Understanding Intercultural Communication

Dedication Page ; Preface ; Acknowledgments ; About the Authors ; Part One: Fundamental Concepts in Intercultural Communication ; 1: Why Study Intercultural Communication? ; Practical Reasons to Study Intercultural Communication ; Adjusting to Global Workplace Heterogeneity ; Adapting to Domestic Workforce Diversity ; Engaging in Creative Multicultural Problem Solving ; Comprehending the Role of Technology in Global Communication ; Facilitating Better Multicultural Health Care Communication ; Enhancing Intercultural Relationship Satisfaction ; Fostering Global and Intrapersonal Peace ; Deepening Cultural Self-Awareness and Other-Awareness ; Culture: A Learned Meaning System ; Surface-Level Culture: Popular Culture ; Intermediate-Level Culture: Symbols, Meanings, and Norms ; Deep-Level Culture: Traditions, Beliefs, and Values ; Stamping Your Intercultural Passport ; 2: What Is Intercultural Communication Flexibility? ; Defining Intercultural Communication: A Process Model ; Intercultural Communication Process: Overall Characteristics ; Intercultural Communication: Meaning Characteristics ; Practicing Intercultural Communication Flexibility ; Three Content Components: Knowledge, Attitude, and Skills ; Three Criteria: Appropriateness, Effectiveness, and Adaptability ; Developing Intercultural Communication Flexibility ; A Staircase Model ; An Essential Hook: A Mindful Perspective ; Deepening Intercultural Process Thinking ; Process Consciousness: Underlying Principles ; Intercultural Reality Check: Do-Ables ; 3: What Are the Essential Cultural Value Patterns? ; Functions of Cultural Values ; Analyzing Cultural Values ; Identity Meaning Function ; Explanatory Function ; Motivational Function ; Ingroup-Outgroup Evaluative Function ; Analyzing Cultural Value Dimensions ; Discovering Cultural Values ; Identity: Individualism-Collectivism Value Pattern ; Power: Small-Large Power Distance Value Pattern ; Uncertainty: Weak-Strong Uncertainty Avoidance Value Pattern ; Sex Roles: Feminine-Masculine Value Pattern ; Additional Value Orientation Patterns ; Value Orientations: Background Information ; Meaning: Activity Value Orientation ; Destiny: People-Nature Value Orientation ; Time: Temporal Value Orientation ; Individual Socialization Development ; Independent Versus Interdependent Self-Construal ; Horizontal Versus Vertical Self-Construal ; Internal Versus External Locus of Control ; Intercultural Reality Check: Do-Ables ; 4: What Are the Keys to Understanding Cultural and Ethnic Identities? ; Family and Gender Socialization ; Families Come in Different Shapes ; Gender Socialization and Interaction Patterns ; Group Membership: Intercultural Boundary Crossing ; The Process of Acculturation and Enculturation ; Systems-Level Factors ; Individual-Level Factors ; F2F and Network-Level Factors ; Mass Media-Level Factors ; Group Affiliation and Identity Formation ; Cultural Identity Conceptualization ; Ethnic Identity Conceptualization ; Ethnic/Racial Identity Change Process ; Cultural-Ethnic Identity Typological Model ; Racial-Ethnic Identity Development Model ; Multiracial and Biracial Identity ; Intercultural Reality Check: Do-Ables ; Part Two: Crossing Cultural and Communication Boundaries Adaptively ; 5: What Is Culture Shock? ; Unpacking Culture Shock ; Characteristics of Culture Shock ; Pros and Cons of Culture Shock ; Approaching Culture Shock: Underlying Factors ; Initial Tips To Manage Culture Shock ; Intercultural Adjustment: Developmental Patterns ; The U-Curve Adjustment Model ; The Revised W-Shaped Adjustment Model ; Culture Shock: Peaks and Valleys ; Reentry Culture Shock ; Reentry Culture Shock: Surprising Elements ; Resocialization: Different Returnees' Profiles ; Intercultural reality Check: Do-Ables ; 6: What Is the Connection Between Verbal Communication and Culture? ; Human Language: Distinctive Features and Rule Patterns ; Distinctive Language Features: Arbitrariness, Abstractness, Meaning-Centeredness, and Creativity ; Multiple Rule Patterns: Phonological, Morphological, Syntactic, Semantic, and Pragmatic Rules ; Appreciating Diverse Language Functions: ; The Cultural Worldview Function ; The Everyday Social Reality Function ; The Cognitive Shaping Function ; The Group Membership Identity Function ; The Social Change Function ; Verbal Communication Styles: A General Framework ; Defining Low-Context and High-Context Interaction Patterns ; Direct and Indirect Verbal Styles ; Self-Enhancement and Self-Humbling Verbal Styles ; Beliefs Expressed in Talk and Silence ; Intercultural Reality Check: Do-Ables ; 7: What Are the