Comprehensive Guide to Culture, Language, and Communication Skills

Culture

A learned and shared system of symbols, language, values, and norms that distinguishes one group of people from another.

Co-cultures

Groups of people who share values, customs, and norms related to mutual interests or characteristics besides national citizenship.

Primary forms of human diversity

Race, ethnicity, nationality, socioeconomic status, disability status, sex, gender, sexuality, religion, and generational identity.

Individualism

A cultural orientation that emphasizes individual goals, independence, and personal achievement.

Collectivism

A cultural orientation that emphasizes group goals, relationships, cooperation, and group harmony.

Low-context culture

A culture in which people tend to communicate directly and explicitly through words.

High-context culture

A culture in which meaning is often communicated indirectly through context, relationships, and nonverbal cues.

Power distance

The degree to which a culture accepts unequal distributions of power.

Uncertainty avoidance

The degree to which members of a culture are comfortable or uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity.

Cultural masculinity and femininity

A cultural dimension concerning the value placed on traditionally masculine traits such as competition versus traditionally feminine traits such as cooperation and relationships.

Cultural proficiency

The ability to communicate effectively and appropriately with people from different cultures.

Cultural centrism

The tendency to view one's own culture as the standard for judging other cultures.

Perspective taking

Trying to understand a situation from another person's point of view.

Ways to communicate with cultural proficiency

Cultivate cultural awareness, practice perspective taking, avoid cultural centrism, and adapt to changing cultural norms and expectations.

Language

A structured system of symbols, in the form of words, used for communicating meaning.

Words

The building blocks of language that represent ideas, observations, feelings, and thoughts.

Four major characteristics of language

Language is symbolic, governed by rules, has layers of meaning, and varies in clarity.

Language is symbolic

Words represent objects or ideas but are not the objects or ideas themselves.

Language is governed by rules

Language follows established rules that allow people to understand how words and sentences should be used.

Phonological rules

Rules dealing with the correct pronunciation of words.

Syntactic rules

Rules governing the order of words within phrases and sentences.

Semantic rules

Rules governing the meanings of individual words.

Pragmatic rules

Rules governing how language is interpreted depending on context and the people involved.

Language has layers of meaning

Words can range from very abstract and general to very concrete and specific.

Language varies in clarity

Some words or expressions are more concrete and precise than others.

Hayakawa's Ladder of Abstraction

A continuum that arranges words and ideas from broad and abstract to specific and concrete.

Abstract language

Language referring to broad categories, concepts, or ideas.

Concrete language

Language referring to specific, observable people, objects, or events.

Credibility

The extent to which others perceive a person as competent and trustworthy.

Proxemics

The scientific study of spatial use.

How close we stand to others

Can communicate familiarity, relationships, comfort, power, and social expectations.

Physical appearance

Visible characteristics that influence how others form impressions and judgments about us.

Halo effect

The tendency to assume that someone who has one positive characteristic, such as attractiveness, also possesses other positive qualities.

Chronemics

The way people use time as a form of nonverbal communication.

How time communicates

Making someone wait, being punctual, or giving someone time can communicate status, importance, respect, or power.

Artifacts

Objects and visual features in an environment that reflect who people are and what they value.

Examples of artifacts

Furniture, lighting, decorations, clothing, artwork, and other objects that communicate information about people or organizations.

Interpreting nonverbal communication

The process of noticing nonverbal behaviors and determining what they mean.

Two important nonverbal interpretation skills

Sensitivity to others' nonverbal messages and the ability to decipher their meaning.

How to become more sensitive to nonverbal messages

Pay close attention to facial expressions, tone of voice, and body movements.

How to decipher nonverbal messages

Consider the social situation and behavior together, account for cultural differences, and ask for clarification when uncertain.

Why context matters in nonverbal communication

The same behavior can have different meanings depending on the situation.

Why culture matters in nonverbal communication

Gestures, eye behaviors, and other nonverbal cues can have different meanings across cultures.

Best strategy when unsure about a nonverbal message

Ask the person for clarification instead of assuming what the behavior means.

Expressing nonverbal messages

Using nonverbal behaviors effectively to communicate information to others.

Ways to improve nonverbal expression

Spend time with expressive people and participate in activities such as acting, charades, public speaking, or other exercises that practice nonverbal expression.

