Intercultural CommunicationUnit 8Cross-Cultural Perception 第1頁/共27頁Warm Up Please read the story on page 264 and fill in the blanks. What do you think of the story? &“I told the Englishman it was the 1 sporting thing to do, and he jumped. I told the Frenchman it was 2 chic; the German that it was a 3 command; the Italian that it was 4 forbidden; the Russian that it was 5 revolutionary; so they all jumped overboard.”&“And how did you get the American to jump?”&“No problem,” said the captain, “I told him he was 6 insured!”O(jiān)f course, what the story tells us about people of those different nations can only be partially true at best and we must be aware of such overgeneralization and oversimplification in our perception of people of other cultures. 第2頁/共27頁French Leave and Dutch Courage (p265-267) Do you know some terms and expressions in English that are formed with names of other nationalities?Danish pastry, Flemish bond, Irish stew, Italic handwriting, Portuguese man-or-war, Russian roulette, Spanish fly, Scotch pine, Swiss roll, Turkish delight and Welsh rarebit;Belgian hare, Dutch barn, French letter, German measles, Greek gifts and Swedish drill.Among the English idioms mentioned in Reading I, some are emotionally “neutral” in that they only deal with “flora and fauna and products” that are not native to England. However, some other idioms may carry the British cultural values and attitudes to other nations.第3頁/共27頁French Leave and Dutch Courage (p265-267) Do you know some terms and expressions in English that are formed with names of other nationalities?For instance, idioms which are culturally neutral include:Danish pastry, Flemish bond, Irish stew, Italic handwriting, Portuguese man-or-war, Russian roulette, Spanish fly, Scotch pine, Swiss roll, Turkish delight and Welsh rarebit.Idioms which are culturally loaded include:Belgian hare, Dutch barn, French letter, German measles, Greek gifts and Swedish drill. 第4頁/共27頁French Leave and Dutch Courage (p265-267)Many idioms concerning other nations suggest that the Britishs used to hold others in derision and contempt. But all those related to the British themselves indicate that the British used to view themselves in positive ways.Homework: Finish the Fill-in Task exercise (p268). What do they mean in the sentence? 第5頁/共27頁Fill-in Task (p268)1. Excuse my French, but hes a bloody nuisance!2. The headmaster always talks to the pupils like a Dutch uncle.3. I dont understand this book at all, its all Greek to me!4. If you wanted me to go, why didnt you say so in plain English instead of making vague hints?5. Scratch a Russian, and youll find a Tartar. Do you understand what I mean?第6頁/共27頁Fill-in Task (p268)6. Keep away from; his Irish is up.7. Ill have a couple of drinks to give me Dutch courage.8. Its good to see that old film star enjoying a(n) Indian summer with her second highly acclaimed film this year.9. Before she left, she said a final goodbye and give him a long French kiss.10. The companies do not wish to Welsh on their debts to banker if though their business seems to be not good at the moment. 第7頁/共27頁Reading IIRead the article “Ethnocentrism and Ethnorelativism” (p272-276) .1. What is ethnocentrism?Most other cultures are backward compared with my culture.My culture should be the role model for other cultures.Other cultures should try to be more like my culture.Most people from other cultures just dont know whats good or them.Most people would be happier if they lived like people in my culture.People in my culture have just about the best lifestyles of anywhere.Lifestyles in other cultures are not as valid as those in my culture.I do not cooperate with people who are different.第8頁/共27頁Reading IIRead the article “Ethnocentrism and Ethnorelativism (p272-276)”.1. What is ethnocentrism?I do not trust people who are different.I dislike interacting with people from different cultures.I have little respect for the values and customs of other cultures.Other cultures are smart to look up to my culture.Other people are much the same as my people.Our way of doing things is the only right way. 第9頁/共27頁Reading IIEthnocentrism is negatively judging aspects of another culture by the standards of ones own culture. It is the technical name for the view of things in which ones own group is the center of everything, and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it.It occurs when our nation is seen as the center of the world.In other words, it refers to our tendency to identify with our ingroup and to evaluate outgroups and their members according to its standard. 