Interpersonal Communication Observation

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My research was done at the J. Paul Leonard Library at San Francisco State University. The library consists of 5 floors and a basement level available to students. I chose this location because there is a high number of student flow and range of resources and things available to do. Each of the floors seemed to have a different vibe that students would follow. When visiting each level for a half hour each to determine which part of the library to cover I found that the first-floor research assistant resource was most interesting to observe student and librarian interactions. The basement level consisted of computers, tables for student with personal laptops, and study rooms. The first floor had the most interactions since it also has a Peet’s …show more content…

40-55). Often at times, verbal communication alone is not sufficient enough to convey an adequate representation. As a result, nonverbal gestures have the capability of further ensuring an accurate comprehension of a representation that one wishes to convey. Interestingly, such gestures can even be used in the absence of verbal communication. Thus, in my particular case, although I was not directly within the vicinity to overhear the communication, I was able to gain a relatively close understanding of what was actually being uttered aloud. Although I wasn’t able to hear the communication I was able to see the gestures being made and how it showed a certain type of thought or suggestion being portrayed. The second sociological significance I found was the display of student norms for verbal communication within the different parts of the library. The limited sound on the third and fourth floor of the J. Paul Leonard Library is an example of norms followed by students. Norms are the expectation of people and they behave (essentials of sociology ed 10 james m. Henslin). In any liberal an expected rule for someone is to be silent and not distract others. This norm has been supported that 51% of people 16 and older rate being quiet in the library as very important oppose to somewhat important (Scola, 2013). The students at the J. Paul Leonard Library follow this statistic when on different floors and sections of the

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