Chapter 2-Culture In Interpersonal Communication

This unit explored the nature of culture and identified some key concepts and principles that explain the role of culture in interpersonal communication. Nature of Culture and Interpersonal Communication What is culture and how is it transmitted?

• Culture: The relatively specialized lifestyle of a group of people (values, beliefs, artifacts, ways of behaving) that are passed from one generation to the next by means of communication (not genes).
• Enculturation: The process through which you learn the culture into which you're born.
• Acculturation: The process by which you learn the rules and norms of a culture that is different from your native culture and that modifies your original or native culture.

How Cultures Differ

How do cultures differ from each other? How do these differences affect interpersonal communication?

• In high-power-distance cultures, power is concentrated in the hands of a few and there is a great difference between those with and those without power. In low-power-distance cultures, the power is more equally shared throughout the citizenry.
• In highly masculine cultures, men are viewed as strong, assertive, and focused on being successful, whereas women are viewed as modest, tender, and focused on the quality of life. In highly feminine cultures, men and women are viewed more similarly.
• A collectivist culture emphasizes the group and subordinates the individual's goals to those of the group. An individualist culture emphasizes the individual and subordinates the group's goals to the individual's.
• In high-context cultures, much of the information is in the context; in low-context cultures, information is explicitly stated in the verbal message.
• Different cultures view time very differently. ~Displaced and diffused time orientations identify how accurately and specifically time is viewed and defined. ~Monochronic people do one thing at a time; polychronic people do several things at the same time.

Intercultural Communication

What is intercultural communication and what are its central principles?

• Intercultural communication refers to communication between people who have different cultures, beliefs, values, and ways of behaving.
• Some intercultural communication principles include: prepare yourself, reduce uncertainty, recognize differences (between yourself and others, within the culturally different group, and in meanings), adjust your communication, and recognize culture shock.

Citation: http://wps.ablongman.com/ab_devito_intrprsnl_10/9/2354/602731.cw/index.html