Deck 1: Culture and Communication

Question 1

What is culture shock? Explain the four stages in culture shock and also touch upon reverse culture shock.

Answer 1

Adapting to another culture,even for a short time,involves some culture shock. The term is inaccurate,since culture shock occurs not in one jolt,but over time. The four stages of euphoria,disillusionment and frustration,adjustment,and integration may recur in this sequence for longer sojourns,and are usually experienced also in reverse culture shock,when the sojourner returns home.

Question 2

Eventually,with the spread of technology,everyone will have the same culture.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Discuss the two primary reasons for learning about culture for doing business internationally.Give examples.

Answer 3

The two primary reasons for learning about culture are a)to understand how others make sense of the world,and b)with that knowledge,to avoid mistakes-especially mistakes in communication. The basis for the study of culture is that cultures inform how people think,act,and process information. Two corollary points are a)people from different cultures are in much more direct contact that ever before,and b)people from different cultures really are different. In order to cooperate successfully,businesspeople need to know about the differences and find ways to integrate them.

Question 4

You are born with your culture in your genes.

Question 5

If you know what your own culture believes is normal and natural,you will be able to figure out where other people's ideas are different.

Question 6

Reverse culture shock is the term given to the adjustment following re-entry into one's own culture after living abroad.

Question 7

Attitudes are the same thing as values.

Question 8

Culture shock is a sudden episode experienced by people who go to a foreign culture.

Question 9

Discuss self-knowledge and the related factors of bias,prejudice,and discrimination. Give examples.

Question 10

The study of culture is not something businesspeople need to spend a lot of time on,since businesspeople are the same around the globe.

Question 11

Discuss typical reactions to an unfamiliar culture: hostility,curiosity,denial,and cooperation. Give examples.

Question 12

Values lie behind attitudes and behaviors.

Question 13

One response to an unfamiliar culture is curiosity.

Question 14

Discuss cultural change and give examples. Refer to deep culture and popular culture in your discussion.

Question 15

Explain the concept of Cultural Intelligence;describe its three factors and demonstrate in examples how it is a useful way to describe adjustment to another culture.

Question 16

Explain intercultural business communication through two models,one showing the role of perception and one showing how communicators actually use schema or projections they create of the other culture in their communication.

Question 17

Every culture is coherent and complete within itself.

Question 18

Discuss the distinction (from Gudykunst)between intercultural communication and cross-cultural communication,and explain how well you believe this distinction works.

Question 19

Define and discuss culture,using the definition from the textbook,and explain what culture is and what it does. Furnish examples.

Question 20

Discuss the two broad paradigms for social science study,including the study of communication,and explain the strengths and weaknesses of each.

Question 21

Research that follows the interpretivist paradigm has low reliability.

Question 22

A schema is a mental representation about something such as a culture.

Question 23

Cultural Intelligence is part of the procedural toolkit of spies in foreign countries.

Question 24

The idea that everyone underneath is just the same after all is helpful to business communication.

Question 25

The best response to diversity (or differences in cultures)is to

A)assume people are all alike
B)assume superiority of your own culture
C)assess another culture by its similarity to yours
D)agree to be different and celebrate diversity

Question 26

Perception involves

A)recognizing communication signals,paying attention,categorizing them,and assigning meaning to them
B)speaking and listening--the oral communication skills
C)matching incoming signals with outgoing signals in one's databank
D)implicit messages that are typical of high-context cultures

Question 27

Research that follows the positivist paradigm produces studies that can be replicated.

Question 28

Biases are

A)something you can erase if you try hard enough
B)preferences
C)something not everybody has
D)not always operating in business encounters between members of different cultures

Question 29

Two broad approaches to social science research are

A) individuals and whole cultures
B) positivist and interpretivist paradigms
C)emic and etic studies
D)intercultural and cross-cultural communication

Question 30

When biases are acted upon,

A)the result may be discrimination
B)the person acting upon them clearly recognizes that fact
C)communication is clearer
D)the result is typical of modern cultures

Question 31

The belief that my culture is normal and central to human experience is called the assumption of universality.

Question 32

Values in a culture:

A)are what that culture thinks is important
B)are the same in all cultures
C)are attitudes about power
D)are the result of attitudes

Question 33

Understanding another culture:

A)is important for businesspeople because they can appear to be better informed.
B)is best achieved through "do's and don'ts" lists
C)enables businesspeople to know how foreign associates make sense of their environment
D)isn't necessary for businesspeople

Question 34

Cross-cultural communication involves a comparison of communication styles while intercultural communication involves what happens when people from different cultures communicate.

Question 35

Positivist research

A)does not allow a researcher to generalize from results
B)does not have high reliability
C)does not produce quantitative data
D)does not allow the researcher to explore the context for the respondent's answers

Question 36

A characteristic of the discipline of intercultural communication is that it focuses on nations.

Question 37

The belief that everyone who encounters my culture will want to adopt it is an assumption of my culture's superiority.

Question 38

Culture,for purposes of business communication,is:

A)a soft add-on that is not always relevant
B)values,attitudes and behavior
C)unnecessary to investigate
D)constantly changing

Question 39

Every culture is learned,and therefore:

A)a person can describe his or her own culture completely
B)culture is learnable
C)culture is something you know from birth
D)it is not possible to live outside your own culture

Question 40

The study of communication across cultures began

A)in France
B)by focusing solely on national surveys
C)by focusing what happens when people from different cultures communicate
D)by being multidisciplinary