Culture and Communication in a World of Globalization

Jennifer Lloyd

UIN: 01015633

COMM 200S

12/7/15

HONOR PLEDGEJennifer Lloyd

Culture and Communication in a World of Globalization

Culture defines many behaviors and shapes the way we communicate with others. Specifically, our

emotions and the way we encode and decode emotion is based on culture. In a world of substantial

growth of globalization it is important to understand the way different cultures express emotion in order

to maintain healthy, professional, and personal relationships with those people. While globalization has

been in existence since before World War I, it has increased 20 times since 1950. (Globalization 101,

2015) In addition, the increase in globalization provides the opportunity for us to interact with those

from other cultures. Therefore it is important to avoid making generalizations based on stereotypes.

Furthermore, cultures may express emotion differently but ultimately we all have the same emotions

and we are all individuals. This research will analyze emotion, emotion management, expression of

emotion and values, conflict styles, and how to prepare for working and communicating with other

cultures in order to enhance both professional and personal relationships with people from around the

globe.

Emotions are the way we express our perception of a situation. As stated by Christina Kotchemidova

(2010) in her paper “Emotion Cultures and Cognitive Construction of Reality,”

“emotions are part of the meaning-making process of the individual and are thus fluidly integrated into

cognitive constructions of reality.” (Kotchemidova, 2010, p. 213) She also states “every society develops

some emotional norms that outline the admissible range of emotional experience in concurrence with

definite situations.” (Kotchemidova, 2010, p. 208) In other words, society creates acceptable emotional

responses based on a variety of situations. Therefore, we create ways to cognitively control emotions in

order to meet cultural standards. (Kotchemidova, 2010, p. 208) For that reason, most strive to manage

emotion that society deems as acceptable because if one is unable to do so they may be perceived as

emotionally disturbed or an outcast. (Kotchemidova, 2010) Emotion management involves creating,

intensifying, suppressing or transforming emotions by controlling cognitive and somatic experience.

(Kotchemidova, 2010) Emotion management can be uncomfortable for some, especially those from

another culture. For example, in her research Kotchemidova (2010) spoke to participants that were

raised outside, but now living in, the United States. Participants spoke of Americans as being cheerful

and not wanting to participate in negative speaks. Therefore, the participants felt uncomfortable

complaining or discussing topics that were not positive. (Kotchemidova, 2010) While emotional

management is difficult when becoming immersed in other cultures it seems encoding and decoding

emotion of other cultures is difficult as well.

According to Young, Hugenberg, and Prokhovich (2012) in the article “Group-Level and Individual-Level

Influence on Emotion Expression Decoding, the researchers found that “perceivers are most accurate

when decoding the emotional expressions of members of their own social group.” (Young, Hugenberg,

Prokhovich, 2012, p. 51) Also, there is a difference in the way we interpret the intensity of emotion.

Using another example from Young et al. (2012) “American participants rate expressions as being more

intense than Japanese observers, but that Japanese participants rate the expressions as being more

indicative of actual internal experiences than American participants.” (Young, Hugenberg, Prokhovich,

2012, p. 53) And there are additional differences in the way we encode and decode emotions. Another

example is Western culture emphasize the mouth when encoding and decode by gazing evenly across

the face, whereas Eastern cultures encode with the eyes and decode by maintaining focus on the eyes.

(Young, Hugenberg, Prokhovich, 54) As evidenced by this information, emotions are encoded and

decoded differently culture to culture. But understanding specific cultural differences in the way we

express emotions will help us fully understand how to get along with those from other cultures.

Cultures express emotions differently. Such as, Americans being viewed as cheerful, nice, and friendly,

according to Korchevmidova’s findings. (Kotchemidova, 2010) Furthermore, there is research that

supports the assumption that Americans are more likely to express positive emotion while avoiding

negative emotion. For example, Americans tend to smile more often and use exclamations and

superlatives more frequently than Europeans. (Kotchemidova, 2010). An exaggeration of positive

emotion is common in America unlike other similar cultures. For instance, Americans use the word

“great” to describe many things, the Australian equivalent is “not bad at all.” (Kotchemidova, 2010)

Furthermore, according to the article “How We Think, Feel and Express Love: A Cross-Cultural

Comparison between American and East Asian Cultures,” “Americans reported openness,

expressiveness, and physical contact more often than Japanese in expressing intimacy.” (Kline, Horton,

Zhang, 2005, p. 7) Obviously there are differences in the way we express our emotion. While Americans

are seen as a culture of cheerfulness, that refuses to discuss topics that could ruin the mood, other

cultures have a more serious outlook. For instance, Christina Kotchemidova (2010) states “studies of

emotion management in the United States consistently describe individuals’ efforts to sustain and

cheerful state of mind , but comparable studies from Europe focus almost exclusively on self-restraint

from sexual and violent urges to transforming the emotions of anger, hate, and erotic love into respect

and kindness.” (Kotchemidova, 2010, p. 212) Furthermore, she states that Germans tend to focus on

reflection, self-awareness, and understanding life. (Kotchemidova, 2010) In other words, cultures have

different goals and values that they hold as important. Americans value happiness, Europeans value

respect, and Germans prefer thoughtful reflection. Understanding these differences is important to

cultivating relationships with those from other cultures. However it is not only important to understand

the differences in values and how we visualize the world around us, it’s equally important to understand

how we deal with conflict.

