Course Wrapup

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Course Wrap-up Part 2 Culture and Cognition
Culture affects how the
brain processes information. People from
different cultures think about different
things. People from different cultures think
differently
about their life
experiences.
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Racial and Ethnic Stereotypes
Negative connotation may be uniquely
American Enduring negative stereotypes
about Blacks and Jews (Katz Braly) Negative
stereotypes can lead to prejudice Negative
stereotypes reduce the potential for intergroup
friendships
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The Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis
Possible explanation for the origin of
racism During times of social, economic, or
political stress Dominant cultural group
blames subordinate racial groups Racism becomes
a way of releasing stress and frustration
Dominant group may act out its frustration via
prejudice and discrimination.
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Reference Groups
Comparative We compare our attitudes and
practices to theirs. Normative We adopt their
norms and standards as our own (conform).
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Four Dimenstions of Roles Across
Cultures (Gudykunst Kim)
Personalness close/intimate vs. distant
Formality prim/proper vs. casual/relaxed
Hierarchy strictly ranked vs. loose and
flexible Deviation permission to deviate
from expectations without negative sanction
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Family Groups
Individualistic, low context, low power distance
cultures Nuclear family Individual development
encouraged Participative decision-making Collect
ivistic, high context, high power distance
cultures Extended family Cohesive,
well-integrated Hierarchical
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Sex Role Orientations (Bem)
Androgynous high masculine, high
feminine Masculine high masculine, low
feminine Feminine low masculine, high feminine
Undifferentiated low masculine, low feminine
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Gender Stereotypes (Best)
Survey of more than 30 countries Universal
characteristics associated with men
Aggressive, confident, opinionated, rational,
reckless, tough, etc. Universal characteristics
associated with women Affectionate,
emotional, gentle, modest, sensitive, talkative,
warm, etc.
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Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
Linguistic determinism the way one thinks is
determined by the language one speaks Linguistic
relativity different languages produce different
worldviews in their speakers
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Cross-Cultural Communication
Styles (Gudykunst Ting-Toomey)
Direct Overt expressions Individualistic,
low context cultures
Indirect Ambiguous, vague expressions
Collectivistic, high context cultures
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Standard English and Dialects
(MacNeil)
Standard English correct manner of
speaking Accent differences in
pronunciation Dialect associated with
particular region or group Language variety the
way a group uses language
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Channels of Nonverbal Communication
Proxemics
Perception and use of space Territoriality
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Channels of Nonverbal Communication
Haptics
Touching behaviors (Hall) Most primitive form of
communication Varies widely across
cultures Highly contextual (age, sex, situation,
relationship)
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Communication and Uncertainty
Some tenets of Uncertainty Reduction Theory

(Berger Calabrese) Axiom 1 Verbal
communication reduces uncertainty. Axiom 2
Nonverbal expressiveness reduces
uncertainty. Axiom 3 High uncertainty increases
information-seeking. Axiom 4 High uncertainty
decreases perceptions of intimacy. Axiom 5 High
uncertainty increases reciprocity. Axiom 6
Similarities between persons decrease
uncertainty. Axiom 7 High uncertainty decreases
liking.
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Anxiety Uncertainty Management
Theory (Gudykunst)
Anxiety/uncertainty increases
when communicating with a stranger. Key to
effective cross-cultural communication is
mindfulness Conscious attention to incoming
information Open to new information and the
processing of new categories
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Empathic Listening (Klopf)
Paraphrasing Reflecting feelings Reflecting
meanings Summarizing
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Eastern and Western Culture
and Relationships