Nonverbal communication and culture. Identity, stereotypes and prejudices, страница 13

Two points should be obvious from our discussion. First, you must be careful not to assume that people are communicating only when they talk. Second, because of cultural variations in this form of communication, you have to know cultural attitudes toward talk and silence. This knowledge can save you from both anxiety and ethnocentrism in intercultural communication.

SUMMARY

- We make important judgments and decisions about others based on their nonverbal behavior.

- We use the actions of others to learn about their emotional states.

- Nonverbal communication is culture-bound.

- Nonverbal communication involves all nonverbal stimuli in a communication setting that are generated by both the source and his or her use of the environment and that have potential message value for the source or receiver.

- Nonverbal messages may be both intentional and unintentional.

- Nonverbal communication has five basic functions: to repeat, complement, substitute for a verbal action, regulate, and contradict a communication event.

- It is important to remember that we are all more than our culture.

- In nonverbal communication, we often make differences more important than they should be.

- Nonverbal actions seldom occur in isolation.

- Nonverbal communication and culture are similar in that both are learned, both are passed on from generation to generation, and both involve shared understandings.

- Studying nonverbal behavior can lead to the discovery of a culture's underlying attitudes and values. It can also assist us in isolating our own ethnocentrism.

- Our body is a major source of nonverbal messages. These messages are communicated by means of general appearance and attire, body movements (kinesics), facial expressions, eye contact, touch, smell, and paralanguage.

- Cultures differ in their perception and use of personal space, seating, and furniture arrangement.

-  We can understand a culture's sense of time by learning about how members of that culture view informal time, the past, present, and future, and whether or not their orientation toward time is monochronic or polychronic.

-  The use of silence varies from culture to culture.

1.  What is your idea of nonverbal communication?

2.  How is nonverbal communication combined with language (verbal communication)?

3.  In what situations will you need to interpret the nonverbal behavior of someone from another culture?

4. What problems could arise from not understanding differences in nonverbal behavior?

5.  Give your culture’s interpretation of the following nonverbal actions:

- Two people are speaking loudly, using a lot of gestures.

- A customer in a restaurant waves his hand over his head and snaps his fingers loudly.

- An elderly woman dresses entirely in black.

- A young man dresses entirely in black.

- An adult pats a child’s head.

6. How can studying the intercultural aspects of nonverbal behavior assist you in discovering your own ethnocentrism?

7. How late can you be for the following:

- class?

- work?

- a job interview?

- a dinner party?

- a date with a friend?

8. What is meant by the phrase “Nonverbal communication is rule governed”?

REFERENCES

Andersen, P. Cues of Culture: The Basis of Intercultural Differences in Nonverbal Communication. In: L. A. Samovar & R. E. Porter (Eds.). Intercultural Communication: A Reader. – Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2000.

Argyle, M. Intercultural Communication. In: S. Bochner (Ed.). Cultures in Contact: Studies in Cross-Cultural Interaction. – New York: Pergamon Press, 1982.

Burgoon, J. K., Buller, D. B. & Woodall, W. G. Nonverbal Communication: The Unspoken Dialogue, 2^nd ed. – New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996.

Crystal, D. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, 2^nd ed. – New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Hall, E. T. & Hall, M. R. Understanding Cultural Differences: Germans, French and Americans. – Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press, 1990.