"The experiment requires that you continue." Participant: "I don't think I should go on." Assistant: "It is absolutely essential that you continue. You have no other choice, you must go on." participants continued to the highest shock level (450 volts) if the experimenter insisted they do so. ▪ Only about 1/3 defied the experimenter and refused to continue at some point. So obedience to authority was much higher than predicted.

1. Intercultural
Communication
Dr. Russell Rodrigo

3. Outline
1. Circuit of Culture
2. Factors affecting
intercultural
communication
3. Challenges in
interculutral
communication
4. Social Factors and
Influence
5. Resolving Conflict

4. What is communication?
What comes to mind when you hear the
word “intercultural communication”?

5. What is cross
cultural
communication?
• Cross-cultural
communication is a field of
study that looks at how
people from differing cultural
backgrounds communicate,
in similar and different ways
among themselves, and how
they endeavor to
communicate across cultures.
• Intercultural communication
is a related field of study.

6. Communication
& Culture
• Culture as a term is widely used in
academic as well as in daily speech
and discourse, referring to different
concepts and understandings.
• While the term originally stems from
ancient Greek and Roman cultures
(Latin: cultura) it has various
dimensions today built from the
different needs and uses of each field,
be it anthropology, sociology or
communication studies.

8. • While there are specific differences to each culture,
generally speaking, cultures share a number of traits,
➢shared language or linguistic marker
➢definition of proper and improper behaviour
➢a notion of kinship and social relationship
(i.e.: mother, friend, etc)
➢ornamentation and art
➢a notion of leadership or decision-making
process.
• Culture and society, though similar, are different
things. Cultures are defined by these learned
behaviors and schemas.
• Societies at their simplest can be defined as groups of
interacting individuals. However, it is through this
interaction that individuals develop and communicate
the markers of culture, and so in human societies, it
is very difficult to separate out ‘culture’ and ‘society.’

9. What is the role of
communication within culture?
• The idea of culture as something that is shared
means that it is vital to understand culture and
communication in relation to one another.
• The relationship between culture and
communication, in all its forms, is tightly
interwoven and interlinked.
• We can see that communication enables the
spread and reiteration of culture.
• Both communications and the media propagate
the values and schemas of a culture through
the repeated interaction and exchange enabled
by the communications process.

11. Exercise 1
How would you explain what culture
is in your own words?
Choose a form of communication or
a media text and see if you can apply
the five variables du Gay suggests to
understand that example.

12. Intercultural
Communication

13. Intercultural
communication
• describes communication efforts between
different cultural groups or subgroups.
Differences between those groups, even if
they speak the same language, can create
problems and make understanding each
other much harder.
• As globalization has brought the whole
world closer together, business between
different cultures happens on a daily basis.
• To make things run smoothly, intercultural
communication skills are crucial.

14. Geert Hofstede
• Hofstede refers to culture as “the collective programming of the mind distinguishing
the members of one group or category of people from others” (Hofstede, 2013).
• Comparing values, behaviors and organization for different nations Hofstede developed
five dimensions to classify cultural principles. Each dimension builds up between two
poles who describe the idealized extremes of it.
• Hofstedes original dimensions included power distance (PDI), individualism vs.
collectivism (IDV), masculinity vs. femininity (MAS) and Uncertainty avoidance (UAI)
(Hofstede, 2001). A fifth definition, the one of long-term vs. short-term orientation or
in other words pragmatic vs. normative, was added by Micheal Bonds research in 1991,
followed by the definition of indulgence vs. restraint by Michael Minkov (Hofstede
2013).
• In each dimension the lowest possible score is 0 and the highest is 100.

15. Power distance
• How flat are hierarchies?
• How does a culture deal with inequalities?
• Is societal influence concentrated in the hands of a few or distributed
throughout the population?
• How authoritarian is a country’s organization?
• Are communication efforts interactive?
New Zealand Score: 12
New Zealand’s low score indicates a culture with flat hierarchies and a very low
power distance. Communication in organisations is interactive and rather informal.
What are the implications of POWER DISTANCE on
intercultural communications?

