Hand Gestures

This week, I watched this video clip on nonverbal communication from Youtube. I highly recommend everyone in our communications class to watch this video. The video clip is a talk given by Body Language Expert Jan Hargrave, teaching women how to detect if their partners are lying to them. It is educational yet hilarious.


In the video clip, Jan Hargrave talked about the hand gestures when taking an oath. It seems that the hand gesture of putting one's right hand up when taking an oath is rather universal and there has been a lot of studies done to determine if someone really means what he or she says just by observing that particular hand gesture. But how confident can we say that someone is truthful or not just by observing his or her body language? As a matter of fact, the majority of our message sent to the other receiver(s) are communicated through nonverbal rather than verbal means, this means that when we are presenting ourselves, we hould not only pay attention to our verbal messages which could most of the time be scripted and rehearsed. What is more important is the spontaneous and impromptu body language; it has to be consistent with our verbal message so that we do not portray ourselves to be hypocrite or keeping something from the other party.

On the other hand, are all hand gestures universal? I do not think so. Here are some hand gestures that I know of that are not univeral. These are cultural-specific and in different cultures across the world, the same gestures may take on a different meaning.

1. The “I Love You" Hand Gesture Consisting of a clenched fist with the second and fifth fingers straightened out, the hand gesture has most recently been adopted by fans of rock and heavy metal music, first used by Black Sabbath vocalist Ronnie James Dio. The gesture carries only a vague meaning, implying the presence of Satan, malevolence and loud guitar music, and is used in much the same way as headbanging. However, the hand gesture is actually positive in Buddhism and Hinduism. It is known as the Karana Mudra in such circles, and is used to dispel evil – an interestingly opposite meaning to its contemporary significance. Nowadays, popularized by Japanese drama, the hand gesture means "I Love You" in Asia.

2. The “OK” Sign Mainly used by scuba divers to mean “OK” (to prevent ambiguity with the thumbs-up sign, which means “ascend", and in America and the UK is often used to tell somebody that they’ve made a great meal, as talking with your mouth would just be impolite. Essentially the meaning comes out as “great”, or “absolutely fine”. Not so, however, in a few countries in Europe, where the numerical interpretation gives the signal an insulting overtone – essentially you’re telling them that you think they’re a ‘zero’.
Far worse, however, is the meaning in Brazil, Germany and a few Mediterranean countries: the circular shape of the gesture gives it the meaning of “anus”, and is therefore used to call somebody an “asshole”, or, by extension, a homosexual.

3. The "Thumbs Up" While Western culture has become used to the thumbs-up as a positive, informal signal, generally indicating a job well done (probably stemming from World War II pilots using the signal to communicate that they were “good to go” with ground crews), there are cultures where a thumbs-up may land you in trouble. In most of Latin America and West Africa, as well as Greece, Russia, Sardinia and the south of Italy, the thumbs-up basically means the same as the middle finger: “sit on it and swivel”. Also, it’s generally not recommended to use the thumbs-up around the Middle East as it’s pretty much the biggest insult out there.

All in all, most hand gestures, as with other body languages are usually ambiguous and take on different meanings in different cultures. Therefore, it is important to note that one should be consistent in his or her verbal and nonverbal cues when communicating with other people. Also, never attempt to lie, because somehow or another, the party can observe your truthfulness through your nonverbal cues which is often not part of your rehearsed script.

First Impressions

Recently, I've completed reading Jane Austen's novel "Pride and Prejudice".It was originally named "First Impressions" as the story develops around the how first impressions affect interpersonal relationships between the story's characters. Therefore, I have decided to blog about the importance of creating good first impressions and how to create good first impressions in our daily lifes.

According to recent research done at Harvard Medical School entitled Very First Impressions, "Humans are excellent in judging personality traits and complex social characteristics such as dominance, hierarchy, warmth, and threat." So basically, when you meet someone new they decide instantly whether or not they wish to have further communications with you, based on if they feel your personalities match. Therefore, first impressions can be quite important.

Firstly, everyone uses cognitive schematas when they form a perception of others. We all get a first impression of a new person that creates a mental image of his or her personality in our minds. That image often lasts and can affect the relationship that follows.

Secondly, we also play different roles in relationships and by playing these roles, we leave different impressions on different people. With our parents we play one role, with friends another, with someone we are interested in/in love with a third, when shopping for clothes in a store a fourth. And so on.

Therefore, a good first impression is important can create a positive role in the minds of the new people we meet. When we meet them again, we are often drawn back into this role. The rest of the discussion are some of the things I’ve learned about improving first impressions. Of course, different environments like business meetings with suits and ties or parties with umbrella-drinks come with different goals and expectations so figure out what's appropriate and useful in each meeting.

