Culture and Communication

Culture and Communication

1. Why is it important to be aware of culture when thinking about communication?

   • Culture affects every aspect of our lives
   • it can lead to bias, misunderstanding, or negative perception

2. How does culture shape verbal and nonverbal communication?

   • High versus low context cultures

3. Relationship between culture

   • High versus low context cultures
     • Low Context
       • A great deal of emphasis is placed on the words someone uses when they speak
         • Clear, direct, typically derived from words
           • I give you my word
             • My word is my bond
           • Formal contracts
             • Agenda
               • Syllabi
     • High Context
       • emphasizes the implicit and indirect meaning of messages, and thus communicators rely more on nonverbal elements
         • Raised eye brow means "yes" in France and polynesia and "No" in Greece.
         • Words are not as important as the way they are said or the contect
           • Reading between the lines
           • Important information is contained in non verbal elements, ritualized response, or context of the communication
     • "I will try" "Maybe"
   • Individualism and collectivism
     • Individualistic
       • value a strong sense of personal identity and promote individual goals, rights, choices, and freedoms.
         • United States, Australia, Netherlands
           • Self reliant
         • stimulated by individual competition, place personal goals over others’ motivations, and often attribute their achievements to their individual strengths.
           • meeting new people often involves questions about accomplishments such as “What do you do for a living?” Many believe that they create their own identity, and they are proud of their personal success
       • direct communication that helps manage threat
     • Collectivistic
       • value close ties, cooperation and harmony, conforming to the group, and relying on others for support
         • interdependent and closely associated with their social network.
           • What is best for the group is the overriding factor in decision making
       • Japan China
       • Communication indirectly in order to retain harmony

4. How paying attention to culture can help a person improve as a communicator

   • It will allow you to connect with people of other cultures
     • It will be easier to communicate without offending the reciever