Cultural Differences in Worldviews and Communication

Worldviews

Psychological perception of the world that determines how we think, behave, and feel

What are different perspectives for looking at cultures?

Etic perspective and Eric perspective

Etic perspective

an attempt to build theories of human behavior by examining commonalities across many cultures

epic perspective

an attempt to derive meaningful concepts within one culture

understand how the people inside that culture view their own world; figure out insider’s concepts and logic

Imposed Etics

the imposition of one culture’s worldview on another worldview, assuming that one’s own worldviews are universal

ignoring epic (insider) reality of the culture

What assumption did research make on the marshmallow experiment

white children chose to wait for more desirable reward

black children from the inner city chose to take the less desirable reward immediately

so black children don’t know how to delay gratification

different Emic interpretations may lead to what?

different epic interpretations may lead to well meaning clashes well

well meaning clashes

are cultural differences in interpretation that aren’t meant to harm others

individualism

motivated by their own preferences, needs, and rights

collectivism

motivated by group’s or collective’s preferences, needs, and rightst

idiocentrism

Individualistic teddies that reside WITHIN AN INDIVIDUAL

individualism refers to the society whereas idiocentrism REFERS TO THE INDIVIDUAL

ALLOCENTRISM

collectivistic tends that reside WITHIN AN INDIVIDUAL

collectivism refers to the society whereas allocentrism refers to an INDIVIDUAL

countercultural individuals

idocentric individuals residing in a collectivist culture or allocentric individuals residing in an individualistic culture ho

horizontal individualism (triandis and gelfland)

“I am unique” “everyone can and should live independently”

1) id rather depend on myself than others

2) I rely on myself most of the time; rarely rely on others

3) I often do ‘my own thing’

4) my personal identity; independent of others; is very important to me

vertical individualism

“winning is everything” “I need to do my job better than other people”

1) it’s important that I do my job better than others

2) winning is everything

3) competition is the way of nature

4) when another person does better than I do, I get tense & aroused

horizontal collectivism

“their happiness is my happiness” “when they win, I feel proud.”

1) if a co-worker gets prize, id feel proud

2) the week being of my co workers is important to me

3) to me, pleasure is spending time w/ others

4) I feel good when I cooperate w/ others

vertical collectivism

“family should stick together”; “following the leader is important”

1) parents and children must stay together as much as possible

2) it’s my duty to take care of my family even when I have to sacrifice what I want

3) family members shoudl stick together no matter the sacrifices

4) it’s important to me that I respect the decisions made by my groups

which emotion is associated with individualism or collectivism?

shame

shame

the perception that you failed in the eyes of others (especially family)

do something wrong —> reflects your upbringing and reflects the reputation of the whole family

face giving/giving face

the act of praising someone else in public

promotes positive relationship between peope

face giving/giving face in collectivist cultures

would be considered boastful and individualistic if the individual did this himself/herself

bragging considered more inappropriate in asian cultures

clark and clark doll experiment

one of hte first research that looked and showed the difference in worldviews among people of color

point to the doll child that matches this trait the most. “show me the dumb child, the bad, the smart child.”

white children had white bias— attribute positive traits to white people and negative traits to black people

what is causing the difference in worldview?

predjuicie and discrimination (direct and indirect [observation] experience)

what is causing the difference in worldview for women?

sexism (direct and indirect)

gender norms/socialization

why is there worldview of LGBTQ+

others’ perception of LGBTQ' individuals central idenity

predjucie, stereotyping, and discrimination

worldviews based on social class

differences between individuals from high SES and those from low SESwy

why are there worldviews on social class?

education and financial freedom allow inviduals to focus on the self

cooperative principle

psycholinguistic term that assume that we strive to communicate with one another sincerely and effectively when we engage in conversation

(Grice 4 maxims)

Grice (1975) 4 maxims

quality

quantity

relevance

manner

maxim of quality

a communicate presumption that suggests that we tell each other the truth when we engage in a conversation

maxim of quantity

a comunicative presumption that suggest that we contribute an appropriate amount of talk when we engage in the conversation

give just the right amount of info; not too much and not too littel

maxim of relevance

a communicative presumption that suggests that our discussion is relevant to the communication

make your contributions relevant to the convom

maxim of manner

a communicative presumption that suggests that we are clear in our language and that we pay attention to normal standards of convo such as not shouting at someone who’s right in front of us

be clear, brief, orderly relat

relations with conversational partner

a communicative presumption that suggests that we use our previous relationship with our conversational partner so that we don’t have to repeat ourselves ru

rule violations

a communicative presumption that suggest that we signal our conversational partners when we are about to engage in a violation of one of the maxims.