Recognizing the way cultures respond to conflict is important. Conflict is a part of both professional and

personal relationships. In the research report “Conflict Styles and High-Low Context Cultures: A Cross

Cultural Extension,” Stephen M. Croucher et al. (2012) define conflict as “an expressed struggle between

at least two interdependent parties who perceive incompatible goals, scarce resources, and interference

from the other party in achieving their goals.” (Croucher et al, 2012, p. 64) This research compared

conflict styles between two high-context nations (India and Thailand) with two low-context nations

(Ireland and the United States). The results showed “individuals from high-context cultures are more

likely to use indirect conflict strategies, such as non-confrontation strategies (avoiding and obliging)”.

(Croucher et al, 2012, p. 70) Furthermore, Americans and Irish, low-context cultures, used more

dominating conflict styles. Moreover, the results find high-context nations focus on solution-oriented

styles and compromise more than low-context nations however the results differed from previous

research. (Croucher et al, 2012) To explain these differences in findings the researchers point to a

couple aspects of the Indian and Thai nations including; rapid increase in economy and expansion in

competition in a global market place and potential change of individualism in nations. No matter what

the reason for the difference, it is clear that cultures respond to conflict differently. Therefore in order

to maintain relationships in a world of globalization it is important to determine differences and respond

appropriately. Another aspect of understanding other cultures is recognizing the cultural differences as

it relates to business.

With the increase in globalization it is important that professionals recognize how cultures operate in

the business sense. It is important not to stereotype a culture based on perceived notions. As discussed

in the article “Navigating the Cultural Minefield,” author Erin Meyer (2014) reports that stereotyping can

lead to “oversimplified and erroneous assumptions.” (Meyer, 2014, p.1) As an example she argues that

the Japanese are hierarchical, therefore the assumption is that the Japanese would always make top-

down decisions, which is not the case. (Meyer, 2014) In addition, she uses the example of French

subtlety in communication; one might expect the French to be indirect with their negative feedback.

(Meyer, 2014) These assumptions are not always accurate and could cause miscommunication or

conflict. Meyers (2014) goes on to report the importance of understanding a culture in order to grasp

the best way manage in cultures different from one’s own. Meyers (2014) provides a “Cultural Map”

that explains ways to properly manage in different cultures through; communication, evaluation,

persuasion, leadership, decision making, trust, disagreement, scheduling. (Meyer, 2014) Furthermore

she emphasizes the importance of not underestimating the challenge of change, applying multiple

cultural perspectives, being able to apply different approaches, and to make adjustments as necessary.

(Meyer, 2014) Comprehending cultural differences and being flexible both personally and

professionally is important to develop and maintain multi-cultural relationships.

While it’s clear that we all have the same emotions, cultural influence affects how these emotions are

expressed. It is important to learn to encode and decode emotion properly in order to promote positive

rapport. Learning to decipher information will improve the ability to communicate and appreciate

diverse cultures. Although it is important to learn how cultures express emotion and interact it’s also

imperative to stress that generalizations and stereotypes are not always accurate and should be

avoided. When dealing with other cultures in either a personal or professional manner it is best to do

some research on cultural similarities and dissimilarities and build a relationship with the understanding

of these. Furthermore, with the increase of globalizations some cultures are seeing a shift in their

identity; therefore although it is important to understand the culture it is also important to recognize

people from a culture as individuals as well. In conclusion, we can communicate and build successful

relationships with people from other cultures by avoiding generalizations and stereotypes and

interacting with them as individuals that possess varying needs and values.

References

Croucher, S., Bruno, A., Mcgrath, P., Adams, C., Mcgahan, C., Suits, A., & Huckins, A. (2012) Conflict

styles and high-low context cultures: A cross-cultural extension. Communication Research

Reports, 29, 64-73.

Globalization101. (2015). What is globalization? The Levin Institute – The State University of New York.

Retrieved from http://www.globalization101.org/what-is-globalization/

Kline, S., Horton, B., Zhang, S. (2005). How we think, feel and express love: A cross-cultural comparison

between American and East Asian cultures. Conference Papers-International Communication

Association. 1-28.

Kotchemidova, C. (2010). Emotion culture and cognitive constructions of reality. Communication

Quarterly, 58(2), 207-234.

Meyer, E. (2014) Navigating the cultural minefield. Harvard Business Review, Retrieved from

https://hbr.org/2014/05/navigating-the-cultural-minefield

Young, S., Hugenberg, K., Prokhovich, A. (2012). Group-level and individual-level influence on emotion

expression decoding. Journal of Communications Research, 4(1/2), 51-69.