Culture and Psychology: How Cultures Communicate - Essay Example

Culture and Psychology Discussion Culture and Psychology Discussion Discussion 8 week Aggression and Violence The feelings, associations, connotations, and nuances of language both influence and are influenced by the culture” (Matsumoto & Juang, 2008, p. 227). Cultural differences exist in how people communicate with each other. You may be familiar with lexicons (what people call themselves and others), pragmatics (how language is used and understood), verbal and non-verbal communication styles; encoding; and decoding. Understanding how cultures communicate is important to communicate effectively within a multicultural environment. For example, imagine if you moved to a state or territory of the Middle East. You knew the language, but you were not aware of the cultural influence on nonverbal behaviors, such as hand gestures and interpersonal space. Would you be able to fit in? Different cultures have varied perceptions of aggression and violence. Some actions considered as aggressive and violent by one culture are polite and gentle to another. For example, the Asian culture is composed of various races and religions. However, it is different from the Western culture in that it disregards the cultures of non-Asians. The people seemed civilized and reserved to the extent that they do not incorporate fancied gestures, dress codes, and behaviors in their culture. For instance, looking at elder person directly into their eyes is aggressive as it portrays a lack of respect for the elderly. As a result, one is supposed to look down when addressing their seniors. Some behaviors, such as winking, are aggressive in most societies of the world. Specifically, this is due to the reason that winking has various interpretations across the cultures. Some consider it as an informal gesture and disrespect. For example, Asians interpret winking as an absence of manners, therefore, considered as delinquent and unaccepted. In most of the other cultures, it is a sign of immaturity; thus, it is permissible to the kids and youth. In America, it is a sign of seduction of the opposite gender (Matsumoto & Juang, 2008). For this reason, its usage is age-specific due to the norms associated with sensitivity to the age difference between the people in the context. As observed, socially sanctioned violence is acceptable in some cultures due to a gesture interpretation variance. The cultural relativism applies to many social perspectives including the topic of aggression and violence. For this reason, what some people consider violent is interpreted otherwise by other cultures. In summary, there is no standard way of defining violent and aggressive cultures. References Matsumoto, D., & Juang, L. (2008). Culture and psychology (4th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth. Discussion 8 week 2: Group Dynamics in Individualistic and Collectivistic Cultures 2. Consider your present working environment or your most recent workplace. Would you consider it as a multicultural environment, and if so, were you able to work effectively with your coworkers? In a multicultural environment, one must learn to work in a group whose members are from both collectivistic and individualistic cultures. The meaning and value placed on conformity and cooperation differs between these cultures, which influence how individuals respond to situations and function within a group setting. In addition, differences may exist in the number and type of groups preferred by an individual. Individualistic and collectivistic cultures are present in all environments. As a result, the understanding of cultural competence is critical in facilitating peaceful coexistence and social collaboration. Put simply, one ought to learn how to accommodate both cultures and respect their opinions and ideas. The cultures differ in terms of cooperation, conformity, and response to situations in a group (Costigan, Bardina, Cauce, Kim & Latendresse, 2006). In the workplace environment, people find themselves in awkward situations. For instance, people face dilemmatic circumstances between whether to take risks by investing in a particular project or not. In such a situation, there are courageous members who take the risk to invest, while others make decisions against the investment. In the process, members from either side of the situation try to influence each other to establish a joint decision. In such a situation, an individualistic culture advocates pursuing projects that generate gains instead of losses. It also backs approaching issues with moderation. On the other hand, a collectivist culture would go for the decisive decisions even if it means leading the organization into a loss-making endeavor (Briley, Morris, & Simonson, 2005). Members who have the collectivism culture cooperate and conform more readily than an individualistic society (Cinnirella & Green, 2007). These differences are only evident when one transacts a face-to-face business with both communities. People with the collectivist cultures relate better to people from the other cultures than those from the individualistic cultures. As a result, collectivist cultures enhance unity and cooperation in the workplace. It is a sign of the respect and appreciation of diversity of cultures. References Briley, D. A., Morris, M. W., & Simonson, I. (2005). Cultural chameleons: Bicultural, conformity motives, and decision-making. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 15(4), 351362. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Academic Search Complete database. Cinnirella, M., & Green, B. (2007). Does cyber-conformity vary cross-culturally? Exploring the effect of culture and communication medium on social conformity. Computers in Human Behavior, 23(4), 20112025. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Science Direct database. Costigan, C. L., Bardina, P., Cauce, A. M., Kim, G. K., & Latendresse, S. J. (2006). Inter- and intra-group variability in perceptions of behavior among Asian Americans and European Americans. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 12(4), 710724. