUT using MyOCC.

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Students will be able to:

Identify, describe, and give examples of Western as well as cross-cultural nonverbal behaviors and their functions.

Summarize and categorize nonverbal messages.

Illustrate and differentiate nonverbal behaviors affected by gender, culture, and environment.

Recognize and take responsibility for one's nonverbal behaviors and make ethical decisions respecting nonverbal communication differences.

WEEKLY READING AND WORK DUE:

You must hand in your assignments at the beginning of class before I start to take attendance to be considered for full points. Any time you miss an assignment, you are effectively giving yourself a ZERO as a grade.

If you arrive while I am taking attendance or if I have finished taking attendance, your paper will be marked LATE and will be marked down a grade. I will NOT ACCEPT a paper that comes in 10 minutes after the class has started.

If you are absent you must e-mail me your paper BEFORE the class starts. For absentee students I will NOT accept work after 8:00am. I DO NOT ACCEPT WORK AFTER THE CLASS IS OVER.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

TESTS:

Midterms 2 50 points each

Final 1 50 points

Extra Credit: This is built into your tests

ASSIGNMENTS: Failure to submit your assignments will result in a grade that will not meet your expectations.

Assignments 1- 4 & 6 20 points each

Assignment 5 30 points

Thanksgiving 20 points

Assignment 7 50 points

Total possible points = 350

Poor attendance will result in a grade that will not meet your expectations.

Attendance: is taken at the beginning of each class. If you miss 6 classes you will get no higher then a B regardless of what you graded work indicates. If you miss 8 classes you will get no higher then a C regardless of what your graded work indicates.

It is your responsibility to make sure that all of your grades are recorded in My Grades – if a grade is missing and you know you did the work you must get in touch immediately after that lesson has ended. You cannot wait until the last week of class to do this. Finals week is hectic for everyone. I have to get the grades in on Friday, December 17th.

WEEKLY WORK SCHEDULE: Be sure to check CLASS & HOME ACTIVITIES – this is your ‘workbook’ – print out the C & HA so that you can do them at home and in Class.

WEEK 1 Aug 30 – Sept 1 COMMUNICATION & NONVERBAL BEHAVIOR (CHPT. 1)

Pp 1-4

WEEK 2 Sept 6 -8 No Class 9/6 Labor Day

PHYSICAL APPREARANCE (CHPT. 2)

Assignment #1: Physical Attraction – due 9/8

WEEK 3 Sept 13 PHYSICAL APPREARANCE (CHPT. 2) - cont. pp 5-9

Sept 15 GESTURE & MOVEMENT (CHPT. 3)

Assignment #2: Gesture is Natural – due 9/15

WEEK 4 Sept 20 GESTURE & MOVEMENT (CHPT. 3) – continued p 10

Sept 22 FACIAL BEHAVIOR (CHPT. 4) p 11

WEEK 5 Sept 27 EYE BEHAVIOR (CHPT.5)

Assignment # 3: Eye Behavior – due 9/27

Sept 29 **** TEST 1 ****

WEEK 6 Oct 4 - 6 VOCAL BEHAVIOR (CHPT. 6) p 12

WEEK 7 Oct 11 - 13 SPACE & TERRITORIALITY (CHPT. 7) p 13

Assignment #4: You are in my space – due 10/11

WEEK 8 Oct 18 - 20 TOUCH & COMMUNICATION (CHPT. 8) p. 14

Assignment #5: Touching – due 10/18 (use the forms

On pages 10-11)

WEEK 9 Oct 25 - 27 ENVIRONMENT & PHYSICAL SURROUNDINGS (CHPT. 9)

Pp 15-16

Assignment #6: The Communication Environment –

due 10/25 Fill out the form on page 12 in the syllabus and hand it in

with your typed answers

WEEK 10 Nov 1 ** ** TEST 2 *****

Nov 3 TIME (CHPT. 10) pp 17-18

WEEK 11 Nov 8 IMMEDIACY & COMMUNICATION (CHPT. 11) 19

Nov 10 Putting it all together – We will Watch ‘Hitch”

p 20

WEEK 12 Nov 15 Putting it all together – We will Watch ‘Hitch”

Nov 17 FEMALE-MALE NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION

(CHPT 12) pp 21-22

WEEK 13 Nov 22 FEMALE-MALE NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION

Continued (CHPT 12)

Nov 24 No Class - Thanksgiving – Special assignment

WEEK 14 Nov 29 SUPERVISOR & EMPLOYEE RELATIONSHIP (CHPT. 13)

Thanksgiving Assignment due 11/29

Dec 1 TEACHER-STUDENT NONVERBAL RELATIONSHIP

(CHPT. 14)

WEEK 15 Dec 6 INTERCULTURAL RELATIONSHIPS (CHPT. 16)

Assignment # 7: Watch what you do with your hands, eyes & feet! – Everyone must send me an email with your presentation by 7:30am 12/6

Dec 8 INTERCULTURAL RELATIONSHIPS (CHPT. 16)

Assignment # 7: Watch what you do with your hands, eyes & feet!

