Language Experiment

The first part of the experiment was very difficult for me. I conducted my experiment during my lunch break at work. I work at a school, so  you have about six teachers dishing and venting about their day. I always have something to say so just sitting there without being able to talk was a  little bit of a challenge to me but it was very interesting to see how my co-workers reacted. 

As I sat there listening to the conversation, my co-workers were trying to get me engaged in the conversation because they are used to me talking and sharing details about my day. What I found that was very interesting was that after a good five minutes of my silence I was slowly excluded from the conversation. The eye contact from the speaker also seemed to decrease and whoever was speaking would look directly at someone else, even when I was giving them all of my attention. I really thought that they would look at me more to see what kind of face expressions I would make since I was not speaking but I was still clearly interested in what they had to say, but they didn't. 

If we were two different cultures and they had the ability to use symbolic language, they would most definitely have the advantage when it came to expressing COMPLEX ideas and that is why we as humans have such an advantage over everyone else, because although there are different forms of communication that others species may use, we are the only ones that are able to speak and communicate by using a symbolic language. Unfortunately, not all humans are born with the ability to speak. There are cases in which children are born either with a disability or a deformity which might prevent them from being able to speak such as mutes, non verbal  individuals with mental disabilities or with physical disabilities. 

The second part of the experiment was actually much easier for me, although it was still frustrating to not be able to use hand movements and body language it was  still much easier than not being able to speak at all. 

My co-workers did not exclude me this time but they still acted differently they were more obvious and eager to get a reaction out of me. So they would say something and stop and look at me and when I would talk (clearly I didn't talk as much as usual or they would have thought that I had completely lost my mind.) and I would say things like " I see" and " I know where you're coming from" and " that's interesting", phrases that don't require a lot of emotion.  

I think that the ability to talk and being able to see and use body language and expressions is very important. Without signs we can't translate emotion and emotion is what makes us human. Individuals that may not have the ability to see such as blind people or even children with autism  that have difficulty reading and translating body language have a major disadvantage when it comes to communication. 

Last but not least, I'm wondering if this is a trick question because I can not think of environmental  setting where it would be an advantage to NOT be able to see body language or expressions might be an advantage. Maybe when conduction and experiment or during a trial other than that I'm not sure.