Emmanuel Douge

Prof. Wang
Intro to Human Communications
October 1 2014
Intercultural Communication
Individualistic cultures focus on self and immediate family. Collectivist cultures focus on
cohesion, group, and loyalty. Low-context cultures are less aware of nonverbal cues, have a need
for detail, emphasize verbal detail, and desire expert knowledge and logic. High-context cultures
focus on nonverbal cues, open and free communication, emphasize surroundings, and have little
need for explicit information.
To Luiss family, Jeff might have come off as a bit arrogant and might have had an
individualistic presence in the conversation which is looked unfavorably upon in Dominican-
Republic culture. However, in the United States, confidence and forward behavior such as Jeffs
is seen as enviable qualities and are promoted in our culture. This is mostly because America
itself has an individualistic culture. Americans are indirectly influenced to be independent and to
be concerned about themselves before others. In Jeffs case, it was mostly due to his cultural
incompetence that lead to his misunderstanding and misinterpretation between his motive and
Luiss. In their culture, it would be seen as if Jeff is demanding. I would also imply that he was
trying to take the lead during the conversation with Luiss family, which left his words unheard.
Jeff also felt rejected because he was not familiar with high-context cultures. Being raised
in an American environment, he was probably speaking with his words more than his actions
which may have been misinterpreted by Luiss family. There is a possibility that he was sending
the wrong nonverbal cues unknowingly because of his unfamiliarity with high-context cultures
such as the Dominican-Republic. In fact, he was probably limiting the scope and direction of the
conversation, looking for verbal cues and unable to get past the vague information being passed
around and missing the importance of nonverbal communication. It might have been a case of
articulation in vocalics or source distraction if we assume that Luiss family could not understand
and speak English as well as Jeff and Jeff might have missed other behavior they might have
used to communicate their ideas such as kinesics or tactile communication. More importantly,
Jeffs cultural origin being mainly based on individualism, taking the lead in a conversation
without focusing on the group could have been detrimental for the relationship between him and
Luiss family.
Looking at all this in a nutshell, there are many possibilities that could have made Jeff
feel rejected in Luiss home. However, the main cause of this feeling is cultural incompetence
and the difference in American and Dominican-Republic culture. This difference between high-
context and low-context culture made Jeff unfamiliar in a different cultural environment. He did
not comprehend the difference between his individualistic culture and collectivist cultures such
as the Dominican-Republics. His lack of cultural competence, or level of knowledge a person
has about others who differ in some way in comparison to himself, was most likely limited. If he
was good at perception checking, he should have inquired more about Dominican-Republic
culture instead of making suggestions to be part of the conversation and not feel rejected.