第10頁/共27頁Reading IIIt is not suggested that ethnocentrism is always deliberate. Often the expression of ethnocentrism is a function of how we are socialized. (see examples on p273)Ethnocentrism often is expressed in the way people draw their maps. People tend to draw maps of the world with their own country at the center and with other parts of the world depicted as peripheral.Ethnocentrism can all too easily lead to “us” versus “them” thought and language. The collective pronouns “us” and “them” become powerful influences on perception. The names given to “them” can be used to justify their suppression and even their extermination. (see the poem “We and They” on p280-281) 第11頁/共27頁Reading IIIt seems to be really impossible to eradicate ethnocentrism through education and intercultural exchange; however, they do help reduce the degree of ethnocentrism, a sort of natural tendency, for people live in the context of their culture so they can hardly get rid of their cultures influences on their thinking, behaving and way of living. What one needs to do is to develop the attitude of ethnorelativism. What is ethnorelativism?It is just opposite to the attitude of ethnocentrism; it is cultural relativism. It involves the view that all cultures are of equal value and the values and behaviors of a culture can only be judged using that culture as a frame of reference.第12頁/共27頁Discovering Problemsthe stereotyped images of different cultures in the US (p276-278) and the stereotypes of Americans (p278-279) Since most of information we get about people of other nations comes from the mass media today, it is very difficult for us to avoid being greatly influenced by the media in our formation of impressions of other peoples, and our impressions tend to become stereotypes that may hinder us from truly understanding those peoples in intercultural communication.Besides, what impressions we have formed about people of other nations may also be different from what they view themselves. For instance, it has been noted that there often exists a disparity between the way U.S people think of themselves and the way they are viewed by foreigners. Please look at the results of a survey in the following: 第13頁/共27頁Discovering ProblemsU.S Persons Views of Themselves Informal, friendly, casual Egalitarian Direct, aggressive Efficient Goal/achievement oriented Profit oriented Individualistic Progressive Enthusiastic Open Foreigners Views of U.S Persons Undisciplined, too personal & familiar Insensitive to status Blunt, rude, oppressive Obsessed with time, opportunistic Promise more then they deliver Materialistic Self-absorbed Tend to equate “new” with “best” Deceptive Untrustworthy 第14頁/共27頁Culture and Perception (p281-284) A Basic Model of Human Perception: (1) Sensation, (2) Perception, (3) Selection, (4) Organization, (5) Interpretation. Sensation: It is the neurological process by which people become aware of their environment. It refers to the initial detection of energy from the physical world. Perception: It is the process by which we become aware of objects, events, and especially people and their behavior through our various senses and involves higher-order cognition in the interpretation of the sensory information. 第15頁/共27頁Culture and Perception (p281-284) A Basic Model of Human Perception: (1) Sensation, (2) Perception, (3) Selection, (4) Organization, (5) Interpretation. Selection: It is a process in which we screen out what we need from all the stimuli and information around us. Organization: It is the process during which we need to organize and impose structure on what we observe in a meaningful way. Interpretation: It refers to attaching meaning to sense data and is synonymous with decoding. 第16頁/共27頁Barriers to Accurate Perception in Intercultural Communication(1) Ignoring Details, (2) Over-generalizing,(3) Holding on to Preconceptions and Stereotypes,(4) Imposing Consistency,(5) Preconnecting Causes and Effects,(6) Preferring Simple Explanations,(7) Ignoring Circumstances,(8) Crediting Irrelevant Information,(9) Focusing on the Negative,(10) Seeing Good or Bad.第17頁/共27頁Stereotype and Prejudice (p292-295) StereotypeA stereotype is a fixed notion about persons in a certain category, with no distinctions made among individuals. In other words, it is an overgeneralized and oversimplified belief we used to categorize a group of people.PrejudiceTrue prejudices are those negative attitudes directed toward groups, especially racial and religious groups, that are formed by highly personal and unreasoned generalizations about all or most members of the group. 