The World View - Successful Cross-Cultural Communication
Ways of Perceiving the World: The World view
Every message is “encoded” and “decoded” around seven main areas of human experience. Let’s look at “The World View” which is how people perceive the world around them.
The complex of ideas and assumptions that explain the way things actually are in relation to human experience. This explanation provides the “story fabric” for functioning in life in a productive manner.
An example of how “world view” can play into communication would be the collective (Asian) vs. individualistic consciousness (American). American’s commonly think and process information in a very independent, individualistic manner. However, Asians typically are more collective in their decision making. When faced with a decision, Asians are more likely to involve family, friends, classmates and colleagues in their decision making.
The student of cross-cultural communication must be aware of his own world view and that it’s components may be shared only in part or not at all with his audience’s.
Feel free to comment on this post with any points / counter-points, questions, or illustrations.