Ch 6: Nonverbal Communication Intercultural Communication For The Community College

Xiaolin Zhou and Mingyuan Chu designed and directed the project All authors discussed the results and contributed to the final manuscript. “Monochronic people tend to schedule their time more rigidly and do one thing at a time”(Communication in the Real World, 2016). “Cultural time refers to how a large group of people view time” (Communication in the Real World, 2016).

Hand Gestures

This article seeks to provide a deep understanding of how to interpret non-verbal communication in different cultures, with the aim of fostering more effective and harmonious intercultural communication. Contact cultures are cultural groups in which people stand closer together, engage in more eye contact, touch more frequently, and speak more loudly. Italians are especially known for their vibrant nonverbal communication in terms of gestures, volume, eye contact, and touching, which not surprisingly places them in the contact culture category. For example, Italians speak with their hands raised as a way to signal that they are holding the floor for their conversational turn.

• Understanding and being aware of these different types of nonverbal communication is essential for effective intercultural interactions.
• Like many Latin American countries, we encountered religious artifacts in bus stations, stores, doctor’s offices, schools, churches, and personal homes in Guatemala and Mexico.
• Vocal characterizations like crying, whining, yelling, etc. change the meaning of the message.
• It includes gestures, facial expressions, touch, glance, body motion, eye contact, proximity and so on.

Nonverbal Messages Communicate Emotions And Meaning

While some people are comfortable engaging in or watching others engage in PDAs (public displays of affection) others are not. Tie signs are nonverbal cues that communicate intimacy and signal the connection between two people. These relational indicators can be objects such as wedding rings or tattoos that are symbolic of another person or the relationship, actions such as sharing the same drinking glass, or touch behaviors such as hand-holding (Afifi & Johnson, 2005).

When we were in Cambodia Thanak was our leader, along with our American leader, Kim Sin. The amount of care that our Cambodian friends and Kim Sin gave to us was remarkable. They would also bring fruits and candies to distract car-sick Cambodian students. The American students often asked for a mint to “help drown out that Tiger Balm smell” that was “making me sick.”In this example, there are many layers of nonverbal communication – both intentional and unintentional.

By recognizing and respecting these differences, individuals can minimize communication barriers and foster better understanding and collaboration in intercultural settings. For example, a certain gesture that is considered rude or offensive Girlswithlove in one culture may have a completely different meaning in another culture. Additionally, the use of personal space and physical touch can vary across cultures, leading to discomfort or confusion in intercultural interactions.

The interpretation of these silent signals can vary significantly, highlighting the importance of cultural awareness in nonverbal communication. Chu and colleagues (2022) recently conducted a series of experiments to explore the role of verbal and nonverbal behaviors in encoding and decoding indirect replies. Participants were instructed to identify the type of reply (direct, indirect, lie or neutral) based solely on nonverbal cues (see the Materials section for details). That is, individuals were more likely to categorize a reply as indirect if it was longer or included those four nonverbal cues. Nonverbal behaviors such as hand gestures, head movements, facial expressions, and eye gaze have long been recognized as critical aspects of communication. In indirect communication nonverbal cues can be particularly important (Dohen et al., 2010; Kendon, 1997; McNeill, 1985, 1987, 1992).

This highlights the importance of understanding and correctly interpreting these signals, especially in a cross-cultural context. Palm-revealing gesture was coded when the models produced a palm up or revealed more of their palm when doing hand turns (Chu et al., 2014). Given that shoulder shrugs are sometimes generated with palm-revealing and are considered to have the same function, it was also coded as a palm-revealing gesture (Ferré, 2011; Cooperrider et al., 2018). The frequency of palm-revealing gestures was calculated by dividing the number of occurrences by the reply duration in each video clip. The situation is not likely one most of us will ever encounter, but it dramatizes the importance of nonverbal codes in particular contexts. In such situations, nonverbals can play a significant role in easing tensions.