Cultural Difference in Nonverbal Communication - Literature review Example

Cultural Difference in Nonverbal Communication al Affiliation Nonverbal communication is the use of nonverbal provocations in a communication situation that are created by the speaker, the environment and the listener and have possible message value to all the parties involved.   It is the means of communication in a range of techniques without the use words.  It is may be intentional or not and have got different meanings in different cultures. Some of the way for nonverbal communication include; touch, dressing code, smell, posture, eye contact, vocal nuance, intonation, posture and facial expression among others. Non-verbal communication can be broadly grouped into two categories that is, nonverbal communications created by the body and nonverbal communications created by other settings like time, space, and silence. The type of the non-verbal communication to be used depend on the situations and the cultural background of the parties involved in communication. In a communication setting, each party should understand the different types of non-verbal signals used and their interpretations so that they understand one another (Lubin, 2011). Non-verbal communication is an important feature of communication especially in a high-context culture (Andrews University, n.d.).  It functions include repeating and emphasizing a verbal message pointing into the one direction while illustrating directions. Moreover, it can be used to accent a verbal message by tone variation that shows the concrete meaning of certain words. In addition, it complements the verbal message and can also contradict according to different cultures. For example, the head node among the Americans and Africans reinforces a positive message, but among the Chinese, it reinforces negative message. Furthermore, a wink contradicts stated affirmative message but reinforces the statement as positive among Chinese. Nonverbal cues also control interactions, for example, they convey when the other party should speak or not speak in a conversation. They can also be used to substitute for the verbal communication especially if an individual has lost voice tone through illness (Lubin, 2011). They can use gestures like finger to lips to show the necessity for silence, facial expressions, for example, a nod to mean yes among Americans. This type of communication is important in intercultural interaction situations and accounts for the distinctive difficulties in communication across cultures. The non-verbal communication among different cultures can be explained in various means of communication without the use of words but the physical expressions. The general appearance and dress code is non-verbal expression that is perceived to convey different messages in different cultures. Many cultures are anxious on the looks and how they judge other peoples dress code. In America, dressing code and personal attractiveness are very important; miniskirts in American cultures is viewed as fashion while, in Islamic culture, miniskirts are considered immoral and discourages its use (Lubin, 2011). Women and young ladies are considered by religion ware such dressing covering their whole body and should not expose any part of their body. Body movement is another non-verbal communication means that is perceived differently in different cultures. The facing or leaning towards another person presents different view among cultures on the attitude toward the person another, tapping fingers and jiggling may mean the emotional status and move away or towards the person. In African culture, kissing in public is perceived as immoral and against the social norms. However, in American and Western cultures, kissing in public is show of love and adoration (Pita, & Pedro, 2012).  The body posture is non-verbal communication way of conveying respect in Africa, it is a show of ranks in Japan, and it is not done and criticized in the United States. In most of the Northern European countries, it means in slouching and show of rudeness. Putting hands in pocket is painstaking disrespectful in Turkey (Shepard, 2010). Among the Islamic cultures, sitting with legs crossed is considered morally upright while it is offensive in Ghana and Turkey. Some cultures have differentiated postures that are accepted by each gender. Sitting postures are also communicated different messages in different cultures. For example, sitting while exposing some private part may be seductive in some cultures while it may be offensive in some cultures. The Physical postures as well have got different meanings in between cultures. For example, American executives have a common habit resting with their feet on their desk or a table. In Middle East, Asia and some part of Europe, this is considered extremely unpleasant. In some cultures, the back of the shoe is considered dirty and should never be exposed at any circumstance. According to such cultures, it is an office unethical behavior by the Americans (Levine & Adelman, 1993). The differences in nonverbal messages across cultures is very evident as one only need to communicate with people from other cultures and get the difference. Therefore, it is prudent to learn the meaning of the nonverbal cue to be used in advance. This helps in saving one from embarrassment and misunderstanding that could be caused due to nonverbal communication barrier. Non- verbal communication is also affected by stereotypes and not every individual from a different culture demonstrates the same type of nonverbal communication (Pita, & Pedro, 2012). Non-verbal communication across different cultures have even posed difficulties to even individuals with international experience who carry some of the symbols of their culture of origin. Gestures can be defined as precise body movements that carry some meaning with them. Hand motions, for example, can be used to convey different messages such as “It’s okay," "Come here," Go away, among others. The interpretation of the gestures for these phrases are usually different from culture to cultures. For example, beckoning a person to come using the palm up gesture is very common gesture among American, but it is different in Philippines, Korea, and some parts of Latin America. These countries consider this kind of gesture as discourteous and rude. According to some cultures, only animals are beckoned with the palm up gesture (Levine & Adelman, 1993). Gestures as non-verbal communication channel may be had to catalog because they are many according to different cultures but should be recognized as well as their possibility and variety of uses. The gestures that are conventional in an individual’s culture can be offensive in another person’s culture.  