Part 1 Introduction and Background to Intercultural Communication

4. Discover ways that relationships affect content and content affects rela­ tionships. How we feel about someone colors the message, and con­ versely, messages can heighten or flatten how we feel about a person. Unfortunately, not everyone means what he or she says, so working through the person-versus-the-message issue can be an important aspect of communicating.

5. Broaden your views of culture from something "foreign" to the notion of collectives. Where people relate and have tasks, communication bonds emerge. With these bonds develop a set of norms, structure, thought, pro­ cedure of relationship, and communication style. One measure of a per­ son's intercultural growth is his or her ability to visualize those kinds of factors in a number of groups and to look for the ways in which a culture exists for that group.

6. Where a set of negative attributes exists for you toward a group or a per­ son within a certain group, work on balancing the negative attributes with positive attributes. Unfortunately, many people selectively perceive nega­ tive features about others or what they define as negative features. The idea here is to develop the discipline to select and search for positive at­ tributes to weigh alongside the negative.

This Chapter in Perspective

The chapter documents a number of intercultural axioms concerning intercul­tural communication. These include the principle of difference, the content and relationship dimensions of intercultural communication, the role of personal communicator style in intercultural communication, reducing uncertainty about relationships and messages, the nature of perception in sensing differences, the centrality of communication to culture, and the importance of intercultural effec­tiveness as a goal.

1. In a small group, list as many microcultures as you can within the United Exercises States. Pick two or three of these cultures and identify the form, structure,

and symbols of these groups. How do their forms and symbols foster or in­hibit communication with other cultural groups?

2. Rent a video of the movie The Witness, a story involving the Amish cul­ ture. After viewing the movie, discuss the perceptual limitations people have of the Amish culture. What perceptual limitations do the Amish have of the larger macroculture? If you were in a position to resolve problem areas in intercultural communication between the Amish and others, what would you do?

3. Write at least three headlines from a newspaper that indicate culture or "groupness." How do they define culture?

Chapter 2 Background to Intercultural Communication

29

57