What does culture mean to you essay

Culture And Communication Essay

Culture and Communication essay with a quick turn around time. Using material listed from the class

1) Explain two points detailing why it is so important to be aware of culture when thinking about communication, utilizing Bevan.

The first element requires that you get to the heart of the paper and think through the question of “why even care about culture when studying communication?” If you answer that question, you will begin to think through the importance of culture. If you think back to last week, when we defined communication, Bevan (2020) stated it is “a process where two or more individuals strive to create shared meaning using verbal and nonverbal messages in a variety of contexts” (Section 1.1. Para. 2). So, in addition to communication being a “process,” it is about creating some “shared” meaning. Many times, this shared meaning is already there, and we are simply affirming meaning and sustaining relationships. But regardless, communication is fundamentally a social activity and so is culture. Note any similarities you see in the definition of communication here and Bevan’s definition of culture.

Also, consider these questions – Is communication possible without culture? Is culture possible without communication? If you answer no to both questions, this might help you to start thinking through why it is important to think about culture when addressing communication.

2) Explain how culture shapes verbal and nonverbal communication, utilizing Bevan.

We know that culture and communication are fundamentally linked. Now, to get to the precision of the relationship, you are asked here to explain HOW culture shapes verbal and nonverbal communication. Think about your own life. Have your parents ever told you to sit still while in church or to close your mouth while you eat? How are these nonverbal cues that are being shaped through culture and verbal messages? The best replies will both explain “how” culture shapes verbal and nonverbal communication but also explain examples about how this transfers to specific patterns of communication (e.g., driving on the right side of the road).

3) Describe the relationship between culture and two other themes that are central to culture from this list, utilizing Bevan:

Gender (Chapters 2 and 3)
High versus low context cultures (Chapter 3)
Dominant cultures versus co-cultures (Chapter 3)
Individualism and collectivism (Chapter 3)
Perceptual filters (Chapter 3)
Each of these themes is central to communication and Bevan covers each in detail in chapter three. I suggest that you choose the two that you find most interesting and important and then detailing why you believe this. Remember, you are required to comment on the “relationship” between culture and one of the themes, so try to focus on that. And, once again, it is wise to begin with some fundamental definitions.

Here are some questions to answer to deepen your analysis of each theme: How do our gender classifications of others as a man or a woman establish expectations for communication behavior? How do low-context and high-context cultures set up different expectations for how much information is overtly shared with others? Are you part of both the dominant culture and some co-culture? It is possible to not be a part of some co-culture? How might individualism versus collectivism shape specific patterns of communication? How does culture train us in terms of our perceptual filters? Part of perception is simply what we pay attention to. How does culture teach us this through verbal and nonverbal cues?

4) Explain how paying attention to culture can help a person improve as a communicator, utilizing Bevan and, if you choose, one of the supplemental videos you watched.

Based on what you have learned this week on culture, how can this information be useful for someone in their daily life as a communicator? Will cultural knowledge about the “norms” of others help us make sense of them and their behavior? For instance, in America it is very common to smile at strangers. But in Russia, it is considered strange, if not rude (Khazan, 2016). In fact, there is even a Russian proverb that says, “laughing for no reason is a sign of stupidity.” Extending this out, when asked to assess pictures of people with smiles and without, those in some countries assessed them as intelligent, while others judged them as significantly less intelligence. And in many countries, smiling is associated with dishonesty, so we must understand how our nonverbal cues might be interpreted!

When they hosted the World Cup in 2018, Russian locals were trained to smile, to make tourist more comfortable (Dawson, 2018). They were acting on this cultural knowledge to try to strategically welcome foreigners to their land. Therefore, there are strategic reasons to be aware of cultural differences and perhaps adjust ours to meet various goals. Russians wanted the tourists to be comfortable, spend money, and host other international events in the future, so they attempted to change patterns of nonverbal communication, perhaps just in the short term. When you do this segment of your paper, see if you can come up with other anecdotes to shine light on this topic.

Finally, note that there are many supplemental videos in the resources box. If you find it easier to learn through watching and listening, rather than reading, I especially recommend that you watch some of the videos.

Good luck everyone, and feel free to email me with any questions.

Instructor P / Elaine.Phompheng1@faculty.ashford.edu

References

Bevan, J. L. (2020). Making connections: Understanding interpersonal communication (3rd ed.). https://content.ashford.edu/ (Links to an external site.)

Dawson, A. (2018, June 11). Russian workers re undergoing training to learn how to smile ahead of the World Cup. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/world-cup-russian-workers-are-learning-how-to-smile-2018-6

Khazan, O. (2016, May 27). Why some cultures frown on smiling: Finally, an explanation for Bitchy Resting Face Nation. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/05/culture-and-smiling/483827/ (Links to an external site.)

Source: AU Prof. Cheri Ketchum

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When we assess your discussion posts and papers, we are looking for evidence that you can explain key terms, engage with experts on the topic, and apply what you’ve learned to some real-world situation. We describe each term and how to accomplish each of these goals below.

Explaining :

In all discussion forums and papers, you will be required to “explain” some concept, idea, or topic. To do a good job, you want to go beyond simply copying and pasting a quote. If you do that, you are demonstrating that you can identify the section of Bevan that covers that content. But you are not offering your own independent “explanation” of an idea. Here is an example of someone “explaining” self-concept well:

Self-concept involves how we “conceptualize” ourselves at any given time. Bevan (2020) says that our ideas of self are influenced by four factors: how we compare ourselves to others, the cultural norms we embrace, how we think others “see” us (e.g. the “looking glass self”) and self-fulfilling prophecies. Though it is something “inside” our minds (intrapersonal communication), it is always influenced by our communicative interactions with others and assumptions about the meanings of those interactions. Therefore, interpersonal communication is central to how we think of ourselves.

Here we see the concept of self-concept is explained by pointing to the four factors that are central to the formation of the idea of self and the explanation touches on how our ideas of self are formed through our interpersonal and intrapersonal communication.

Engaging:

When we “engage” with a reading or video, we demonstrate that we are actively thinking through their ideas and trying to make sense of their points and the significance of those themes. In the last two sentences of the example above, you see the person is really thinking through both the meaning of self-concept and its significance. They are engaging with the content. Engaging will almost always involve explaining someone’s else’s ideas and then extending on those points and sharing examples to illustrate both meaning and significance.

For the forums specifically, instructors will be looking at how well you “engage” with the required reading and/or videos and how you engage with your classmates in the forums. We will assess you on whether you have mentioned something you have learned in class, and need to see citations to confirm this. Then, we will look to see how well you engage with students about something they have said. This shows that you are trying to meaningfully interact with the student and learn from each other through the exchange.

Applying :

To “apply” what you’ve learned, it is important to share something that illustrates that you understand what is being discussed. So, above, by saying “Though it is something “inside” our minds (intrapersonal communication), it is always influenced by our communicative interactions with others and assumptions about the meanings of those interactions,” the person is starting to think through how this notion of self-concept works in the world. Our daily ideas of ourselves are influenced by the exchanges we have with others. To solidify this, the person could add something such as “When a co-worker tells me that they enjoyed my PowerPoint presentation, this boosts my ability to say to myself ‘I am good at PowerPoint presentations.” If I hear this enough, I stretch this out more into the identity marker “I am good at my job” or “I am a good worker.” Both of those start to get more fundamental claims about ourselves, as they are broader and more permanent ideas of self.

Okay. We hope this helps you gain a better understanding of what we look for you when we are assessing your papers and discussions.