Culture
Cultural differences between listeners and speakers can create barriers to effective communication.
Learning Objectives
Identify ways in which an effective communicator will approach communicating with a person from another culture
Key Takeaways
Key Points
- Cultural differences can include speakers’ accents, vocabulary, and assumptions about shared information or the roles of listeners and speakers in conversation.
- Effective communicators understand that they grow up with cultural biases for and against certain modes of communication.
- Suspending judgments, exercising empathy, and focusing on content rather than style can help overcome cultural barriers to effective communication.
Key Terms
- culture: The arts, customs, lifestyles, background, and habitsthat characterizea particular societyor nation. The beliefs, values, behaviorand material objects that constitute a people’s way of life.
Keeping an Open Mind to Cultural Differences
Handshake: Different cultures can have different methods of communication.
What defines culture? Culture certainly includes race, nationality, and ethnicity, but it goes beyond those identity markers as well. When we talk about culture, we are referring to belief systems, values, and behaviors that support a particular ideology or social arrangement. The following are various aspects of our individual identity that we use to create membership in a shared cultural identity: race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, and class. Culture guides language use, appropriate forms of dress, and views of the world. The concept is broad and encompasses many areas of society such as the role of the family, the role of the individual, educational systems, employment, and gender.
Different cultures have different modes and patterns of communication that can hinder effective listening if the listener is either unfamiliar with the speaker’s patterns or holds a mistaken view about them. These kinds of cultural differences include speakers’ accents and vocabulary, as well as assumptions about shared information and the roles of listeners and speakers in conversation.
In a broad sense, we all grow up immersed in various cultures all at once—family, country, region, sexual orientation, religion, socioeconomic class, etc.—and sometimes the specifics of those cultures seem to be hard-wired into our thinking and the ways in which we communicate. Without meaning to, we may bring assumptions or judgments into a conversation that don’t actually align with the thoughts or beliefs of our conversational partner, and this can create a barrier to effective communication.
Effective communicators understand that they grow up with cultural biases for and against certain modes of communication. Because of this, an open-minded listener will work hard to focus on what the speaker is actually saying regardless of how they’re saying it. Cultural filters and frameworks may be useful later in an analysis of what someone said, but the starting point of effective listening should be to understand the perspective of the speaker as fully as possible.
Maintaining this kind of cultural sensitivity requires some basics of open-minded listening: suspending judgment and employing empathy whenever possible. By meeting the speaker on his or her own grounds and taking care to focus on the content rather than the style of the communication, we can best assure more effective understanding.
Signs of Active Listening
Non-Verbal Signs of Attentive or Active Listening
This is a generic list of non-verbal signs of listening, in other words people who are listening are more likely to display at least some of these signs. However these signs may not be appropriate in all situations and across all cultures.
Smile
Small smiles can be used to show that the listener is paying attention to what is being said or as a way of agreeing or being happy about the messages being received. Combined with nods of the head, smiles can be powerful in affirming that messages are being listened to and understood.
Eye Contact
It is normal and usually encouraging for the listener to look at the speaker. Eye contact can however be intimidating, especially for more shy speakers – gauge how much eye contact is appropriate for any given situation. Combine eye contact with smiles and other non-verbal messages to encourage the speaker.
Posture
Posture can tell a lot about the sender and receiver in interpersonal interactions. The attentive listener tends to lean slightly forward or sideways whilst sitting. Other signs of active listening may include a slight slant of the head or resting the head on one hand.
Mirroring
Automatic reflection/mirroring of any facial expressions used by the speaker can be a sign of attentive listening. These reflective expressions can help to show sympathy and empathy in more emotional situations. Attempting to consciously mimic facial expressions [i.e. not automatic reflection of expressions] can be a sign of inattention.
Distraction
The active listener will not be distracted and therefore will refrain from fidgeting, looking at a clock or watch, doodling, playing with their hair or picking their fingernails.
See our pages: Non-Verbal Communication, Body Language and Personal Appearance for more information.
Be Aware That:
It is perfectly possible to learn and mimic non-verbal signs of active listening and not actually be listening at all.
It is more difficult to mimic verbal signs of listening and comprehension.
TechniqueEdit
Active listening comprises several components by the listener, who must pay attention to what the speaker is attempting to communicate and elicit clarification where necessary for comprehension.
