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Christopher Norvilus

Dr. Hoehl

COM 380- Nonverbal Communication

8 February 2016

Observational Studies

For my first observational study, I chose the first of the options under Foundations of

Nonverbal Communication regarding intentional and unintentional behaviors in class. Five

intentional nonverbal behaviors that I observed when looking at my classmates and surrounding

in one of my Psychology courses were students doing the following actions: taking notes,

texting, doodling art, drinking water, and eating a snack. These were all nonverbal behaviors

that were intentional because each one required the student to consciously decide to perform the

action. The five unintentional nonverbal behaviors that I observed included students performing

the following actions: staring into space, making sarcastic facial expressions when listening to

the professor, shaking their leg when sitting in the desk, tapping their pen on the desk, and falling

asleep. While this actions were intentionally seen by me, those I was observing were clearly

acting unintentionally. For example, the student who was falling asleep in class did not

deliberately decide to doze off. Prior to the student falling asleep, I noticed him taking notes and

then he just seemed to drift off. I am sure he regretted not being awake for part of class when

valuable notes were given by the professor. The main difference between the intentional and

unintentional nonverbal behaviors is the clear distinction between the fact that the intentional

behaviors required thought and deliberate action to complete and the unintentional actions

happened somewhat subconsciously.

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For my second observational study, I chose the fourth option from the Foundations of

Nonverbal Communication section. I chose to watch How To Get Away With Murder as the

one-hour television program for this observational study. There were a total of seven commercial

breaks for a total of approximately twenty commercials or so. Some of the most notable

commercials shown were for the following products or services: McDonalds coffee, Turbo Tax

services, Gruber Law Offices, and Playtex Sport Tampons. The McDonalds coffee commercial

did not use stereotyped gender roles as it consisted of a multiracial and multiple gender group of

young adults all enjoying the beverages. The Turbo Tax services commercial was not gender

stereotyped at all and had a more humorous aspect using a well-known celebrity to try and show

the easy of their tax filing process. The Gruber Law Offices commercial presented a stereotype

by showing the male lawyer speak and having far more male clients speak than female clients.

This showed a gender stereotype on the lawyers part by having more males to show strength and

the fact that lawyers are stereotypically male in the first place. The Playtex Sport Tampons

commercial was gender stereotyped not in the nature of the product, but in the nature of its

display of the women in the commercial. It showed the women working out by slowly walking

on the treadmill or sidewalk instead of showing them doing strenuous physical activity. The

gender stereotype shown was that the women were doing light work for their exercise instead of

anything too physically demanding. The most clear gender stereotype of all the commercials was

definitely present in the Playtex Sport Tampons ad. All of the other commercials aside from

Gruber Law Offices were rather general and did not present any gender stereotypes.

For the third observational study, I chose to complete the fifth study from the Proxemics

section. In the WLC Library, I chose to sit next to directly someone in the back row of computers

whom I had never met when all of the other chairs in the row were open. The person at first did
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not flinch because he was typing when I sat down. After he was finished typing, I could tell he

was uncomfortable with the fact that I had chosen the one spot closest to him when the others

were open, especially because he was seated at one of the end sports. His nonverbal cues of

staring blankly at his computer screen and strangely looking around him in our row were obvious

signs that he wished I had not sat there. He did not give me dirty looks, sigh, or make any direct

nonverbal actions at me. My guess as to why he did not is because he was trying to remain polite

and not cause any type of argument or any additional awkwardness. After about ten minutes, he

got up and left. I assumed he had left the library but when I was leaving about twenty minutes

later, I noticed that he had moved to another cluster of computers in a different area of the

library. I did not feel comfortable telling him why exactly I had sat next to him.

For the fourth observational study, I chose the sixth study from the Proxemics section. In

the REX during their busy time after classes, I chose to perform this observational study at the

chairs seated near the television in the main lobby. When I sat the school newspaper on the table

and watched from nearby, the second person to walk by sat down at the table even though the

table next to it was also open. When I set my backpack on the table, no one took my spot and

someone briefly sat at the other table that was open. The difference is clear. I act the exact same

way when I see a marked space. The newspaper being left can be a signal to me that it was left

to be read by passerbys and not necessarily a place marker. A backpack is a deliberate place

marker.

For the fifth observational study, I completed the ninth option under the Proxemics

section. When sitting with my two closest male friends brainstorming about our ideal home, I

noticed we had many similar ideas. This may be true because we are all from the South and play

football. Having been raised in similar backgrounds and in similar environments, we had similar
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dreams for an ideal home. Each of us said we would want a full gym in the house. We also all

wanted to have a room dedicated to sports with multiple televisions and comfy chairs which is

what is commonly referred to as a man cave. All of us said we would want the ideal home to be

back in the South where we are from and for it to be large in size. The only thing we disagreed

on is the size of the kitchen. I said I would want a big kitchen because I enjoy cooking healthy

recipes. One of my friends said that he would not need a big kitchen because he prefers buying

food either pre-made and only needing to be heated up or actually picking up fast-food. I believe

that friend thinks the way he does because he does not have a culinary background. He grew up

without a lot of home cooked meals and so he does not have the same desire to want to cook for

himself. I grew up with constant home cooked meals because my dad is a chef which clearly

reasons for me having said I would want a big kitchen in my ideal home.