Nonverbal Communication Observation

I. Observation

My observation of nonverbal communication and behavior related to gender took place at a local café, Ad Astra. This café doubles a used-and-new book store and a coffee shop; the menu consists of coffee and tea beverages, sandwiches, and sweets. Ad Astra does not serve alcohol. The furniture consists of odd tables, chairs, and sofas; tables, depending on their size and shape, sit two to five people. The back of the dining area contains a space for children to read and play. It is a self-service café.

I attended Ad Astra on the evening of their Old Vinyl Night event, from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Since it was a week night, I encountered only about 20 people coming and going altogether; some of the customers were single men, some people

Analysis

The analysis of the observations presented in the previous section will be focused on the gender differences in nonverbal communication expressed through proxemics and haptics. I decided to connect these two concepts in my analysis because both of them are related to the communicating power and control, and, for the most part, both were demonstrated by my subjects simultaneously.

“Proximics refers to space and our use of it” (Wood, 2016, p.129). During my observation I have noticed that the majority of females were sitting in tight groups, in close proximity to each other. Moreover, these groups were taking a significantly smaller space than the groups of men in the café. For example, sitting at a round table for five, a group of three women took less than 50% of the table by pushing their chairs together. On the contrary, the three single men (see the observation) each took a sitting area designed for three-four people: a table for four, or an entire couch. Julia T. Wood and Natalie Fixmer-Oraiz (2016) explain that more powerful people usually claim a larger space (p.129). It is my understanding that the converse is also true: people who claim power try to occupy a larger space. In my observation, males claimed excessive sitting area--even though the tables for two were still available, they took sitting suited for three or four customers. On the contrary, when I walked in, I have chosen a table for two, even though bigger tables were available. I reasoned with

Under my observation, women were getting into each other’s space all the time, while males not only preserved their own territory, but also avoided intruding each other’s territory. The two single men, one on the couch, and one sitting at an adjacent table, started a conversation. While the music, as I mentioned before, was playing loudly, the two men engaged in a conversation would not move closer to each other or lean