Mary Elizabeth Buckingham WRD 103 Professor Lane Fieldwork Analysis Fieldwork Essay When it comes to communication, everyone

responds in a different way due to their personalities. Instead of focusing on how different gender roles d ominate communication, through observation it has been revealed that personaliti es, instead, are the main object of communication differences. Through observing different people at a local Starbucks on a chilly Sunday afternoon it was soon determined that gender does not dominate communicat ion, instead, personalities do. People act differently in different situations. For example, new couples act differently than best friends, or parents and child ren. Baristas act differently than customers because they are working. Girls wit h their best friend gossiping over another friends scandal behave in a different way than they would at church or a baby shower. Guys chatting about their girlfr iends or boyfriends to their friends act differently than they would in speaking to their Grandfathers. Depending on the situation, peoples personalities can bec ome muted because that is what is appropriate in the situation, though on the co ntrary a lot of the time it is more expected for people to be who they really are in their free time. For example, when one is in a professional setting, his or h er personality is slightly altered because of the professionalism that is expect ed at their job. People act differently to other people, not because of their ge nder but instead because of their personality. A man is professional at work, ju st like a woman is. A man is kind to his Grandparents, just like a woman is. Per sonalities correlate in communication, not genders. A man and two twenty-something year old beanie wearing, parka clad f riends steps into Starbucks mid-afternoon. The man comes through first, opens th e door and passes it along to his women friends as he continues to walk in. He t hen lets them walk into the cozy, toasty Starbucks and offers them his place in line as he skims the menu. They all are friendly to the male barista who takes t heir order for drinks and once they receive their drinks, they find a small tabl e that will fit all of them. They begin a conversation about friends who were dr iving them crazy, fun stuff they did that week, and constant reminiscing about f ond memories. It seemed as though this small group had been friends for a while and they all seemed very comfortable with one another. There was equal talking o n everyones part, and they seemed to know each other very well. One of the women was talking about their trip to someones cabin and how she was so glad that they had gone up. The other woman was cracking jokes about the people they went up to the cabin with, making the man and the other women suffer from uncontrollable l aughter. One of them was funnier than the rest, while the others were sweeter an d more reflective. Their communication was interesting because of the different personalities; it had nothing to do with gender, because gender does not overrul e personality. After observing the group for a while my attention shifted to an incoming couple. They entered the haven hand in hand. They looked to be either g raduate school students or fresh out of college. They were talking quietly to ea ch other as they walked in; giggling at what one another had to say. They ordere d their drinks in a polite way, while still talking to each other. The man went to find a table while the woman waited for coffee. Luckily they sat nearby. Thei r conversation was mostly about what they were planning on doing for their paren ts who were coming into town. They both seemed nervous about the fact that their parents were meeting for the first time; however they seemed thrilled as well. The man was gushing about how much his parents were going to love her, and how t hey were so excited to meet her. She was smiling and showing enthusiasm about th e whole situation, while providing plenty of sarcastic remarks as well. The man was laughing at all of her wit, and firing back with some of his own. Wittiness and excitement are not emotions people share because of their gender, they happe n because the persons personality lets them come out. There was no dominance in t he mans way of approaching the situation, and the woman contributed as much as hi m. They seemed to be a very nice, happy couple. While growing tired of their con

versation the focus of everyone in Starbucks was drawn to a bickering couple who were unknowingly disrupting everyones conversations. The man seemed quiet and up set while the woman was loudly expressing the ways in which she was unhappy abou t what he did on Friday. Though no one ever found out what did happen on Friday, e veryone was quickly growing tired of hearing about it. The man in the conversati on seemed embarrassed to be causing such a scene, and kept on shh-ing his girlfrie nd and quietly saying come on, there are people here. She would respond with thing s like, oh, no ones paying attention or Im not being loud!. It was interesting to see how people reacted to the bickering couple. There were many eye rolls from all d ifferent genders, as well as a few somewhat mean, yet funny, imitative faces int erpreting the situation. Most families with small kids angrily hurried out, sho oting the couple dirty looks. A young couple left during the fight, stifling the ir laughter. Through these observations, it was shown that it is not so much gend er that controls the way in which people communicate; it is their personalities that ultimately rule. One could be a man or woman and have a personality that do es not reflect the usual gender role. People act differently towards each other re gardless of gender, human interaction is driven by communication, and people int eract with others through their personality. There are differences to be sure bu t that is just human nature.