WEEK 16 Dec 13 INTERCULTURAL RELATIONSHIPS (CHPT. 16)

Assignment # 7: Watch what you do with your hands, eyes & feet

Dec 15 !!!!! FINAL!!!!!

Nature of the Course: The course is designed to give you a general overview of the theoretical and practical application of nonverbal communication scholarship as it stands today.

Learning Objectives:

1. Define the general terms related to the academic study of nonverbal communication and behavior.

2. Explain how nonverbal behaviors affect human communication, and how these behaviors can be altered to improve or hurt effective communication.

3. Be able to list and explain the major categories of nonverbal communication discussed in the course: physical appearance, gesture and movement, facial behavior, eye behavior, vocal behavior, space and territoriality, touch, environment and physical surroundings, and time.

4. Explain the concepts of verbal and nonverbal immediacy.

5. Explain how nonverbal communication can impact relationships between males and females on romantic and non-romantic levels.

6. Understand the importance of nonverbal communication in the establishment of superior-subordinate relationships.

7. Understand the importance of nonverbal communication in the establishment of student-teacher relationships.

8. Understand the importance of nonverbal communication in intercultural communication situations.

NONVERBAL ASSIGNMENTS

All assignments must be 1) typed, 2) stapled and 3) have a cover sheet with your 4) your name typed in the upper right-hand corner of the cover sheet with Assignment #. This must be typed – Not Handwritten! If it is handwritten it is as if it wasn’t there.

LATE WORK WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED = WORK HANDED IN 10 minutes after the class has started - the DAY IT IS DUE!

I will not accept papers that do not fit the above format (1-4), neither will I accept work that is handed in after the class it is due – you must hand in each assignment before I take attendance in order to receive FULL CREDIT. If you hand it in after I have taken attendance– you will be marked down 1 full grade. If you don’t come to class because you are working on the assignment & hand it in at the end of the class – I will not accept it!

If you are ill the day of an assignment: e-mail it to me as a Word Document attachment or copy and paste it into the body of the e-mail– prior to class – these are time stamped – so if it comes in after the class has started – I will NOT accept it.

All Assignments must be double spaced in size 12 font.

Assignment # 1: It’s only a Tee Shirt

You are to come to class wearing an outfit that says something about who you are or what your interests are. Each member of the class will then participate in a “fashion” show. Have fun with this! As each of you come to the front of the classroom- the rest of your classmates will write down their perceptions of “who you are”.

You must describe what you are wearing to class .

Write a one paragraph explanation of what you would expect people to assume about you based upon you attire. Then write another paragraph on what appearance cues you look for when making a judgment and how “trustworthy” are these cues to letting you know something about other people. I am looking for thoughtful answers, not one-liners.

This is what you will hand in when you arrive – prior to attendance being taken. We will go around the room sharing the class’s perceptions and compare them to your observations.

This exercise explores our tendencies to stereotype. (20 points)

Assignment #2: Gesture is Natural

Engage in a conversation with a friend while suppressing the natural urge to gesture. That is, change topics, interrupt, stop talking, etc while repressing your despite to use any gestures. This may be easier to do while sitting vs. standing. At the end of the conversation, tell your friend what you were dong and ask for his or her perceptions of you during the conversation. Use the questions below to write a one page summary of the results of your “experiment.” Be sure to set the scene for me – put your conversation into context – explain who you selected for this experiment and why. (20 points)

1. Did your friend think anything was different?

2. Did your friend think you were preoccupied, ill, having a bad day, didn’t want to talk with them etc.

3. Was it difficult to repress your desire to gesture? Why or why not?

4. Did you have a harder time conveying your ideas? Why or why not?

5. Did your partner gesture less than normal too? If so, why do you think he or she did so?

After you have answered these questions – tell your subject what you were doing and get his/her reactions. Include these reactions in your paper. Then write a conclusion which explains what you have learned about the use of gestures.

Assignment #3: Eye Behavior

This activity is designed to show you how gaze helps structure our conversations and relationships with others.

1. During a conversation with another person, look directly at him or her (do not look away) for 2 minutes. If the other person looks away, just continue looking a his or her head, so when he or she returns his or her eyes towards you, your eyes will still be staring directly at his or hers. Otherwise, try to conduct the conversation as you normally would. (10 points)

Describe what happened:

A. Your reactions and behavior

B. Your partner’s reaction and behavior( both to your behavior & his or her own in reaction to your behavior)

2. During a conversation with a person (not the same one as before), avoid looking at the person for 2 minutes. If the other person tries to look at your, continue to look away. Otherwise, try to conduct the conversation as you normally would. (10 points)

Describe what happened:

A. Your reactions and behavior

B. Your partner’s reaction and behavior( both to your behavior & his or her own in reaction to your behavior)

Be sure to once again set the context of these conversations – who did you select & why. Also, be sure that you confess and discuss with your subjects their reactions. Then be sure to have a conclusion in which you discuss what you have learned about the use of eye behavior.