Chapter 5

Communication and

Culture

Chapter Outcomes

• Define and explain culture and its impact on your communication

• Delineate seven ways that cultural variables affect communication

• Describe the communicative power of group affiliations

Chapter Outcomes (cont.)

•Explain key barriers to competent intercultural communication

•Demonstrate behaviors that contribute to intercultural competence

Understanding Culture

• Culture– A learned system of thought and

behavior that belongs to and typifies a relatively large group of people

– The composite of their shared beliefs, values, and practices

Understanding Culture (cont.)

• Culture is learned through communication with others.– Your personal worldview is the

framework through which you interpret the world and the people in it.

• Culture affects communication.

Understanding Culture (cont.)

• Intercultural communication matters.– Communication between people from

different cultures who have different worldviews

– Necessary in our diverse, mobile society

– Mediated interactions and diverse organizations provide regular exposure to people from other cultures.

Communication and Cultural Variations

• Seven cultural variations play out along a continuum and are not absolute.

• High-context cultures use contextual cues to both interpret meaning and send subtle messages.– Cues: time, place,

relationship, situation

Communication and Cultural Variations

(cont.)• Low-context cultures use direct language and rely less on situational factors.– Examples: United States, Canada,

northern Europe• Collectivistic cultures perceive

selves primarily as members of a group.– Examples: Arab and Latin

American cultures, China, Japan

Communication and Cultural Variations

(cont.)• Individualistic cultures value individuality, communicate autonomy and privacy, and downplay emotions.– Examples: United States, Great Britain,

Australia, Germany

• High uncertainty avoidance cultures adapt behavior to avoid risk and use formal rules to communicate.– Examples: Portugal, Greece, Peru, Japan

Communication and Cultural Variations

(cont.)

• Low uncertainty avoidance cultures have a higher tolerance for risk and ambiguity and use fewer formal rules to communicate.– Examples: Sweden, Denmark,

Ireland, United States

Communication and Cultural Variations

(cont.)• Masculine cultures place value on assertiveness, achievement, ambition, and competitiveness.– Examples: Mexico, Japan, Italy

• Feminine cultures value nurturance, relationships, and quality of life.– Examples: Sweden, Norway

Communication and Cultural Variations

(cont.)• Power distance is the way cultures

accept the division of power.– High power distance: people with

less power accept lower position as basic fact of life.

– Low power distance: people tolerate less difference in power between people; they communicate with less anxiety with those higher in status.

Communication and Cultural Variations

(cont.)• Time orientation: the way that cultures communicate about and with time– Monochronistic cultures are time-

conscious; include United States, Great Britain

– Polychronistic cultures have a more fluid approach to time; include Latin America, Asia

Communication and Cultural Variations

(cont.)• In monochronistic cultures,

time is a valuable resource that is not to be wasted. Polychronistic cultures have a more fluid approach to time and deal with various projects and people simultaneously.

Communication and Cultural Variations

(cont.)•Value of emotional

expression– Collectivistic cultures may use

hyperbole (vivid, colorful language with great emotional intensity).

– Individualistic cultures tend toward understatement (euphemisms) to downplay emotional intensity.

Understanding Group Affiliations

• Co-cultural communication– Members share some of the

general culture’s system of thought and behavior but have distinct unifying characteristics.

– Includes race, gender, sexual orientation, religion

– Includes generations

Understanding Group Affiliations (cont.)

•Co-cultures within a larger culture

Understanding Group Affiliations (cont.)

• Social identity theory includes– Personal identity – Social identity from your group

memberships– Ingroups and outgroups

• Intergroup communication – How communication occurs within and

between groups and affects relationships– Group identification and communication

shift depending on which group membership is made salient at a given moment.

Intercultural Communication

Challenges

• Anxiety• Ethnocentrism

– Belief in the superiority of your own culture or group; viewing other cultures through your own lens

Intercultural Communication Challenges (cont.)• Discrimination

– Stems from ethnocentrism– Behavior toward person or group

based solely on their membership in a particular group, class, or category

– Attitudes about superiority of one culture lead to rules and behaviors that favor that group and harm another group.

Improving Intercultural

Communication•Changing thinking

(cognition)•Changing feelings (affect)•Changing behavior•Being mindful (intercultural

sensitivity)•Desiring to learn about other

cultures

Improving Intercultural

Communication (cont.)• Overcoming intergroup biases

– Intergroup contact theory: interaction between members of different social groups generates a possibility for more positive attitudes.

– Refraining from behavioral affirmation and confirmation

Improving Intercultural

Communication (cont.)• Accommodating appropriately– Convergence involves shifting

language or nonverbal behaviors toward each other’s way of communicating.

– Avoid overaccommodation, or going too far in making changes based on stereotypes about another group.

Practice Your Skills

•Listen effectively.•Think before you speak or

act.•Be empathic.•Do the right thing.