LT. Kimo Bandmann of Utah with the 405 Civil Affairs Unit and part of a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT),speaks with residents during a visit to the village of Pushtay January 9, 2010 in Pushtay, Afghanistan. Soldiers, from Forward Operating Base (FOB) Orgun-E in Paktika Province, went to the village to inquire about their needs and concerns.
Having recently watched 'The Hurt Locker' it brings home the importance of being able to quickly and accurately 'read people' where the stakes of not being able to accurately identify emotion, intent, and threat of danger can mean you are dead. I leave politics totally aside in this series, the men and women who serve in highly dangerous arenas are not thinking about politics when they are being placed in these situations, they are thinking only of survival. Over the course of the next several months I will post articles that will directly address the challenges of "reading people" who are serving overseas.
In this particular situation we see LT. Kimo Bandmann speaking with a villager. The villager has his arms crossed, which generally means a lack of wanting to participate, and at the same time seems to have a pleasant smile on his face.
It is always disconcerting when you are in a potentially dangerous situation and you cannot see their hands. It would be wise to control the situation and ask to see their hands. This is not always possible in "social situations" but it is safer.
More "aggressive" gestures are allowable in the middle east, where people expect dominant people in positions of power to display their 'right' to dominance and control. To not show some dominance is a sign of weakness. This often comes into conflict with those that have been taught to be polite, regardless of the situation. LT. Kimo Bandmann is showing some dominance by the way he his holding one hand higher and in a modified pointing manner.◦
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Serving Our Country Series: Gestures Have Meaning
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8 comments:
I have a question. You say that its acceptable to show domincy in middle east, so is their a diffrent reaction in middle east. I'd probably annoyance or worrie if someone was showing alot of dominance, but what would the expression be like in those countries?
The reaction would be the same as anywhere, if you are a bully it will not be respected; too little and you are weak. What is difficult about the situation is showing the right amount of dominance given the situation and who you are dealing with. Don't get me wrong, there are times (like at a checkpoint, on guard duty, and in situations outside the base) where they have to be very dominant and will give direction to local like police officers who are making an arrest. What doesn't get reported is all the 'community' work the people do on their own time with their own money... the word that best describes the situation is benevolence.
I humbly disagree with the analysis because crossed arms can also mean that a person is cold - which is likely the interpretation because of his clothing choices (hat + scarf + coat) and it is 41 degrees 41 degrees Fahrenheit today (at this moment), which is considered as cold there.
Furthermore, one cannot separate politics from these situations because the native population will usually see any foreign troops as occupiers, which will reflected in their verbal/nonverbal communication.
Another startling fact is that most Americans are completely oblivious to politics in America, and even more ignorant about international politics, as well as cultural differences.
And in fact, one anthropologist is attempting to educate them:
"In Class, Marines Learn Cultural Cost Of Conflict"
http://www.wbur.org/npr/122362543
And when one does not respect, nor understand, another culture and their communication styles (verbally/nonverbally), their analysis remains all their own.
Afghanistan: Time to leave
Patrick Cockburn, our award-winning reporter who has covered the region for more than 30 years, explains why it is best for the world, and Afghanistan, if our troops are brought home
Sunday, 8 November 2009
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/afghanistan-time-to-leave-1817004.html
Gregory Hartley's books on body language:
Gregory Hartley's expertise as an interrogator first earned him honors with the United States Army. More recently, it has drawn organizations such as the Defense Intelligence Agency, Navy SEALS, Federal law enforcement agencies, and national TV to seek his insights about "how to" as well as "why." He resides near Atlanta, Georgia.
http://www.amazon.com/Gregory-Hartley/e/B001JS9BKM/ref=sr_tc_2_0
the new yorker archiveetc.blog
The Naked Face
by Malcolm Gladwell
August 5, 2002
ANNALS OF PSYCHOLOGY
Can you read people's thoughts
just by looking at them?
http://www.gladwell.com/2002/2002_08_05_a_face.htm
Humans communicate verbally through words and nonverbally via facial expressions and body movements. Nonverbal communication refers to any human behavior, other than words, that serves a communicative purpose (→ Interpersonal Communication). Such behavior can occur voluntarily or involuntarily, either simultaneously with words or alone. Nonverbal communicative behaviors that have been under intensive research include high–low context, silence, turn-taking, facial expressions of emotion, head nod, and gaze and mutual gaze.Culture is defined as “the way of life of a people” (Hall 1959, 31), who often live in a well-defined geographic area, speak the same language, and use the same nonverbal codes, with a set of norms and values regulating their thoughts and behaviors (→ Intercultural Norms). The relationship between culture and communication, verbal or nonverbal, is a reciprocal one, as crystallized by Hall (1959, 169): “culture is communication” and “communication is culture.” People communicate according to the dictates of their culture, and, in turn, through communication, culture is manifested, specified, and developed.In the long journey of human evolutionary processes, cultural groups have formed distinctively different languages and nonverbal communication cues, which are understood among themselves but can be enigmatic for outsiders. As nonverbal communication is often implicit, ... log in or subscribe to read full text
http://www.blackwellreference.com/public/tocnode?id=g9781405131995_chunk_g978140513199519_ss45-1
Culture and Nonverbal Behavior
. .subsequent material focusing on nonverbal behaviors. I also discuss the influence of culture on nonverbal behaviors in the communication process, ...
www.davidmatsumoto.info/Books/Chapter1.pdf
Additional publications, articles & book chapters related to emotion, culture, and nonverbal communication:
http://www.davidmatsumoto.com/publications.php
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