Nonobvious Observation

As a precursor to our ethnography project, everyone had to record themselves doing some task that included interaction with other people. We will then use the videos to observe each other’s interactions in order to determine who that person might be. For our travel plan, the group that I was in decided to simply go to Spoons and get some yogurt. We felt this would give us an opportunity to show our personality through our selections of yogurt flavor and toppings and through the interactions that we had with the other patrons and the employees there. I noticed a wide range of reactions from almost every single person at Spoons, both obvious and nonobvious. The most significant thing that people reacted to was the head-mounted camera itself. Without going into detail—since it would reveal my video and identity—I must say that there were those who embraced the video recording and others who avoided me altogether. With the camera on my head, I noticed that I was significantly more conscious about my own movements. I could tell where my eyes were going and the pace at which I walked. It felt as though my personality became more apparent with the camera on my head. I really hope that all of the videos came out well and that everyone else will have as much fun watching the video as I had in making it.

The article about nonobvious things that reveal more about a person was very dry for such an interesting subject. I agree with Molly Ireland and James Pennebaker; when two people interact, there is a “dance” of sorts. When people interact, it is very normal for them to seek common ground. This does not only apply to interests, but it also includes how they speak and even their postures. The most obvious nonobvious thing to notice is gaze. If somebody’s gaze is similar to the other’s, then there is more of a connection. Ireland and Pennebaker state that listeners better understand the speaker when he or she matches the speaker’s gaze. I notice that when I speak, I sort of unintentionally try to match the way that the other person speaks. Especially in different circles, the manner in which I speak is different. I am adapting to the people with whom I am speaking. Ireland and Pennebaker say that this is an subconscious way to affiliate oneself with a group. You must speak like everyone else in order to be with everyone else. When I took a public speaking class, the professor told us that one of the most important things about speaking is not necessarily the speaking part. It is the nonverbal gestures and movements that make an impact. To engage the listener, look at them, do not speak in monotone, and stand straight. In public speaking, these are things that are clear to us. However, in everyday interactions, it is more subtle and not as obvious. They still have the same implications though.

The first chapter of The Secret Life of Pronouns, written by James Pennebaker, is a really interesting read. I really made me think about how I talk. I even tried to go to the analyzewords.com website to analyze my tweets, but I have not posted enough to get an analysis. Pennebaker’s fascination with how writing reflects the writer’s internal emotional and physical state was his motivation for his work, and I think this is an important subject to be researched, not only for social psychology but also for other fields like HCI. Because this is only the first chapter of the book, I am skeptical about how one can run an objective, scientific analysis on people’s writings--especially writings about traumatic experiences. Martha E. Francis’s computer program Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) seems to try to make this as scientific as possible. However, the development of the dictionaries is based on people’s subjective perceptions of words. Nonetheless, Pennebaker’s conclusions about healthy writing are profound. He said that, when writing about traumas in life, one should “acknowledge the negative but celebrate the positive,” value the construction of the story, and look at the situation from different perspectives. I hope the rest of his book is as interesting as the first chapter.