Analyzing Cultural Schema Theory
Laura de Luis Frontal
Theories and Models of Intercultural Communication, University of Jyväskylä
Analyzing Cultural Schema Theory
A great deal has been written and said about communication between people from different cultures. There are many theories that explain the phenomenon in diverse ways, as there are lots of paths that we could take. If we should go deeper and explain how intercultural communication happens, we can see that there is an element that has changed radically intercultural encounters: Globalization.
Before this fact, the only way of being able to have contact with people and cultures around the world was by traveling. However, nowadays innovations in transports, the cheapening of
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We act depending on what we know about previous situations that can be like the actual one.
As a consequence, we can use schemas in multiple situation, and that lead us to have different sorts of schemas depending on the circumstances: personal schemas, cultural schemas and universal schemas. Nevertheless, what we are going to analyze and criticize in this essay are the cultural schemas as a theory.
In this way, cultural schema theory tries to explain how humans understand the world in terms of culture. People need to know how the others are going to act even though they do not know the others beforehand. In that way, we try to understand people from other cultural backgrounds by making a classification or schema of them.
Literature review
Although Nishida was the main authorn who theorized about the cultural schema theory, there were previous discussions about the main concepts reflected in the
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Some authors like Taylor and Croucher, Turner or Chi proposed different types of cultural schemas. Nishida (1999) proposed eight “primary social interaction schemas”: fact-and-concept schemas, which are information about facts such as definitions or concepts; person schemas, which contain information about different kinds of people; self-schemas, which gather information about our own personality; role schemas, which are knowledge about the roles in society and how we must act depending on it; context schemas, which are formed by knowledge about the situation and its correct behavior; procedure schemas, which are information about the steps that must being followed in certain situations; strategy schemas, that gather information about problem-solving strategies; and finally, emotion schemas, that get activated while using other schemas and contain information about affect and evaluation stored in long-term
The reason that historians differ on the causes, effects, and who was responsible for “historical events” is because memory is reconstructive and unreliable. Therefore the written history of 9-11 is affected by bias because the writers, children, and adults memories are affected by the schemas of each one’s individual culture. This can change the recollection of 9-11 and other traumatic events. Memories linked to 9-11 differ between different cultures.
There are several cultural concepts competence for example in the book identified cultural competency in two senses. First, recognizing the beliefs and behaviors of own cultural person to treat a patient in a way fit the culture. Second, acquiring adequate knowledge of cultural to give the care that suits the culture of the person (Cartwright, L.A. and Shingles, R.R., 2011). Simplify, Dr. René state cultural competence as a process that makes you involved and appreciate cultural differences.
People choose to move away for various reasons, including extreme jobs promotions, traveling for experience, spreading culture around the world, etc. Exquisite developments such as cars, trains, and planes have made these activities attainable to people who choose to move away from their birthplace. Since moving is an open option, transportation is another step towards independence in humans all around the world. “Life goes by in the blink of an eye. So be sure to appreciate the many moments with family and friends that make your life complete.”
Throughout my life experience I have been at the higher end of continuum as cultural competence. I have always interact with other cultural groups and accept others for the way they are without being judgmental. There are times when I can be judgmental but there is a limitation of awareness. For instant, I would insult a person if it is need but not to the limit to it becoming offensive.
Cultural influences people on how to communicate with one another and its methods of communication from one culture to another. Culture plays a significant role in intercultural communication. Cultural identity is an element in a person’s life when one understands their own culture, leading to an understanding and appreciation of other cultures as well. It promotes a vital part of communication between people who come from different cultures. This paper will examine my Mexican American cultural background and how it affects my way of communicating with others.
