Communication Between Cultures

impede effective intercultural communication. The chapter concludes with an over-

view of ethical considerations relevant to intercultural behaviors.

Entering Another Culture

The novelist Louis L’Amour wrote that“each of us is convinced that our way is the

best way,”underscoring the generally accepted hypothesis that people are normally

more comfortable with the familiar than the unfamiliar. Social psychology scholars

contend that

individuals are more likely to seek out, enjoy, understand, want to work and play with,

trust, believe, vote for, and generally prefer people with whom they share salient character-

istics. These include interests, values, religion, group affiliation, skills, physical attributes,

age, language, and all the other aspects on which human beings differ.^1

To illustrate this concept, among family and close friends you usually know what

to expect, how to behave, and the established communication norms. The situation is

the same when interacting with people of your own culture. In other words, culture

provides you with a general frame of reference on how to act, speak, feel, think, etc.,

which closely approximates the other members of your culture. The shared set of nor-

mative cultural values, social behavioral conventions, language, and communication

protocols reduces uncertainty and creates a common bond among the culture’s mem-

bers. However, when entering a different culture, some of the predictable societal

norms may be different, producing both uncertainty and an inability to function com-

petently. For instance, on a short vacation trip to London, England, you would prob-

ably encounter some cultural differences and a small degree of uncertainty due to

varying norms, social procedures, and unfamiliar terminology but still be able to func-

tion with a relatively high degree of competence. This is due to the numerous cultural

similarities between the United States and England, although there are some very dis-

tinct differences. However, when undertaking a semester abroad in Shanghai, China,

your ability to function would be significantly impeded, even if you have had a year

or two of Mandarin language study. The new cultural environment would render

almost all of your normative, established patterns of behavior ineffective and make

nearly every social situation challenging

and in some cases unsolvable. This inabil-

ity to operate as usual would produce both

cognitive anxiety and physical stress, and

in some cases, a syndrome referred to as

culture shock. Because almost every

sojourner entering a new cultural environment for a sustained period initially experi-

ences some degree of culture shock, we will examine the phenomenon in greater

detail.

Culture Shock and Its Impact

For a summer vacation adventure you decide to spend a few weeks with your older

brother, an IT engineer who has been working in Beijing, China, for a year. After

REMEMBER THIS

People are usually more effective and comfortable with familiar

situations than unfamiliar conditions.

Culture Shock and Its Impact 381

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