Active listening involves the listener observing the speaker's non-verbal behavior and body language.[4] The listener can observe non-verbal behaviors through kinesics, the study of body motion and posture, paralinguistics, the study of the tone of words, and proxemics, the study of physical distance and posture between speakers.[5] Having the ability to interpret a person's body language lets the listener develop a more accurate understanding of the speaker's message as body language conveys more meaning than the words that are spoken.[6][clarification needed] According to a study conducted by Albert Mehrabian, 55% of communication is non-verbal. Non-verbal cues such as tone, inflection, gestures, and facial expression provide the listener further insight into what the speaker is trying to convey.[7]
ComprehensionEdit
The first step in the active listening process is that of comprehension. Comprehension is a shared meaning between parties in communication.[1] This can be done through top-down or bottom-up listening strategies. Top-down listening for comprehension will involve preparing for what message is likely going to be given, attempting to organize what is being communicated, and listening for summarizations or shifts in topic. Bottom-up listening for comprehension will involve an attentiveness to emphasized words such as longer or louder words. In addition, careful attention should be paid to repeated parts of the message being communicated.[8] Attentiveness can be emphasized not just in one's ability to listen, but to listen and respond with sensitivity to particular needs or cultural norms. For example, if you are listening to someone communicate through a disability such as severe lower-functioning autism, you will need to pay close attention and forego common methods of organizing information as it is received. In many of today's cultures, comprehension may include a knowledge of people using neutral pronouns or preferred pronouns. In order to listen for comprehension, it will be important for a receiver to be aware and understand these cultural norms.[9]
RetainingEdit
Retaining is the second step in the process. Memory is essential to the active listening process because the information retained when a person is involved in the listening process is how meaning is extracted from words. Because everyone has different memories, the speaker and the listener may attach different meanings to the same statement. Memories are fallible. Poor memory retaining techniques like cramming may cause information to be forgotten as our brains have a limited capacity to process more than one thing at a time.[10][clarification needed] Retaining information from messages being received is increased with the amount of attentiveness the receiver gives to what is being communicated. For example, information is best retained in adults if the adult has experience in what is being said, communicates back and forth with another communicator about the topic, and maintains visual contact with the source of the message being sent.[11]
RespondingEdit
There are three basic steps in the following order:[12]
- Paraphrase: Explain what you believe has been said in your own words.
- Clarify: Ensure you understand what has been said through asking questions.
- Summarize: Offer a concise overview of what you believe the main points and intent of the message received are.
Here are the guidelines to help better fine tune one's ability to follow these steps:
- Keep your attention on the message being presented
- Refrain from thinking about your own response to what is being presented.
- Refrain from offering judgement on anything the other person says.
- Observe non-verbal content. These are their own kind of communication which can be clarified by the active listener.
AssessmentEdit
Active listening can be assessed using the active listening observation scale [ALOS].[13]
Why Is Cultural Competence Important?
Demographic shifts and an increasingly diverse population
The United States has always had an ethnically diverse population, including African Americans, Native Americans, and Japanese Americans, to name a few. In recent years, our country has undergone dramatic shifts in its population, particularly as rapid migration has changed its landscape. For example, the Hispanic population in the U.S. rose from approximately 12.5 percent in 1990 to over 16 percent by 2009, and is anticipated to comprise 25 percent of the population by 2050. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that by 2043, the U.S. will become a “majority minority” country. This means that although the non-Hispanic white population will still be the biggest group, a single group will no longer make up the majority. More than 50 percent of the population will identify as belonging to an ethnic minority group or any group other than non-Hispanic white.
In other words, although we have always lived in an ethnically diverse society, we are all operating in an increasingly culturally diverse environment where we need to be able to interact, communicate, build relationships, and work effectively with people from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Moreover, those of us working with youth need to prepare them to operate in a society that will be even more diverse in terms of religion, ethnic background, and sexual orientation.
Societies are increasingly becoming globalized
Today’s world is diverse and global. Technology has made interactions across cultures around the world a very common experience. Social networking sites, blogs, and chat rooms are letting people regularly interact across national borders. Many industries currently have a significant amount of international collaboration, and careers in many fields increasingly entail working with people from different countries, both directly and indirectly. Children and youth today need to be prepared to enter a workforce and adult society that spans across borders and involves interacting with people of diverse backgrounds in myriad settings.
Recognizing our increasingly globalized society, many industries and professional organizations [e.g., National Education Association, RAND Corporation] are emphasizing the importance of cultural competence and related skills [e.g., global awareness] as essential in today’s workplace. Numerous universities are also incorporating cultural awareness and development as part of the higher education experience and career preparation by creating opportunities for students to participate in international experiences. Successfully navigating our globalized society entails being able to understand and appreciate diversity in its many forms, and to effectively engage and communicate with people from different cultures.
Persistence of issues around cross-cultural contact, discrimination, and related challenges
Despite the fact that societies are becoming more culturally diverse and globalized, issues surrounding inequality, bias, and breakdowns in intercultural communications persist. The FBI reports that in 2013, there were almost 6,000 reported incidences of hate crimes in the United States. Of these, almost 60 percent had racial or ethnic motivations; 20 percent were around sexual orientation; and 17 percent involved religion. There are also numerous bias incidents, persistent inequalities around racial and ethnic lines, and institutional policies that perpetuate inequalities at both the individual and institutional levels. One need not look beyond recent news reports to find that ethnic tensions persist.
Discrimination and bias in various forms are hurtful all around
Discrimination and bias have serious consequences. For example, stereotypes and bias have been claimed as the foundation for the surge in reported incidences of police brutality and the deaths of African Americans. A substantial body of work has also shown that victims of bias suffer in ways that may be less visible—in their academics, work performance, and other domains of life—even when those biases are subtle. Research on “microaggressions” [i.e., regular or daily subtle and minor acts of bias that may be consciously or unconsciously expressed] illustrate this point and show that even subtle incidences can have cumulative and serious consequences for socio-emotional well-being.
Negative effects are evident not just for the victims of biases. Recent research suggests that stereotyping, bias, and incidences of microaggressions not only affect the victim but also contribute to a hostile environment for everyone so that people in the broader setting [e.g., workplace] might feel invalidated or even intimidated and abused.
In addition, holding biases and prejudice also negatively affects the very persons holding those stereotyped beliefs. Experimental research shows that individuals with racial biases who interact with people of color show increased levels of cortisol and other stress hormones. Thus, biases and stereotypes have negative effects all around—for individuals and institutions, as well as for the targets of bias and for those holding such biases.