Interpersonal

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Interpersonal

Choice #1

An interpersonal interaction of yours where there were communication problems associated with verbal/language meaning.

Verbal communication is an important and basic part of our communication that occurs through the words we use. Communication can be between two people and among people as it depends on the situation and has its pros and cons. To understand the problems that can take place in a verbal communication, here is a specific scenario given as an example for the questions below:

Describe the interaction (who, what, where, when, why, how)

Last week, I had an interaction with one of my neighbors in the middle of the road when our cars got hit together because this guy was coming from the wrong side of the road with a full-speed. Everyone knows that full speeding is against the rule of driving. It happened on Friday night when I was coming from a store and the man, according to the cop, was drunk and coming from a party. He hit my car so bad that I lost my front tooth after getting struck to the window of my car.

Describe the relationship between you and the other person?

This man whom I got interacted with because of such a bad accident, lives in my neighbors. He has always been nice to me as we share the same gym and college. We also greet each other in the park during our daily morning exercise. He never seemed to be a violent man before as I never had seen his aggressive behavior towards anyone but yes, I do have seen him drinking more often and that’s what became the reason of this accident too. Except this bad habit of drinking, he has been a nice neighbor and a good human being who talks very politely.

Indicate the word/phrase or nonverbal cue that created the problem.

When the accident happened, I was the one who got injured in the first place but I tried to remain calm and tried to put together my anger when I saw that the person who hit my car was my neighbor. I asked him about why he was speeding but he ignored the question, then I asked him again that why did he come the wrong way of the road. He did not respond to my questions and came very close to me without uttering any words. I did not know he was drunk at that time. His attitude was different than before as he had never approached me that way and had never made me awkward before. He started the conversation with words like, “hey baby listen I am sorry”. At this point, I lost my patience and reacted harshly to what he was doing and to his comment when he said “baby”. I did not see this as a good sign as we never exchange such words as neighbors.

Describe how your interpretation was different than the other person’s interpretation.

Like I said earlier that we never shared such a causal relationship where we can use informal words during communication rather our conversations have always been very formal and to the point. We are good neighbors and share a relation where we only focus on formal point to point conversations when we meet in the park or college. I was not okay with words like “Baby” and “honey” or “beautiful” which made me uncomfortable and made the whole situation awkward for both of us. He might have said it in a positive way but for me, it was no less than flirting. I thought he was trying to come close to me and thought he was up to something very bad because it was night time and I could not trust a drunk guy especially at night.

Describe how those interpretations affected each person’s behavior?

My interpretation of the word resulted in extreme anger. I was very calm at first but after this word, I lost my temper and started yelling at him. In response, he did the same and became more violent that he almost tried to hit me. He became very angry as he talked rubbish for a while. I asked him to lower his tone and behave himself but he did not stop yelling and ranting. This interpretation made a sudden yet huge change in both of our behavior.

Describe how the problems/misunderstanding was resolved?

People started to gather around us as they heard our fight. They tried to calm us down and asked to solve the problem. After some time, the cop came and examined the whole situation. Upon investigation, they found that my neighbor was drunk while driving that led to the accident. I understood that behavior change was the result of drinking. It was the cops who told me about everything. He should have not driven his car when he that much drunk because anything worse could have happened at that time. The issue was resolved and I was calm as I learned about his drinking.

Describe some ways that the problem/misunderstanding might have been avoided in the first place.

The problem might have been avoided in the first place only if I showed a little patience and tried to understand his situation or he could have been responsible while driving. He should have not driven while in a drunken state. He got drunk and passed comments that were not appropriate and became the reason for a big fight.

An interpersonal interaction of yours where there were communication problems associated with the non-verbal meaning

Describe the interaction (who, what, where, when, why, how)

I was taking my English class on Monday when y teacher suddenly started yelling at me and asked me to leave the class. It was so sudden that I did not understand what happened to me. Upon asking the reason, the teacher said that I am making noise and disturbing the whole class. I apologized and took my seat. She then asked questions from the students and I tried to answer but she did not respond at first. When I insisted to answer, the teacher hardly made any eye contact with me and started rolling her eyes as she was not interested in listening to me.

Describe the relationship between you and the other person?

The relationship we share is of a student and a teacher. She has been my teacher for two years now and has always been a very good English teacher who does not favor any student or never discriminates among her students.

Indicate the word/phrase or nonverbal cue that created the problem.

I became very angry and responded in a very rude way when the teacher did not do eye contact with me while I was answering the question and later rolled her eyes at me which was quite unusual. I also observe a frown on her face that indicated that the teacher is angry and is not happy with me.

Describe how your interpretation was different than the other person’s interpretation.

Not doing eye contact during a conversation or while communication means the other person is interred in talking at all and the facial expression my teacher gave me was based on dislike. She might not mean the same as she cleared her intentions later but according to me, it was a rude response to my answer. She is the teacher and she can be angry at students over something wrong but my interpretation of her gestures is different as I want teachers to be very supportive.

Describe how those interpretations affected each person’s behavior?

Due to her facial expressions and unpleasant gestures, I lost my confidence and started defending my position. I was very sad and did not listen to any of the teacher's instructions later in the class. However, the teacher was not the same and with a big smile on her face, she asked me not to make noise in the classroom.

Describe how the problems/misunderstanding was resolved?

After learning about my rude behavior, the teacher asked me the reason and I told her about her unwilling gestures towards my response to the questions she asked from the students. She said she does not mean to hurt my sentiments as she was upset over something else which I misunderstood. She smiled at me and showed love by putting her hands over my face and rubbing my back.

Describe some ways that the problem/misunderstanding might have been avoided in the first place.

It was a misunderstanding and I misunderstood her gestures. The problem might have been avoided in the first place if I showed serious behavior during class and if I did not become rude with the teacher. I should have been more polite and should have sat idly without saying anything.