Intercultural Communication

WEEK 7: BARRIERS TO SUCCESSFUL

INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
 READING MATERIALS (TEXTBOOKS)

• Understanding Intercultural Communication by Stella Ting-Toomey and Leeva C.

Chung. Chapter 8, pp183-204.

• Intercultural Communication, A Contextual Approach by James W. Neuliep.

Chapter 5, pp263-314.

• Intercultural Communication: A Reader (14th Edison) by

Samovar L, Porter, R., McDaniel, E., & Roy. Chapter 5,
pp307-326.
 LESSON OBJECTIVES

1 2 3
The students should be able to The students should be able to The students should be able to
identify 6 main barriers to a show an understanding of how appreciate the importance of
successful communication. to overcome these obstacles. keep an open mind when
interacting with people from
different culture.
01 ANXIETY
 1.1 WHAT IS ANXIETY IN COMMUNICATION?

• Anxiety is usually defined as a state of human condition where a person has a feeling of
unease and nervousness which leads to communication transaction failure.

• Anxiety usually occurs when a person usually comes across his or her first cross cultural
interaction.

• Intercultural communication anxiety is partially due to communication obstacles such as a

student’s language ability, differences in expression of emotion, and differences in verbal and
non-verbal communication styles (Spencer-Rodgers and McGovern, 2002).
1.2 HOW TO OVERCOME ANXIETY?

1 2 3

ABILITY TO BE ABILITY TO ABILITY TO

MINDFUL TOLERATE CALM
AMBIGUITY OURSELVES
02 NONVERBAL
MISINTERPRETATIONS
 ACTIVE LEARNING 1
Watch this video and try to list out what are the obstacles related to misinterpretations between
these two.
 ACTIVE LEARNING 1

Answers: The issue faced by both sides reflects similar misunderstanding problems in
communication, where as the communicator has too many assumptions and easily gets into
violent communication with another person whose way of communication might be very
different and even strange to the first communicator mentioned.

Other barriers related to nonverbal communication (Chung, 2019):

• The lack of comprehension of nonverbal signs and symbols
• A person's ability to send, receive, and understand a message
 LESSON SUMMARY #1

Cultural differences may cause people from different cultures to misinterpret

both what is said and what is left unsaid, meeting language barrier as well as
nonverbal barriers in cross-cultural communication. .

Ting-Toomey (2012)
IN ORDER TO DEVELOPING INTERCULTURAL
COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE
1 Become aware of your own nonverbal behavior.

2 Be flexible when you observe and identify nonverbal display rules.

3 Develop your emotional awareness.

4 Because nonverbal behavior is oftentimes so ambiguous and situation dependent,

learn to be less judgmental and more tentative in interpreting others’ unfamiliar
nonverbal signals.
LESSON SUMMARY #2
03 ETHNOCENTRISM
 INGROUP OUTGROUP

• A social category or group with which you • A social category or group with which you
identify strongly based on factors like do not identify based on similar factors.
nationality, race, religion, socioeconomic
status, or political affiliation.

• Favorable attitudes are hold toward • Unfavorable attitudes are hold toward
ingroup interactions because of our outgroup interactions because of our
perceived shared values and behavioral ignorance of their cultural values and
similarities. norms, thus arousing communication fear.
2.1 WHAT IS ETHNOCENTRISM?

• Ethnocentrism means that we consider the views and standards of our own ingroup as
more important than those of any outgroup (Ting-Toomey, 2012). Outgroups become a
disadvantage because we constantly make judgments based on our own group’s standards
and values.

• The tendency of ethnocentrism is to put their own group in a position of centrality and
worth, while creating and reinforcing negative attitudes and behaviors toward out-groups.

• When such individuals interact with a person of another culture or heritage, they refuse to
acknowledge the opinion of that person or they evaluate a certain situation from their own
point of view.
 2.2 STAGES OF ETHNOCENTRISM (NEULIEP, 2018)

Low High
Ethnocentrism Ethnocentrism

Patriotism Loyalty Nationalism Ethnic

Cleansing

• At the other end of the scale, low ethnocentrism reflects a desire to reduce communicative distance
between ourselves and others, and the use of inclusive language (Cooper et al., 2007).

• High ethnocentrism is dysfunctional in intercultural communication as it creates communicative

distance and engage in self-centred dialogue in which they use their own cultural standards to
judge the experience of communicating with others.
EX: ETHNOCENTRISM IN DIFFERENT CUISINES
2.3 HOW TO OVERCOME ETHNOCENTRISM?

Respect the differences of cultures

Keep an open mind to learn new can significantly reduce the feeling
things about different cultures. of ethnocentrism amongst the
people.

Avoid making any assumptions Efficient management of culturally

related to other cultures as different diverse people to reinforce
cultures can have different values awareness of cultural diversity
and beliefs.
 LESSON SUMMARY #2

Interpreting a person’s behavior through their own cultural frame of

reference enhances the chances of effective communication.

(Liu, 2015)
04 STEREOTYPES
Stereotype refers to negative or positive
judgments made about individuals based
on any observable or believed group
membership.

(Jandt, 2018)
 ACTIVE LEARNING 2

What stereotypical traits might be associated with these people on the pictures below?
 ACTIVE LEARNING 3
Watch this video and name at least 3 stereotypes relating to gender based on your experience.
 THE IMPACTS OF STEREOTYPES ON
COMMUNICATION

Stereotypes can cause us Stereotypes may lead to Stereotypes influence the

to assume that a widely ineffective way we process
held belief is true, when it communication when we information that is
may not be. communicate with consistent with our
strangers by creating stereotypes and our
self-fulfilling prophecies. stereotypes do not
change.
05 PREJUDICE
5.1 WHAT IS PREJUDICE?

