Communication and Culture

Fred E. Jandt
 Components of communication
• Source
• Encoding
• Message
• Channel
• Noise
• Receiver
• Decoding
• Receiver response
• Feedback
• Context
 Source
• The person with an idea he/she desires to
communicate.
 Encoding
• The process of putting an idea into a
symbol.
• As humans are not able to share thoughts
directly, communication is in the form of a
symbol representing the idea someone
wants to communicate.
 Message
• The encoded thought.
• If the encoding is the process, the
message is the resulting object.
 Channel
• The means by which the encoded
message is transmitted.
• Medium-Media
• Print, electronic, light or sound waves,
face-to-face.
 Noise
• Anything that distorts the message the
source encodes.
– External: sights, sounds, and other stimuli that
draw one’s attention away from the message.
– Internal: thoughts and feelings that can
interfere with the message.
– “Semantic”: alternative meanings of the
source’s message symbols that can be
distracting.
 Receiver
• The person who attends to the message.
– Intentional: the people the source desired to
communicate with;
– Any person who comes upon and attends to
the message.
 Decoding
• The opposite process of encoding.
• Assigning meaning to the symbols
received.
 Receiver response
• Anything the receiver does after having
attended to and decoded the message.
• Can range from doing nothing to taking
some action or actions that may or may
not be the action desired by the source.
 Feedback
• That portion of the receiver response of
which the source has knowledge and to
which the source attends and assigns
meaning.
 Context
• The environment in which the
communication takes place and which
helps define the communication.
• The choice of the environment, the
context, helps assign the desired meaning
to the communicated words.
• Culture is also context.
• Every culture has its own
– worldview;
– way of thinking of activity, time, and human
nature;
– way of perceiving the self;
– system of social organization.
 Communication Contexts
• International
• Global
• Cross-cultural
• Intercultural
 International communication
• The study of the flow of mediated
communication between and among
countries.
• The study of comparative mass
communication systems.
• The study of communication between
national governments.
 Global communication
• The study of the transborder transfer of
information, data, opinions, and values by
groups, institutions, and governments, as
well as the issues that arise from the
transfer.
 Cross-cultural communication
• Refers to comparing phenomena across
cultures.
 Intercultural communication
• Face-to-face interactions among people of
diverse cultures.
• Communication can be very difficult if
source and receiver are in different
contexts and share few symbols.
Intercultural Communication Ethics
• Ethical theories tend to reflect the culture
in which they were produced and present
challenges to intercultural communication
 Major Ethical Theories
Western
- Autonomy: being free to act consistent with one’s own
principles;
- Responsibility: accountability for the consequences of
one’s actions, including a failure to act;
- Justice: impartiality; giving each person his/her
legitimate due or portion of the whole;
- Care: partiality to those who cannot protect
themselves and to whom we are in special
relationships.
 African

- Stress is laid on the well-being of the

community from which the well-being of
the individual derives.
- Economic considerations are valued more
than political rights.
 Buddhist

• Individualistic: the ultimate responsibility

for any act rests with the individual (if not
in this life, then in the next).
• Patience
• Compassion
• Self-sacrifice
• Kindness
• Love
 Hindu

• Ending human suffering through active

intervention in this world to make it better.
• Strives for the oneness of reality, for the
obliteration of all distinctions, including
individualism, to merge with the absolute.
 Islamic

• Different rules of ethical conduct for

women and men.
• Non-Muslims are to be treated differently
than Muslims;
• Highly activist and interventionist.
 Peace
• The fundamental human value
• “the right of all people to live at peace with
themselves and their surroundings” (D. W.
Kale, “Peace as an ethic for intercultural
communication”)
Consequently
 Ethical principles to be developed
by intercultural communicators

• Address people of other cultures with the

same respect that you would like to
receive yourself. Do not demean or belittle
the cultural identity of others through
verbal or non-verbal communication.
• Describe the world as accurately as
possible. The truth, or what is perceived to
be the truth, may vary from one culture to
another, as truth is socially constructed.
Do not deliberately mislead or deceive.
• Encourage people of other cultures to
express themselves in their uniqueness.
Respect the right of people to expression
regardless of how popular or unpopular
their ideas might be.
• Identify with people from other cultures.
Emphasize the commonalities of cultural
beliefs and values rather than their
differences.
 Intercultural Communication
Competence
• One’s skills in facilitating successful
intercultural communication outcomes in
terms of satisfaction and other positive
assessments of the interaction and the
interaction partner.
• Skills that transform one from a
monocultural person into a multicultural
person.
 Personality Strength

• Self-concept: the ways in which a person views

the self.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiezgubpUys
• Self-disclosure: the willingness of
individuals to openly and appropriately
reveal information about themselves to
their counterparts.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaS6a
Ay0B5w
• Self-monitoring: using social comparison
information to control and modify your self-
presentation and expressive behaviour.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfguO
TkMZ6s
• Social relaxation: the ability to reveal little
anxiety in communication.
• You must know yourself well and, through
your self-awareness, initiate positive
attitudes.
• To be competent in intercultural
communication, you must express a
friendly personality.
 Communication Skills

• Message skills: the ability to understand and use

the language and feedback.
• Behavioural flexibility: the ability to select an
appropriate behaviour in diverse contexts.
• Interaction management: the ability to handle
the procedural aspects of conversation (to
initiate an interaction, for instance); a person’s
other-oriented ability to interaction (attentiveness
and responsiveness).
• Social skills
– Empathy: the ability to think the same
thoughts and feel the same emotions as the
other person.
– Identity maintenance: the ability to maintain a
counterpart’s identity by communicating back
an accurate understanding of that person’s
identity.
• You must be able to deal with diverse
people in different situations.
 Psychological Adjustment

• Handling the feelings of “culture shock,”

such as frustration, stress, and alienation
in ambiguous situations caused by new
environments.
 Cultural Awareness

• Understanding the social customs and

social system of the host culture.
• Understanding how people think and
behave.
Intercultural miscommunication
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMh5q
im5Iqc