Cultural Effects on Communication

Culture: A learned set of shared interpretations about beliefs, values, and norms, which affect the behaviors of a relatively large group of people. The way a group acts and how they perceive the world. It is how we govern certain situations. It provides for a learned set of values in a group of people over a long period of time.

Cognitive Schemata is the way an individual perceives everything in the world around them. Collectively, cultures agree on a Cognitive Schemata.

Cultural Variations on Perception

Perception is the process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting data from our senses.

There is no perfect perception that can convince everyone of one correct interpretation of an experience. Therefore, cultures vary in every aspect of life. One culture’s perception of a delicious dish, such as the Scottish dish haggis, would disgust many Americans.

Speaking is different across cultures.

In America, speaking is appreciated and silence looked down upon, such as in class participation, but some cultures value silence. The Thai culture considers silence humble. Dr. Rick Nauert, professor of Health Administration at Texas State University, says that Americans find it difficult to understand someone else’s perspective because they are part of an individualist culture, while the Chinese are more able to see someone else’s perspective because of their collectivist culture.

Schemas organize perceptual stimuli.

An example of a schema is stereotypes: generalizations about a person or group of people. People stereotype cultures all the time. For example, American culture can be stereotyped as being fat and lazy. Another schema is a script: a predictable sequence of events that indicates what we are expected to do in a situation. Depending on culture, scripts will be different. For example, in America you shake hands when you meet someone, while in France you kiss cheeks.

The self is a huge part of perception in culture.

One’s self-concept: the perception of the self, and in America, body image is a huge factor in ones perception of culture. Self-disclosure: communicating the perception of the self to others is also important in culture. In America, intimate self-disclosure is suppressed in men, while in Jordan male-male disclosure is encouraged. In India, arranged marriages do not value self-disclosure, while in America marriages value self-disclosure. In America, our culture is hypercompetitive and encourages promotion of self in first impressions. Asian cultures encourage denial of self-importance.

Cultural Influences on Power

Power is the ability to influence goals sought after by yourself or those around you. It includes the history of the relationship between the communicators and also how people perceive themselves as an effective communicator.

Types

There are three types of power that influence conversations:

1. Dominance (reactive) is the exercise of power over others. It is the most reactive and competitive. This idea of dominance coincides with an individualist culture that is more focused on personal freedom and independence than promoting a common goal.

For example, in American culture, if you don’t come in first place, you are not considered a winner.

2. Prevention (self protective) is power that is used to thwart the influence of others. It is more self-protective. This creates a relatively competitive atmosphere with each side competing to undermine those in power.

For example, war between countries shows one culture is trying to gain dominance over others – much like Hitler and the Holocaust. Hitler’s main goal was to eliminate anyone who didn’t represent his “culture” and ideals.

3. Empowerment (proactive) is power that comes from working together to reach communication competence. It is encourages working together.

For example, this was the basis for the creation of the United States’ Congress. American culture prides itself on having a democracy, allowing an equal voice in politics. Communist cultures such as North Korea and Cuba do not allow the citizens to have an equal voice in government.

Power in an Individualist Culture

An individualist culture focuses more on an individual’s place in society rather than their place in a group.

Masculinity

Most individualist cultures tend to be more masculine – the fact that members tend to communicate in order to enhance their self-esteem. In a masculine culture gender roles are very specific. It is not uncommon to see male dominance at the top of companies, while the women are in secretarial positions or working at home.

Self- Monitor

Self-monitoring is the knowledge of when and where it is appropriate to disclose information. In an individualist society, there is low self-monitoring. A characteristic of a low self-monitor is someone that will openly disclose information without thinking it through. This focus on the individual, rather than the community is what attributes low self-monitoring to a individualistic culture.

Power in an Collectivist Culture

A collectivist culture focuses more on community and group commitment.

Femininity

Most collectivist cultures tend to be more feminine – sensitivity, compassion, and emotional expressiveness are more abundant. In this type of culture, gender roles tend to overlap more and equality between the sexes is highly emphasized. Competition for jobs is less important, as much of the workforce is composed of women. Democracy also characterizes a feminine society – for example, guiding people in the workforce rather than commanding is more common in business.

