Putting one’s own foot into another’s culture is like stepping into that person’s own little world, it is only then when we understand that individuals culture we can become competent communicators (O’Hair, Wiemann, Mullin & Teven, 2015). To understand intercultural communication, We had to choose a cultural context where we ourselves felt like outsiders or “out-group” members. I chose a Buddhist temple out of my curiosity for this religion and I felt like it was one of the places where I felt like I would be an “out-group” member. Religion itself has always been of interest to me. Growing up I was raised a Catholic by both of my parents, but I was never baptized and we weren’t really “strict” Catholics. However, recently for the past year
I could tell that he’s from a high context culture. He never flat out told me that I was wrong and never criticized me. Instead, he was being very indirect about it and being verbally vague which is a factor of a high context culture (O’Hair, Wiemann, Mullin & Teven, 2015). A high context culture according to Hall, “use contextual cues---such as time, place, relationship, and situation---to interpret meaning and send subtle messages” (as cited in O’Hair, Weimann, Mullin, & Teven, 2015, p. 126). I also consider myself as a person from a high context culture. I never would just blatantly disagree with someone and say, “Oh you’re wrong” or “That’s not right” instead I would send subtle messages to indicate that I disagree. Subtle messages such as a head nod or sometimes maybe even a facial expression that is unintentional. Since I am from a low context culture as well, I understood the contextual cues and subtle messages that he was
Collectivist cultures, “... would more likely describe themselves in terms of their social relationships and roles (“I am a good son, brother and friend”)” (Cherry, 2016, para.9). Knowing this, I can assume that this person that I was communicating with is most likely from a collectivist culture. He did describe himself in ways that are more collectivist oriented. For example, when I asked him what his religion was he said, “We’re Buddhist”. He said “we’re” when he was only by himself. According to Triandis, “Individuals from collectivist cultures perceive themselves first and foremost as members of a group - and they communicate from that perspective” (as cited in O’Hair, Weimann, Mullin, & Teven, 2015, p. 129). He identified himself as a member of a group by describing himself as one hence when he said “we” instead of “I”. He was probably raised in a collectivist environment. Maybe his parents are from collectivist cultures and he learned from
People in different countries still have the high culture or low context culture. (High vs. low context culture mean that low culture relies more on explicit verbal communication. High context culture is more collectivist, it values more interpersonal relationships.) In the case study Shame and Making Truth Cameron has relied on high context culture values to solve the case. He ignores their cultural beliefs and focuses more on his.
Nancy Ammerman writes Sacred Stories, Spiritual Tribes: Finding Religion in Everyday Life to convey her findings of studying spirituality and religion in the ordinary life of her sample population. The inspiration for this book came from previous data about Christians and the “Golden Rule,” the concept of treating everyone how you would like to be treated (3). In order to understand this concept better, Ammerman decided to study religion and spirituality in everyday life. Her population included 95 people from the Boston and Atlanta areas. These participants came from “Catholic, liberal Protestant, conservative Protestant, African American Protestant, Jewish”, Mormon, Wicca and Neopaganism as well as an internet chat group (11). Unaffiliated participants were also
A culture’s tendency to be individualistic or collectivistic can be found at the root of
Buddhism is a religion from the East that has spread to many different countries all over the world. It has spread to the West, and has had a great influence and impact, especially in America. However, the Buddhism that is practiced in the United States is not exactly the same as the one that is practiced in Asian countries. If Buddhism differs between the different traditions of the Asian countries themselves, it is obvious that it will differ greatly in America as well. However, even though there are obvious differences, it is important to maintain the core values and fundamental principles the same. This research explores how the three different types of Buddhist practitioners have adopted Buddhism in America, and it describes some differences
...carnation. After speaking to her about my religion ethnography, she offered that she practices Hinduism with her family and would be more than happy to open her home to me. I was honored that they gave me this opportunity, and understood that I truly was interested and not just writing a silly paper for a class. This information on Hinduism gave me more respect for my friend Adhita, as she plans to stay committed to Hinduism her entire life. I gained appreciation to the devotion, as well as the loyalty to good and bad karma. When first approaching the Sahai home, I felt slightly uncomfortable. Hoping the family wouldn’t judge my religion, and would be open about talking about theirs was my biggest concern. While this doesn’t even start to touch on the entire religion, I am confident I captured what was truly important about this religion to the Sahai family.
Robinson B.A. 29 Mar 2000 (last update), Buddhism, Hp. Online. Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. Available:
In the workplace each culture engages in different intercultural interactions with one another by how we communicate with each other and how we perceive each other by what we do. “Like everything else we learn, the way we communicate is determined strongly by the culture we grow up in, and there are many aspects of communication which differ from culture to culture, including how loud we talk, the directness with which we speak, how much emotion we express in various situations, the rules for turn taking, the use or avoidance of silence, and many non-verbal aspects of communication like posture, eye contact, proximity, touching, tone of voice, etc. that occur almost totally beneath our conscious awareness”( Hammer 2015) When working in an office with women there can be behavior and personalities that differ from each other.
