Transcript File

Intercultural
Communications
Culture Shock
• Culture shock – the psychological discomfort you experience when you
must interact with a new culture.
• Culture shock occurs when taken for granted meanings are not shared by
others.
• You will most likely experience this effect while away from home such as
college, out of state travel and most definitely while on international
travel.
• People who grew up in Gary IN will be completely different people than
someone from Vincennes.
Culture & Co-Culture
• Culture – the system of shared values beliefs attitudes and orientations
learned through communication that guides what is considered to be
appropriate thought and behavior in a particular segment of the
population.
• Most major communities have there own cultures and ways of life and
how they operate.
• Co-Culture - cultures that exist side by side with the dominant culture
and are comprised of smaller numbers of people who hold common
values, attitudes, beliefs, and orientations that differ from the dominant
culture.
• Most people often identify with more than one co-culture.
Race and ethnicity
• Race is a term used to classify people based on widely evident of visible
biological traits, such as eye color, hair texture, and body shape.
• Racial co cultures influence the many things such as attitudes, and
communicational behaviors.
• Ethnicity – a classification of poeople based on shared national
characteristics such as country of birth, geographic origin, language,
religion, ancestral customs, and tradition.
In the united states as in most countries the dominant culture has valued and privileged heterosexuality and encouraged
children to identify with there birth gender. People who deviated were severely mistreated. Over the past 40 years gay
activism has modified the dominant culture so that homosexuality would and transgender people would face less
discrimination.
Sexual Orientation and
Gender Identity
Religion
A religion is a system of beliefs, rituals, and ethics based on a common perception of the sacred or holy.
In the united states there is freedom of religion and diversity. Historically its real values reflect monotheistic
Judeo-Christian perspectives.
Social class
A social class is a level in power hierarchy of a society whose membership is based on income, education, occupation,
and social habits.
Social classes have been around pretty much forever. Social classes are in every society of every country.
The levels of social classes are poor, middle class, and rich…as far as I know. This is how it is in the united states and
in most societies around the world. Most Americans are uncomfortable talking about there social class.
Generation
Our generation is the time period in which we were born.
The time period we were born in can have a strong formative influence on us. People born in the same generation
understand each other better than someone two generations behind or ahead of them.
People who were born or around in the great depression have a hard time understanding today's generation. Today's
generation will have a hard time understanding there grandchildren's generation maybe. We are generation Y and
Z as it says in the book.
Cultural Identity
Cultural identity is that part of your self image that is based on the cultural group or groups with which you
most closely associate and align with. You may choose to embrace a co-cultural lifestyle where your religion, diet, verbal mannerisms,
and many other aspects of your of your identity. Or you may repress one side of your cultural heritige.
The value of the individual vs. the group
Individualistic culture is a culture that values personal rights and responsibilities, privacy, voicing ones opinion, freedom, innovation, and
self-expression. This cultures connection to groups is loose, meaning if you help someone out its going to be in your favor that you
did.
Collectivist culture is a culture that values community, collaboration, shared interest, harmony, the public good, and avoiding
embracement. In this culture if you help someone out its for the benefit of everyone.
Barriers to effective intercultural
communication
• The most common barriers to effective communication between
members of different cultures includes
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Anxiety
Assuming similarities and differences
Ethnocentrism
Stereotyping
Incompatible communication codes
Incompatible norms and values
How cultures differ
• Cultures based on language, dress, or personal artifacts (religious, jewelry,
decorations in the home).
• 4 ways cultures differ that are important for communication.
1). Individual vs. Group
2). Predictability and Uncertainty
3). Distribution of Power
4). Masculine vs. Feminine
Individual vs. group
• Individualistic culture values
personal rights and
responsibilities, privacy, voicing
one’s opinion, freedom,
innovation, and self-expression.
• Place primary value on their self
and personal achievement.
• Consider interests of others in
relationship to themselves.
• View competition as desirable
and useful.
• Collective cultures value
community, collaboration, shared
interests, harmony, the public
good, and avoiding
embarrassment.
• Strong close-knit groups that
protect others for loyalty.
• Decisions are made in favor of
helping the group whether or not
they help the individual.
• Highly integrated, and the
maintenance of harmony and
cooperation is valued.
Predictability and uncertainty
• Uncertainty Avoidance
1). Low avoidance
culture
• Culture that tolerates uncertainty
and is less driven to control
unpredictable people,
relationships, or events.
