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Culture impact on human behavior
Culture impact on human behavior
Essays on the effect of culture on self and personality
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Different countries have different cultures, values, and ideologies. In every society, manners and etiquette are essential. These beliefs have been derived and practiced from the old generation to the modern generation. Manners also shape societies and rule people. In some countries, Thailand and Japan, have a significant numbers of foreigners for varied purposes such as travelling, working, and studying. However, living in the different circumstances is not simple. People may experience some troubles, which can make them confused and embarrassed. Learning to adapt ourselves by learning through their behaviors may encourage people to understand them better. This essay will compare the difference of manners and etiquettes between Thailand and Japan in three significant points.
To begin with, Thai and Japanese have the different ways of greeting. The most important gesture for Thai people is wai. This traditional method of greeting indicates the respect to people in every levels (“Thailand”, n.d.). For example, Thai people normally do wai and say “sawasdee” (hello). The approach of wai is by putting both hands together as palms and bows your head (“Thailand”, n.d.). Thai wai has several meanings, and people use for thank you, sorry, and goodbye (“wai”, n.d.). Moreover, the wai use to represent the respect for the king, monks, and statues (“wai”, n.d.). On the other hand, Japanese people respect others by bowing. They bend their waists to express the politeness. To illustrate, there are 3 types of Japanese bowing, which are 15, 30, and 45-degree angle (“Greetings”, n.d.). Based on Japan National Tourism Organization, (n.d.) Japanese people use this gesture with the...
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...onversely, Thai people are allowed to talk telephone during using the public transportation.
For taxis in Japan, the drivers will open and close the door for the passenger so that they do not try to open the taxi door when need to get in. This is because the Japanese taxis use an automatic door system. Therefore, the taxi drivers will open and close the door for the customers (“Japanese manners”, 2009).
In conclusion, all above demonstrate the different kinds of manner between Thailand and Japan, which are greeting, table manners, and public transportation manners. Even though these manners and etiquettes may cause problems to foreigners in someway. Thus, people should learn and survey information about what can do or cannot do in these countries before visiting or even living in order to prepare ourselves to the dissimilar environment.
The Cambodian culture is very collectivistic and a lot of those values are still upheld by the younger generations of Cambodian Americans. In Cambodian culture, family comes first. Terry Nhim, her in-laws Mon Neang and Roeun Muth and her brother in-law Vanna Neang all greatly emphasized the importance of family and looking out for one another. “Our family is large, not being just my parents and sibling but rather my extended family as well. We try to be close to one another and of course, there are some families we’re not as close to as others. Towards my own family, we hug each other after greeting one another. With someone who isn’t family or just not close to me, I just leave it as the formal greeting. With that being said, if we touch, as a family it is fine, it shows love, but to someone ot...
In 1900 Britain was in many respects the world’s leading nation, enjoying a large share of world trade, a dominant position in the international money market, and possessing a far flung empire supported by the world’s most powerful navy. Japan was a complete contrast, sharing with Britain only the fact that it too was a nation of Islands lying off the shore of a major continent. Until the 1860s it had possessed a social and economic structure more akin to that of feudal, rather than twentieth century, Europe. By the 1990s, the positions were almost reversed. This paper sets out to examine the contrasting democratic political systems of the two nations and to explore the social and democratic consequences of the changes that have occurred.
Formal greeting calls for a prolonged handshake with the left hand to support the right arm and direct eye contact to show respect
Another difference is that teachers in Japan write down important things on a blackboard, but teachers in the U.S. seldom write everything; they just explain orally. Japanese students are very quiet during classes, and all they do is listen to teachers and copy what teachers write on blackboards. They seldom ask questions during classes but ask friends or teac...
Unlike some cultures, the Jewish are very open to others. Their general attitude is that they are above no one. The Jewish culture believes it is very important to be open, good hearted, and considerate to those around ("Culture and Customs"). The Jewish also have many different greetings they use in their everyday lives. The most common is “Shalom”, which means hello or goodbye ("Expressions and Greeings"). Since the sabbath day is very holy in the Jewish culture, wishing someone “savua tov”, would be to wish someone a good week after a sabbath service (“Expressions and Greetings"). There are a sundry amount of many other greetings that they Jewish use in conversation between one another. While the attitudes and greetings of the Jewish make up the general positive outlook of the culture, gestures also play a big part in their world. The use of hands in conversations is seen as adding meaning and excitement. Also, bowing and kneeling are seen as signs of respect and usually done during Jewish services (Telushkin). The attitudes, greetings, and gestures of the Jewish culture demonstrate the whole heartedness and considerate nature of their values and customs.
