CHAPTER 8 NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE

Discussion questions

1. What common emblems exist within your culture? Are they context specific?

2. In a situation where the verbal and non-verbal codes contradict each other, why is it that the non-verbal message is taken as more significant?

3. In what different ways can silence be used as a nonverbal code? Describe three contexts in which silence can be used to reveal a different emotion or attitude. For example, in a conversation, one interactant’s silence and tightly clenched jaw can indicate extreme disagreement with what the other person is saying.

4. Why is it often more difficult to learn a culture’s nonverbal codes than its verbal codes?

5. In Western cultures, what non-verbal behaviours are commonly associated with someone who is lying? Do you think other cultures would share the same non-verbal behaviours? Why or why not?

6. How is the use of touch used in different contexts in your culture? For example, consider the following scenarios, what ‘rules’ of haptics apply?

(a) Comforting a bereaved relative

(b) Welcoming a work colleague back from holidays

(c) Getting a stranger’s attention to let them know they dropped something

7. What elements of your identity do you display through your physical appearance? Are any of these related specifically to your culture? What assumptions might a stranger make about your culture, based on your physical appearance?

8. Is yum cha part of your culture? If yes, what cultural significance does it have in your region? If it is not part of your culture, does your culture have something similar?What do you think are some potential intercultural misunderstandings in a yum cha place?

Activities

1. Go to a public place such as a shopping mall or the on campus cafeteria. Imagine you had to compile a set of instructions for a foreigner to operate successfully in this environment; what nonverbal ‘rules’ do you observe here that should be followed? For example, in a cafeteria, people will generally not reach across in front of each other to grab food from the display shelves; people will make eye contact with the person behind the counter to indicate they wish to be served.

2. Discuss in small groups. Have someone in the class stand near you, preferably someone you haven’t had the opportunity to get to know very well, and have them gradually move in closer until you feel they are just within your personal space. At what distance would you place your personal space distance? How did it make you feel when someone came within that space? Imagine conversing with someone from another culture whose personal space distance was much smaller, how might you feel during such an interaction? How might they interpret your preference for a greater personal space?

3. Compile a list as many common emblems used in you culture as you can think of. Compare with those of other students in the class. Are there many that are culturally universal? Which ones have different meanings across cultures? Which ones are meaningless in another culture? What are the possible implications of this to intercultural interactions?

4. Research proverbs and adages from other cultures. What do they reveal about that culture’s nonverbal and verbal codes? For example, an Italian proverb is ‘you cannot write down a meaningful silence’. Does this proverb tell us anything about communication?

5. Bring a picture from a magazine or newspaper showing a person displaying some emotion or attitude. For example, you might bring in a picture of a politician caught mid sentence, with a particularly expressive look on his/her face. What emotion or attitude is the person showing in the picture? What nonverbal codes reveal this? Have someone else in the class, preferably someone from another culture look at your picture and vice versa. Was their interpretation different from yours? What similar or different meanings did you both attach to particular verbal codes evident in the pictures? How can you account for these similarities or differences?

6. What nonverbal communication codes might someone in your culture use in the following situations?

  • Ending a conversation
  • Getting a waiter’s attention
  • Disagreeing with what a colleague is telling you
  • Meeting a friend’s parents
  • Asking a question in class
  • Gesturing for someone on the other side of the room to come over to you

Compare your responses with the class. Are there significant differences from students from different cultures? Are there particular cultural values reflected in the different nonverbal methods used?

8. Which smells have specific associations in your culture? Discuss these with the class and identify any cultural differences. For example, it is possible to buy musk flavoured sweets in Australia but in the United Kingdom musk is usually only associated with soap and perfume products, so people find the thought of musk sweets quite abhorrent. Are there any smells that have positive associations in you culture but disliked in another, or vice versa? What are some possible implications of this to intercultural interactions?

9.One of the methods used by anthropologists to learn about cultural variations in nonverbal communication is observation. You are suppose to go in pairs to a public place (you choose one) for 20–30 minutes where you carefully observe a specific nonverbal behaviour (for example, how far apart people sit at the bus stop, what types/colours of clothing people wear to school). You should take notes, recording different behaviours and the frequency of their occurrence. Are there any ways to classify the behaviours they observed into categories? Share your ideas about what was challenging in trying to do the exercise and some limitations in their observations that might limit the generalizability of their conclusions to other groups.