Culture And Communication

Culture and Communication

[Name of the Writer]

[Name of the Institution]

Culture and Communication

Introduction

Culture is defined as the set of values, beliefs, norms, and customs of the group of people. This set is more like shaping factor for human attitude, society as well as intentions. Culture is associated, in fact, connected with all the possible elements of life that range from physical to psychological characteristics and mental connections (Bevan et al., 2017). This paper aims at the analysis of communication in accordance with the thoughts of Bevan.

Discussion

Culture and communication

According to Bevan (2017), culture, and communication, are influenced and shaped by each other. It is also highlighted that many times, one is not even fully conscious about how behavior and communication are influenced by culture, whereby it is deeply infused in our lives. There are two major justifications proposed by Bevan that assert the significance of being aware of culture when thinking about communication (Bevan et al., 2017).

First, culture shapes the norms and values regarding greeting so while getting others, culture is reflected. A common example of this fact can be found in the communication between someone from United States and someone from Nepal or India. In the United States, people greet by saying “Hi, How are you” to everyone even to the grocery shop owner while in India or Nepal, this act will be frowned upon, because it is not expected of someone who is living in India and abiding by the Indian norms (Bevan et al., 2017). So, culture should be considered while discussing about mannerism.

Another case, involving culture and communication is seen in the choice of words. It is a common observation that the communication pattern in the form of choice of words changes with the type of culture in which you are living. One of the sound examples of this fact can be seen in the form of “usage of slangs” in some languages such as bucks instead of dollars. This communication change is also observed in the words that are chosen such as “gotta” instead of go to, and many other words (Bevan et al., 2017).

Culture and Verbal and nonverbal communication

Verbal and non-verbal communication is also shaped by a culture that is profoundly explained by Bevan. According to him, “communication Accommodation Theory” is one of the best descriptions of how communication is altered in the form of convergence and divergence. He finds that both, verbal and nonverbal communication reflects the heritage, believes, experiences, attitudes, role expectations and social background. The changes in verbal communication can be found by having a look at the choice of words by the British and Americans. It is found in Americans and British, both speak English where certain words have a different meaning which is dependent on the cultures such as choice of elevator rather than life, chips rather than crisps (Bevan et al., 2017).

In the case of non-verbal communication, massive changes can be found when different cultures are studied on the same board. It is found that the Americans usually make eye contact with their communication partner while the members of Asian cultures are shy and they avoid eye contact. They believe that eye contact might depict disrespect (Bevan et al., 2017).

Relationship between culture and related themes

Culture plays a central role in shaping both, interpersonal and intrapersonal communication. Two major topics under discussion for this interrelationship is gender and perceptual filters.

Culture and gender

Culture shapes gender understanding, in terms of gendered roles and gendered communication. It is one of the most controversial topics taking into account that communication researchers concern the communication styles that are adopted either by women and men and how they communicate. This idea is embedded by Bevan in the form of “Different cultures hypothesis of gender”. It is highlighted that culture shapes the choice of games in the where some games are specified for men in some cultures while in other cultures, some games are specified for women. It is also seen in the form of concepts that men are doing jobs while women are dealing in a household (Bevan et al., 2017).

Culture and perceptual filters

Culture and perceptual filters are interconnected taking into account that the influence of culture is usually unconscious and it is not apparently observed. A perceptual filter is defined as the mental structure that supports the organization and assigning meanings to some source of new information. This perceptual filtered is explained well by Bevan. He quoted the example of two coworkers, Kiera and John. In the example, it is observed that Kiera started eating without waiting for John’s order to come. Here, Kiera is a representative of the perceptual filter because she is not aware of the fact that she should have waited for Kiera. However, it is also important to note that the perceptual filters can be shifted, under the impact of both individuals as well as cultures (Bevan et al., 2017). In the mentioned example, it is the perceptual filter about table manners that are found because both the co-workers are justified in their place.

References

Bevan, G., & Creeber, G. (2017). Into the Looking Glass: How selfie culture is preparing us to meet our future selves.