Greetings and gestures in American deaf culture revolve around visual and sensory input. A large wave would be the equivalent of saying hi and generally indicates a desire to talk. In situations where a one needs to get the attention of a deaf person, a gentle tap on the shoulder is considered polite, while moving ones hand in front of a deaf person's face in order to get their...
Culture impacts the interpretation of body language, which includes “eye contact”, “personal space”, and “bow” (Hurn 2014). The British anthropologist Edward Burnett Tylor (1871) defines culture as a set of social standards containing “social values” “custom”, and “religious beliefs” (1). In order to avoid embarrassments in conversation with people who hold different social values, believe in unlike religions or are influenced by diverse custom, it is vital to evaluate how culture affects explanations of body language and how cultural differences will cause misunderstandings among speakers.
For example, Meyerhoff describes the use of an honorific form of a word as a demonstration of respect by the speaker towards the person with whom they are speaking (85). In order to collect data, researchers may analyze audio recordings, observe social interactions, or review transcriptions. Meyerhoff provides the example of a trascribed exchange in Japanese in which a student and a professor both elect to use the honorific forms in their conversation. When speaking in Japanese, “speakers have to be very discerning: they have to be sensitive to the social significance of the relationships and settings they find themselves in and be able to appropriately draw on the conventions for use of honorifics in those settings” (85). Although this is the specific methodology in Japanese politeness, other languages may hold an identical
Since my cultural experience was on the Japanese culture, I decided I would continue on with that interest and write my paper about the Japanese culture therefor giving me a chance to do more research about the culture. The Japanese culture is really rich and diverse, there is a particular hierarchy or structure to the Japanese culture, Denison (2002) stated that “Japanese culture is structured around black and white norms for acceptable group behavior. People who do not function by there norms are viewed as outsiders who lack legitimate status. Black and white expectations of behavior produce equally clear cut conformity, resulting in high harmony and certainly of outcome, trust is early through continuous conformity”.This is a huge and really important aspect of their culture because it governs their social standing, interacting with others and the way they are seen, and when it comes to your social standing in the culture, the way you are seen and respected by those around you is very important.
In the Grenadian culture, everyone is greeted the same way however, in the Nigerian culture their greetings are very symbolic. Because in the Nigerian culture, one’s age and social status demands respect. Whenever you meet an elderly man or woman, you must greet them in a particular way; you extend your hands to them and bow your heads. Also, you must take time to ask about their health and well-being. Because, rushing a greeting is considered as being rude. Unlike the Grenadian culture, there is no set way in which we should greet anyone, furthermore, greeting people is a matter of choice. One can choose to greet or not to greet anyone, either way it can be considered as being
I would like to start talking about political life which has a great impact in our lives, the vision of citizens on politics and society for the country. Americans have a slightly more conservative perception than Japanese people, and value more to have strong leaders, a great army and ultimately a government to defend all the peace and freedom that we have always fought for. The democracy is a fact in American society .This is not surprising when you consider Americans liberal tradition, which fits perfectly with its economic system, the capitalist.
One thing that is easy to spot in a culture is the way that people great each other. The way that people great each other in America vs. Mexico may seem similar but actually are very different. The greeting in America’s pop culture has a variety. First off the greeting between two people that now each other is very relaxed. Usually a hug or a custom handshake is used to greet a friend. However greeting some one that you don’t know is different. People great with a normal handshake and make eye contact to try and make a good impr...
When greeting others it is customary to bow, although the Japanese are familiar with our ways and would expect us to want to shake hands rather than bow (Bazzel, 2013; Angloinfo, 2014). Also, being too direct about what one is really thinking is not socially acceptable. Japanese use subtle language and rely heavily on non-verbal forms of communication (Aliasis, 2013). In contrast, the United States is a very heterogeneous society known for valuing freedom and individuality. It is the most ethnically diverse country in the world and is often referred to as the “melting pot” (Zimmerman, 2013).
Effective communication with people of difference cultures can be especially challenging. The way people interpret the world can be strikingly different between cultures. Intercultural communication occurs when a member from one culture produces a message that is absorbed by a member of another culture. How that message is understood by the communicating party is a vital part in intercultural communication. For example, in Cambodia it would be considered rude to discuss business in a social setting (Language, culture, customs and etiquette, n.d.). However, in the United States this is a common practice and is almost an encouraged event. Another important factor and consideration in intercultural communication is the importance of understanding cultures, values, history and beliefs. For instance, in Cambodia, if you deliver a present that is wrapped in white paper, this is considered to represent mourning. This is one of the many reasons why it is important to assimilate into a culture and be mindful of communication between cultures (Language, culture, customs and etiquette, n.d.).
There are two fundamental issues about Japanese politeness. Firstly, when an English source text is translated into Japanese, the translator should determine the target Japanese text’s