Adaptation Theory

When I conducted my conversations, I first talked to two friends, on separate occasions, about the water situation in Lawrence Township that we are currently experiencing. My third conversation was with my boss at my internship, who had heard nothing about this incident. What I noticed with my two friends was that we all reacted to the situation in the same way. We were all pretty upset which could be seen in our facial expressions and tone of voice. I noticed that when I raised my voice, my friends did too. When I got upset about something, they did as well. I also talk with my hands a lot when I am upset, and I noticed my friends doing a bit of that as well. One of my friends was biting her nails during the conversation and I did not even realize that unconsciously we were doing the same thing. Our actions and words mirrored each other because we were all experiencing the same situation and all having the same feelings about this situation. So, when I talked to each one of my friends and they were both upset, our behaviors almost mocked each other. However, when I spoke to my boss, the situation was very different and I saw a different type of adaptation. Since I was speaking to my boss, I had to speak in a professional tone and my delivery was much different. I spoke a lot softer and with a lot less enthusiasm due to the fact that I was in a professional setting. This definitely affected my boss’s reaction and adjustments. Since I did not use all of the same intonations and gestures with her as I did with my friends, she did not seem to think it was that big of a deal because I did not express that it was that big of a deal. Since I was not getting upset, she did not get upset. Her reactions mimicked my calm tone. So, I saw that in each conversation the adjustments that others made relied heavily on how I was speaking and gesturing.