Individualism versus Collectivism

Do you prefer to meet your own individual personal goals, or your collective family goals? Do you place your own preferences before those of the culture in which you live? Patterns of social behavior and psychology vary from culture to culture, and from individual to individual. The psychologist Harry Triandis (1995) proposed that patterns of social behavior could be explained by two constructs: individualism and collectivism.

What is Individualism?

Individualism is a social pattern consisting of loosely linked individuals. People living in individualistic cultures view themselves as independent to the larger society

• by their own preferences
• by their own needs and rights
• will give priority to their own personal goals over the goals of others
• will rationalise the advantages and disadvantages of associating with others

Individualistic Cultures

Individualistic cultures include most western countries such as:

• United States
• United Kingdom
• Australia
• France
• and Germany; to name a few.

What is Collectivism?

Collectivism is a social pattern consisting of closely linked individuals who view themselves as part of one or more collectives. For example: a collective may be the persons' family, workplace, or group of friends.
A collectivist is primarily motivated by:

• the norms and expectations of the collective
• gives priority to the goals of the collective over their own personal goals
• will emphasise the connections they have with members of the collective

Collectivistic Cultures

Collectivistic cultures includes countries such as:

• Brazil
• India
• Russia
• most eastern nations, such as Japan and China

Cultural Perspective on Individualism and Collectivism

Traditionally, the terms individualism and collectivism have been used to describe particular cultures. However it is important to note that each individualist and collectivist culture is likely to have a unique aspect. For example, a Korean collectivist culture is quite different to the collectivism of the Israeli Kibbutz.

Individual Differences Within Cultures

Although much research has supported cultural tendencies towards either individualism or collectivism, individual differences must be accounted for. For example, a person may live in a traditionally collectivistic culture although they may still express individualistic behaviours within that culture. In every culture there are people with individualistic tendencies, and people with collectivistic tendencies.

Individualism Versus Collectivism

The terms individualism and collectivism are typically used to describe different cultures. An individualistic culture is where individuals are more concerned with their own preferences and goals, than those of the larger society. A collectivistic culture is where individuals are more concerned with pleasing the social environment in which they live. Additionally, within every culture there will be both individualist and collectivist people

 

 

 

Read more at Suite101: Individualism Versus Collectivism: Social Behaviour http://www.suite101.com/content/individualism-versus-collectivism-a336272#ixzz1EG7C4Wtl

Stereotypes Chapter 4

A "stereotype" is a generalization about a person or group of persons. We develop stereotypes when we are unable or unwilling to obtain all of the information we would need to make fair judgments about people or situations. In the absence of the "total picture," stereotypes in many cases allow us to "fill in the blanks." Our society often innocently creates and perpetuates stereotypes, but these stereotypes often lead to unfair discrimination and persecution when the stereotype is unfavorable.
For example, if we are walking through a park late at night and encounter three senior citizens wearing fur coats and walking with canes, we may not feel as threatened as if we were met by three high school-aged boys wearing leather jackets. Why is this so? We have made a generalization in each case. These generalizations have their roots in experiences we have had ourselves, read about in books and magazines, seen in movies or television, or have had related to us by friends and family. In many cases, these stereotypical generalizations are reasonably accurate. Yet, in virtually every case, we are resorting to prejudice by ascribing characteristics about a person based on a stereotype, without knowledge of the total facts. By stereotyping, we assume that a person or group has certain characteristics. Quite often, we have stereotypes about persons who are members of groups with which we have not had firsthand contact.
Television, books, comic strips, and movies are all abundant sources of stereotyped characters. For much of its history, the movie industry portrayed African-Americans as being unintelligent, lazy, or violence-prone. As a result of viewing these stereotyped pictures of African-Americans, for example, prejudice against African-Americans has been encouraged. In the same way, physically attractive women have been and continue to be portrayed as unintelligent or unintellectual and sexually promiscuous.
Stereotypes also evolve out of fear of persons from minority groups. For example, many people have the view of a person with mental illness as someone who is violence-prone. This conflicts with statistical data, which indicate that persons with mental illness tend to be no more prone to violence than the general population. Perhaps the few, but well-publicized, isolated cases of mentally ill persons going on rampages have planted the seed of this myth about these persons. This may be how some stereotypes developed in the first place; a series of isolated behaviors by a member of a group which was unfairly generalized to be viewed as a character of all members of that group. there are so many stereotypes present today from race to  gender to what we watch on television
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fS3e-n8Mj7I

NonVerbal communication! The10 tips.

Good communication skills can help you in both your personal and professional life.  The following top ten tips for nonverbal communication can help you learn to read the nonverbal signals of other people and enhance your own ability to communicate.

1. Pay Attention to Nonverbal Signals

People can communicate information in numerous ways; so pay attention to things like eye contact, gestures, posture, body movements, and tone of voice. All of these signals can convey important information that isn't put into words. By paying closer attention to other people's nonverbal behaviors, you will improve your own ability to communicate nonverbally.

