2017-11-30
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1. What would you do if:
- a friend of yours who worked in your department gave a very poor presentation and then asked you: ”How did I do?”
- you must write a thank-you note to a friend at work who gave you an awful gift at a holiday party. How do you express your thanks?
2. Which 3 aspects do you think are most important for your culture? Do different cultures emphasize different aspects?
3. What is your intercultural IQ? To get an idea, name:
- at least 3 holidays that take place in December (besides New Year’s Eve);
- at least one of the native American tribes that inhabit most of the states now;
- at least 2 religions that prohibit the consumption of alcohol.
4. Which movies you’ve seen have been a place for the audience to experience and learn about another culture?
5. Why do you think one of the most common pieces of advice people get when learning a foreign language is that they should live in another country for a while?
Lecture 3.
Verbal and Nonverbal Communication
Key Terms
| Language | Gestures |
| Verbal Issues | Facial Expression |
| Labels | Eye Contact |
| Multilingualism | Artifacts |
| Code-Switching | Paralanguage |
| Speaking Style | Touch |
| Turn-Taking | Kinesics |
| Self-Disclosure | Emblems |
| Assimilation Strategies | Physical Appearance |
| Bilingual | Verbal Communication |
| Space | Nonverbal Communication |
| Symbolic Interaction | Illustrators |
| Cocultural Groups | Regulators |
| Cultural Space | Affect Displays |
| Migration | Gaze |
| Home | Proxemics |
| Neighborhood | Chronemics |
| Metacommunication | Haptics |
Language influences thought, and thus influences the meanings that are conveyed by words. Becoming fluent in a foreign language is a difficult and time-consuming task, but it is essential to gaining intercultural understanding of the society in which that language is spoken. An individual’s perceptions are more important than objective reality in determining the individual’s behavior. These perceptions differ from one culture to another. One of the main propositions of intercultural communication is that culture shapes an individual’s perceptions, and thus behavior.
One of the important intellectual contributions of the Chicago School is a theoretical perspective called symbolic interaction, defined as the theory that individuals act toward objects on the basis of meanings and perceptions that are formed through communication with others. The founder of symbolic interactionism was George Herbert Mead. Mead argued that no one is born with a self (a personality), nor does it develop instinctively. Instead, an individual’s self-conception evolves through talking with others (parents, teachers) during childhood. Mead suggested that human behavior could be understood by learning how individuals give meaning to the symbolic information that they exchange with others. Through such conversations, an individual forms perceptions which then determine actions.
Code-Switching
Code-switching is the process by which individuals change from speaking one language to another during a conversation. Participants must be equally fluent in at least two languages. Intercultural communication scholars have investigated under what conditions code-switching takes place and its consequences. They have learned that code-switching has complex rules, although it usually happens naturally without the code-switchers being fully aware of why they switch when they do. The language spoken may affect the meanings derived by the conversation partners. For example, two people fluent in both English and Spanish are having a conversation in Spanish. A third person joins them who can only speak English. The conversation rather naturally switches to English. No one states: “Okay, now let’s talk in English”. The change happens naturally. Now let’s assume the speakers do not know the third person who joins them, but they know his name is Jesus Martinez. They could continue speaking Spanish, assuming that Jesus knows the language, until they perceive that he does not comprehend what they are saying. This example illustrates code-switching as a desire to accommodate another participant. Code-switching occurs more frequently in countries where many people are bilingual. Code-switching can be used in the opposite direction of the examples above. If the goal was to send a very different message, code-switching could be used to distance oneself from others. Refusing to communicate in a shared code sends a clear message that the conversation is closed to “strangers”.
Turn-Taking
One important and necessary behavior in every face-to-face interpersonal exchange is turn-taking, defined as the process through which the participants in a conversation decide who will talk first, next, and so forth. Have you noticed how individuals in a conversation decide who will talk next? Nonverbal clues may be important, such as when an individual looks at the person who is expected to talk next in a conversation. When two people who are talking do not share a common culture, they may misunderstand each other’s subtle clues as to when each should speak. As a result, both individuals may try to talk at the same time, or their discourse may be interrupted by awkward silences. As a consequence of these difficulties with turn-taking, both conversation partners may feel uncomfortable. For instance, when a Japanese and a North American talk in English, a pause of a few seconds’ duration may frequently occur before the Japanese speaker responds.
Self-Disclosure
Self-Disclosure is the degree to which an individual reveals personal information to another person. An individual may not want to disclose such details as sexual orientation, feelings toward another person who is a mutual friend, or some item of taboo information. Imagine a university student disclosing to another individual that he or she was sexually abused by an adult as a child. Or consider a gay man or woman who comes out of the closet. Such topics are generally not considered acceptable in casual conversation because of social taboos and sanctions. However, individuals may consciously break their silence on these subjects as a political act in order to change these taboos.
Research has been conducted on self-disclosure. Scholars have investigated whether or not women are more likely to disclose personal information about themselves than are men. Generally, personal and social characteristics are not related to the degree of an individual’s disclosure. The personal relationship between two or more individuals, however, does affect self-disclosure, with same- culture intimates. Researchers found that both men and women were more disclosing of descriptive information about themselves while talking with a stranger than with their spouse. The opposite was true when disclosing intimate feelings, which were more likely to be disclosed to a spouse.
When an individual discloses personal information to another, such disclosure encourages reciprocal disclosure by the other party. The feeling of intimacy created by one individual’s personal remarks about himself/herself seems to encourage the other person to disclose personal information.
Cultural factors strongly determine the degree to which self-disclosure is appropriate. Collectivistic cultures are not very disclosing, while individualistic are more self-disclosing. European Americans disclose more personal details about their health, thoughts than do the Japanese or Chinese. This distinction implies that an individual may often not disclose inner feelings to others. Asians believe that self-centered talk is boastful, pretentious, and should be avoided. So when a European American discloses some personal information to an Asian American, the latter feels uncomfortable and does not self-disclose in return.