16. Individualistic
vs.
Collectivist culture:
1. Does the interest of the group or the individual matter the
most?
2. Are people only looking after themselves and their immediate
family?
3. How well are individuals integrated and networked?
New Zealand Score: 86
• With the rather high score of 86 New Zealand can be described
as a rather individualistic culture with people looking after
themselves and their immediate families first.
What are the implications of individualism and collectivism
on intercultural communications?

17. Low vs. High context
Communication
• Members of cultures with high-context
communication send messages in which most
of the information is either in the physical
context or internalised in the person, while
very little is in the coded, explicit,
transmitted part of the message.
• In contrast, the low-context communication
is one in which the mass of the information
is vested in the explicit code. The receiver
does not have to take a complex context into
consideration, when decoding the message.
What must be said, will be said.

18. Masculinity vs. Femininity
• Which values are aimed for?
• How strong is a society following material values and
success in comparison to the quality of life, interpersonal
relationships and the concern for the weak?
New Zealand Score: 59
• A score of 59 signalizes masculinity rather then
femininity. People strive to be the best they can be in
work or school-related settings with the focus on
winning, being proud of their achievements and success
in life.
• What are its implications on intercultural
communications?

19. Uncertainty Avoidance
vs. Taking risks
➢Do members of a society feel threatened by
unknown situations?
➢Are there attempts to control the future or do
people just let it happen?
➢How high is the willingness to try something new
or different?
New Zealand Score: 39
• With a score of 39 New Zealand can be described as a
pragmatic society that deals with uncertainties in a relaxed
and flexible fashion. Originality is valued. People are willing
to accept new ideas, give innovative products a try and a not
too averse to taking risks.
• What are its implications on intercultural
communication (business setting)?

20. Long-term vs. Short-term Orientation
(Pragmatic vs. Normative):
➢How are individuals subordinating themselves
for longer term purposes?
➢How are the tendencies towards short-term
spending and long-term savings, perseverance
and quick results?
New Zealand Score: 28
• New Zealand is shown to be a normative country
with a normative way of thinking. Motivation to
save for the future is rather low, therefore the
focus on quick results is high.

21. Indulgence vs. Constraint
➢How freely are hedonist drives as gratifications towards
enjoying life and having fun tolerated and allowed?
➢Is the gratification of needs restricted by strong social
norms?
New Zealand Score: 75
A rather high score of 75 pictures New Zealand’s society
indulgent. With it, people tend to possess a positive
attitude and a tendency towards optimism. Leisure time is
regarded as important, also the ability to spend money as
one likes and and to follow desires and needs to enjoy life
and have fun.

22. Perception of Time
(Chronemics)
Monochronic vs Polychronic
Study of the use of time and
the way that time is perceived
and valued by individuals and
cultures.
What are its implications on
intercultural communication?

23. Discussion
1. What can you say about your nation’s
culture?
2. How would you classify it in terms of
Hofstede’s model?
3. How do you evaluate New Zealand’s
scores? Do you agree?
4. Have a look online to compare your
estimation with your country’s scores!
5. Compare with other countries you know.

24. How Does Culture
Affect Communication?
• Instant communications and an ever-expanding
internet have made the world a much smaller
place, presenting both barriers and opportunities
as we interact across borders with people of
different cultures.
• In this new, complex world of communication,
cultural differences stand out as one of our
biggest challenges.
• Different cultures affect how individuals
participate in groups and how they work within
communities.

25. What are the new challenges with
the way we communicate?

26. New Challenges With the
Way We Communicate
Different styles of communicating

27. Verbal Communication Styles by
Gudykunst and Ting-Toomey
Direct Style
• The direct-indirect style refers to
the way of expressing the
speaker’s true intention in terms
of his needs, wants and desires.
• Members of individualistic, low-
context cultures tend to use the
direct style, which corresponds
best to the value orientations
(honesty, openness, individual
worth) of such cultures.
Indirect Style
• Members of collectivistic, high-
context cultures prefer to use the
indirect verbal style.
• Speakers of such cultures often use
imprecise and even ambiguous
words to communicate their
message. By doing so, they
“emphasise listener’s abilities to
infer speaker’s intentions.