Additionally, the extent of gesturing differs from one culture to the other (Pita, & Pedro, 2012).  Some restrained cultures often feel that animated cultures have a shortage moral manners and complete restriction while animated cultures usually perceive that restrained cultures have deficiency of emotions or interests. For example, they use the index finger to point, in German they use the little finger while in Japan and other Asian cultures consider pointing with index finger as a rude gesture. For example, in calculating, the thumb denotes ‘one’ in Germany and ‘five’ in Japan. However, the middle finger signifies ‘one’ in Indonesia. Children often learn and imitate to use of nonverbal gestures to go with and exchange some words while communicating (Levine & Adelman, 1993). Difference in nonverbal communication is immediately learnt when one travels from one country to the other, foreign visitors realize that all gestures are not universal. For instance, American culture has the "O.K." gesture with both hands while, in Japan, the same gesture is a representation of money (Levine & Adelman, 1993). In Latin American nations, the “OK” sign is an obscene symbol (Leki, 1998, p. 345). There was controversy in Thailand when a shoe company advertisement showed a pair of next to sacred statue of Buddha because the sole of the shoe is considered the dirtiest and should never be shown. Many Saudi Arabians have also dismissed the cultures of American business executive’s relaxation while placing their feet up on the desk. This is because that gesture in unclean in their culture whereas it is normal to Americans (Harjunen, 2012). Facial expression as non-verbal communication medium may be identical, but the meaning attached to them varies from culture to culture.  The majority’s opinion is that smiling, crying or showing anger or disgust using the facial expression may have the same in meaning. However, the degree differs from one culture to the other.  For example, majority of Asian cultures quash facial expression as ample as possible, the Latino and Arabic cultures overstate sadness while America men hide sorrow as much as possible (Harjunen, 2012). The Americans views the Arab culture as animated cultures with lack of self-control, in some cultures, too much smiling is interpreted as over happiness while others interpret it as shallowness. Women should also smile more than men in some cultures while others it is the opposite. Faces can disclose emotions and outlooks, but the interpretation of the expression in the face is different across cultures, and one should not read the facial expression of another individual of a different culture. The level and degree of facial articulacy one often display is different from individuals to individual and from culture to culture (Harjunen, 2012). The point that individuals from a certain culture never reveals their feelings openly as other individuals from another culture does not imply that they do not have emotions to express. There are cultural restraints on nonverbal articulateness that are acceptable in different time and places. For instance, Japanese express their sentiments in public and official places like the Americans (Levine & Adelman, 1993). In private and in informal settings, Japanese openly shows emotions just like the Americans. In the school setup in America, teachers find it hard to know whether the Japanese students are understanding and enjoying their lesson because of their facial expression. The United States is affected by the problem of generalizing the facial expressions of the people and the cultures living in the country. Individuals from some cultural backgrounds in the United States often tend to respond to facial expressions than others. Therefore, one should not judge people by their expression of emotions or facial expressions. This is because judging them using one personal culture would lead to misunderstanding. In the United States of America, eye contact and gaze as non-verbal means of communication are interpreted with high degree of attention or interest. This is meant to influence attitude, change and persuasion and it is used to control interaction, feeling, and define power and status. It forms the central role in handling the impresses of others. The eye to eye contact is a positive advice to children in Western cultures (Levine & Adelman, 1993). In American-Africa, people use eye to eye contact more when talking than when listening and is a possible cause of unease across cultures in the United States of America. The Japanese and African cultures advices against eye to eye contact as show for respect while the Arab cultures encourage long time eye contact to gauge trustworthy and truthfulness between the parties communicating (Shepard, 2010). The eye contact patterns are diverse from one culture to another. For example, some Americans would feel uncomfortable gazing while, in the Arabic and Indian cultures, it is a way of non-verbal communication. For American, consistence gazing is considered too intense and anti-social (Lemonnier, 2012). Little or no eye contact can also be perceived undesirable because it can be interpreted to mean disinterest, carelessness, and mistrust. In America, they say that “Do not trust an individual who never looks at you in the eyes, while in Asian cultures, lack of eye contact towards an authority figure shows respect and deference. The interpretation of touch as non-verbal communication cue depends on the reason for a touch, the place torched, and the meaning assigned to the touched by specific individual. Traditional Korean cultures do not allow people to touch strangers and more so members of the opposite sex (Rochford, 2011, p. 131). When someone refuses to touch another person of a different culture, a person may view this as discrimination due to his or her color and race. Touch is determined by cultural norms on the parts of the body to be touched and those that should not be touched. In the United States of America, handshake is common even to strangers. Moreover, members of opposite sex hugs and kisses each other. However, in African Americans, their culture allows greeting but disallow kissing and hugging of members of opposite sex (Lemonnier, 2012). The Islamic and Hindu culture do not allow touch with the left hand and doing so to them is a social insult of their culture, they perceive that the left hand is for toilet functions. They would, therefore, not feel comfortable by touching them with the left hand. The Islamic culture as well does not permit touch between different genders but approves it for the same gender. According to some Asian cultures, they are not permitted to touch the head because it puts it in jeopardy because it houses the soul (Lemonnier, 2012). Cultures with emotional restraints like the