Intercultural Comm Final

1. Relational Messages

2. Status

3. Deception

• Convey emotions and attitudes and
• Universality of many facials(eyebrow flash of recognition, nose wrinkle, disgust
• face)

• contact cultures-tend to stand close together and touch frequently(S. America, Middle
• East and Southern Europe) Noncontact cultures- maintain more space and touch
• less often(Great Britain and Japan)

Varied use, can be taught to outsiders due to accessibility and conscious awareness

1. Respect and Deference 2. Power and Attraction 3. Regulates turn taking

Study of use of time, culturally-

• monochronic-commodity of time/linear
• Polychronic-Holistic/Circular

- US generally not highly valued, Power of silence to discipline or to take away voice

• of signs and symbols of communication and their meanings, a
• useful tool for examining the various ways that meaning is created in
• advertisements, tattoos, clothing, and other cultural artifacts. Study the context in which the
• signifiers(words and symbols) are placed to understand which meanings are being
• communicated.

Defined by cultural practices;

• Fluid/Mobile;used to construct language and cultural spaces
• that are challenging to form otherwise (language and cultural groups outside of
• one’s home country)

• are Sojourners & Immigrants; (sojourners travel for a limited time and with a specific purpose;
• Immigrants are individuals/families that often voluntarily leave one country to
• reside in another

• are Long-term & Short-term Refugees; (long-term are usually forced to move due to war,
• feminine, oppression; and, Short-term are people forced to move from their
• region or country, e.g., political reasons, natural disasters,

• (Assimilation, Separation,
• Integration, Marginalization, Cultural Hybridity)

• Migrants and families who often combine the four different modes of
• relating to the host society of assimilating, integrating, marginalizing, and
• separating depending on issue/situation/context.

• Uncertainty Reduction Process (Lessening uncertainty while adapting to new
• culture by seeking information).

• Predictive Uncertainty (The inability TO PREDICT WHAT someone will say or
• do)

• Explanatory Uncertainty
• (The inability TO EXPLAIN WHY people do what they do)

• Cultural Shock- Relatively
• short-term feeling of disorientation due to the lack of familiar cues in the
• environment
• Top Left of “U”:
• EXICITEMENT AND ANTICIPATION

• Bottom of “U”: SHOCK
• AND DISORIENTATION

• Top Right of “U”:
• GRADUAL ADAPTATION

• May experience multiple U-Curves while
• visiting a new place and people…UUUUU as challenges arise and communication
• competency develops

• FLIGHT APPROACH (Study culture; observe; watch and learn).
• Positive: More knowledge going into culture; Negative: Can zap spontaneity of
• doing and learning through trial and error.

• FIGHT APPROACH (Trial and error). Positive: More apt to
• remember how to do things if you make mistakes and learn from them; Negative:
• Higher chance that you might offend or disrespect others

• FLEX APPROACH: Generally, a productive balance of
• knowledge and spontaneity in learning; walk in with some knowledge yet go with
• the flow

• COMMUNICATION’S DOUBLE EDGE OF ADAPTATION: The more you communicate the more you learn,
• but the more you communicate the more apt you are to have or raise more
• questions and face new challenges while visiting

• can be as if not more challenging than
• culture shock. Person goes through a
• whole other set of excitement to return home and being home, spirals down due
• to not feeling or being the same person prior to taking the sojourn, and over
• time can begin to feel better about integrating some of their old ways with the
• new lessons learned and new identity gained.

• Traditional and non-mainstream cultural activities that are
• not financially driven (e.g., Amish cultural events, folk dancing); More
• challenging to find these days given globalization.

• 1. IT IS PRODUCED BY CULTURE INDUSTRIES (Industries that
• produce and sell popular culture as commodities),

2. IT DIFFERS FROM FOLK CULTURE,

3. IT IS EVERYWHERE (UBIQUITOUS),

• 4. IT FILLS A SOCIAL FUNCTION (e.g., THINK OF HOW FILMS GET US
• TO COMMUNICATE ABOUT OUR IDENTITIES AND LIVES)

1. AS CULTURAL DOMINATION

• 2. AS MEDIA IMPERIALISM=Domination or control through Media (e.g., HARRY POTTER in Kerala,
• India)

3. AS NATIONALIST DISCOURSE

4. AS A CRITIQUE OF GLOBAL CAPITALISM


5. AS A CRITIQUE OF MODERNITY

• DIFFERENCES----SIMILARITIES
• (OF CULTURAL BACKGROUNDS, PRACTICES, ETC.)