28. According to Weggel, ‘yes’ carries
various meanings in cultures using the
indirect style.
The problem is how to interpret the
term in the right way.

29. • The use of direct speech in
individualistic, low context cultures,
asserts self-face need and self-face
concern whereas in collectivistic,
high-context cultures, the indirect
speech is preferred in order to keep
up group harmony and to preserve
mutual-face need.
• Assumptions on values and a “set of
deep-rooted historical-political
logics” are decisive elements for the
choice of one of these two
dimensions.

30. Elaborate vs. Exacting
vs. Succinct Style
• The elaborate style distinguishes itself by a rich, expressive
language, which uses a large number of adjectives describing
a noun, exaggerations, idiomatic expressions, proverbs and
metaphors. This style is mainly used in cultures of the Middle
East such as Iran, Egypt, Lebanon and Saudi-Arabia which are
moderate on Hofstede’s uncertainty avoidance dimensions and
are high- context cultures.
• The exacting style can be found in low-context cultures which
are low to moderate on Hofstede’s uncertainty avoidance
dimension. These are mainly North American and North
European cultures. It says that neither more nor less
information is required to communicate a message. The
speaker just uses those words, which describe exactly the
speakers’ intention.

31. Elaborate vs. Exacting
vs. Succinct Style Cont.
• Finally, the succinct style refers to
the use of understatements, pauses
and silences.
• This style is used in cultures high in
uncertainty avoidance and high-
context.

32. Elaborate vs. Exacting vs.
Succinct Style
• The exacting style can be found in low-context
cultures which are low to moderate on Hofstede’s
uncertainty avoidance dimension.
• These are mainly North American and North
European cultures.
• It says that neither more nor less information is
required to communicate a message. The speaker
just uses those words, which describe exactly the
speakers’ intention.

33. Personal
vs.
Contextual
style
• Individualistic. Low-context cultures tend to see
every individual as equal which is also reflected in
their language. North Americans for example prefer
a first name basis and direct address. Using titles
and honorifics is avoided. Differences of age, status
and sex are no reasons to use different language
styles.
• Collectivistic, high-context cultures find
themselves during a conversation in certain roles
which can depend on the status of the
interlocutors.
• In the Korean language for example, exist different
vocabularies for different sexes, for different degrees
of social status or intimacy. Using the right
language style in a conversation is a sure sign for a
learned person.

34. Instrumental vs. Affective style
• The instrumental style is goal-oriented in
verbal exchange and employs a sender-oriented
language. Speaker and listener are clearly
differentiated. Dominant in individualistic, low-
context cultures.
• Affective style is process-oriented in verbal
exchange and uses a receiver-oriented
language. The roles of speaker and listener are
rather integrated than differentiated and are
interdependent. The speaker is not only
expected to transmit his or her message, but at
the same time to be ”considerate about other’s
feelings. Dominant in collectivistic, high-
context cultures.

35. Silence
• Bruneau stated that "Silence is to speech as the
white of this paper is to this print. Physiologically,
silence appears to be the mirror image of the shape
of discernible sound for each person. Speech signs,
created by necessity or will, appear to be mentally
imposed grounds of silence.
• Mind creates both. (...)
• Hence, silence destroys continuity which is
necessary in order to lend clarity to speech. Only by
the destruction of continuity we can consider a
thought or an emotion as finished.

36. Bruneau
described three
different forms
of silence, each
with different
functions:
• Both, encoder and decoder of speech need to gain time
to either encode mental thoughts into proper words and
grammatical forms, or to decode a message. This is
often done by hesitations which are forms of silence
Psycholinguistic Silence
• pausal interruptions in a conversation and which tend
to be longer than hesitations. interactive silences differ
from psycholinguistic silence mainly in each
participant's conscious recognition of the degree and
manner in which he is expected to participate in
communicative exchange
Interactive Silence
• include not only rules concerning the use of verbal
expressions but determine also situations in which
entire social and cultural orders select silence in order
to express their intentions or feelings.
Socio-cultural Silence.

