Intercultural Communications Exam 3
What are J. Vernon Jenson's 5 common ethical admonitions for communicators?
1) Tell the truth; avoid deception 2) Do not slander other people 3) Do not blaspheme God or other sacred figures or objects 4) Avoid speech that demeans others and life in general 5) Earn the trust of others by matching one's actions with ones speech
What are the 3 "protonorms" or universal ethics identifies by Christians and Traber?
1) Truthfulness 2) Respect for another person's dignity 3) Innocents should not be harmed
What triggers encourage us to engage in intergroup rather than interpersonal communication?
1) Visual distinctiveness 2) Oral distinctiveness 3) Assignment of representative role 4) Large differences in the relative numbers of group members 5) Assumptions that our values are different 6) Lack of shared interpersonal history 7) Perceived simplicity of our communication need 8) Perceived competition
What is the concept of face and its implications for bargaining and negotiation?
Never saying anything to hurt someones feelings - trying to maintain someones dignity. Always being respectful
What are the assumptions of Kim's model?
Assumes a human need to adapt to and grow in a new culture and highlights both the dynamic nature of acculturation and the role of communication
Distinguish the cognitive, affective, and operational levels of competence & examples of each
Cognitive - knowledge of institutions, customs, laws, worldview, beliefs, norms, rules of social conducts and interpersonal relations - Example: you know that the shops in Italy close at 2pm and reopen at 4pm Affective - (attitude) emotional and aesthetic sensibilities: ability to share experiences of joy, beauty, sadness - Example: what triggers feelings of shame in this society Operational - (behavior) ability to express cognitive and affective experiences outwardly when communicating with others - Example: you limit your conversation to safe topics to avoid problems
Who "judges" competence? The "actor" or the observer?
Competence lies in eyes of beholder - the receiver of the message (observer)
What might conflict "discourse" look like in these different frameworks?
Depending on your conflict style, it will influence your discourse. If a country who is avoidant comes into conflict with a country that is competitive, the competitive country will always win.
What is a 'hypernorm"?
Fundamental universal principles that become high-order norms by which lower-order norms are judged. Include fundamental human rights or basic prescriptions common to major religions
What is a highly central concern of Eastern (Chinese, for example) negotiators? What concept is very important?
Face - unwritten set of rules by which negotiators and individuals cooperate with one another to avoid unduly damaging one another's prestige, self respect, and honor
What are relationship conflicts?
Focus on how two or more people connect with each other. Intercultural relationship conflict are marked by differing views of the rights and responsibilities of each party in the conflict as framed by different cultural systems for making sense
What is involved/what matters to people? How does that relate to conflict?
High context communication may help save face because it is less direct than low context communication, but it may increase the possibilities of miscommunication because much of the intended message is unstated. Low context cultures prefer direct conflict rather than emphasizing context. People from low context cultures might prevent misunderstanding by speaking directly in a conflict. On the other hand however, their manner of speech may also escalate the conflict.
Know difference between game of chess and go as metaphors for strategy and negotiation
In chess if you die, you lose In go if you die, you still function even if your not the one with the most power
When does media influence the decision making process the most?
Knowledge stage
How does the notion of "time" relate to negotiation?
Low context negotiator - only devotes a limited amount go time to getting to know the other party and makes an initially high but seemingly reasonable offer about which he is willing to be flexible and not averse to decreasing High context negotiator- devote much more time to getting to know other party and identifying their needs, preferences, and desires. Opening offer comes after thoroughly understanding the other party's perspective
In what ways may people be similar (homophily) to or different (heterophily) from each other?
Similarities: 1) Physical characteristics (looks, clothing size) 2) Background (age, education, class) 3) Attitudes (likes, dislikes) 4) Values (morality, whats good and bad) Differences: way we tend to communicate
Based on experience of Generator film, what is perhaps the one critical factor that brought success?
The top lawyer getting acclimated to the Chinese culture by trying to learn more
Under what conditions does intergroup communication occur?
When part of why we interact with each other in the way we do is based on our awareness of their and our own group memberships
What are the 4 fears surrounding ingroup communication?
1) Tangible harm/loss 2) Negative evaluation in ingroup 3) Negative evaluation by outgroup 4) Negative self evaluation
What are the 6 "stumbling blocks" that get in the way of intercultural communications?
1) Assumptions of similarity 2) Langauge differences 3) Nonverbal misunderstandings 4) Preconceptions and stereotypes 5) Evaluative tendencies 6) High anxiety
What are 5 approaches to conflict?
