VERBAL VS NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION

To compare verbal versus non-verbal communication I watched an episode of the Good Times comedy show. I first watched the episode on mute and noted what I believed was happening based on the non-verbal communication between the characters. The episode began with one character, a young woman who is cooking and reading a magazine at the same time. She is more absorbed in the magazine than the cooking. She is distracted by something and looks to her left with a concerned look on her face. At this moment a young boy around 8 to 10 years old walks into the apartment, shouts some seemingly angry words out the door, then proceeds to slam it shut. He then marches over to the woman and begins talking animatedly to her. They talk back and forth and she walks away from the stove and puts the magazine down on the counter behind her.

The boy begins to stir the pot, lifting up the spoon with an expression on his face that shows disgust for what is in the pot. He says something to the woman who takes the spoon from him. She goes over to the table and she begins setting it with a few bowls. As she sets the table she is speaking angrily to the boy. At this time a young man enters the apartment and addresses the woman. He begins to sniff around with a confused look on his face. He heads over to the stove and point to the pot that is still cooking, picks it up and says something about the pot to the woman. She stamps away from him, says what seem to be angry words, from her body language, and goes over to the refrigerator.

The young man calls the little boy over and gives him some mail reading them out one at a time. He takes another envelope and reads what is on it. The young woman rushes over and tries to get the envelope which he holds up high. They argue back and forth and the little boy runs over in the middle of them. The argument seems to turn to the little boy who spins left to right from one character to another.

At this time an older woman enters into the living area of the apartment from one of the other rooms. She says something to the three young people which they all ignore. She then shouts something out loud at them and they all stop what they were doing and spins around to face her.

As I watched the episode the second time with the volume one I realized in some instances the facial expressions and body language of the characters helped me to realize just what was happening. At other times I was totally off the mark. The little boy entered the apartment and was arguing with a friend with whom he was angry. This was clear from his actions. As the food in the pot is discussed, it is obvious that the young woman does not know how to cook, and so the smell of the food which begins to burn is not inviting.

I thought the two young adults were arguing with the little boy as he spun from one of them toward the other. As I listen, I realize that he was actually defending each of them from the other and they were really arguing with each other. It was obvious with both viewing, that the older woman was in charge and that the young people all respected her.