Act as if you are meeting a good friend

If you just imagine that the person you have just met and are talking to is one of your best friends you’ll probably adjust unconsciously and start to smile, open up your body-language to a very friendly and warm position and reduce any nervousness or weirdness in your tone of voice and body-language. Don't overdo it though, you might not want to hug and kiss right away.
The nice thing about this is that you may also start to feel positive feelings towards this new person, just as you do with your friend when you meet him/her. This is a pretty good starting-point for getting them to reciprocate and for developing a good relationship. Remember, the words are only 7 percent of your communication. 93 percent is in your tone of voice and your body-language.

Be positive

A way to convey a positive attitude in a first meeting is to read the mood of person(s) before you start talking – by just observing them. Then - when you have an emotional connection and the other person feels you are similar to him/her - you can let your positivity arise a bit more.

Mentally rehearse before you even enter the room

Visualize how great the events will unfold - see and hear it - and also how great will you feel at this meeting. See yourself smiling, being positive, open and having a great time. See the excellent outcome in your mind. Then release by visualizing that it has already happened, that the meeting is over with the desired result. This is surprisingly effective and will get you into a great and relaxed mood before even stepping into the first, second or twentieth meeting.

Hopefully with these tips on creating impressions, we will become better communicators and presenters!

Not Everyone Is Lovin' Japan's New McDonald's Mascot

McDonald's is currently running an advertising campaign in Japan that uses Mr. James, a bumbling white guy who speaks broken katakana (i.e. accented) Japanese. Basically a "gaijin", a derogatory term for a foreigner in Japan, he's even got his own blog while he tours McDonald's locations across Japan. People are upset because he's perpetuating racist stereotypes, and comparisons to Stepin Fetchit are being made. Stern letters has been written to McDonald's by FRANCA, a human rights group concerned with the rights of non-Japanese residents in Japan.

Here are 2 commercials out of the 4 used in the advertising campaign.

Throughout the years, McDonald's advertisements have focused not only on product, but rather on the overall McDonald's experience, portraying warmth and a real slice of everyday life. This "image" or "reputation" advertising has become a trademark of the company. Although the advertisements are effective as they are humorous and also create resonance with the target audience (the Japanese) as they are playing to Japan’s xenophobic tendencies. However, these advertisements fail to amplify the emotional impact as they do not engage a personal connection with the McDonald’s brand—a friendly, family-oriented brand has now been associated with racism, stereotyping and cultural-insensitivity.

From a cultural studies perspective whereby close relationship exists between acts of communication (called discursive acts or texts) and power, communication is being linked to social forces such as capitalism, racism, colonialism etc. as text exert power over people who consume them. In the context of McDonald’s advertisements shown above, racism and cultural imperialism exists.

Firstly, McDonald’s is guilty of racism as it portrayed Mr. James, as an expatriate who speaks broken katakana Japanese. This is a negative stereotype because Mr. James is not a good representation of expatriates in Japan. McDonald’s is also culturally insensitive by assuming all expatriates cannot speak fluent, non-accented Japanese. In Asia, McDonald's have become a symbol for the desire to embrace Western cultural norms but it does not have to resort to poor taste and offensive advertising to appeal to its Asian consumers. Although the stereotype is useful and aids communication by using easily understood symbolic meanings shared by its Japanese audience, the stereotype has relied on a characteristic that is negative and exaggerated and , in so doing, reduces the group (Western expatriates in Japan) to a caricature. Using such a strategy makes advertising a participant in shaping and reinforcing that cultural value.

Secondly, although McDonald’s is a global enterprise, it has made mistakes by overlaying their worldview on that of another culture without thinking about the impact of their advertising. This is known as cultural imperialism—because the Western world views Asians as incapable of speaking fluent and non-accented English doesn’t mean that likewise, Asians, view Westerners as incapable of speaking fluent and non-accented Asian languages.

Finally, children are also audience of McDonald’s advertisements. Children are vulnerable as they do not always know what is good for them and what is not. McDonald’s has to take up certain responsibilities for the racist message sent by their advertisements by portraying expatriates in such a negative light. Advertisers have a responsibility to ensure that what is portrayed is accurate and representative.

One important lesson that can be learnt here is that advertisers and communicators should always show respect for culture and local customs as their insensitivity to local customs can adversely impact not just the effectiveness of their advertising campaign but also their brand image which is key to their marketing success.

Do you like Mr. James? Why or why not?

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Welcome to my E-portfolio for COM101. This E-portfolio will be updated by every Sunday from this week onwards. Feel free to leave comments on the topics that are discussed

Cheers,
Helena