• Prejudice can be defined as an unreasonable dislike and distrust of an outgroup member,

especially because of their race, sex, religion, etc. People within the group are viewed not
in terms of their individual merit, but according to the superficial characteristics that make
them part of the group.

• Prejudice is a negative attitude towards individuals resulting from stereotypes (Cooper et

al., 2007).

• Stereotypes and prejudice are developed through socialization as well as the mass media.
 UTILITARIAN EGO-DEFENSIVE
Our prejudices may be rewarded Prejudice allows us to avoid admitting
economically or socially certain things about ourselves.

5.2. FUNCTIONS OF PREJUDICE (JANDT, 2018)

VALUE-EXPRESSION KNOWLEDGE
Prejudice allows people to highlight Prejudice allows us to organize and
the aspects of life they value, such as structure our world in ways that make
affiliation with a particular social sense to us and are relatively
group. convenient.
 5.3 DISCRIMINATION
• Discrimination refers to the verbal and nonverbal actions that carry out
prejudiced attitudes against a group of people.

• Four basic types of discriminatory practices in society:

Isolate Small-group Direct Indirect

discrimination discrimination institutional institutional
discrimination discrimination

• Other forms of discrimination include verbal insults, avoidance, physical

violence, and genocide.
 ACTIVE LEARNING 5
Watch this video to learn more about white privilege as an example of discrimination.
5.4 RACISM
 5.4 RACISM
• Racism is the belief and practice of racial privilege or social advantages based on
race, ethnicity and/or culture. It is grounded in a belief in the supremacy of some races
over others and that this superiority is biologically based. It therefore devalues and
renders certain racial or ethnic groups inferior based on biological features.

• Four Levels of Racism:

1. Internalized racism lies within individuals.
2. Interpersonal racism (personally mediated) occurs between individuals.
3. Institutional racism occurs within institutions and systems of power.
4. Structural racism is racial bias among institutions and across society.

• Like all forms of prejudice, it leads to conflicts and difficulties in intercultural

communication.
THE MURDER OF
GEORGE FLOYD
On the evening of May 25, 2020, white
Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin
kills George Floyd, a Black man, by kneeling
on his neck for almost 10 minutes while Floyd
was handcuffed and lying face down, begging
for his life and repeatedly saying “I can’t
breathe.”. The death, recorded by bystanders,
touched off what may have been the largest
protest movement in U.S. history and a
nationwide reckoning on race and policing.
 ACTIVE LEARNING 6
Watch this video and think of how can you reduce racism and discrimination?
 HOW TO BE AN ANTIRACIST?

1 2 3

Stop saying "I'm not Confront the racist Educate yourself and
racist". ideas you've held or take action to challenge
continue to hold. racism at local,
national, and global
levels.
 LESSON SUMMARY #3: THE CONNECTION

"I don't like people with pink hair"

Prejudice
(Belief, affect)

Stereotype Discrimination
(Assumption) (Behavior)
"I'm not gonna let anyone with
"People with pink hair are pink hair sit next to me at lunch"
mean"
 LESSON SUMMARY #4
• Stereotypes have cognitive roots in how the human brain has evolved to categorize in
order to save thinking time. Prejudices stem from affective roots in how humans favor
their own ingroup, hence develop apathy towards out-group people.

• Both stereotypes and prejudice can lead to discrimination, which is a behavior that can
turn inaccurate and negative feeling into unfair and unjust action against certain individuals
or groups. Racism is a belief.

• Stereotypes, prejudice, and racism have been used as tools to the economic or social
advantages of a certain group against others, mostly women and minorities.

• Although rooted in evolution, stereotypes, prejudice and racism are not hardwired into the
human brain. We are capable of taking life instruction from the social environment and to
consciously evaluate and control our thoughts and behavior.
To overcome the barriers to intercultural communication
created by stereotypes, prejudice, and racism, we need to
practice cultural relativism and keep an open mind when
interacting with people from different cultures.

(Liu, 2015)
REFERENCES

Chung, L. (2019). Crossing boundaries: Cross-cultural communication. In K. D. Keith

(Ed.), Cross-cultural psychology: Contemporary themes and perspectives (pp. 400-420).
Wiley.

Hofstede, G., Hofstede, G. J., Minkov, M. (2010). Cultures and Organizations: Software of
the Mind. 3 rd Edition. USA: McGraw-Hill

Jandt, F.E. (2018). An introduction to intercultural communication: Identities in a global

community (9th Edition). LosAngeles, London, New Dehlhi, Singapore, WDC, Melbourne:
SAGE.
REFERENCES
Liu, S., VolCic, Z. and Gallois, C. (2015). Introducing intercultural communication: Global
cultures and context. Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC:
SAGE.

Neuliep, J.W. (2018). Intercultural Communication: a contextual approach (7th Edition). Los
Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore, Washington DC and Melbourne: SAGE

Spencer-Rodgers, J., & McGovern, T. (2002). Attitudes toward the culturally different: The
role of intercultural communication barriers, affective responses, consensual stereotypes, and
perceived threat. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 26(6).

Ting-Toomey, S. & Chung, L. C. (2012). Understanding intercultural communication. Los

Angeles, CA: Oxford University Press.
Thank you!