2.Look for Incongruent Behaviors

 

If someone's words do not match their nonverbal behaviors, you should pay careful attention. For example, someone might tell you they are happy while frowning and staring at the ground. Research has shown that when words fail to match up with nonverbal signals, people tend to ignore what has been said and focus instead on nonverbal expressions of moods, thoughts, and emotions.

3. Concentrate on Your Tone of Voice

 

When SpeakingYour tone of voice can convey a wealth of information, ranging from enthusiasm to disinterest to anger. Start noticing how your tone of voice affects how others respond to you and try using tone of voice to emphasize ideas that you want to communicate. For example, if you want to show genuine interest in something, express your enthusiasm by using an animated tone of voice.

4. Use Good Eye Contact

When people fail to look others in the eye, it can seem as if they are evading or trying to hide something. On the other hand, too much eye contact can seem confrontational or intimidating. While eye contact is an important part of communication, it's important to remember that good eye contact does not mean staring fixedly into someone's eyes. How can you tell how much eye contact is correct? Some communication experts recommend intervals of eye contact lasting four to five seconds.

5. Ask Questions About Nonverbal Signals

If you are confused about another person's nonverbal signals, don't be afraid to ask questions. A good idea is to repeat back your interpretation of what has been said and ask for clarification. An example of this might be, "So what you are saying is that..."

6. Use Signals to Make Communication More Effective and Meaningful

Remember that verbal and nonverbal communication work together to convey a message. You can improve your spoken communication by using nonverbal signals and gestures that reinforce and support what you are saying. This can be especially useful when making presentations or when speaking to a large group of people.

7. Look at Signals as a Group

A single gesture can mean any number of things, or maybe even nothing at all. The key to accurately reading nonverbal behavior is to look for groups of signals that reinforce a common point. If you place too much emphasis on just one signal out of many, you might come to an inaccurate conclusion about what a person is trying to communicate.

8. Consider Context

When you are communicating with others, always consider the situation and the context in which the communication occurs. Some situations require more formal behaviors that might be interpreted very differently in any other setting. Consider whether or not nonverbal behaviors are appropriate for the context. If you are trying to improve your own nonverbal communication, concentrate on ways to make your signals match the level of formality necessitated by the situation

www.Learn2listen.com

9. Be Aware That Signals Can be Misread

According to some, a firm handshake indicates a strong personality while a weak handshake is taken as a lack of fortitude. This example illustrates an important point about the possibility of misreading nonverbal signals. A limp handshake might actually indicate something else entirely, such as arthritis. Always remember to look for groups of behavior. A person's overall demeanor is far more telling than a single gesture viewed in isolation.

10. Practice, Practice, Practice

Some people just seem to have a knack for using nonverbal communication effectively and correctly interpreting signals from others. These people are often described as being able to "read people." In reality, you can build this skill by paying careful attention to nonverbal behavior and practicing different types of nonverbal communication with others. By noticing nonverbal behavior and practicing your own skills, you can dramatically improve your communication abilities

 

These are the types of non verbal message codes that we should at least be ware of .

cultural values

Cultural values, at the simplest level, are commonly shared concepts about what is right, wrong, possible or impossible, true or false and so on.it gets complicated. The arena of cultural values can be as small as each individual's personal set of decisions as to what is acceptable or not. The individual can be firmly set in deciding that existing cultural values are just fine and that no new or different ones are wanted or needed.  individual can be flexible, from being widely traveled, for example, and capable of adhering to the cultural values of many societies in the world. The
Values are an integral part of every culture.^{( wikipedia)}With worldview and personality, they generate behavior. Being part of a culture that shares a common core set of values creates expectations and predictability without which a culture would disintegrate and its members would lose their personal identity and sense of worth. Values tell people what is good, beneficial, important, useful, beautiful, desirable, constructive, etc. They answer the question of why people do what they do. Values help people solve common human problems for survival. Over time, they become the roots of traditions that groups of people find important in their day-to-day lives.
Values is the state of individual or social standard individual can be required to adjust values as life conditions change.

Barriers to intercultural Communication

1. ANXIETY
the first barrier is high anxiety. meaning when your anixous  because of not knowing  what you are expected to do, it is  natural to get that feeling . For example: you experience anxiety when you first meet someones parent or  its your first day in a new job. you start feeling like your out of place and yourattention  focuses on that feeling that you make common mistakes and you start to look awkward.
2. Assuming Similarity Instead of Difference
the second  barrier is Assuming similarity instead of difference.
the book uses a middle class angolan teenager. they said  the cutural diffrence may be in how teenagers listen to music. when you assume similarity between cultures you can be unaware of the important diffrences. assuming diffrences  instead of similarity  can lead to your  not recognizing important things that cultures share in common. its better to assume nothing  its better to ask what the customs are ??? then assuming theyre the same  or diffrent.
3.Ethnocentrism
the third barrier to effective intercultural communication is ethnocentrism meaning judging aspects of another  culture by the standards of ones own culture.

overall i just think it intersting that interculture have diffrent barriers.