第18頁/共27頁Stereotype and Prejudice (p292-295)Direct results of prejudice: the formation of ingroups and outgroups.Main causes of racial prejudice: ignorance: it leads to indifference and hostility. insecurity: it leads to fear.Classifications of prejudice: Red-neck racism: based on some imagined standard; formal education. Symbolic racism: expressed in terms of threats to peoples basic values and to the status quo. Tokenism: certain people harbor negative feelings about a given group but do not want to admit this fact to themselves; they engage in unimportant, but positive intergroup behaviors, thus they can effuse to perform more important intergroup behaviors.第19頁/共27頁Stereotype and Prejudice (p292-295)Classifications of prejudice: Arms-length prejudice: certain people engage in friendly, positive behavior toward outgroup members in certain situations but hold those same outgroup members at an “arms length” in other situations. Real likes and dislikes: members of the group engaged in behaviors that people dislike; should be given more attention. The familiar and unfamiliar: to experience behaviors or ideas that are unfamiliar and hence feel uncomfortable; a lack of understanding and an insensitivity regarding other cultural groups. 第20頁/共27頁Stereotype and Prejudice (p292-295)Relation among stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination:When cognitions (stereotypes) are assigned values (prejudice), we may enact biased action (eg. discrimination).Prejudice varies principally along the dimension of intensity. Five common forms of prejudice can be identified in terms of intensity: verbal abuse, physical avoidance, discrimination, physical attack, and massacre.How to overcome stereotypes and prejudice:Empathy is the main communication skill we should learn to solve the problem through the face-to-face interaction. Empathic persons know how to show understanding by projecting themselves into their partners position. This means that to be empathic in intercultural interactions we need to be open-minded in terms of information sharings, to be imaginative in correctly drawing the picture of others situation, and to show a commitment or strong willingness to understand our culturally different partners in any kind of situation.第21頁/共27頁Case StudyCase 29 (Page 285) In this case, both the white people (the Virginia Government) and the Indians were ethnocentric. The white people seemed to believe that their learning and sciences were without doubt superior to the Indians learning. They didnt expect that what they considered as good for the Indian youth would be taken as “totally good for nothing” by the Indians, to whom, the white peoples learning and sciences could be inapplicable in their living environment and irrelevant to the way they preferred to live. On the other hand, the Indians were also somewhat ethnocentric when they implied that their education was better by asking the white people to send their sons to be educated by the Indians and promising that they would be able to “make men of them” through instructing them in all the Indians knew. 第22頁/共27頁Case StudyCase 30 (Page 286-287) It is said that the event which really marked a dividing point in Western images of China was the visit of U. S. President Richard Nixon to China in February 1972. “A week that changed the World” was Nixons characterization of his own trip and his view was shared by many Americans, because it symbolized that the U. S. no longer regarded China as a major enemy, perhaps even not as an enemy at all. Images of contemporary China were changed drastically in the process. 第23頁/共27頁Case StudyCase 31 (Page 287) It seems that Ian and Peter have the same problem, that is, they are both strongly stereotyped by other people and are seldom seen as they actually are. The pinning of qualities and abilities onto individuals and stereotyping them as either “artistic and expressive” or “practical and sensible” may run deep within some societies. In this way, people are reduced in their potentials according to such crude labels that are used to explain them. 第24頁/共27頁Case StudyCase 32 (Page 288) This case clearly shows two very different perceptions of what is going on. Jeremy believes he is being supportive, inclusive and understanding, whereas Jabu feels she is being treated badly and indeed the victim of racism. Jeremy does not base his understanding of Jabu on what he observes of her, but on impressions he himself has had from his own experience in her country, South Africa, and the basis of his impressions is likely to have been stereotypical. The way Jeremy treats Jabu often implies that Jabu and her culture are inferior and backward. 第25頁/共27頁HomeworkRead “Behaviors That Separate Us (p289-291)”. What do you think will be the possible solutions to the problems interracila or international relationships?第26頁/共27頁感謝您的觀看！第27頁/共27頁