Listening

The active process of making meaning from another person's spoken message.

Hearing

The sensory process of receiving and perceiving sounds.

Difference between hearing and listening

Hearing is sensory and automatic; listening is an active process requiring attention and interpretation.

Effective listening

Listening with the conscious goal of understanding what the speaker intends to communicate.

Four listening styles

People-oriented, action-oriented, content-oriented, and time-oriented.

People-oriented listening

A style focused on finding common interests with others and understanding their emotions and interests.

Action-oriented listening

A style focused on organization, precision, and accomplishing tasks.

Content-oriented listening

A style focused on intellectual challenges, details, and thinking through information.

Time-oriented listening

A style emphasizing efficiency and conversations that are quick and to the point.

Can people use more than one listening style?

Yes. People can adapt their listening style depending on the situation.

Importance of listening

People spend a large portion of their communication time listening, and listening is highly valued in professional settings.

Approximate percentage of communication time spent listening in the textbook study

54%.

Approximate percentage of communication time spent reading

17%.

Approximate percentage of communication time spent speaking

16%.

Approximate percentage of communication time spent writing

11%.

Approximate percentage of communication time categorized as other

2%.

HURIER model

A model describing six stages of effective listening: Hearing, Understanding, Remembering, Interpreting, Evaluating, and Responding.

H in HURIER

Hearing: physically perceiving sound.

U in HURIER

Understanding: comprehending the words that have been heard.

R in HURIER

Remembering: storing ideas in memory.

I in HURIER

Interpreting: assigning meaning to what has been heard.

E in HURIER

Evaluating: judging the speaker's believability, accuracy, and intentions.

R in HURIER Responding

Responding: indicating to the speaker that you are listening.

Understanding stage of listening

Comprehending the meanings of the words and phrases being communicated.

Remembering stage of listening

Storing information so it can later be retrieved.

Mnemonic

A memory aid used to improve recall.

Interpreting stage of listening

Assigning meaning to information that has been selected for attention and organized.

Evaluating stage of listening

Judging the value, accuracy, believability, and intentions of a speaker's message.

Responding stage of listening

Providing verbal or nonverbal feedback that indicates you are listening.

Stonewalling

A highly passive listening response involving silence and little or no facial expression.

Backchanneling

Using facial expressions, nods, vocalizations, or brief verbal responses to show attention.

Paraphrasing

Restating in your own words what the speaker has said.

Empathizing

Communicating that you understand and share the speaker's feelings.

Supporting

Expressing agreement with or encouragement for the speaker's point of view.

Analyzing

Providing your own perspective or explanation regarding what the speaker has said.

Advising

Communicating advice to the speaker about what you think they should do.

Listening response continuum

Stonewalling is among the most passive responses, while advising is among the most active.

Informational listening

Listening primarily for the purpose of learning.

Critical listening

Listening for the purpose of analyzing and evaluating what is being heard.

Empathic listening

Listening for the purpose of understanding the speaker's feelings and experience.

Perspective taking in empathic listening

Understanding a situation from another person's point of view.

Empathic concern

Recognizing another person's feelings and experiencing those feelings yourself.

Goal of empathic listening

To understand the speaker's feelings rather than focusing on how you would feel in the same situation.

Inspirational listening

Listening in order to be inspired by what someone is saying.

Can listening have multiple purposes?

Yes. A person may have one primary listening goal while also pursuing other goals.

Barriers to effective listening

Noise, pseudolistening, selective attention, information overload, glazing over, rebuttal tendency, closed-mindedness, and competitive interrupting.

Noise

Anything that distracts you from listening to what you want to listen to.

Physical noise

External environmental sounds that interfere with listening.

Psychological noise

Internal distractions such as stress, worry, fatigue, or emotions that interfere with listening.

Pseudolistening

Using feedback behaviors to give the false impression that you are listening.

Selective attention

Listening only to the points you want to hear while ignoring other information.

Information overload

The state of being overwhelmed by the large amount of information encountered each day.

Glazing over

Daydreaming or allowing the mind to wander while someone is speaking.

Difference between glazing over and pseudolistening

With glazing over, you are actually listening but your attention wanders; pseudolistening means only pretending to listen.