When I was small, my parents told me that the world is a scary place simply because I am the third child and my parents are very protective, as well as setting the highest possible expectation for school and career. Whereas, Michael is the first child and was told to live however he wants. Because of my parents stereotyping, I tend to rely on misinformation and stereotypes which can create distorted perceptions while communicating to someone who is from a different culture than mine. It is never acceptable to assume what others are like based on their appearances and their culture, especially when you are in a multicultural society. Our personal values and how we distinguish ourselves as an individual can affect our communication. According to Michael, his personal values — respectful, hardworking, honest, and getting to the point — does not affect the way he communicates; in the same way, my personal values are more or less similar to his. Similarly, we both belittle ourselves because of the negative things in life that we have experienced. There are times where we denigrate ourselves which can sway the ways we communicate towards others. Both of us frequently have negative thoughts from time to time, this can be troublesome while communicating because you are likely to behave unconsciously and some expressions you do will come off as rude to others. As a result, our perception on ourselves can affects how others see us and how we
“Individualistic cultures, in the western-hemisphere, [such as the United States,] emphasize… personal identity and self-determination. Conformity is far less pervasive in individualistic societies because democratic choices and laissez-faire viewpoints are somewhat considered.”
The next communication gap concerns with the individualism- collectivism dimension, which is the degree an individual is integrated into groups in a society (Hofstede, 2001). Individualistic cultures like the U.S put a strong emphasis on individual autonomy and independence, whereas collectivist cultures like Vietnam believe in belonging, obligation
Communication is always a good way for one to express their thoughts. I interviewed two different people who were of separate races and ethnicities to learn about their experiences in the U.S. healthcare system. The interviews asked questions that centered around their racial and ethnic background and how their identities influenced their privileges or discrimination of or by health care officials. The two people I interviewed were from my physical therapy building. This was a great way to determine race and ethnicity seeing how the physical therapist is Indian and his assistant is Pacific Islander Filipino. Within public health, we see plenty of different races and ethnicities all around us. It is safe to say that an issue that emerged from the interviews was a lack of communication during a health related visit between different races and ethnicities. It became
In the diverse world in which we live, each country has its own identity and culture. In fact, a culture has its own languages, traditions, customs and social particularities. We can therefore assume that the relationships between individuals change from culture to culture because of cultural distinctions such as impressionism and individualism. Indeed, in a collectivist culture, individuals see themselves as a part of a group, while in an individualist culture individuals are independents from the community. Therefore explaining the differences between a collectivist and an individualist culture with the examples of the United States and the Ivory Coast can help any sociology class student to understand how
Hall (as cited in Würtz, 2006) defined high context cultures have a preference for Nonverbal communication (p. 55). High context culture website uses implicit information, in which it is important to have related news information and some signs. Nonverbal communication mainly the emphasis on visual effects which are images, animation, links, buttons, music, video, symbols and messages related to particular topics (p. 274). A Nonverbal communication is one in which most of the information is in the physical forms, while very little is in the text. Singh, Zhao & Hu’s (as cited in Ahmed, Mouratidis & Preston, 2009) demonstrated that "the use of symbols and icons is more important, in Nonverbal communication" (p. 55). For instance, Indian websites regularly use Color, symbolism, animations, images and sometimes video clip and music also. According to Evers (as cited in Ahmed, Mouratidis & Preston, 2009) found that the 86.5 % of Asians strongly liked sound effects (Evers, 2001). In short, the high context culture country uses nonverbal communication which is India, China, Mexico, Brazil and Japan.
To examine the impact of culture upon identity, we must first define what identity is. There is the age-old trend to view identity as the classical question of “who am I?”, when in reality, the common definition of identity is “...[the] individual's perception of self in relation to others” rather than the personality of the individual in question (Woodward). While personality is a way that we characterize ourselves by the traits that we posses, the identities that we claim are inherently a part of the groups that we assign ourselves. When I was young and in Sunday school, I was taught that the answer to the question of “who are you” is that I am a child of God, and I belong to the group of Christians. Now, some would reject that response almost immediately on the basis of that this answer does not define them, and in doing that, we have already segregated our identity based upon a group that we are a part of. Our identity is necessarily a product of our society and our relationships and the groups assignments that we give ourselves...
... its proper expressions, structure and grammar. Moreover, each language is linked to a specific dialect which is associated with educational, economic, social and historical conditions. Moreover, cultural variations also exist in the rules for general discourse in oral communication. Similar to verbal communication, there are also variations in non-verbal communication between cultures. Gestures, facial expressions, sense of time and personal distance take different forms in different cultures. Furthermore, there is an infinite number of cultural diversities which are at the root of intercultural miscommunication. Variations in values , social relationships, religion, economy and politics consist of only a few of these diversities. These differences can be the source of ethnocentrism, if one becomes over patriotic in regards to one’s own culture. Ethnocentrism, is the concept which states that we tend to judge other cultures through our own. Ethnocentric behavior, can cause racism and chauvinism, as in the case of the Second World War. However, intercultural problems can be avoided if we all develop mindfulness, a sense of flexibility and seek information about the other culture.