For this observation I went to my local Starbucks. I got my usual drink and sandwich and sat down at a table near the back of the restaurant to observe the people there. I looked around a bit but there were two women in specific, who seemed to have a lot going on. They appeared to be taking a break from work and were sitting at a table having something to drink. This was an interesting conversation when it comes to gestures because the woman with the dark hair used a lot of gestures while the other woman with the blonde hair didn’t seem to use very many.
I first observed the first woman making a lot of facial expressions. She smiled when the other woman said something and she continued to do that throughout the conversation, about five or six times. She also made a surprised look with her face and these were two examples of affect displays based on emotions she felt about what the other woman was saying to her. She seemed to be conveying that she is interested in what the woman had to say and paying a lot of attention.
The first woman also used hand gestures which people sometimes call “talking with your hands.” These gestures were illustrators that happened many times and she just appeared to be moving her hands around randomly. At one point I observed the second woman making what could have been a regulator when she looked at her phone as if she was looking at a watch. She then used an adaptor where she was tapping her foot and her fingers on the table a few times. That conveyed to me that maybe their break was up and she was ready to go but she was trying to be patient.
The next conversation I observed was a group of three people. There were two young men and a young lady who appeared to be high school or college students. One of the young men was wearing a baseball cap and he was very loud with his voice and also used a lot of gestures. I saw him use more than one gesture at the same time when he smiled and gave the “thumbs up” sign after his friend said something to him from the counter while he was seated at the table. This showed an example of an illustrator with the sign he made and an affect display with his smile. This conveyed that he was happy with what his friend was saying.
I saw the group of friends looking at their phones many times which could have been a regulator but seemed just to be them checking messages or something else. The girl was holding her hair and also was moving around a button on her purse which were both adaptors. It seemed like she was comfortable but she may have been anxious at that time.
When the group of friends was leaving the young man in the baseball cap went one way and the other two went the other. They were saying their goodbyes and the guy in the hat waved which was an emblem that conveyed a goodbye. Around the time they left, they left I saw a businessman come in with his computer. He was placing his order and he started making an angry face and moving his hands in the air. These were examples of affect displays and illustrators and they conveyed that he was upset. It seemed that he was getting upset that his order was taking longer than he wanted it to.
When the businessman sat down with his drink and started working on his computer he was not verbally talking to anyone but then he got on the phone. I could not see who he was talking to but the man was tapping his fingers on the table as an adaptor and it seemed like he was frustrated. He made gestures with his face even though the other person could not see him. Some of those gestures conveyed that he was bored with the conversation. He did not seem to be aware of his gestures or he may not have done them because they didn’t add to his phone conversation.
