Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Partner Paper
October 6, 2015
The Partner Experience project was unlike any project in school I have been a
part of before. In this experience I confirmed aspects I knew about myself previously,
and learned a host of different aspects of humans and the ways in which they interact.
about, was confirmed in, or surprised by. I consider myself an extrovert and gain my
energy from being around others and in group settings. Throughout our day, I found my
extroverted nature playing a big role in my interactions. I was rarely hesitant to reach
out to someone I knew that was walking by as Natalie and I sat in Lower Beamer.
Simply having someone I knew, or one of Natalies friends I didnt know, hanging out
with us brought more energy to the conversation and was enjoyable for myself.
I was confirmed in my love for people and being in conversation. I also confirmed
my notion that I have a hard time sitting still and remaining focused for long periods of
time. I often found myself wanting to get up and walk around, however, this was not
relate and find meaning through emotion and feelings. This was discovered through the
different kinds of interactions Natalie and I had in which I was more concerned with the
personal, emotional sides of a situation or story. I also learned that I have a tendency to
speak often which, sometimes, can become a bit much or inconvenient. This could
especially be the case if someone was tied to my arm for 12 hours. I found that I was
the one directing conversation for the majority of the experiment duration whether that
was asking my partner questions about her upbringing and current life or logistical
My ability to ask questions and maintain conversation can be seen as a skill, yet
there is also the chance that it becomes too overpowering and in the case of the
experiment, could be too much interaction if both partners are not on the same page.
Through this new understanding, I will be able to implement this awareness and be
conscious of the amount I speak, hopefully balancing this with better avenues of active
listening. This should improve the value of my relationships and allow myself to gain
Next, I learned a fair amount about my partner, Natalie, and her tendencies,
behaviors and attitudes. Through our experiences together, starting in the morning,
when we began, I was able to infer that she is rather reserved, enjoying listening for the
most part. This was observed through her lack of consistency in returning questions in
conversation and a lack of follow up to any questions she asked. For this reason, I could
attribute my extended conversation and depth in questions to her lack of feedback and
constant feedback.
friends who we would run into around campus, I interpreted her to be a time-oriented
listener. This interpretation was based on the multiple times that we would have an
interaction with one of my friends and she would be engaged for a certain period of
time, and would then seem to lose interest and feedback and interactions would begin
to decrease. This form of listening was also observed in our one-on-one conversations
would decrease until we were back to doing homework or other forms of work. It is not
that this form of listening is bad, or a disadvantage to her, but simply one of the common
Moving on, there were times in which Natalie and I dealt with various situations
making personal decisions for myself. It was not until I was physically tied to someone
else that I realized the importance of communication and the role it plays in the
therefore, I had to check with Natalie before I made any moderately important decisions
about the course of my day. If I wanted to go grab a drink of water in passing between
classes, I had to actively speak with Natalie and get her approval to stop and get a
drink. This extensive and more labor intensive decision-making process added an extra
step to my thought process, ultimately affecting our plans and the processes of our day.
everyday experiences and activities together. Perhaps our greatest problem-solving feat
was our successful baking of cookies. Not only did we have to determine how to
physically navigate in our tiny Terrace Apartment kitchen, but also how to use
hazardous cooking tools such as scissors, an oven and microwave. The various tasks
of melting the butter, stirring the dough and making it into balls required maximum
verbal communication and a heightened sense of awareness when working with hot
pans and sharp objects. Problem-solving is a natural process that requires detailed
thinking and often draws from previous experiences. This mental access to previous
experiences that could aid in problem-solving was less useful, however, because I had
never had to address a problem or situation while being tied to someone else. This
As I look back on this experience, I saw self-fulfilling prophecy take place during
the beginning of the experiment. I went into this experience with a positive outlook,
ready to engage with Natalie in conversation, looking forward to learning from the
experience, and ready to take advantage of the opportunity. With these optimistic
thoughts in mind I felt that my experience was particularly positive. This reflects the
regards to different types of information that was disclosed throughout. I was able to
share stories and information with Natalie that would fall into the open category
because it was known to me as well as to Natalie or others. In contrast, there was
information from the hidden category from which I did not share based on the fact that I
did not know Natalie well, therefore there was little trust. Also, there was most likely
information from the blind category that was shared during the experience, however, I
would not have been aware of it because information in that category is known to others
but not to myself. Information from this category will be found in Natalies paper, most
likely.
by people throughout our daily lives and dont seem to think twice about it. I believe that
the physical restriction of the rope represents a deeper level of connection, one that
displays a public bond between myself and my partner. Because this is not a common
sight, each partner begins to view themselves in light of what other people think of
them. This creates a more cautious and aware outlook on ones daily tasks as they are
fully conscious of the other body they are attached to. This idea that my personal space
is now, suddenly, being shared with someone else for a prolonged period, is one that
takes time to get adjusted to. Humans are communal beings, however, we need time
away from each other, in solitude to regain our thoughts, rest, and reflect. When we
compromise those needs, there may be a bit of struggle, but also much room for