As you can tell from the videos, without knowing anything at the beginning, it is impossible to understand what other cultures are, but I also felt that it is also impractical to overcome all of these 6 stumbling blocks of intercultural communication. For example, if you don’t assume something, you become anxious and that navigates us to another issue that she mentioned, which was stress. The misinterpretations of nonverbal communication are something that is linked with assumption. All of these issues are big issues that prevent us from communicating fully. However I believe there is something more important to us, for example like how fully interested we are in cultures, how optimistic we are to this subject, how much we realize that there are ubiquitous cultural conflicts to cultures in the world.
(Macionis 310). The culture theory claims that some prejudice is found in everyone. Some people are excessively prejudice, but everyone has a bit of prejudice.
A culture, by definition, is a set of shared beliefs within a society; learning how to interact with people from different cultures is important in order to communicate and work with each other. It helps us become understanding of one another and widens our perspective of what the world has to offer. To be able to cross cultural communicate with others, the first step is to be aware that every culture is complex and has its differences. While traveling to new countries and trying to understand each other, there is a large possibility of miscommunication, which can come in the form of misinterpreting messages or body language; therefore, it is crucial to keep an open mind whilst communicating. There are multitudes of factors in various cultures that play a role in decision making, so being aware of the expectations that are influenced by someone’s culture will help you understand their choices.
The theory of Hofstede says that the framework of cross cultural communication it’s described the effects on the culture of the society on the values of its members. Culture has been unclear in a many ways, Hofstede also says that culture as collective programming of the mind it is distinguished group or category of people from another. Also, he explains culture as the software of the mind and he identifies 3 aspects of human mental: human nature, personality and culture. Trompenaas definition is a model of differences in national cultures that model, it’s included 7 areas that are used to identify how people from different nations and cultures are interrupted with each others.
Culture refers to the knowledge that is part on from one generation to another within a society, which allows people to make sense of themselves and the world around them. Culture consists of languages, assumptions, norms of behaviour, values and ideas. Worldview refers to the set of basic assumptions that a group of people develop in order to explain reality and their purpose in the world. Worldview consists of time orientation, people-nature orientation, activity orientation and relational orientation. Discourse in languages refers to written or spoken communication.
The interaction can be described as more interpersonal than intercultural as a result of the degree of interactant is drawing on personality traits, personal values and experience. When people from different cultural background become close to each other, their interactions typically move along the continuum from more intercultural to more interpersonal, though intercultural elements may always play a role. There is no doubt that no matter for casual or business communication, be sensitive to intercultural communication is always a key to achieve
The film Lost in Translation follows two Americans visiting Tokyo during important transitional periods in their lives. Charlotte is a recent college graduate trying to figure out her career while also moving on from the honeymoon phase of her new marriage. Bob Harris is essentially going through a mid-life crisis as he sorts through life post-movie stardom and struggles to maintain a relationship with his overbearing wife. The two find each other in the hotel bar as a result of their inability to sleep and form a connection based on their mutual isolation in both their relationships and the city of Tokyo. The film touches on the importance of communication as well as what it is like to be a foreigner alone in a vastly different culture.
Abstract Communicating successfully with people from different cultures can be a real challenge. Cultural differences may lead to tensions, arguments, and even wars between peoples and nations. This paper deals with one of the most common problems in intercultural communication cultural shock, it introduces its concepts and basic traits, causes and symptoms, stages of adjustment and strategies of overcoming culture shock with the aim of improving intercultural communication competence for smoothing intercultural communication. Key words: Cultural shock; Intercultural communication; Stages of adjustment; Intercultural communication competence Wang, M. L. (2015).
However, in sociological parlance, in the words of E.B.Tyler ‘Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.’ Broadly, culture has seven elements. These are things that are common to each and every culture. a. Social Organisation: Social organisation refers to patterns of social interaction.
“With 8 million people flying each day, the concept of travel as a rare escape is outdated. Obstacles that prevented people traveling, like high costs, continue to fall away. For those with the means, travel has become a lifestyle. Barriers like language are disappearing with the advent of smart translation apps. Cheap flights are empowering time-short travelers to jet off for weekends.