Family/social Interaction

Shona de Souza

Assignment One Dr. Lyle Hallowell

Social interaction is the process by which we act and react to those around us. It is a part of everyday life involving people of all statuses and roles, and can be positive or negative. Behavior, verbal and non-verbal communication are some forms of social interaction. Conversation (verbal communication) is one of the main ways in which our daily lives are maintained in a stable and coherent manner. Non-verbal communication is the exchange of information and meaning through facial expressions, gestures, and movements of the body.

Subjects involved in my observation were Veronica age 39, Ashley age 18, the stepfather and the grandmother. Veronica is a working middle class mother whose only free time is on Sundays. She is the mother of Ashley and she views Ashley as sneaky, corrupted, disobedient, unpleasant, naive and troubled. Yet at the same time Veronica sees her as intelligent and loyal as well. These viewpoints about Ashley are the same with both the stepfather and the grandmother as well. Ashley sees her mother, grandmother, and stepfather as ignorant, distrustful, and strict. Their views of each other are mostly negative, and they often get into verbal and sometimes physical confrontations. Their most recent verbal confrontation took place after Ashley decided that she wanted to leave the house for about two hours to go to a friend’s house.

On Saturday November 11th at 5:30 p.m., Ashley received a phone call from a male friend and unbeknownst to them for the first few minutes during the call Ashley’s stepfather was listening to the phone conversation. Ashley discovered this and quickly decided to call back her friend. They hung up. Ashley was clearly upset, but she was still determined to do what she and her friend had planned. Their conversation on the phone was about her meeting him at a park two blocks away from her home. After a few minutes of waiting for her stepfather to go up to his room, Ashley called back her friend to confirm their meeting and she then told her grandmother that she was going outside for a bit, and left the house. Upon her return, two hours later at 8:00 p.m., her stepfather and grandmother were outside waiting to confront her about where she was and whom she was with. Ashley kept a calm demeanor when being questioned. Her stepfather and grandmother accused her of thinking that they’re “stupid”, yet they had smiles and plenty of laughter. Smiles and laughter may have been there to cover up concern, and maybe anger. However, Ashley retreated to her room to get away from the accusations and mock laughter of her family members. At 10:45 p.m. that night her mother arrived home and was told of Ashley’s indiscretion. Up in her room Ashley dreaded the anticipation of the lecture her mother was about to give her. It was the same lecture she had heard countless times in the past and she did not wish to hear it again. She also felt that she was about to get her personal space invaded. By the time her mother arrived at her room door Ashley was hiding under her sheets wishing she was anywhere but where she was at the moment. Her mother pounded hard on the door. She also tried to turn the knob and she found out it was locked. After several minutes of hearing her mother pounding on the door, Ashley decided to let her in figuring that it was better