CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN PERCEPTION

* Defining perception * Perception and culture * Beliefs, attitudes and values * Cultural patterns * Hofstede’s value dimensions (individualism-collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance, masculinity-femininity * Hall’s high-context and low-context orientation * Informality and formality * Assertiveness and interpersonal harmony

There never were in the world two opinions alike,.. the most universal quality is diversity

Montaigne

Key words:

Assertiveness, attitudes, beliefs, context (high- , low-context cultures), continuum, conviction, credibility, dimension, diversity, dominant, equality, heterogeneity, hierarchy, high (low)-power relationships, individualism-collectivism, informality-formality, in-group and out-group, interpersonal harmony, masculinity-femininity, materialism, perception, perceptual trait, power distance, predisposition, progress and change, random, repetitive, rigid social framework, science and technology, uncertainty avoidance, values (primary, secondary, tertiary).

Perception is the means by which we make sense of your physical and social world. The world inside of us includes symbols, things, people, ideas, events, ideologies, and even faith. Your perceptions give meaning to all those external forces. As Gamble and Gamble (1996) state, "Perception is the process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting sensory data in a way that enables us to make sense of our world."

In other words, perception is an external process in which people convert the physical energy of the world outside of them into meaning­ful internal experiences. Because that outside world embraces everything, we can never completely know it. As Singer (1987) notes, "We experience everything in the world not as it is — but only as the world comes to us through our sensory receptors." Although the physical dimension is an important phase of perception, you must realize it is the psychological aspects of perception that help you understand intercultural communication.

Perception and Culture

Our individual make-up (personality, education, emotions, beliefs, values, traits, attitudes, motives, etc.) has a major impact on how we perceive our environment and how we behave in regard to it.

Our perceptions of the world are representations we make from both the nerve impulses that reach our brain and our unique set of experiences supplied to us as a member of a particular culture. Whether we feel delighted or ill at the thought of eating the flesh of a cow, fish, dog, or snake depends on what our culture has taught us about food. Whether we hate bullfighting or believe it is a poetic sport, often depends on culture. By exposing a large group of people to similar experiences (such as foods or sports), culture generates similar meanings and similar behaviors. This does not mean, of course, that everyone in a particular culture is exactly the same. There is significant diversity within cultures just as there is diversity among cultures.

One example of perceptual trait touched by culture is personal credibility. People who are credible inspire trust, know what they are talking about, and have good intenВ­tions. Americans usually hold that expressing one's opinion as openly as possible is an admirable trait. Hence, someone is perceived as being highly credible if he or she is articulate and outspoken. For the Japanese, however, a person who is quiet and spends more time listening than speaking is more credible because they regard constant talking as a sign of shallowness. Among Americans, credible people seem direct, rational, decisive, unyielding, and confident. Among the Japanese, credible persons are perceived as being indirect, sympathetic, prudent, flexible, and humble (King et al.).

Even the perception of something as simple as the blinking of one's eyes is affected by culture. The same principle causes people from different cultures to interpret the same event in different ways. Blinking while another person talks may be hardly noticeable to North Americans, but the same behavior is considered impolite in Taiwan (Adler & Rodman).

How the elderly are perceived is also tempered by culture. In the United States, for example, there is a culture that "teaches" the value of youth and rejects growing old. In fact, young people view elderly people as less desirable interaction partners than other young people or middle-aged people (Gudikunst). This disapproving view of the elderly is not found in all cultures. For example, in the Arab, Asian, Latin American and some other cultures, old people are perceived in a very positive light.

It is clear from these few examples that culture strongly influences our subjective reality and that there are direct links among culture, perception, and behavior. What is allowed in, as discussed earlier, is in part, determined by culture. Second, your perceptual patterns are learned.

As is the case with all of culture, perceptions are stored within each human being in the form of (I) beliefs, (2) attitudes, (3) values, and (4) cultural patterns.

Beliefs

Belief systems are significant to the study of intercultural communication because they are at the core of our thoughts and actions. According to Rogers and Steinfatt, beliefs serve as the storage system for the content of out past experiences, including thoughts, memories, and interpretations of events. Beliefs are shaped by the individual's culture. What is important about beliefs is that they are usually reflected in our actions. If, for instance, you believe that snakes are slimy, you avoid them. On the other hand, if you believe that only through the handling of snakes can you find God (as do some religious sects), you handle them and your faith will protect you from venomous bites.

We must be able to recognize the fact that cultures have different realities and belief systems. People from North Korea or Cuba may very likely believe that business and the means of production should belong to the state or to the people collectively. On the other hand, someone born in the United States or Canada most likely grew up believing that the means of production should belong to individuals in sole proprietorships, or to several individuals in partnerships, or to numerous people in corporations. People who grow up in cultures where Christianity is the predominant religion usually believe that salvation is attainable only through Christ. People of other religions do not subscribe to that belief. They hold their own beliefs about salvation or what happens to the human spirit when the body dies. Beliefs are so much a part of culture that in most instances we do not demand proof or question them. We simply accept them because we know they are true.