• CULTURAL----INDIVIDUAL (INFLUENCES IN HOW WE BEHAVE/COMMUNICATE,
• E.G., DIRECT/INDIRECT COMM.)

CULTURAL PRIVILEGES-----CULTURAL DISADVANTAGES


PERSONAL----CONTEXTUAL

• STATIC-----DYNAMIC (E.G.,
• HOLD TRADITIONS VS. CHANGING CULTURAL PRACTICES)

• HISTORY/PAST----PRESENT/FUTURE
• (CULTURAL ORIENATIONS TO TIME)

•  We can acquire
• specific and general cultural knowledge beyond out local comunities

 Breaking down/getting beyond stereotypes

•  Aquire new skills
• sets(cooking/language)

 Dealing with the cultural differences

•  Tendency to stereotype( Particularly when frustrated with the
• cultural differences in a variety of situations)

•  Anxiety(From culture shock, lack of skills, and dealing with the
• unknown/ non preferred practices)

 Challenge in explaining ourselves as a couple to others

• Relational networks used(Shared identities based on native
• place, kinship, and school) in order to get things done through the network vs.
• a more autonomous “doing” of U.S. practice.

• Many couples face issues of friends, politics, finances, sex,
• in-laws, illness, and suffering and raising children.

• The following issues are intensified in intercultural
• marriages:

• Values, Eating and drinking habits, gender roles, attitudes
• regarding use of time, language issues, religion, place of residence, dealing
• with anxiety/stress due to negotiating differences, social stigma/opposition
• and ethnocentrism.

• Most common; one partner submits to the culture of the other, may be different negotiations in public vs
• private.

• Each gives up some parts of his/her cultural habits. Seems fair but be
• careful because sacrifices are occurring, you have to be okay with what your
• giving up!

• Attempt to erase facets of individual cultures to create a “new” culture;
• possibly living in a cultural space that is “home” to neither person; not a
• good long term solution.

• Most desirable; based on agreement and negotiation. Similar to
• compromise in that both give and take, but there is no perception of a “trade
• off” because both like the changes/decisions.
• Might include on occasion another style to negotiate public and private
• lives, but this is done with flexibility and negotiation.

 Conflict is a normal, useful process


 All issues are subject to change through negotiation


 Direct confrontation and conciliation are valued

•  Conflict is a necessary renegotiation of an implied contract—a redistribution of opportunity,
• release of tensions, and renewal of relationships

 Conflict is a destructive disturbance of the peace

•  The social system should not be adjusted to meet the needs of
• members; rather, members should adapt to established values

 Confrontations are destructive and ineffective


 Disputants should be disciplined

• 1. Affective conflict, 2. Conflict of Interests, 3. Value conflict, 4. Cognitive
• conflict, 5. Goal conflict

1. Dominating, 2. Integrating, 3. Compromising, 4. Obliging, 5. Avoiding

• communication strategy used to save our own or someone else’s
• face or public image

• 1. Motivation, 2. Knowledge (self, linguistic), 3. Attitudes (tolerance for ambiguity, empathy,
• transpection, nonjudgmentalism), 4. Behavior and Skills

• “Be ourself/yourself approach”; Not conscious of differences and do not need to act
• in any particular way due to context and culture; Works best if highly similar
• in cultural values, etc. But in
• intercultural relationships being outsleves often means that we’re not very
• effective, and we don’t realize out ineptness in other cultural contexts.

• People realize things may not be going very well in
• the interaction, but they are not sure why.

• I teach at this conscious, intentional level, analytical thinking and
• learning; reaching this level is necessary of becoming a competent
• communicator.

• Communication goes smoothly, but not a conscious process;
• Analytic and holistic parts are functioning together; knowing when to let go
• and rely on your holistic cognitive processing.

1. Entering into Dialogue

2. Becoming Interpersonal Allies

3. Building Coalitions

• 4. Forgiveness/Social
• Justice & Transformation