Different Ways to Communicate Nonverbally Across Cultures? ; The Impact of Nonverbal Communication ; Making Sense of Nonverbal Communication ; One Code, Countless Interpretations ; Verbal and Nonverbal Comparisons ; Forms of Nonverbal Communication ; Physical Appearance ; Paralanguage ; Facial Expressions ; Gestures ; Haptics ; Boundary Regulations ; Regulating Interpersonal Boundaries ; Environmental Boundaries ; Psychological Boundaries ; Regulating Time ; Intercultural Reality Check: Do-Ables ; Part Three: Managing Challenges in Intercultural Relationships Flexibly ; 8: What Causes Us to Hold Biases Against Outgroups? ; Human Perception Tendencies: Some General Principles ; Selective Attention ; Selective Organization and Labeling ; Selective Interpretation ; Biased Intergroup Filters: Ethnocentrism and Stereotypes ; Ethnocentrism and Communication ; Distances of Indifference, Avoidance, and Disparagement ; Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS) ; Stereotypes and Communication ; Stereotypes: We Are What We Watch ; Marking Ingroup/Outgroup Membership Boundaries ; Us versus Them ; Group Membership Struggles ; Intergroup Attribution Biases ; Shattered Lens: Prejudice, Discrimination, and Racism ; Prejudice: Multiple Explanations and Functions ; Prejudiced Remarks or Innocent Jokes? ; Four Discriminatory Practices ; Different Types of Racism ; Reducing Prejudice and Discrimination ; Intercultural Reality Check: Do-Ables ; 9: How Can We Manage Intercultural Conflict Flexibly? ; Intercultural Conflict: Cultural Background Factors ; Culture-Based Conflict Lenses ; Intercultural Workplace Conflict Grid ; Intercultural Conflict Perceptions ; Intercultural Conflict Goal Issues ; Perceived Scarce Resources ; Intercultural Conflict Process Factors ; Defining Conflict Styles ; Cross-Cultural Conflict Styles ; Cross-Ethnic Conflict Styles and Facework ; Flexible Intercultural Conflict Skills ; Facework Management ; Mindful Listening ; Cultural Empathy ; Mindful Reframing ; Adaptive Code-Switching ; Intercultural Reality Check: Do-Ables ; 10: What Are the Challenges in Developing an Intercultural-Intimate Relationship? ; Developing Intercultural-Intimate Relationships: Invisible Challenges ; Cultural-Ethnic Membership Values ; Love Expectations and Expressions ; Autonomy-Connection Issues ; Communication Decoding Issues ; Intercultural-Intimate Relationship Attraction: Facilitating Factors ; Perceived Physical Attractiveness ; Perceived Similarity ; Cross-Cultural Self-Disclosure Comparisons ; Online Disclosure of Affection ; Third Party Matchmakers: Online and Mobile Dating ; Intercultural/Interracial Romantic Relationship Development ; Intercultural-Intimate Conflict: Obstacles and Stumbling Blocks ; The Encounter: Prejudice and Racism ; Countering Racism and Prejudice: Coping Strategies ; Relational Transgressions and Terminations ; Raising Secure Bicultural Children ; Bicultural Identity Struggles ; Cultivating a Secure Multifaceted Identity ; Intercultural Reality Check: Do-Ables ; 11: What Are the Communication Issues Facing a Global Identity? ; Wired and On: The Roar of the Internet ; The Internet as our Central Station ; Wired Communication ; The Transformation of Local and Global Identities ; The Lens of Television: Identity Imitation ; Global Television Impact ; Be Hip, be Hot, and Pop Culture Impact ; Outsourced Beats: You are What You Can Dance To ; You are What you Wear: Pop Culture as Fashion ; Who and What are e.netizens? ; Defining the Background of e.netizens ; Characteristics of an e.netizen Identity ; The Dialectics Pulls of an e.netizen ; Spatial Zone Dialectics ; Temporal Zone Dialectics ; The Tipping Point: Communication Pattern Changes ; Gadget Communication Patterns: Fast and Furious ; Sharing Intimate Partners with a Gadget ; Language Styles: Text, Tweet, Talk ; Communicating to be Social Change Agents ; Present but Virtual ; Personal Identities in Flux: The Global Face ; Intercultural Reality Check: Do-Ables ; 12: How Can We Become Ethical Intercultural Communicators? ; Intercultural Communication Ethics: Contemporary Issues ; Global Standard Procedure and Local Justice Issues ; Corporate Responsibility and Local Customary Practice ; Cultural Value Clash and Communication Preference ; Multiple Ethical Positions: Assessing Pros and Cons ; Ethical Absolutism Position ; Ethical Relativism Position ; Ethical Universalism Position ; Meta-Ethics Contextualism Position ; Becoming Ethical and Flexible Intercultural Communicators ; Becoming Ethical: Ten Questions to Consider ; Becoming Flexible: Final Passport Do-Ables ; References ; Glossary ; Index