Beliefs are such an influential factor in intercultural communication because they affect our conscious and unconscious minds, as well as the manner in which we communicate. Our beliefs originate as we grow up in our culture. At early ages, we are not prepared to question our social institutions (family, church, school, state), so we accept freely what they teach us about truth and how to live in our society. When we do question the core beliefs of our culture, we usually receive such strong negative reactions that we immediately put aside our questions and either accept what we have been told or become a social outcast. In other words, as we grow up in a culture, that culture conditions us to believe what it considers to be worthy and true.

Attitudes

Attitudes represent another perceptual dimension that influences how we experience and interact with that world. Specifically, an attitude is a combination of beliefs about a subject, feelings toward it, and any predisposition to act toward it (Osborn & Motley). The intensity of our attitudes is based on the degree of conviction that our beliefs and evaluaВ­tions are true and correct. This certainty of conviction creates a psychological state of readiness to react to the objects and events we confront in our environment. Thus, if you believe, for instance, that physically abusing another person is wrong or fear being hurt when it happens, and further believe boxing has a high probability of producing physical abuse, you may have an internalized negative predisposition toward boxing (an attitude) which manifests itself in the fact that you would not attend or participate in a boxing match.

As was the case with beliefs, attitudes are learned within a cultural context. Whatever cultural environment surrounds us helps to shape and form our attitudes, our readiness to respond, and ultimately our behavior. However, it must be stressed again — all members of a culture are not alike.

There are three important points that we can take away from our discussion of attitudes: (1) attitudes have to be learned, (2) culture is often the source of the "learning," and (3) attitudes eventually get put into action.

Values

One of the most important functions of belief and attitude systems is that they are the basis of our values. Values are a learned organization of rules for making choices and for resolving conflicts (Rokeach). Values are shared ideas about what is true, right, and beautiful that underlie cultural patterns and guide society in response to the physical and social environment.

An individual's cognitive structure consists of many values, which are arranged into hierarchical order that is highly organized. That is to say, some values are of greater importance than others.Values can be classified as primary, secondary, and tertiary.

Primary values are the most important: they specify what is worth the sacrifice of human life. In the United States, democracy and the protection of oneself and close family are primary values.

Secondary values are also quite important. In the United States, the relief of the pain and suffering of others is a secondary value. The securing of material possessions is also a secondary value for most Americans.

Tertiary values are at the bottom of this hierarchy. Examples of tertiary values in the United States are hospitality to guests and cleanliness. Although Americans strive to carry out these values, they are not as profound or consequential as values in the other two categories.

While each of us has a unique set of individual values, there also are values that tend to permeate (fill in to the full extent) a culture. These are called cultural values. Cultural values are derived from the larger philosophical issues that are part of a culture's milieu (environment). They are transmitted by a variety of sources (family, media, school, church, state, etc.) and therefore tend to be broad-based, enduring, and relatively stable. Cultural values generally are normative and evaluative. They inform a member of a culture what is good and bad, and right and wrong. Cultural values define what is worthwhile to die for, what is worth protecting, what frightens people, and what are proper subjects to study, etc.

As was the case with cultural beliefs, cultural values guide both perception and communication. That is, our values get translated into action. An understanding of cultural values helps you appreciate the behavior of other people. An awareness of cultural values also helps you understand your own behavior. Impatience, for example, can be associated with your value of time and self-disclosure with your values of friendship and sociability.

Cultural Patterns

People and cultures are extremely complex and consist of numerous interrelated culВ­tural orientations besides beliefs, attitudes, and values. A useful term that allows us to talk about these and other orientations collectively instead of separately is cultural patterns.

The terms “cultural patterns” refers to both the conditions that contribute to the way in which a people perceive and think about the world, and the manner in which they live in that world. These cultural patterns are useful in the study of intercultural communication because they are systematic and repetitive instead of random and irregular (Damen). They are also widely shared by most members of the culture and influence how people within the culture behave. The following remarks will enable you to better understand and use cultural patterns:

- We are more than our culture (the value of the culture may not be the value of all individuals within the culture).

- Cultural patterns are point on a continuum (people everywhere possess the same values to different degrees).

- Cultural patterns are interrelated (a pattern that stresses a spiritual life over materialism also directs values toward age, status, social relationships, the use of time, etc.).

- Heterogeneity influences cultural patterns (common cultural patterns of the whole country must limited to the dominant culture in each country).

- Each culture has numerous cultural patterns (a powerful pattern of individuality in the USA influences the way they perceive status, leadership, nonverbal communication, speaking, competition and assertiveness).

- Cultural patterns change (with more women getting higher education we can see how the workplaces have changed).

- Cultural patterns are often contradictory (individualism in the USA goes side by side with humanitarian assistance provided in large volume; the principle “all people are created equal” is combined with racial prejudice and violence against sexual minorities).