Quiz 2 Communicating Across Cultures Communication is the Exchange of Meaning Includes any behavior that another person perceives and interprets verbal and nonverbal messages and includes consciously sent messages as well as messages that the sender is totally unaware of having sent The Communication Process The process of translating meanings into words and behaviors that is into symbols and back The bigger the difference in meanings attached to particular worlds and behavior the greater the again is based on cultural background Noise anything that serves to undermine the communication of the intended meaning noise Occurs when a person from one culture sends a message to another culture Miscommunication occurs when the person from the 2nd culture does not receive the senders Cross Cultural Communication intended message doesn t understand the meaning or comes up with their Causes of cross cultural miscommunication misperception misinterpretation own and wrong meaning misevaluation o Perception what you see The process by which an individual selects organizes and evaluates stimuli from the external environment to provide meaning to him or herself We see things that aren t there and can miss things that are there We don t see everything that s going on we learn to see what we want to see Perception is learned selective inaccurate consistent culturally determined o Interpretation process of making sense of perceptions Occurs when an individual gives meaning to observations and their relationship Gestures are interpreted differently all over We group perceived images into familiar categories that help us simplify our environment Miss categorization problems occur when we place people ad things in the wrong category Stereotypes describe the norm for members of a particular group A form of categorization that organizes our experiences and guides our behavior toward ethnic and national groups Never describe individuals Can be useful if accurate Effective stereotypes describe rather than judge o Consciously held descriptive accurate 1st best guess modified by Sources of Misinterpretation experience Subconscious cultural blinders Lack of cultural awareness Projected similarity mirror image fallacy o Evaluation judging whether someone something is good or bad We use our own culture as a standard of measurement Cultural variables in the communication process Attitudes Though patterns deductive and inductive Verbal Communication Styles Language o Context info that surrounds a communication and helps convey the message Verbal Communication Styles o Indirect v Direct Styles Indirect High Context Cultures Indirect voice intonation timing facial expressions play important roles in conveying info Messages are often highly coded and implicit Japan and Arab countries Direct Low Context Cultures explicit messages speaker says precisely what they mean meet only to accomplish objectives direct and to the point US Australia Germany o Elaborate v Succinct Styles Elaborating Style most popular in high context cultures with moderate degree of uncertainty avoidance Arab Exacting Style focuses on precision and use of the right amount of words to convey message low context low U A Succinct Style high context cultures with considerable U A where people say few words and allow understatements pauses and silence Japan o Contextual v Personal Styles Contextual focuses on the speakers and relationships of parties high power distance collective high context Personal focuses on the speaker and reduction of barriers between parties low power distance individual low context cultures US Germany o Affective v Instrumental Styles Affective language requiring the listener to note what is said and to observe how the message is presented Meaning is often nonverbal requires receiver to use intuitive skills to decipher message collective and high context cultures Instrumental goal oriented focuses on the sender who clearly lets the other know what he she wants them to know low context individualistic The impact of Cultural Nonverbal Communication o Nonverbal Communication transfer of meaning through means such as body language and physical space Chromatics Use of color to communicate messages Kinesics body movements and facial expressions eye contract posture gestures Proxemics Study of the way people use physical space to convey messages Intimate Distance 16 very confidential communication Personal Distance 18 4 family close friends Public Distance 8 10 calling across room or talking to a group Social Distance 4 8 most business transactions Chronemics the way time is used in a culture Monochronic Time Schedule things done in a linear fashion US Polychronic Time Schedule people do several things at the same time and place higher value on personal involvement than on getting things done on time Latins Africa Iran How to operate with people of other cultures get their meanings not just words Verbal Behavior clear slow speech repetition simple sentences action verbs Nonverbal Behavior visual reinforcements gestures demonstrations pauses summaries Accurate Interpretation silence intelligence differences Comprehension understanding check comprehension Design breaks small modules longer time frame Motivation encouragement drawing out reinforcement