Social interaction is a fundamental part of everyday life, whether this be physically with other people or via communicative media.
Shot of sofa, face on.
This involves a great deal of social psychology, even though we don't realise it on a conscious level. For example, take this boy.
Boy appears on the sofa. (popping sound)
He's about to meet a new friend.
Another person appears, (popping sound) they shake hands. (this is all sped up, overdramatic).
In previous studies it has been found that when pairs of unacquainted peers were observed in free interaction, the rates of performance in verbal and non-verbal communication were significantly higher.
The pair talk heartily, nodding and laughing.
This changes when there are several people in the room.
Shot changes, now we can see two sofa's opposite each other.
There are even social rules when it comes to seating arrangements - for example, in a previous survey, it was found that sitting side by side was considered the most intimate. People will sit across from one another until the distance between them exceeds the limit for comfortable conversation. This is even indicative of a social hierarchy!
During the above narration, one person will firstly enter then sit down. Then, another enters, and does a turn in the middle of the sofas, a pondering expression on their face. They bite their finger nervously before finally deciding to sit opposite. Then, the two other people enter and choose their seats.
So, social interaction is very important in daily life, and these are skills which we accumulate over a lifetime. But how has the way we socialise changed through the years..? Has communicative technology played a part in this?
Cut to elderly home.
No comments:
Post a Comment