1) Avoiding 2) Accommodating - find what other wants & providing it 3) Competing - dominating/aggression 4) Compromising - give a little in order to get 5) Collaborating - all needs are met
What factors contribute to innovation and change in a culture?
1) Communication sources 2) Attitude 3) Personality 4) Social system readiness
What communication characteristics do opinion leaders have?
1) Competent - speak well, give good advice, contact with many people 2) Personally open and accessible 3) Information - interest, accuracy, and familiar with issues
What 2 criteria govern intercultural competence?
1) Effective - accomplish your goals 2) Appropriate - without violating rules, norms, & expectations
What happens during the 3 stage model of Osland and Bird for understanding cross cultural interactions (culture sense making)?
1) Framing the situation - due to need to make sense of many stimuli and experiences, humans tend to employ cognitive structures or schemas to interpret them, and these structures elicit behavioral responses or scripts 2) Making attributions - making attributions about the stimuli and behaviors but withholding judgement. Focus is on the particular people involved as evaluated in terms of their social identities and histories. To make these the individual should analyze the profile of a nations culture in terms of dimensions as individualism, power distance. Identity whether the party is using a particular communication style. Engage in sophisticated stereotyping by examine cultural metaphors that serve as a shortcut for understand a cultures values and practices 3) Selecting a script - must be appropriate for the situation, modifying it as soon as new information becomes available
What are the conditions for successful contact?
1) Joint goals 2) Supportive social climate 3) Equal status 4) Variety of contexts 5) Desire for contact
What stages characterize decision making and choice about innovations?
1) Knowledge stage - become aware of innovation; gain understanding (media is important) 2) Persuasion - evaluating it (good, bad) (personal contacts are important) 3) Decision - small scale trial, maybe; mental debate (self influence is important) 4) Implementation - adopting the innovation 5) Confirmation - media is important for reinforcement
What are the dimensions of strangers' communication activities?
1) Personal - internal; refers to making sense of the environment - Cognitive: know what they know - Affective: feel what they feel - Operational: when in Rome... 2) Social - interacting with others, either face-to-face or mediated; directly or indirectly - Interpersonal (direct) - Mass Communication (indirect)
What 3 elements or attributes or outcomes are associated with intergroup communication? ****
1) Physical appearance 2) Dress 3) Skin color
What characteristics of innovation lead to motivation to adopt?
1) Relative advantage 2) Compatibility 3) Complexity 4) Trialability 5) Observability
What are the challenges facing people returning home? The three main reason why the return home from a sojourn abroad can be so difficult and frustrating?
1) Reverse culture shock 2) Change in self and others 3) Unrealistic expectations 4) Lack of appreciation in home community
What are the 4 principles of the integrative model of bargaining as described by Fisher, Ury, and Patton?
1) Separate the people from the problem. Disregard personality quirks and try to reach an agreement satisfactory to both parties 2) Focus on interests of both parties not their positions 3) Invent options, or complex situations, for mutual gains by means of brainstorming, taking time out to analyze whether additional options exist 4) Use objective criteria and establish them before the negotiations begin. When criteria are not available, the decision process can be sequenced
What principles are helpful to follow when planning innovation and cultural change?
1) Tailor message to fit cultural values and past experiences 2) Involve those who are going to be affected by change in its planning and execution 3) Concentrate on winning opinion leaders 4) Demographic analysis of target culture 5) Understand use of mass media 6) Know the culture and if it will fit it
What is the stress, adaptation, and growth "model"? (how is each defined and what is involved in each)
Stress - psychic disturbance, off balance, tension between original identity and new possibilities (unavoidable) Adaption - new learning and self adjustment; modification of cognitive (thinking), affective (emotional), & behavioral (doing stuff/adjustment) aspects of self Growth - result of the adaptation: new person from the old (positive element)
What are universalist and relativist positions?
Universalist - maintains that ethics is something that goes beyond the cultural limitations of any one cultural system so does not necessarily imply culture. Maintains that there is a single set of values and standards of action that is applicable to all cultures and there are correct ways for these values to be enacted Relativist - each cultural group has its own value system and can only be judged and evaluated from an insider position. No cross-cultural or universal basis that can be used to evaluate a community different from one's own
What is the difference between intercultural and intergroup conflict? Intercultural conflicts resolve around different ________ of ________; intergroup conflicts are rooted in different group _________.
systems of meaning, memberships
What is ingroup bias? How quickly can it form?
the favoring of members in one's own group over members in other groups. It forms when one becomes aware of their group membership. Can form quickly due to ethnocentrism, attitude, competition, etc.
