Emily Perron

March 9, 2017

COM 380

Kinesics Observational Study

Observational study 7.1 was a kinesics observation performed in a natural environment.

The study instructed the observer to sit in one spot for 10 minutes or more, and note the

movements people performed. The observer was then asked to guess whether the movement was

purposeful and meant to send a message. Finally, the observer was to take note of the messages

the movement sent to them.

For the observational study 7.1, I sat at one of the group study/tutor tables in the library

and observed college age students. Most students were undergraduate members of WLC - age

18-22 and primarily white.I sat in the same general area twice for about 5-10 minutes each time,

first at 1:23-1:33 and then at 6:40-6:45. Both times I sat down to conduct a naturalistic

observation and proceeded to take note of movements in Google Sheets to look as natural as

possible.

The students I observed were primarily studying by themselves or with only a small

group of friends. Each seemed to have their own space and their own busy midterm week to

attend to. However, the during the 6:40-6:45, students were getting help from the various tutors

and there were a few more clusters of people studying together and there definitely more crowd

in certain areas of the library.

During the first 10 minutes in the area, the majority of movements, 6/10, seemed

purposeful.These included typing, texting, reaching up, flipping through pages, unbuttoning
coats, waving and cracking the neck. Most of these actions seemed obviously intentional, but

not all of them were intended to send a message. Many of these were perceived as efforts to

become comfortable or refocus attention to an assignment.

When I returned to the area at 6:40, the same was concluded, and of the movements

seemed purposeful. These movements included walking to the back of the room - I assume to see

friends, lifting chair feet, and gesturing across the room. These seemed to be intentional and for

the most part meant to send a message.

This study analyzes the intentionality of nonverbal messages and proves that nonverbals

are both intentional and unintentional. Nonverbal communication is continuous and innate as

well as learned. Nonverbal messages can be difficult to control, while verbal communication can

be paused and is all learned. As seen in this study, every nonverbal movement and gesture can be

interpreted as a message even when the sender is unaware of the majority of their messages.