Communications, chapter 2

Cultures with a _____ orientation promote preparation for the future to attain later rewards in life.

Long term

Members of a _____-ambiguity-tolerant culture avoid uncertainty and are anxious about an unpredictable future.

Low

This culture is one in which most of the information is explicitly stated in the verbal message.

Low-context culture

Cultures in which we are expected to confront a friend, partner, or supervisor assertively.

Low-power distance cultures

Face-saving

Maintaining a positive public self-image in the minds of others.

This culture values aggressiveness, material success, and strength.

Masculine Culture

A perspective that values _____ holds that people should retain their native cultural ways.

cultural diversity

The process by which we learn the culture into which we are born is called _____

enculturation

Members of _____-tolerant cultures do not feel threatened by unknown situations; uncertainty is a normal part of life.

high-ambiguity

Success in an _____ culture is measured by the extent to which you surpass other members of your group.

individualistic

Technology has made _____ communication easy, practical, and inevitable.

intercultural

The feeling that you have the freedom to do as you please is _____.

life control

Members of _____-tolerant cultures fear uncertainty and create very clear rules for communication.

low-ambiguity

To increase intercultural communication competence, you should practice _____, which can help you avoid operating on the basis of often incorrect assumptions.

mindfulness

Members of cultures high in _____ are generally unhappy, cynical, and pessimistic.

restraint

Members of cultures with a(n) _____ orientation expect quick results from their efforts, spend their resources for the present, and look more to the present than the future.

short-term

_____ are fixed impressions of a group of people.

Stereotypes

Ethnic identity

A commitment to the beliefs and philosophy of your culture.

Ambiguity tolerance

A cultural orientation concerned with the degree of discomfort with uncertainty.

Indulgence

A cultural orientation that emphasizes the gratification of desires, a focus on having fun and enjoying life.

short-term orientation

A cultural orientation that emphasizes the present rather than the future; opposed to long-term orientation.

restraint

A cultural orientation that fosters the curbing of gratification and its regulation by social norms.

Long-term orientation

A cultural orientation that promotes the importance of future rewards; opposed to short-term orientation.

Low-context culture

A culture in which most of the information in communication is explicitly stated in the verbal messages. Individualist cultures are usually low-context cultures. Opposed to high-context culture.

high-context culture

A culture in which much of the information in communication is in the context or in the person rather than explicitly coded in the verbal messages. Collectivist cultures are generally high context. Opposed to low-context culture.

collectivist culture

A culture in which the group's goals are given greater importance than the individual's and in which, for example, benevolence, tradition, and conformity are given special emphasis. Opposed to individualist culture.

Individualist culture

A culture in which the individual's goals and preferences are given greater importance than the group's. Opposed to collectivist culture.

High-power distance culture

A culture in which there is a great difference in power between groups; for example, between teachers and students or managers and workers.

low-power-distance culture

A culture in which there is little difference in power between groups; for example, between doctors and patients or men and women.

feminine culture

A culture that encourages both men and women to be modest, oriented to maintaining the quality of life, and tender. Feminine cultures emphasize the quality of life and socialize their people to be modest and to emphasize close interpersonal relationships. Opposed to masculine culture

masculine culture

A culture that views men as assertive, oriented to material success, and strong and women as modest, focused on the quality of life, and tender. Masculine cultures emphasize success and so socialize their people to be assertive, ambitious, and competitive. Opposed to feminine culture.

Assimilation

A process of distortion in which messages are reconstructed to conform to our own attitudes, prejudices, needs, and values.

What does the word "culture" include?

A social groups language, laws, and religion

Dialect

A variation in a language, mainly in grammar and semantics. Dialects are mutually intelligible, unlike different languages, which are mutually unintelligible.

Cultural sensitivity

An attitude and way of behaving in which you're aware of and acknowledge cultural differences without negative evaluation.

According to this perspective on culture, immigrants should leave their native culture behind and adapt to the culture of their new country.

Assimilationist

Politeness

Civility, consideration, refinement, respect, and regard for others as expressed verbally and nonverbally; interaction that follows the socially accepted rules for interpersonal interaction.