phrases, voice inflections, sarcasm to show violation/lying

how are conversational rules across cultures?

similar general maxims guide behavior across cultures

what maxim has the greatest difference across cultures

maxim of manner (a presumption that suggests that we are clear in our language and that we pay attention to normal standards of conversation)

proxemics

personal space in covnos

Hall’s classification (intimate)

intimate (0—18 inches)allh

Hall’s classification (personal casual)

1.5-4 feethal

halls classification social consultative

4-10 ft

teacher, customer

Hall’s classification: public

10+ ft

presentation, listening to lecturer, watching performer

men and women differences in proxemics

men and women approach personal space differently

women often more comfy with standing near other women

americans’ proxemics

americans prefer 18 inches of personal space

europeans and latin Americans proxemics

may stand closer how

is proxemic behavior learned?

mostly through observation

Remland, Jones, Brinkman found what?

distance:

dutch pairs— most distance

French pairs— less distance

English pairs— least distance

French pairs face more directly across from each other kin

kinesics

bodily movements in conversations, including hand gestures, facial expressions, and eye contact

Arab kinesics

longer and more direct gaze than people from the US

East Asian Kinesics

less eye contact during a confict

using smiling as a way of discharging uncomfortable feelings

within the US kinesics (blacks)

blacks gaze less directly than whites

within the US kinesics (native americans/american indians)

less eye contact, prefer side by side orientation

Paralanguage

nonverbal vocal cues in conversation, sucha s loudness of voice, silence, rates of speech

russian/spanish interpretation of silence

silence= agreement

asian cultures interpretation of silence

silence= respect for elders

native americans/american Indians interpretation of silence

silence= way of gathering one’s thoughts

direct communication

blunt communication that’s literal & to the point

indirect communication

communication that relies on context and the receivers ability to draw inferences

factors affecting interracial communications

cultural norms and communication style

bias and stoerytpes

power dynamics n privilege

language and code switching

cultural understanding, sensitivity, and perspective taking

code switching

practice of alternative between 2 or more langugages

adjusting one’s style of speech, appearance, behavior, and expression

communication patterns of older adults (health care contexts)

older adults prefer to use personal networks (friends, family) for health related info rather than the internet or directly from their health care provider

older adult’s major motivation for grandparent grandchild interaction is…?

to transmit knowledge and wisdom

like erikson’s notion of final stage motivation in older adults

communication patterns of teens and young adults

nearly all teens in 2022 have access to a smartphone, up from 73% in 2014-15

high percentage of teens using devices to communicate

communication differences between gen z and older generations

tech use

communication platforms

communication styles

influence of memes and trends

attitudes towards phone calls

Gender Differences (LakeOff Study)

women more likely to use tentative language

expressions of uncertainty

qualifiers (‘somewhat…’)

hedges (“I guess, I might’)

tag questions (‘that was good, wasn’t it?”)

intensifiers (‘soo unrealistic, realyyy disappointing)

Wood (gender differences)

women use more indirect form of communication

disclose more about themselves

express understanding and empathy by matching their experience with others

cause of gender differences in communication

societal expectations/ gender noorm

socialization

role modelingL

Leaper and Robnett (2011)

found statistically significant but small effect size demonstrating that women are more likely to use tentative language than men

additive bilingualism

the acquisition of a second language that doesn’t replace the native language

subtractive bilingualism/laguage attrition

the acquisition of a second language that replaces one native language

native biligualism

exposure to 2 languages from birth/ very young age resulting in proficiency in both languages

early studies about bilingualism said what?

children showed lower academic performance than monolingual children

however bilingual children showed to outperform monolingual children when controlling for what?

when controlling for SES and Educational opportutnies

STroop task and bilingual ppl

bilingual ppl do better on the stoop task

bilingual people and cognitive:

less likely to experience delay in cognitive decline

learning in 1 language and testing in the 2nd language promotes deeper understanding of the materials

changes brain structure (more gray matters in the executive control region)

Social consequences of bilinguaism

impact on idenitty development, social interaction