What are the issues of constraint and empowerment? (What these mean and imply. Provide example)
Constraint - on what actions are acceptable, appropriate, and worthy of probation. They are a form of quality control on community. Someone who wants all the benefits must then act in the ways that support the community's system of ethics. It often overshadows empowerment Example - at dinner uncle says something about teenagers that the teenager disagrees with. But the teenager remains silent. Empowerment - being empowered by culture to engage in process in ways that are mutually understood and accepted by those around her Example - teenager could have talked to defend teenagers
What is the difference between distributive and integrative behavior?
Distributed - assumes there is only one, which must be divided in some way, and those negotiating only over price exemplify the dynamics Integrative - assumes it has expanded and that the needs, constrains, and desires of one of the parties is not necessarily the needs, constraints, and desires of the other
What are the communication characteristics of innovators, early adopters, early majority, later majority, and final adopters of innovations?
IN BOOK PAGE 103
What are the disadvantages of too much similarity?
You wont know much thats different from someone similar
What are the components of diffusion and innovation processes?
Introducing new products; gaining support and participation - flows through channels (church/school/ect) over time through the social system with certain effects
What are the potential responses to ethical scenarios of the 4 types of culture (community sharing, authority ranking, equality matching, market pricing)?
Community sharing - (nominal scaling) names given to only entities such as African Americans and white, Anglo-Saxon Americans. One set of norms for in-group members and another set for out-group members Authority ranking - (ordinal scaling) those in higher status positions are treated deferentially and receive a disproportionate share of the community's resources. Individual A may be more important than individual B, and B is more important than C (no common unit of measurement) Equality matching - (interval scale) there is a common unit of measurement but members do not make value judgements about individual worth. Therefore there are too many so there is no true zero point Market pricing - (ratio scale) there is a common unit of measurement and a true zero point (zero money). Allows members of the culture to transform all dimensions and compare them monetarily.
What are priority conflicts?
Involve a judgement of the relative moral worth of certain actions. Feelings abut what is good or bad and judgements that reflect particular moral orders. Emotional and often reveal different values people and communities place on different actions and different kinds of people
What are the components of an innovation?
New idea or product
What is the notion of an "object conflict," including the notion of a "kernel image"
Object conflict - anything that may be perceived intellectually, be it physical or abstract. involve conscious or unconscious disagreement and misunderstanding about something Kernel image - a concept or term that both cultural communities select as important but do not share a way of making sense of the term or concept
What is the pie metaphor?
One person orders a pie, imagining a delicious hot apple pie, but instead gets a frosty cold banana cream pie or a stake or kidney pie or something that may not recognize as pie at all. The mismatched meanings we have over the pie (or other objects, our priorities and relational identities) become a source of contention because when we ordered the pie we expected the delicious one we imagined
What personality factors matter or make a difference in cultural adaptation? What does each imply/mean?
Openness - receptive to new information; seeking to learn; flexibility; tolerance for ambiguity Strength of personality - flexibility, turning problems into opportunities Positivity - hopeful; although recognizing dark side, can see the bright side and focus on it
What is an opinion leader? How does opinion leadership work?
People who have a greater influence on the opinions of others - informal and interpersonal
What are the material on personal communication, predisposition, environment, social communication, and intercultural transformation?
Personal communication - the individual's abilities at a cognitive, affective, and behavioral level to communicate competently in the host culture (serves as a means to acculturate) Predisposition - what the stranger brings to the acculturation experience (includes preparation for change, ethnic proximity, adaptive personality) Environment - what the host culture brings to the acculturation experience (includes host receptivity, host conformity pressure, ethnic group strength) Social communication - access to and active use of both mass and interpersonal channels of communication will help someone acculturate much quicker - Mass communication: allows a person to practice language skills and pick up community knowledge in a relativity stress free situation - Interpersonal communication: sheer number of contacts and the existence of a high degree intimacy in at least one of these contacts Intercultural transformation - person who acculturates will develop the functional skills to be able to act appropriately and effectively in the new culture, will feel satisfied and comfortable with new life, and will develop an identity that is simultaneously inclusive in its attitude toward others - Transformation in terms of functional behaviors, psychological health, and intercultural identity
