| Chapter 2: | Communication Overview |
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to develop their own intersubjectivity and thus maximize the efficacy of their communication. The multinational community in which they work with opera singers often sees castings determined solely by vocal quality rather than an ability to communicate within a common language. As such, observational learning of social communication patterns would seem to be an important component of that process. Behaviours must be attuned socially to all those involved with the production personnel, not least of whom is the director. However, it would seem that this is true within all cultures, as Bandura and Walters (1963, 47) explained:
Paul Ekman, writing in New Scientist (2004, 4–5), stated that the research of Charles Darwin shows he had no difficulty in understanding the facial expressions of the various cultures he met on his travels, perhaps underlining the argument that facial expressions are universal. To research this, Ekman travelled in 1967 to a preliterate tribe in New Guinea that had had no opportunities to learn facial expressions from the West.
Facial expressions and body language communicate at a depth beyond words and universally amongst humans (Ekman, Levenson, and Friesen 1983). This standpoint emerged from many years of research amongst visually isolated cultures (e.g., Ekman and Friesen 1971, who worked with the South Fore of New Guinea) in crosscultural studies that strongly supported universality. However, some maintain that this universalist