• People in these cultures accept
life’s uncertainty and prefer as
few as rule as possible.
• 2). High avoidance culture
• Characterized by a low tolerance
and a high need to control
unpredictable people,
relationships, or events.
• Cultures create formal rules and
believe in the truth as a way to
provide security and reduce risk.
Social power distribution
• Power Distance
1). High Power
• High and low power holders
accept the unequal
distribution of power.
• No cultures power is evenly
distributed, in high power
cultures more inequality in
seen and viewed by members
as normal.
• 2). Low Power
• Members prefer power to be
more equally distributed.
• Cultures with low power,
inequalities, status, and rank
are underplayed and muted.
Masculine vs. feminine
• Masculine – a culture in which
men are expected to adhere to
traditional male roles.
• Cultures maintain distinct sexbased roles.
• Value masculine roles more
highly than feminine
• Feminine – culture which
people, regardless of sex, can
assume a variety of roles.
• Men and women are
accustomed to being
nurturing, caring, and service
orientated.
Time orientation
Chronemics
•
The study of how perception
differs between individuals and
cultures.
Monochronic
•
Perceiving time as being small,
even units that occur
sequentially.
•
Monochronic people adhere to
schedule and do things one at a
time.
•
They value punctuality,
uninterrupted task completion,
meeting deadlines, and
following plans.
Polychronic
•
They see time as a continuous
flow.
•
They understand that
appointment times and
schedules are approximate and
fluid.
•
Rather than doing one thing at a
time, they are comfortable
doing several things at once.
Context for sharing material
• Low-context culture – is a culture
in which message meanings are
usually encoded in the verbal
part of the message.
• The words spoken are more
important in understanding the
message than context cues.
• High-context culture – a culture
in which much of the real
meaning of a message is indirect
and can only be accurately
decoded by referring to unwritten
cultural rules and subtle behavior.
• Verbal messages are general and
ambiguous, with the real meaning
implied and understood by
“reading between the lines”.
Anxiety
• It is normal to feel some level of discomfort or apprehension when we recognize
that we are different from most everyone else or when entering a cultural
milieu whose customs are unfamiliar.
• Most people experience fear , dislike, and distrust when first interacting with
someone from a different culture
Assumed similarity and diffrence
• When people enter an unfamiliar cultural environment, they often assume that
the familiar norms that have always applied will apply in a new situation
• For example many people expect to get food with rapid and efficient service,
they may be annoyed with shops and restraunts closing during midday in
countries that observe the customs of siesta
• It can be just as bad of a mistake to assume that everything about an unfamiliar
culture will be different
Ethnocentrism
• Ethnocentrism is the belief that one’s own culture is superior to that of others
• An ethnocentric view of the world lead to attitudes of superiority and messages
that are directly and subtly condescending in content and tone.
• http://saperclair.wordpress.com/2012/12/11/ethnocentrism-and-stereotypingchap-2/
Stereotyping
• Stereotyping is a perceptual shortcut in which we assume that everyone in a
cultural group is the same.
• when we interact based on stereotypes, we risk creating inaccurate messages
that damage our relationships.
• When we listen with our stereotypes and prejudices in mind, we may
misperceive the intent of the person with whom we are talking
Incompatible communication codes
• When others speak a different language, it is easy to see that we have
incompatible communication codes .
• but even among people who speak the same language, there will be cultural
variations that result from the co-cultures to which they belong.
• Co-cultural groups will often purposefully develop “in group” codes that are
easily understood by co-cultural members but unintelligible to outsiders.
Incompatible norms and values
• What is normal or high of value in one culture may be offensive in another.
• For example Vietnamese consider dogs to be a delicacy, while most Americans
find that practice to be disgusting.
• On the other hand most Americans consider beef a delicacy but Hindus, on the
other hand consider beef eating abominable as the cow is sacred to there
religon.
Intercultural Communication
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrJTf97Ev8o
Travis F.
Intercultural Communication
• Ethnorelativism• a point of view that allows you to see the value in other
cultural perspectives.
Could this benefit someone who is trying to be more culturally
competent? How?
Travis F.
Follow up questions
• What did you learn from this video?
• How might their lack of communication further complicate their
future in construction?
• What are a few barriers we face when trying to communicate
with others from different cultures?
• What is one way we might be able to better understand how
another person’s culture is in their eyes?
Travis F.
Citations
• “Cross Cultural Communication.” Youtube. Web. 29 Jan. 2014
Travis F.