I found this experiment to be tough, mainly because of how awkward it felt trying to have the conversation without using any words or sign language. It was tough to think of something to have a "conversation" about without using words, and it took us (my brother and I) about six minutes or so before we had a good enough flow in terms of him understanding my expressions for us to have a "conversation". I noticed that my brother tried to "dumb" down his questions or statements, so that it was much easier for him to gauge my response, such as by asking yes or no questions, or asking about how I felt about things, so that I gave a facial expression corresponding with my feelings. My brother also messed around with me a little bit, as he joked with me while I couldn't respond to him verbally. If two cultures met and one could speak verbally but one could not use symbolic language, I would say that the question of "who has the advantage in communicating complex ideas" would be dependent on whether or not the non-symbolic culture could understand the language of the opposite culture. If they did, then obviously the speaking culture could communicate complex ideas easier. However, if the speaking culture communicated in a language that the other could not understand, then I would say that the non-symbolic culture would have an advantage, as facial expressions and body language are universally understood symbols, as opposed to a single language which only a portion of the world understands. I would say that the speaking culture might view the non-symbolic culture as primitive or less intelligent/less advanced, due to their inability to communicate on the same level as the speaking culture. In terms of the real-world interactions between those who can speak easily and those who have trouble speaking, I think that many times those who speak easier try to "baby-talk" or try and dumb down their speech, much like my brother did in our conversation. I don't think that those who are doing the "baby talk" are intentionally trying to be condescending, but they most likely feel quite frustrated in the fact that the other person's poor speaking ability makes conversation difficult, and thus feel that "baby talk" is the easiest answer.
I was definitely not able to last the 15 minutes communicating exclusively via speech, as my partner and I couldn't stop laughing due to how awkward it was and how odd it felt. Obviously the difficult part of this was keeping a totally straight face and using no vocal inflections, as I felt kind of like a robot. My partner didn't have nearly as much trouble as the first part of the exercise, except sometimes he couldn't understand whether or not I was being sarcastic about things due to the lack of expression in my voice and face. Going off this, I think that this experiment is a great example of how important things like vocal inflection and facial expressions are in our daily conversations, as well as how important they are in terms of things like sarcasm and jokes that we tell, which occur in practically every conversation. I think that certain vocal expressions and facial expressions are universal as well. Clearly people who are blind cannot read body language, and I'm sure that that disability clearly hinders their ability to communicate quite a bit, despite the fact that they can still speak and hear clearly. The adaptive benefit to reading body language would perhaps be to understand whether or not an animal in the wild was a predator or ready to attack based on whether or not his body language looked aggressive. Perhaps it also works for mating purposes, so that a person could tell whether or not a perspective mate was conveying feelings of mutual attraction. I'm not so sure that there are many scenarios where it would be advantageous for someone to be unable to read body language, but I can see many scenarios where it would be advantageous for the opposite person to be unable to read one's own body language. For example, if a person were going to try and sneak up on somebody and perhaps kill them or try and arrest them, it would be good to not be able to convey one's anxiousness.
Hi Preston, I felt the same way about this experiment. It was a very tough one and it felt really akward when in the process of doing the experiment. It was just not how you wouldnomrally talk. It is not everyday that your asked to just speak and not do anything else. I thought it was funny when you said your brother tried to dumb down his questions because turely when communicating in two different ways it is extremely hard to be able to get out what you are trying to say.
ReplyDeleteHey Preston,
ReplyDeleteI don't understand what you mean by, " I don't think that those who are doing the "baby talk" are intentionally trying to be condescending, but they most likely feel quite frustrated in the fact that the other person's poor speaking ability makes conversation difficult, and thus feel that "baby talk" is the easiest answer." Because they are talking to them in that way because they are frustrated with the language barrier, and they do fault the other person for that. I too, found the second part of the experiment to be much more difficult.
Good description on Part A.
ReplyDeleteWhile I understand your balanced response in terms of who has the advantage between cultures, keep in mind who seemed to have the upper hand in your conversation with your brother for this section. Who dumbed down their questions to make the conversation easier? And, specifically, the question addressed this issue of communicating complex concepts. Which culture would be able to communicate complicated ideas with each other, the speaking culture or the non-speaking culture. There may be limited circumstances where a non-speaking culture would have the advantage. Overall, the greater advantage goes to the speaking culture and our evolutionary history backs this up, since the speaking cultures are the ones that persist today, correct?
Enjoyed your descriptions on Part B. I appreciated your perspective on how it would be advantageous to be better than others at reading body language. This is very true! Those who can read body language, and a key issue here is to use this to figure out who you can trust and cooperate with, will have the advantage. Well thought out.