THE EFFECT OF CULTURE ON

NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION.

Social Psychology Poster Session Erica OSullivan December 11, 2011

INTRODUCTION

Culture: the way of life for a group of people. Can include language, education, religion, politics, etc.

any social institutional unique to that area.

This study seeks to investigate the effects culture has on nonverbal communication.

The International Journal of Intercultural Relations published the article Cross-cultural influence on communication effectiveness and interface design.
This study aimed to investigate the impact of cultural diversity on communication effectiveness with different communication styles. Although the study looks at a different aspect of intercultural communication (effectiveness), they come to many of the same conclusions I believe this study would maintain.

INTRODUCTION CONTINUED

First hypothesis: High context people tend to have better communication effectiveness than low context people during nonverbal communication. Second hypothesis: Low context cultures have better communication effectiveness than high context people during verbal communication.

In their first experiment they had participants find and interpret nonverbal clues from a film. Then they asked participants to part take in a word game testing verbal communication.

HYPOTHESIS

High context cultures follow a different set of nonverbal clues compared to low context cultures.
High context vs. low context Japan vs. United States Europe vs. America Deaf Culture vs. Hearing Culture

I predict that high context cultures rely more on nonverbal communication verses low context cultures due to a variety of reasons- low: more out spoken, say it like it is, instant gratification -high: less spoken, more presumed, more nonverbal communication, effect of strict cultural rules.

METHODS

Experimental design and procedure:

Experimental study- recorded interactions and context between individuals of different cultures in a variety of situations.
Status: the measured responses of high context culture individuals to meeting a high ranking individual verses responses of low context culture individuals Conflict: the measured responses of high context culture individuals to facing a dilemma verses responses of low context culture individuals.

METHODS CONTINUED

Independent variable: An independent variable is the variable you have control over, what you can choose and manipulate.

Stress, Conflict, Stimulus, etc.

Dependent variable: A dependent variable is what you measure in the experiment and what is affected during the experiment. The dependent variable responds to the independent variable. It is called dependent because it "depends" on the independent variable. In a scientific experiment, you cannot have a dependent variable without an independent variable.

Measurable reactions

METHODS CONTINUED

Study designs:

Individuals of different backgrounds will be asked to participate in a study regarding personality. Instead their reactions to outside stimulus will be video taped and compared to others of different backgrounds.

Participants:

Approximately 50 people from each culture will allow us to look past random anomalies. Participants will be randomly selected and classified according to their backgrounds.

MEASURES

Independent:

50 individuals of each culture will be placed in different situations.

Nonverbal responses of the participants will be measured.

Dependent:

Nonverbal responses measured: Eye contact Body posture Facial Expressions Movement Location and placement of limbs Etc.

RESULTS

Analysis: Results would be recorded in a data table where the average would be taken of all the participants of that culture to be compared others. High Context Culture Key: Predicted Results:
Low Context Culture Number of Nonverbal Reactions Number of Verbal Reactions

CONCLUSION
This experiment sought to determine the differences found between cultures in regards to nonverbal communication. I predicted that individuals from high context cultures will have more nonverbal reactions than individuals from low context cultures. I found that both high and low context cultures have varying amounts of nonverbal communications depending on the situations. Describe in deeper context

CONCLUSION CONTINUED

This study can help individuals from different backgrounds to understand and interact effectively with one another. It is difficult to connect with someone if the level of nonverbal communication is skewed. It can give us insight to how certain cultures react in certain situations. Some limitations of this study could be the amount of video footage to shift through and how diverse people may be within the same culture. It is key to look into cocultures in order to determine if they should be considered as a separate culture. Overall, this study can give insight to why people of different cultures act and react the way they do.

REFERENCES

1. http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/ytseng/images/ib m/Cross-cultural%20influence.pdf