SAMPLE CAA INSTALLMENT 1

1) Episode Interaction

Sarah: [looks down/away] Ahh, I don’t know, [looks at Derek, eyebrows raised] I just thought that, [looks away, head tilts] sigh. I thought [eyebrows go up and down quickly] that with the fight and everything maybe we [pause] should cool it for a while[slow pace of voice].

Derek: [questioning look] What? [soft voice] [Sarah looks into Derek’s eyes] Sigh, [blinking rapidly, looks down] well, ah, ah, [looks back at Sarah] what are you saying? [looks down and right, Derek puts his arm down from back of chair] Are, Are you saying that you, you don’t want to [looks at Sarah, winces and shakes head slightly] be with me? [Sarah: tilts head right, looks over his left shoulder, looks back at him] Or that you don’t want to be seen with me, I mean what, what are you saying?

Sarah: [eye contact, interrupts Derek] I’m just saying that I’m confused, [looks down] that’s all that [looks at him] I’m saying.

Derek: [turns head right, looking away] Confused about [looks back at her] what? Me? [raises eyebrows, widens eyes, leans toward Sarah, voice has an agitated/frustrated tone, and a slight raise in volume]

Sarah: [deliberative blink] A little bit, [winces closing eyes] ahh, [shakes hard ‘no,’ gets up, starts walking across room with back to Derek. Derek: watches her walk away] I don’t know [scrunches face]. Yeah, a, a, no, [places hands near forehead and quickly puts arms in front of her frustrated, rests them on window sill, shrugged shoulder stance] ah, maybe. [choppy, stuttering dialog]

Derek: Maybe! [looks at her] So hold on [throws arms up looking down] what, what what, [puts hands together, stands up] what, are we just talking about steps and school [body facing her, throws hands up. Sarah: turns around, faces him] or are you talking about like the grocery store [looking right, talking with hands, looks back at her] and like the sidewalk and museums[cut to Sarah]. I mean, [jabbing down w/ hands sideways frustrated, emphasis point] you got to break it down just a little bit better for me Sarah because I don’t get it. [slaps hands together, then pulls them down to his sides] I mean when is it ok [turns head looks right, then quickly back] for us to be together, to be seen together.[ aggressive, rapid pace of voice, raised volume throughout]

Sarah: [leans forward, arms sprawled in front of her] [interrupts Derek] [raised volume of voice throughout] Why are you getting mad? [curls hands in pointed at herself] I’m just trying to be honest, [pause] [palms up shaking arms in front of her] nobody wants to see us together, we spend [looks down, extends left arm out pointing at him] more time [looks back at Derek] defending [looks down] our relationship than actually having one [looks back at Derek, leans back]. Sigh [raises arms beside her chest shaking them in frustration], it’s just so hard [opens eyes looking down in front of her]

2) Situation

The trials and tribulations of sustaining this relationship is what lead up to the episode. Sarah is thrown into an unknown world and is naïve about her new surroundings. Sarah and Derek started out as friends, and their friendship progressed into an intimate relationship. However, they are feeling the negative reactions from their friends about having an interracial relationship. Both Sarah and Derek are confronted by their friends and pressured not to have this interracial relationship, and this background lead up to this episode.

3) Noise

Psychological – Psychological noise consists of thoughts in the communicator”s minds that contributes to decoding messages inaccurately. This type of noise occurs when an individual is preoccupied and therefore misses or misinterprets the message. Both Sarah and Derek are experiencing psychological noise, and have this problem throughout the episode. The main evidence for Sarah’s psychological noise is the fact that her friends and even her father don’t want her to be with Derek, because he’s a black man. This leads her to perceive Derek’s request for clarity and reasons for “cooling it” with him as defensive and attacking her when he was seeking understanding through his questions. Derek’s was also experiencing some psychological noise because he perceived Sarah’s “cool it” message to incorrectly mean break up. Derek’s fear of rejection leads him to perceive Sarah’s evasive confusion and tensions with father and peers as an indication that she does not care for him which leads him to become angry, frustrated and very irritated with Sarah’s vague and indecisive answers.

Semantic –This noise occurs when individuals have different meaning for symbols and when those meanings are not mutually understood. There was also and element of semantic noise in the episode. Sarah and Derek did not share the same meaning of the words “cool it,” and this lead to a major problem. Sarah was not explicit on what she meant by “cool it,” therefore Derek was unclear what she meant. For example Derek asks, “what, you don’t want to be seen with me, you got to break it down a little better for me.” This semantic noise hindered Derek’s encoding, and his uncertainty about this sensitive matter caused him to become defensive, angry and impatient with Sarah that hindered accurate communication. Derek continued to seek clarification over this difficult situation by asking things like, “I don’t get it,” and “Hold on, what, what are you saying.” This is all evidence that the semantic noise hindered communication.