Transcript Interpersonal Relationships - Mr. Zimanske

Chapter 9
Relationship Development
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Interpersonal Relationships:
Relationships between two
individuals that can range
from mere acquaintance to
meaningful friendships that
last over a period of years.
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Interpersonal communication
begins with predictions.
(Think of two people in that range
of interpersonal relationships. For
example, an acquaintance and a
meaningful friendship. How does
each relationship differ?)
Levels of Information
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I.) Cultural Level
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A.) Geographic differences
B.) Gender norms
II.) Sociological or Group Level
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A.) Stereotyping
III.) Individual Level
Cultural Level Information
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Cultural level information about a person, you know the general
characteristics that person shares with a large number of people like
him or her.
Cultures share:
1.) geographic area
2.) common language habits
3.) beliefs
4.) values
5.) rules
6.) norms (procedures)
QUESTION: What are some beliefs, values, rules, or norms that you
have in your family?
Cultural Level
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Cultural Level Information
*Americans
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rich and generous
baseball and football
friendly
*Women like fashion
*Men don’t like cooking
Are the above statements fair descriptions of
Americans? Of women? Of Men?
Geographic Differences
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People from different cultures would have to
understand the others’ cultural beliefs for
meaningful communication to take place.
Information about norms and values held by
people within a culture is important if you are to
be involved in cross-cultural communication.
Once you know the rules for appropriate
interaction for people in a given culture, you can
adapt your verbal and nonverbal messages to be
most effective.
Examples of Geographic
Differences
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Traditional Japanese communication behaviors include bowing
to others in greeting and refraining from interrupting a
speaker for any reason
Many Asian countries, religious beliefs hold that a person is
reincarnated, or returns after death in a new form. Life and
death are looked upon differently than in Western cultures.
In some Arab countries, native woman are expected to
appear in public places only when wearing a heavy veil
(Burka) over their faces, so no men, except their husbands,
can see what they look like.
How would you characterize Americans?
How does your picture of Americans affect your
communication?
What communication rules do you assume other Americans
follow?
Gender Norms
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What would you think if you observed the
following scenes?
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When two men greet each other on the
street, they kiss each other on both cheeks?
When attending classes, only males are
allowed to speak.
Gender Norms cont…
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People in other parts of the world are becoming
more aware of different cultural behaviors
through television and international travel.
Beliefs about gender may lead to stereotyping
What are some stereotypes or gender norms we
associate with the opposite sex?
Gender Norms
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What rules did you learn while growing up about
talking to other people? (Exp. To Adults, elderly, young
children, males, females)
Overview on cultural information:
1.
Provides you with general information
2.
Helps avoid breakdown in communication
3.
Not enough information to make accurate predictions
4.
Limits effectiveness of communication
5.
At this level predictions are still based on information
that is characteristic for masses of people.
Sociological or Group Level
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Gives you information about a person’s membership in a
group.
Joined a group because of same characteristics of other
group members (“membership” or “joining” a group are
different)
Common characteristics can help
Make predictions about how he or she will respond to
certain messages
Do you belong to any groups?
Sociological or Group Level
Predictions about groups: For example,
You know a person is a teenager, you might assume he or
she is interested in skateboarding, dating, current
movies, and school activities.
OR
If you know a person is an archeology student, you might
assume he or she is interested in ancient cultures,
knows several languages, and is adventuresome
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Be aware that not all members of a group are the same.
Stereotyping
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Predictions about other people based on
characteristics of the large group (culture) or
smaller groups (sociological) to which they belong.
Labeling people as being part of a certain group and
treating them as if they only possessed all the
characteristics of that group is called
STEREOTYPING!
FOR EXAMPLE: labeling someone a “jock”, or “lazy”
Stereotyping means you are using your lowest level
of perception ability.
Individual Level
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3rd level of information
Individual level: you have learned the special or unique
characteristics of a person.
Past experiences + the person’s values, beliefs, and
attitudes=knowing the individual
At this level you know how he or she is different from all the
other people in the many groups to which he or she belongs.
Rules that guide interaction between you and another person
are created by the two of you, rather than being set by
society, you are using individual information.
Pay close attention to his or her behavior to discover what
makes that person different from all the others, or unique
Individual Level
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The more information you have about a
person, the better you will be able to
predict his or her behavior, including
attitudes, values, and rules for interaction.
You can send verbal and nonverbal
messages created exactly for that
particular person.