For each of the examples that follow, create an “I” statement that expresses your feelings about the situation:
Once again your roommate has borrowed some of your clothes without asking and has returned them dirty and/or damaged.
I would be very angry with my roommate. I would feel as if my roommate had no respect for me. I don’t believe that we would be roommates any longer.
For the third time this semester, your instructor has changed the date of an exam.
I would be relieved thinking that maybe that would give me more time to prepare for the exam. I would also become frustrated in the event that the timeline may have been moved up. I wouldn’t want to take it before I’m supposed to.
Your good friend has developed a habit of cancelling plans at the last moment.
I would be upset that they were not responsible enough to meet plans that were made. He or she would be advised on how important these plans are to me. We would have to come to some type of understanding or no longer make plans including them.
Your romantic partner embarrasses you by teasing you about personal habits in front of friends.
I would take my partner aside and explain to her how I felt about the situation and ask that it not happen again. If it became a habit, it would truly change how I felt about her. The things we know about one another shouldn’t always be shared with other people.
3. Cultural Differences in Nonverbal Communication Go to a search engine such as Google, and look for a Web site that explains the rules for nonverbal communication and behavior in a culture outside the United States with which you are not familiar. What rules surprised you? What rules were similar to the ones you use? What do you think would happen if you used your “normal” rules for nonverbal behavior in this culture?
What rules surprised you?
In most countries when thumb and index finger form a circle it means “Okay”. In Turkey it means homosexual and is considered a big insult.
Turks will stand close