English, Chinese, Japanese and German have a little touch while emotional cultures like the Latino and Jewish encourages touch as it is away for consolation during problems. Different cultures also assign different meanings to smell as means of non-verbal communication. Most Arabic cultures consider natural body smell as normal while the Indonesian and Thai cultures encourages frequent bathing and criticizes other cultures especially the USA cultures for encouraging poor body sanitation (Lemonnier, 2012). In African cultures, foul smell is a sign of not bathing while some cultures are associated with the use of certain perfumes and can communicate their identity especially the Islamic cultures. The use of paralanguage as non-verbal communication means involves the use of vocal characteristic such as laughing, whining, yawning crying, yelling, and moaning. These vocal have unalike implications in different cultures. For example, in Japan, giggling means shame while belching shows approval in India. Vocal qualifiers like the rhythm, pitch, tempo, and tone also have different meanings in different cultures.  In Arabic cultures, loudness shows power while gentleness shows signs of feebleness. In German culture, loudness demonstrate assertion and ability while softness shows discourteousness. In Thai culture, loudness shows signs of weakness and loss of control. Physical Space as well is nonverbal communication method. Among different cultures, there is acceptable physical distance between the parties communicating especially among different genders. The physical distance is diminutive in Latin America and Middle East than the Westerners are contented with (Lemonnier, 2012). This can explain why most Europeans and Americans feel uncomfortable when other party invade there personal space. However, in Latin Americans people wonder why other keep distance or stay far away from them. The amount of personal distance changes according on the type of the relationship the communicating parties have. For example, people often feel safer and more comfortable while standing closer to family members than to strangers. Personality as well controls the distance between the people who are talking, for example, Introverts usually consider to interrelate with others at a farther distance than do extroverts (Lemonnier, 2012). In Japanese cultures, an employer and employee often maintain farther distance while talking than in American cultures that prefer closer distance part while Latin Americans prefer to maintain a closer distance apart while talking than Americans do. In the American culture, the normal distance apart to be maintained in a social conversation usually ranges from an arms length to four feet. Smaller distance apart in American culture may be linked to either greater affection or hostile conduct. They are often uncomfortable with getting closer and have a common exercise of saying, "Excuse me," in any case they make slightest unintentional touching to another person. Hence, any person whose personal space has been invaded by another person, threatened and even react defensively while, in cultures where personal and close contact is allowed, they may view Americans as cold and distant. Head Movements as nonverbal communication method has different meanings from culture to culture. For example, in the Middle East and some Asian countries, nodding of head mean an agreement (Yes). Moreover, head movement across means a disapproval or a “NO” in African and most American cultures (Lubin, 2011). It can be very confusing to converse with an individual from another culture with all smiles and indications to mean you understand one another yet the head movement he makes means “NO” in your culture. In such as case it is prudent to use words such as Yes or no to avoid the confusion. Captivating turns in dialogue and the use of silence is nonverbal communication techniques. Here, the manner in which conversation between the parties differs from culture to culture and in between cultures. In American culture, they people make minimum eye contact but use a longer and direct eye contact to changing speakers. This is not the case in other cultures especially in Asian countries; a direct gaze is often confrontational. Americans are usually uncomfortable with moments of silence in conversation, and often hurry through silences and rapidly finish sentences that dangle. Thus, this makes people from less straight cultures to struggle to contribute equally in conversation involving Americans, who are the clear deterrent in an effective patient-provider exchanges. American culture is task-oriented and prefers to want conversation straight to the point while other cultures often use it to build a relationship. Silence, while the other party is often talking, suggests hearing and valuing the other party’s point of view (Lubin, 2011). Although the culture can define the information of nonverbal communication, the individual’s personality, the context of the conversion, and the relationship between the parties communicating has also been found to influence meaning in nonverbal communication. Just like the verbal language of communication, nonverbal language as well is associated with people’s cultural background (Lubin, 2011). People are often comfortable and relate with ease to others with whom they have similar body language. Research findings proved that when people learn the nonverbal behavior of communication for another culture, for example, making increased eye contact and smiling, then they are likeable by people of a culture with such nonverbal cultures. There is often amplified comfort in conversation when individuals nonverbal linguistic is the same as that of another (Levine & Adelman, 1993). The nonverbal communication is different across culture and has similarities as well as differences (Levine & Adelman, 1993). However, in a conversation, the “silent language” is often louder than it first appears whether much emphasis is put on the similarities or the differences. References Andrews University, n.d. Non_Verbal Communication Modes. [Online] Available at: http://www.andrews.edu/~tidwell/bsad560/NonVerbal.html [Accessed 03 October 2014]. Harjunen, O., 2012. Communication challenges in a multi-cultural environment. [Online] Available at: http://www.theseus.fi/handle/10024/46875 [Accessed 03 November 2014]. Leki, I., 1998. Academic Writing: Exploring Processes and Strategies. 2 ed. New York: Cambridge University Press. Lemonnier, P., 2012. Mundane objects: Materiality and non-verbal communication. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press. Levine, D. R. & Adelman, M. B., 1993. Beyond Language: Cross-cultural Communication. New York : Prentice Hall Regents. Lubin, J., 2011. 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