Culture in Interpersonal Communication

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Culture in Interpersonal Communication

• Nathaniel R. Reindl
• Jennifer Nance

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How Cultures Differ

• Driving questions
• Defining culture
• Language Relativity Hypothesis
• A more modified LRH
• Five ways cultures differ

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How Cultures Differ

• Driving questions
• The theme How do cultures differ?
• To what extent do cultures differ?
• In what ways do cultures differ?
• What sort of impact does cultural difference have
  on the individual?
• Characteristics in one culture are not
  necessarily absent from another culture

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How Cultures Differ

• Defining culture
• Culture is the knowledge, language, values,
  customs, and material objects that are passed
  from person to person and from one generation to
  the next in a human group or society.
• A subculture is a group of people who share a
  distinctive set of cultural beliefs and behaviors
  that differs in some significant way from that of
  the larger society.

Kendall, 2007
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How Cultures Differ

• Language Relativity Hypothesis
• One of the more popular theories in interpersonal
  communication
• Argued that the language one speaks influences
  his or her thoughts and behaviors
• Claim Cultures vary wildly in their languages
  and their use of language thus, they must also
  vary wildly in their thoughts.
• Not supported by later research

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How Cultures Differ

• A more modified LRH
• The language one speaks helps emphasize what one
  sees and how one talks about it.
• It does not, however, affect how one sees the
  world.
• Supported by current research and theory
• EX Consider the next slide

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How Cultures Differ
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How Cultures Differ

• Language is not the only difference.
• Five more to consider
• Power distances
• Masculine and feminine orientations
• Collectivism and individualism
• High- and low-context cultures
• Time orientations
• Only covering two of these

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Individualism and Collectivism

• Definitions
• Individualist culture is a culture in which the
  goals of the individual take precedence over the
  goals of the group.
• Collectivist culture is a culture in which the
  goals of the group take precedence over the goals
  of the individual.
• No mutual exclusivity between the two tendencies

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Individualism and Collectivism

• Illustrative example a restaurant

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Individualism and Collectivism

• The distinction lies in what extent to which
  cultures promote individual values over
  collective values.
• There is a correlation
• Individualist cultures tend to be economically
  rich.
• Collectivist cultures tend to be economically
  poor.
• but there are exceptions.

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Individualism and Collectivism

• Also applies on a personal level.
• That is, one can personally be collectivist while
  his or her culture is individualist.
• Cooperation versus competition
• Importance of in-group and out-group members

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Individualism and Collectivism

• In other words
• In an individualist culture, members are
  responsible for themselves and, perhaps, their
  immediate families.
• In a collectivist culture, members are
  responsible for the group as a whole.

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Individualism and Collectivism

• In other words
• In an individualist culture, success is measured
  by how far one stands out from the crowd.
• EX distinguished professors, employees of the
  month
• In a collectivist culture, success is measured by
  ones contributions to the group as a whole.
• EX research groups in academia

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High- and Low-Context Culture

• Why is this relevant?
• The connection
• Low-context cultures are individualist cultures.
• High-context cultures are collectivist cultures.

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High- and Low-Context Culture

• The idea
• Low-context cultures tend more toward explicit
  explanation and less toward personal
  relationships.
• High-context cultures tend more toward personal
  relationships and overall social harmony.

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High- and Low-Context Culture

• On ambiguity
• In low-context cultures, silence creates
  ambiguity.
• Will be avoided and eliminated through explicit
  communication. Trivial.
• In high-context cultures, ambiguity is to be
  avoided.
• Ambiguity is a sign that social interactions thus
  far are not enough to establish a shared base of
  information.

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High- and Low-Context Culture

• On intercultural misunderstandings
• A low-context member will seem offensive or
  insensitive or insulting to a high-context
  member.
• A high-context member will seem vague or
  dishonest to a low-context member.

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Questions?