COMM 1 Lecture 9: Comm 1 - Intro to Communication - Lecture 9 Notes
2/15/18
intercultural/intergroup communication
●Communicative differences across cultures
○Differences are learned
■Ex: politeness
○Proxemics (interpersonal distance/space)
■Japanese relatively further apart from each other
■North america closer
■Mediterranean even closer
○Oculesic behaviors (eye gaze)
■In some african cultures you don’t look while you’re listening (taken as
challenging) or for ex: look when you should not
○Chronemics
■Ex: dinner invitation at 7 pm - when arrive?
●Scandinavians - precisely at 7 pm
●American - some 10-15 min late
●Latin american - 9ish (2 hour late)
●Ethiopians - between 9-10
●Javanese (islands above australia) - wouldn’t show up at all
○Meant as a nicety (not actually meant to happen)
■Monochronic cultures - very time-conscious; prefer tasks/people
one-at-a-time
●North america, northern europe
■Polychronic cultures - deal with multiple tasks/people at once;
schedules more fluid
●Latin american, arab, africa
●Beliefs about talk vs. silence
○Aversion to silence
■North America, North Europe
○Only talk after comfortable
■E Asia, parts of Africa
●Some proverbs:
○ Taoist: “one who speaks does not know”
○Japanese : “to say nothing is a flower”
○Polish : “the mouth is silent, the soul is singing”
●Some cultures cheer differently during games and other cultures
get annoyed
●How do we explain all these differences?
●We need to identify the dimensions of culture
○Individualism / collectivism
○Individualistic cultures
■Emphasize individual goals
Document Summary
In some african cultures you don"t look while you"re listening (taken as challenging) or for ex: look when you should not. Javanese (islands above australia) - wouldn"t show up at all. Meant as a nicety (not actually meant to happen) Monochronic cultures - very time-conscious; prefer tasks/people one-at-a-time. Polychronic cultures - deal with multiple tasks/people at once; schedules more fluid. Taoist: one who speaks does not know . Japanese : to say nothing is a flower . Polish : the mouth is silent, the soul is singing . Some cultures cheer differently during games and other cultures get annoyed. We need to identify the dimensions of culture. Individual success is important as it is in service to the group. Usa, australia, great britain, canada, netherlands, new. India, japan, argentina, iran, jamaica, brazil, arab countries. Thailand, south korea, taiwan, peru, costa rica, pakistan, indonesia, colombia, venezuela, panam , ecuador, guatemala. Low context/high context (this is another dimension of culture)