37. Cultures have developed certain
conceptions of authorities. These
conceptions often include the use
of silence for different purposes.

38. Social
factors
In any situation, people’s awareness of the
influence of one or more of the following
components:
1. The participants:
(a) who is speaking and
(b) who are they speaking
to ?
2. The setting or social context of the interaction:
where are they speaking?
3. The topic: what is being talked about?
4. The function : why are they speaking?

39. Social Influence
• Other people can influence our behavior,
attitudes, beliefs, and decisions, including:
• Authority
• Conformity
• Obedience
• Group situations and group behavior, can
lead to:
• Social facilitation
• Social loafing
• Polarization
• Deindividuation
• Groupthink

40. Conformity has
many components
Mimicry
affecting
behavior
Social
Norms
affecting
our
thinking
Normative and
Informational Social
Queues/Models
Social Influence
Conformity
Conformity refers to adjusting our
behavior or thinking to fit in with
a group standard.

41. Social Influence: Conformity
Responding to Social Norms
▪ Asch Conformity studies: About one third of people will
agree with obvious mistruths to go along with the group.
That square
has 5 sides.
That square
has 5 sides.
WT???

42. Conforming to Norms
Which comparison line looks the same as
the standard line?
Take turns
answering,
see if a
consensus
develops.

43. Social Influence: Conformity
What makes you more likely
to conform?
• Level of commitment to group
beliefs
• Group size – the more people in a
group who hold the same beliefs
• Positive views of the group’s
beliefs
• If you feel incompetent, insecure,
and closely watched by members
of the group
• Group norms place lower value
on individual agency.

44. Milgram wanted to study the influence of direct
commands on behavior.
Question: Under what social conditions are
people more likely to obey commands?
Experiment: Authority figure tells
participants to administer shocks when
someone gives wrong answers.
Obedience: Response to Commands
Voltages increased; how high
would people go?

45. The Design of Milgram’s
Obedience Study
One layout of the study
The “Learner”
(working with
researchers)
Ow! Please
continue.
(Give the
shock.)
But…
…okay.
Shock levels in volts that participants thought they were giving
Slight (15-
60)
Moderate
(75-120)
Strong
(135-180)
Very
strong
(195-240)
Intense
(250-300)
Extreme
intensity
(315-360)
Danger:
severe
(375-420)
XXX
(435-450)

46. How far did compliance go?

47. ▪ In surveys, respondents predicted that in such
a situation they would stop administering
shocks when the “learner” expressed pain.
▪ But in reality, even when the learner
complained of a heart condition, most
participants complied with the experimenter’s
implied authority:
▪ “Please continue.”
▪ “You must continue.”
▪ “The experiment requires that you
continue”…
Compliance in Milgram’s Study

48. Social Influence:
Group Behavior
Besides conformity and obedience, there are
other ways that our behavior changes in the
presence of others, or within a group:
Social
Facilitation
Social Loafing
Deindividuation
Group
Polarization
Groupthink

49. ▪ Individual performance is intensified
when you are observed by others.
▪ Experts excel, people doing simple
activities show more speed and
endurance in front of an audience… but
novices, trying complex skills, do worse.
Social
Facilitation

50. Social
Facilitation
Being watched, and simply being in crowded
conditions, increases one’s autonomic
arousal, along with increasing motivation
for those who are confident, and anxiety for
those who are not confident.
Why would the presence of
an audience “facilitate”
better performance for
everyone but newcomers?

51. Social Loafing
Who will know if I’m
not pulling as hard as
I can? No one can
tell how hard each of
us is pulling on the
rope.
Ever had a group project, with a group grade, and had someone
in the group slack off?