Self-Monitor

In a collectivist culture, there is a greater amount of high self-monitoring. People take their time when they speak their minds: they focus on planning their conversations while considering consequences. This goes in conjunction with the community-centered feeling or willingness to do what is beneficial to the group.

Cultural Effects on Listening

Listening is the process of receiving, constructing and reconstructing meaning from and responding to spoken and/ or nonverbal message.

Comprehending

Comprehension is a shared meaning between different people.

There is often a problem with comprehension between doctors and patients. A doctor’s version of common knowledge may be very different than that of the general population. Sometimes doctors assume their patients know too much. This can lead to malpractice because patients do not understand their diagnosis or how to use their medication properly. It is not only on the patient’s end, often doctors misunderstand the ailments patients try to explain to them so the doctor just guesses.

Expectations

Often a problem that arises with listening is expectations. It is harder for a man to speak to a woman, because a woman may expect the man to be more compassionate, and if he does not act upon her expectations, she does not listen as well. Some barriers other than gender include race, age, and class.

Listening in an Individualist Culture

Conversation in individualist culture is low context—it is specific and straight-forward. In an individualist society that is hypercompetitive speaking helps one gain power and status. Therefore listening is not as valued in these cultures

Listening in a Collectivist Culture

Conversations in collectivist cultures are high-context, speakers are vague and indirect. Listeners in a collectivist culture are expected to “read between the lines”, which presents a problem if a listener is inattentive.

Cultural Influences on Nonverbal Communication

Nonverbal communication is sharing meaning with others non-linguistically. Nonverbal communication happens whether or not we want it to and this creates an ambiguity. The vagueness associated with nonverbal communication creates the necessity for the understanding of culture specific gestures and other forms of nonverbal communication.

Kinesics

Kinesics is the study of both facial communication and gestures. Included in this study are facial expressions and the use of eye contact.

Facial expressions can help to disclose the emotions a person is feeling. Collectivist cultures, such as Japan, put a large emphasis on maintaining community. They are more likely to hide their negative feelings with regard to other group members. Americans culture is more of an Individualist culture. This culture is one in which members are not hesitant to reveal their emotions since the connection to others is loose.

Eye Contact varies cross culturally as in how you it should be maintained. In America, communicators hold eye contact to demonstrate respect. In countries that have collectivist cultures, such as Indonesia, Japan, and China, people look down to show this same respect. This difference causes discrepancies in regard to choosing the appropriate commitment to maintaining eye contact.

Paralanguage

Paralanguage are the nonverbal elements in speech. Heavily influential on culture, the paralanguage a communicator demonstrates will vary based upon their upbringing.

The tone of voice used by women of different cultures help to demonstrate the varied reliance on paralanguage. In a collectivist culture, such as Japan, the women are praised for their boisterous speech in order to convey their desire for community. American women can usually convey the same messages through a normal tone of voice.

Proxemics

Proxemics is the study of the different aspects of spatial distances between individuals. One of the largest indicators of spatial relationships is the measure of distance.

Spatial distances can be divided into intimate, personal, social and public. The American culture has a spatial zone for social interaction that is between 4-12 ft. The individualist nature of the culture can be seen by the desire to distance oneself in a non-intimate setting. On the other hand, Arab cultures value closeness to others when communicating. This difference can cause Americans to perceive Arab communication with them as intimate when in reality Arabs are simply following their cultural guidelines.

References

Rothwell, J. Dan. In the Company of Others: an introduction to communication. Edition 3. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print.

Listening and Culture . (n.d.). Retrieved October 14, 2009, from Lateral Communication: http://www.latcomm.com/articles/listeningculture.html

Nauert, Rick. “Culture Influences Perception.” Psych Central. 20 Aug. 2007. 15 Oct. 2009. <http://psychcentral.com/news/2007/07/13/culture-influences perception/1011.html>