What I have learned about Communication Skills.

                                   Law and Order Special Victims Unit

The show I watched was Law and Order Special Victims Unit with the sound turned off. The characters in the show to me are based on the fact that they have a good working relationship (that is the detectives). I say this because as they were discussing the case there was a great deal of eye to eye contact (in intervals), body language, gestures, and voice tone from all parties. Based on their feelings and expressions when dealing with the criminals and trying to get to the bottom of the case you could see the frustration in their faces. The criminals in the movie avoided making any type of eye contact with the detectives and they kept blinking their eyes which to me says in some cases that they were not being honest about what they was saying and they kept looking down. 

Their tone of voice with each other showed enthusiasm because they caught what they thought was the person guilty of committing that horrible crime. That enthusiasm soon turned into anger when the criminal denied committing the crime. I watched the show again (I taped it) and my assumptions about the characters was correct. The only thing that was incorrect was the constant blinking of the eye by one of the criminals. The blinking is a result of a medical condition. If I had been watching a show I know a more well it is a possibility that my assumptions would have been more correct. It’s hard to say, one never knows for sure.

One thing I learned is that my assumptions regarding communication may not always be what I think it is. For example, the eye contact can be considered as intimidating or confrontational so again you can’t assume it could be totally different. With that being said I need to look for other cues. What this showed me is that nonverbal signals can be misread. It is important that I pay careful attention to verbal as well as nonverbal communication with others. This will help me improve my communication skills and make them more effective. We can always learn something new.