Non Verbal Behavior Patterns

* Is there any difference in patterns of nonverbal behavior (type of behavior used, frequency and intensity of behaviors, who initiates and closes and interchange, and so on) when different mixes of the genders are interacting; that is, one male with another male, one female with another female, two males and one female, and so on?

The difference I’ve observed between the two groups of people, Group 1 (table of guys) one of the guys were wearing a hat, jacket, work jeans and work boots. His arms were folded across his stomach as he was sitting back listening tentatively to his work buddies as they spoke. The other guys were sitting in the same position, leaning forward with their elbows on the table. As one speaks, the others would respectfully listen till it was their time to speak. In my assumption, they looked as though they were finished eating lunch. With a little bit of lunch time left to spare, they’ve started talking about something that was important.

Group 2 (two older ladies sitting at the table), what I’ve observed with the two older women, both of them were dressed warm with sweaters. One of them had on fuzzy house slippers, walking with a cane, assuming she was older than the other lady. Once they were seated to eat their food, they begun to eat without any words to say. Their sitting postures were leaning forward as they ate their lunch. They were quiet. When they were half way thru with eating lunch, they began to talk every once in a while. The older lady was looking around at the different pictures and color, analyzing the restaurant. The younger lady was looking out of the window. I assumed that they’re really good friends and they always hang out together. They’ve known each other for many years which is why it wasn’t necessary to have a drawn out conversation.

-What effect does the age does of the participants have?

The guys who were in conversation at the table seemed to be around the same age and

because of that, they related to...