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the PsycArticles database. Discussion 9 week 1: Influence of Culture on Communication 3. Aggression is, “an act or behavior that intentionally hurts another person, either physically or psychologically” (Matsumoto & Juang, 2008, p. 389). While some expressions of aggression are universal, cross-cultural differences exist in the type and level of aggression that are considered to be legally or socially sanctioned. There have been multiple reasons proposed by theorists to explain these cultural differences in the type (verbal, physical, etc.) and level of aggression expressed across cultures According to Matsumoto and Juang (2008), culture affects language and communication in various ways. One of the impacts of culture on language is that it defines particular rules of communication. For instance, it specifies the pronunciation of certain words and determines a sentence structure so that the phrases have a precise meaning based on the context. Culture also influences one’s associations, feelings, and connotations and aligns them with their culture. Apart from affecting the sense of the language, culture also affects the meanings attached to the words used in a language (Matsumoto & Juang, 2008). Where cultural differences are typical, misunderstandings are likely to occur due to the variation caused by the dissimilar communication styles. Specifically, cultural perceptions and interpretation are the principal determinants of miscommunication between cultures. Misapprehensions occur due to the degree of proximity between the people engaged in a conversation (Matsumoto & Juang, 2008). In some cultures, such as the French, people are comfortable with maintaining a close distance. However, it is different from the American culture that supports a ‘personal space’ during dialogs. For this reason, an American and French may encounter confusions when chatting. Another cause of misunderstandings is the use and interpretation of body language and gestures. The most common gestures include smiling, posture, eye contact and laughing. While the Americans entertain the use of these gestures, such as winking, the Asians do not regale the same. In addition, the Asians believe that looking at an elder directly in their eyes is contempt. There are numerous ways of enhancing cross-cultural communication. 0ne of the most common ways is reducing uncertainty when connecting with a person for the first time. Specifically, this means speaking with clarity without leaving room for assumptions. Another way is by being mindful of the others by appreciating the cultural differences (Matsumoto & Juang, 2008). Reference Matsumoto, D. & Juang, L. (2008). Culture and psychology (4th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth. Discussion 9 week 2: Attribution 4. Not only do people bolster beliefs in their ability to control in response to successful control of an event but also they hold an unwarranted belief that they can control chance events,” states Yamaguchi (Matsumoto (Ed.), 2001, pp. 226–227) in the course text. While members of all cultures have the goal of protecting self-image following failures, differences exist among cultures in terms of the attributions made for the failure and success of a task. Thus, while the self-serving bias is universally applied, the specific attributions made differ cross-culturally. In some cultures, it is assumed that failure is attributable to situational factors while others assume dispositional factors.  Differences also exist in how the failure or success of another individual is attributed. Consider the relevance of attributions for success and failure for the scholar-practitioner working in a multicultural environment or in a global company. How would knowledge of how individuals’ attribute their own or others failure impact a team, classroom, or organization?  Inferences that people make about causes of an event and behavior are called attributions. Specifically, attributions facilitate the understanding of personal experience, and they strongly influence peoples interaction. Precisely, this is due to the reason that attributions are influenced by culture thus changing social interactions in various social settings such as in the classroom, in an organization or a team (Hall et al., 2005). According to research, there are two dimensions of understanding attribution, which is internal vs. external and stable vs. unstable. Attribution has a significant influence on scholar-practitioners working in a multicultural region. In particular, the understanding of cultural attributes differs thus leading to a misunderstanding or misinterpretation of various cultural practices or non-verbal communications. Cultural competence is a critical skill for individuals working in a multicultural society (Friedman, Liu, Chen, & Chi, 2007). For this reason, the deficiency of such skills has an adverse outcome in the group or organizational issue. In most cases, individuals neglect dispositional attribution arguing that their personal factors such as trait, feelings, and behavior has little or no influence the collective results (Leung, & Cohen, 2011). However, it is evident that the actions of an individual member of a group have a significant impact on the group productivity. Although situational factors lead to an adverse outcome for the group, personal factors are the primary contributors to these factors. Therefore, it is imperative for an individual working in a multicultural society to adapt active elements and skills that facilitate the realization of better results (Lee & Ousey, 2011). Adopting better strategies for coping with the cross-cultural communication challenges that lead to unproductivity is a necessary step. According to Suzanne Kaplan and Carol Cunningham (2000), there are eight tips that facilitate the achievement of a positive result through the elimination of the potential failure-factors (Mann & Takyi, 2009). Specifically, these include having a clear understanding of self and the cultural context that one is to act. Accordingly, this aids in the understanding and improving communication between the participants and the speaker, regardless of their cultural background (Higgins & Bhatt, 2001). Other strategies include eradicating English barriers, understanding your audience, suspending stereotypes, using active listening, acting authentically, and avoiding surprises. In short, the success of a company or any other social organization in a multicultural setting depends on the cultural competence of its members. References Friedman, R., Liu, W., Chen, C. C., & Chi, S. S. (2007). Causal attribution for interfirm contract violation: A comparative study of Chinese and American commercial arbitrators. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(3), 856–864.  Hall, G., Teten, A. L., DeGarmo, D. S., Sue, S., & Stephens, K. A. (2005). Ethnicity, culture, and sexual aggression: Risk and protective factors. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology,73 (5), 830–840.  Higgins, N. C., & Bhatt, G. (2001). Culture moderates the self-serving bias: Etic and emic features of casual attributions in India and Canada. Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 29(1), 49–61. Lee, M. R., & Ousey, G. C. (2011). Reconsidering the culture and violence connection: Strategies of action in the Rural South. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 26(5), 899–929.  Leung, A. Y., & Cohen, D. (2011). Within- and between-culture variation: Individual differences and the cultural logics of honor, face, and dignity cultures. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology,100(3), 507–526. Mann, J., & Takyi, B. (2009). Autonomy, dependence or culture: Examining the impact of resources and socio-cultural processes on attitudes towards intimate partner violence in Ghana, Africa.Journal of Family Violence, 24(5), 323–335. Read More