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CULTURE:
AN OVERVIEW
Dimensions of Culture
Languages
(codes/modes)
Verbal
Physical
Nonverbal
Environment Human Behavior
Natural Man Made
Encoding
Decoding
Psychological
Content
Processes
Knowledge Belief
Systems
Thought
SIMPLE DEFINITION OF
CULTURE
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Culture refers to the system of understanding
characteristic of an individual’s society or
subgroup (shared with that group) within that
society…This includes values, beliefs,
acceptable and unacceptable behavior, verbal
and non-verbal language(s)
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Source: García, E. (1994). Understanding and meeting the challenge of student
cultural diversity. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Other Characteristcs of Culture
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Dynamic rather than fixed or static
A continuous and cumulative process
Learned and shared by people
Behavior and values exhibited by people
Creative and meaningful to our lives
Symbolically represented through language and
interaction (communication)
That which guides people in their thinking, feeling
and acting
The Different Views of
Culture

EMIC: Insider view
 ETIC: Outsider view
 SYNCRONIC: Fixed view
 DIACRONIC: Dynamic view
 Implicit Culture: hidden or unconscious
cultural elements (values, beliefs,religion)
 Explicit Culture: observable elements of a
people’s culture (dress, speech, behavior)
“Cultural flexibility involves
changes in one’s behavior to
meet the demands of
situations found in other
cultures.”
Brislin, R. (1993). Understanding culture’s
influence on behavior. Fort Worth: Harcourt,
Brace College Publishers.
Stereotypes
Stereotypes are perceptions about
certain groups of people or
nationalities, often based upon
limited knowledge and/or exposure.
Stereotypes of U.S. Persons

Informal in their relationships
 Rather formal in their business attire (suits for
men and dresses or suits for women)
 Workaholics - they spend more time working
than with family and social engagements
 Embarrass foreign business people by doing
manual labor or tasks typically done by the
lower class or servants in their country
 Overly concerned with time, money, and
appointments
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Make decisions on hard, objective facts rather
than on personal feelings, social relationships,
or political advantage
Consider contracts and the written word as very
important and to be taken seriously
Be aware of the status differences within the
organization; however, generally no display of
superiority or inferiority is made which makes
rank-conscious foreigners uneasy
Be very mobile; rarely work for one company
all their life
Convey superiority in their actions because
they feel the U.S. is a superior nation
Stereotypes of People of Other
Nationalities
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Culture
EnglishImage
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French
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Italian
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Latin American
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Asians
conservative, reserved, polite,
proper, formal
arrogant, rude, chauvinistic,
romantics, gourmets, cultural,
artistic
demonstrative, talkative,
emotional, romantic, bold, artistic
manana attitude, macho, music
lovers, touchers
inscrutable, intelligent,
xenophobic (fear/hatred of
strangers/foreigners), golfers,
group oriented, polite, soft-spoken
Stereotypes of Other Groups
Japanese and U.S. Students
Japanese
English
Irish
Chinese
Mexicans
Russians
Israelis
Americans
gentlemanly,
formal, proper,
polite
polite, intelligent
cold, patient,
drinkers, jovial,
religious
hot-tempered, loud
diligent, serious
quiet, small,
ingenious, laboring
industrious, smart
cheerful, passionate
lazy, poor, loud,
spicy-food eaters
dirty, uneducated
cold, dark, closed,
cold, respect authority,
secret, selfish
hard-working
religious, faithful,
religious, quarrelsome,
warlike, Jewish
wealthy, greedy
Terms
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Enculturation - socialization process you go
through to adapt to your society
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Frontstage culture - cultural information that you are
willing to share with outsiders
Backstage culture - cultural information concealed from
outsiders
Acculturation - process of adjusting and adapting
to a new and different culture
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cultural synergy - two cultures merge to form a stronger
overriding culture
Multicultural - people who can move between two or
more cultures very comfortably
Four Dimensions
of Acculturation

Integration - persons become an integral part of
the new culture while maintaining their cultural
integrity
 Separation - individuals keep their culture and
stay independent of the new culture
 Assimilation - persons are absorbed into their new
culture and withdraw from their old culture
 Deculturation - when individuals lose their
original culture and do not accept the new culture
 Ethnocentrism
- the belief that your
own cultural background is correct
 Mindsets
- ways of being that allow us
to see, perceive, and reason through
our own filter
Norms, Rules, Roles, and
Networks
(Situational factors that influence encoding and decoding of verbal and
nonverbal messages)
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Norms - culturally ingrained principles of correct and
incorrect behaviors which, if broken, carry a form of
overt or covert penalty
 Rules - formed to clarify cloudy areas of norms
 Roles - include behavioral expectations of a position
within a culture and are affected by norms and rules
 Networks - formed with personal ties and involve an
exchange of assistance
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Subcultures (or microcultures) - groups
possessing traits that set them apart from
others within the macroculture. U.S.
examples: senior citizens, Catholics,
disabled persons, Asian Americans
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Subgroups - groups with which the
microculture does not agree and has
problems communicating. U.S. examples:
youth gangs, prostitutes, embezzlers
Communication Barriers
 Physical
- time, environment
 Cultural - social, ethnic, religion, social
 Perceptual - viewing from your own
mindset
 Motivational - mental inertia of listener
 Experiential - dissimilar experiences
or life happenings
 Emotional
- personal feelings, likes or
dislikes
 Linguistic - unusual vocabulary
 Nonverbal - how something is said, or
how the person behaves or gestures
 Competition - listener's having the
ability to do other things