52. Social Loafing ▪ the tendency of people in a group to
show less effort when not held
individually accountable.
Who will know if
I’m not pulling as
hard as I can? No
one can tell how
hard each of us is
pulling on the rope.
Why does social loafing happen?
• When your contribution isn’t rewarded or punished, you might
not care what people think.
• People may not feel their contributions are needed, that the
group will be fine.
• People may feel free to “cheat” when they get an equal share of
the rewards anyway.
Note: People in collectivist cultures don’t slack off as much in
groups even when they could. Why?

53. Loss of self-awareness in groups.
Examples: Riots, KKK rallies, concerts, identity-
concealed online bullying.
▪ Happens when people are in group situations
involving: 1) Anonymity and 2) Arousal.
Deindividuation

54. ▪ People of similar views discuss topics within the
group and their views become more extreme
because of reinforcement of the views they
already hold.
▪ Groups with less diversity can become more
polarized in their views.
Group
Polarization

55. ▪ When a group of individuals reaches a
consensus without critical reasoning
or evaluation of alternative ideas.
▪ Groups may make decisions without an
open exchange of ideas.
▪ May limit original thinking within
groups
Groupthink

56. Social Framing
Framing is a key component of sociology, the study of
social interaction among humans. In social theory, framing
is a schema of interpretation, a collection of anecdotes
and stereotypes, that individuals rely on to understand and
respond to events.
What are frames successful social movements use?
• Diagnostic framing - states the social movement
problem in a clear, easily understood way. There is not
"grey" area of framing - its what is wrong and how to
fix it.
• Prognostic framing - offers a solution and states how
it'll be implemented. ...
• Motivational framing - is the call to action.

57. Social Psychologists also study the psychological components of
how people relate to each other. Examples:
Social Relations
Prejudices
Altruism
Aggression
Social Conflicts

58. When our preferences are
incompatible - Conflict

59. Conflict and Peacemaking
Conflict: A perceived incompatibility in goals,
ideas, and actions between people or groups.
What factors worsen or reduce conflict?

60. Resolving conflict:
The 4 C’s
▪ Contact: exposure and interaction → familiarity
→ acceptance → connection
▪ Cooperation: finding shared goals, not just
focusing on the incompatible goals
▪ Communication: sometimes with mediators
▪ Conciliation: Gestures that reduce tension by
showing intension to build alliances rather than
winning conflicts. Smile. Apologize.

61. Group Discussion
1. Differences in negotiation patterns between
France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the
United States
2. Differences in Singaporean-German business
negotiation
3. Differences in Thai and English
4. Discuss and offer examples of both the positive
and negative implications of group conformity.
Discuss the potential for political use of the
power of the group for social control.

62. Alternative links
• Hofstede youtube channel “Hofstede
insight”: http://www.youtube.com/user/HOFSTEDEinsight?feature=mhsn#p/u/5/P
VbkjobD8ao
• Hofstede homepage: http://geert-hofstede.com/ and score results for New
Zealand: http://geert-hofstede.com/new-zealand.html

63. References
• du Gay et al. (1997) Doing Cultural Studies: The story of the Sony Walkman Milton Keynes:
Open University; Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Castells, M. (1996). The rise of the network society. Malden: Blackwell.
• Gudykunst, W.B. /Ting-Toomey, S. /Nishida T. “Communication in personal
relationships across cultures”, Thousand Oaks 1996
• Hofstede, G. H. (2001). Culture’s consequences: Comparing values, behaviors,
institutions and organizations across nations. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
• Hofstede, G. H. (2013). National Culture. Retrieved from: http://geert-
hofstede.com/national-culture.html
• Jandt, F. E. (2012). An introduction to intercultural communication: Identities in a
global community. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
• Wellman, B. (2002). Little Boxes, Glocalization and Networked Individualism. In
Tanabe, M.; van den Besselaar, P.; Ishida, T. (eds.). Digital Cities II. Computational and
Sociological Approaches. Berlin: Springer. pp. 10-25.