Social Contact : Concepts, determinants, and measurements

1. Concepts, determinants, and measurements
Social Contact
Students: Hossein Sardarzadeh
Tutor : Dr. PoorJam

2. • Complex concept
• Multitude of different experiences
• Multitude of different situations
• Work, home, travel
• Personal; occurs between a minimum of 2 persons
• Interpersonal encounter
• Encounter with others
• Positive, negative or superficial
Concept and Definitions
Social Contact

3. • Co-presence
• Minimum level of interaction
• Signaling awareness of presence and accessibility
• Focused
• Higher level of interaction
• Gathering and cooperating to sustain single focus of attention
• Co-presence may or may not lead to focused interaction
Levels of Social Contact
Social Contact

4. Features of social interactions (Argyle et al., 1981):
• Goals
• Purposes that direct and motivate
• Rules
• Shared beliefs that regulate and generate actions
• Roles
• Duties and rights of social position of interactants
• Repertoire of elements
• Sum of verbal and non-verbal behavior
Analysis of Social Situations
Social Contact

5. • Sequences of behavior
• Specific order of actions for effective behavior
• Concepts
• Understanding of elements for behavior and goal achievement
• Environmental setting
• Encounter setting (spaces, boundaries)
• Language
• Speech and variations
• Difficulties and skills
• Perceptual, memory, motor, and linguistic skills
Analysis of Social Situations
Social Contact

6. • Tourist-host
• Tourist-tourist
• Tourist-potential tourist
• Tourist-provider contacts
Social Contact in Tourism
Social Contact

7. Range of meanings
• Degree of institutionalization, type of encounter, form of travel,
traveler status
• Operational
• Temporary visitor
• Arriving at holiday destination
• Stays for minimum of 24 hrs, maximum of 12 months
• Any purpose other than employment
Definition of Tourist
Social Contact

8. • Resident of visited destination
• Employed in tourism industry
• Tourist service-providers
Definition of (Professional) Host
Social Contact

9. • Transportation
• Lodging
• Dining
• Sightseeing
• Shopping
• Entertainment
• Observations
Setting of Tourist-Host Contact
Social Contact

10. • Purchasing of goods and services
• Side-by-side presence/exchange
• Face to face exchange of information
Forms of Tourist-Host Contact
Social Contact

11. • Face to face contact between tourists and hosts
• Different cultural backgrounds
• Travel from home culture to host culture
• Serving tourists from foreign culture
Tourist-Host Cultural Contact
Social Contact

12. • Two types of contact
• Intercultural contact
• Interaction between two different cultures
• Cross-cultural contact
• Interaction between more than two cultural groups
Social Contact

13. Social contact between individuals from different cultural
groups results in
• Positive outcomes
• Mutual appreciation, understanding, respect, tolerance, liking
(Bochner, 1982)
• Positive attitudes (Fisher and Price, 1991)
• Reduces ethnic prejudices, stereotypes, and racial tension (Cohen,
1971)
• Cultural enrichment, improved social interactions (UNESCO, 1976;
Vogt, 1977)
Contact Hypothesis
Social Contact

14. Social contact between individuals from different cultural
groups results in
• Negative outcomes
• Negative attitudes
• Negative stereotypes, prejudices, tensions, hostility
(Bochner, 1982)
• Ethnocentrism (Triandis and Vassilou, 1967)
• Clashes of values, conflict, and disharmonies (Hall, 1984)
Contact Hypothesis
Social Contact

15. Social contact between individuals from different cultural
groups results in
• Negative outcomes
• Exclusion from mutual activities (Asar, 1952)
• Formality of contact, social barriers, personal friendship
barriers (Taft, 1977)
• Superficial relationships (Watson and Lippitt, 1955)
• Negative feelings, inferiority, self-rejection (Bettelheim, 1943)
Contact Hypothesis
Social Contact

16. Social contact between individuals from different cultural
groups results in
• Negative outcomes
• Resentment, irritation, frustration, and stress (Taft, 1977)
• Language barriers (Arjona, 1956), communication problems
(Argyle et al., 1981)
• Loss of sense of security and emotional well-being (Lynch,
1960)
Contact Hypothesis
Social Contact

17. Social contact between individuals from different
cultural groups results in
•Negative outcomes
• Differences in subjective cultures
• Social contact becomes a threatening experience
• Participants feel like outsiders
• Inhibits social interaction, future contact lost (Kamal and
Maruyama, 1990)
• Negative feelings increase with frequent contact (Anant, 1971)
Contact Hypothesis
Social Contact

18. Positives
• Tourism’s potential for fostering understanding between
nations and peace
• ‘Guest’ treatment, cultural pride among hosts, greater
socialization
• Friendly, respectful, interested tourists
• Contact and knowledge of each other seen as important
• Enhancement of tourist and host attitudes
• Positive attitude (change) towards hosts
• Greater intensity and longer contact/interaction time
• Higher satisfaction levels
Contact Hypothesis in Tourism
Social Contact

19. Negatives
• Positive attitudes not possible due to superficial nature of
tourist-host contact
• Distorted and superficial perceptions
• Perceptions of tourist based on symbols
• Perceptions of host based on status and outcomes of commercial
exchange
Contact Hypothesis in Tourism
Social Contact

20. Negatives
• Negative change of attitudes
• Minor change in positive direction
• Majority of change in negative direction
• Extra tension added as a result of economic encounter
• Confirmation of positive or negative attitudes
Contact Hypothesis in Tourism
Social Contact

21. Negatives
• Pressure to develop stereotypes
• ‘Passing through’ character of tourists
• Clash of values
• Liberal values of Western tourists and domestic social rules
• Reversal of gender roles
• Tourist isolation, separation, and segregation
• Stress, victimization and harassment
Contact Hypothesis in Tourism
Social Contact

22. Negatives
• Communication problems
• Differences in language, gesture, space, time, and status
• Safety and health hazards
• Disappointment, discouragement and dissatisfaction
Contact Hypothesis in Tourism
Social Contact

23. • Advantages outweigh disadvantages
• Break up isolation, create awareness among cultural groups
• Opportunity to learn and fundamental intercultural encounters
• Less developed countries
• Negative effect of contact is increased
• Tourists perceived as aggressive and insensitive
• Exploitation, assault, victimization, social problems
Tourist-Host Contact
Social Contact