I found the section on nonverbal communication to be interesting. I think the notion of different movements, signals, and facial expressions can mean different things depending on the culture. Smiling and laughing at certain times may be interpreted differently depending on the person/culture. Eye contact is a big one too.
I found the last paragraph to be the most interesting though - the idea that despite all of our differences in verbal and nonverbal communications, there is an underlying idea of what a good leader is and how we should act socially. Laughing, smiling, listening intently - All of these have a powerful meaning across cultural divides and prove the many theories that we all communicate on a human level, despite our religious background, language we speak, geographic location, etc. Kind of like we have an "international language" that we are all programmed with, I would assume throughout years of social interaction (whether it's passive or interactive) as well as media and learned behaviors through books, movies, tv, school, church, etc.
I really also enjoyed the concept of nonverbal communication. I took a class last semester on nonverbal communication and learned so much. it is amazing how a single look can mean so much more than words. Also learning about differences in other cultures is interesting. I live in the International house and one day we had a discussion on what a certain hand action means and it meant four different things in four different cultures. I agree with you that through media and society we have learnt behaviors and that is why we have an "international language" and that really listening and observing can help when in another culture.
ReplyDelete