In what ways does culture differ?

Collectivism and Individualism High and low-context Power distances

In this type of culture, people define themselves according to their group affiliation and are willing to sacrifice to meet group goals. This culture promotes benevolence, tradition, and conformity.

Collectivistic culture

Intercultural communication

Communication that takes place between or among persons of different cultures or persons who have different cultural beliefs, values, or ways of behaving.

Gender

Distinguished from sex, which refers to biological qualities of men and women.

_____ is the process by which we learn the culture into which we are born.

Enculturation

_____ is the tendency to see others and their behaviors through your own culture filters.

Ethnocentrism

True/False A high-context culture is one in which most of the information is explicitly stated in the verbal message.

False

True/False Acculturation is the process by which you learn the culture into which you were born.

False

True/False All cultures are uncomfortable with ambiguity.

False

True/False Culture is passed on from one generation to the next through genes.

False

True/False Cultures teach boys and girls the same attitudes, beliefs, values, and ways of communicating and relating to one another.

False

True/False Enculturation is the process by which you learn the rules and norms of a culture different from your native culture.

False

True/False In high-power-distance cultures, power is evenly distributed throughout the citizenry.

False

True/False Overattribution is a good strategy to deal with difficult intercultural communication situations.

False

True/False Politeness and the way it is communicated is universal among all cultures.

False

True/False The emphasis on cultural awareness in your textbook implies that you should accept all cultural practices or that all cultural practices are equal.

False

This culture highly values modesty, concern for the relationship and the quality of life, and tenderness.

Feminine Culture

These cultures emphasize the quality of life and so socialize their members to be modest and to emphasize close interpersonal relationships.

Feminine Cultures

In _____-power distance cultures, power is concentrated in the hands of a few, and there is a great difference in the power held by these people and by the ordinary citizen.

High

In a _____-context culture, you would look to the context or the relationship with the person to gather much of the information in communication.

High

Members of this type of culture often place much emphasis on face-saving behaviors.

High-context culture

A culture in which power is concentrated in the hands of few is considered to be a _____________

High-power distance culture

Cultures in which we are expected to be modest, polite, and totally respectful to those who have more status than us.

High-power distance cultures

sterotype

In communication, a fixed impression of a group of people through which we then perceive specific individuals; stereotypes are most often negative but also may be positive.

What are three examples of intercultural communication?

Interethnic communication Interracial communication International communication

A person says, "She thinks that way because she's a woman." Another says, "He believes that because he was raised as a Catholic." These are examples of what?

Overattribution

_____ is the tendency to assign too much of a person's behavior or attitudes to one of that person's characteristics.

Overattribution

_____ refers to the biological characteristics that make us men and women; _____ refers to the socially constructed roles and behaviors that have been deemed appropriate for men and women.

Sex, Gender

Sex

The biological and physiological qualities that characterize men and women.

Enculturation

The process by which culture is transmitted from one generation to another.

Acculturation

The processes by which a person's culture is modified or changed through contact with or exposure to another culture.

Culture

The relatively specialized lifestyle of a group of people—consisting of their values, beliefs, artifacts, ways of behaving, and ways of communicating—that is passed on from one generation to the next

accent

The stress or emphasis placed on a syllable when it is pronounced.

Ethnocentrism

The tendency to see others and their behaviors through our own cultural filters, often as distortions of our own behaviors; the tendency to evaluate the values and beliefs of our own culture more positively than those of another culture.

True/False A highly feminine culture values modesty, concern for the relationship and quality of life, and tenderness.

True

True/False Americans generally have a preference for individual values.

True

True/False Culture includes a social group's language, ways of thinking, laws, religion, communication theories, styles, and attitudes.

True

True/False Ethnocentrism is the tendency to see others and their behaviors through our own cultural filters.

True

True/False People's happiness depends on whether they feel in control of their lives and have leisure time.

True

The process by which we learn the rules and norms of a culture different from our native culture is called _____

acculturation