Hunan Cross Cultural Education

Chinese and Americans literally view the world differently, according to a new study, which found that the two groups tend to move their eyes in distinctly different patterns when looking at pictures.

“If people are literally looking at the world differently, we think it would be natural for them to explain the world in different ways,” said Richard Nisbett, a psychologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Over the past decade reasearch by Nisbett and his colleagues has surprised the social sciences with numerous studies showing that Westerners and East Asians think differently. 

Westerners tend to be analytical and pay more attention to the key, or focal, objects in a scene—for example, concentrating on the woman in the “Mona Lisa,” as opposed to the rocks and sky behind her.

East Asians, by contrast, tend to look at the whole picture and rely on contextual information when making decisions and judgments about what they see, Nisbett said.

The new study was designed to determine if the difference in the thought processes of East Asians and Westerners affects how Westerners and East Asians physically look at the world.

To find out, the researchers measured eye movements of 45 U.S. and Chinese students as they looked at photographs that featured single focal objects against complex backgrounds.
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In order to succeed, communication of any sort requires full interaction between the linguistic, political, economic, social, psychological, religious, national, racial, and many other existential ingredients. Every message is “encoded” and “decoded” around seven main areas of human experience.

Seven Areas Involved in Successful Cross-Cultural Communication

1. Ways of Perceiving the World: The World View
2. Ways of Thinking: The Cognitive Process
3. Ways of Expressing Ideas: The Linguistic Form
4. Ways of Acting: The Behavioral Patterns
5. Ways of Channeling Communication: The Media
6. Ways of Interacting: The Social Structures
7. Ways of Deciding: The Motivational Dimension

I have attempted (in previous blog posts) to describe these seven factors or areas involved in any attempt at Successful Cross-Cultural Communication.  Feel free to go back into the archives and read / comment on any of the areas that interest you.

Ways of Deciding: The Motivational Dimension

Every message is “encoded” and “decoded” around seven main areas of human experience. Let’s look at “The motivational dimension” which involves peoples decision making and what fuels it.

Decision making processes affect the actions which result from cross-cultural messages.

Asian peoples (primarily those influenced by Confucianism) will decide one day on a course of action or business focus and just as easily reverse himself the next day. Confucius said men should not live with single preconceived course of action. What seemed wise today may seem foolish tomorrow.

Feel free to comment on this post with any points / counter-points, questions, or illustrations.

Ways of Interacting: The Social Structures

Every message is “encoded” and “decoded” around seven main areas of human experience. Let’s look at “The Social Structures” which are the ways that people interact socially.

People function with rules which govern who talks to whom, when, and how.

This element is compounded by the issues of primitive, transitional, or urban settings and how each of these affect the cultural cohesion of a given society.

For example, in Malaysia two candidates for a political office ran very different campaigns: one was Western in his approach and “took the message to the people.” The other candidate did little public campaigning and focused on influencing the cultural leaders or opinion makers. The latter candidate won.

Feel free to comment on this post with any points / counter-points, questions, or illustrations.

Ways of Channeling Communication: The Media

Every message is “encoded” and “decoded” around seven main areas of human experience. Let’s look at “The Media” which is how communication is channeled or is carried between the transmitter and the receiver.

A medium of communication is “the means by which messages in the forms of verbal and non-verbal codes are conveyed to respondents.”

Simple media are things like diagrams, models, mimes, conversation, speeches, gestures, etc.

Syndetic media refer to books, films, radio, video, TV, drama, the Internet, etc. because these require “multiple communication skills and combine simple media, usually with the objective of effectively conveying a message to a wider audience.”

Cross-Cultural communicators must divest themselves of the notion that reception of the information is the same everywhere irrespective of the medium used to relay the message. The medium does affect perception of the message and must be chosen carefully.

Technological tools (hardware) for conveying the message are not neutral. They also affect the way the message is received.

Feel free to comment on this post with any points / counter-points, questions, or illustrations.

Ways of Acting: The Behavioral Patterns

Every message is “encoded” and “decoded” around seven main areas of human experience. Let’s look at “The Behavioral Patterns” which are the ways that people conduct themselves.

Non-verbal communication through action (and/or body language) augments verbal communication and either enhances the encoding/decoding process or confuses it.

For example, Americans often insult Thai friends by sitting in such a way as to show the bottom of one’s shoe to the respondent. The sole of a shoe is dirty and insulting to many.

Feel free to comment on this post with any points / counter-points, questions, or illustrations.

Ways of Expressing Ideas: The Linguistic Form

Every message is “encoded” and “decoded” around seven main areas of human experience. Let’s look at “The Linguistic Form” which is the way people express ideas.

Linguistic structures tend to reflect what is significant in a given culture.

For example, European cultures tend to be very time oriented and have complex verb structures. Many African tribal languages reflect less emphasis on time in their verbal patterns (and even a lack of future tense in some).

Learning a language goes far beyond one-to-one word associations - - it involves cultural meanings and value systems as well.

Feel free to comment on this post with any points / counter-points, questions, or illustrations.

Ways of Thinking: The Cognitive Process

Every message is “encoded” and “decoded” around seven main areas of human experience. Let’s look at “The Cognitive Process” which is the way people think.

Three major thinking patterns;

• Conceptual = postulate thinking; abstract; inclined toward inductive logic (linear)
• Psychical (psychological) = intuitive; instinctual; emotive; inclined toward being alogical.
• Concrete relational = object oriented; applicative; inclined toward deductive logic (cyclical).

Feel free to comment on this post with any points / counter-points, questions, or illustrations.

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.