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Gudykunst, W. B., & Ting-Toomey, S. (1988). High vs. Low Power Distance Cultural Communications | What are High and Low Power Distance Cultural Communications? Communicators in high-context cultures pay attention to more than the words spoken they also pay attention to interpersonal relationships, nonverbal expressions, physical settings, and social settings. Strategies to work effectively with people from high context and low context cultures Follow these 4 key strategies to communicate effectively across cultures: 1. Kim Dunghoon conducted a study to test the major aspects of high-context versus low-context culture concepts. Trust must be developed before business transactions can begin. High-context communication tends to be more indirect and more formal. Family gatherings, religious congregations, and other social outings with a close-knit group of people are forms of high-context communications that take place regularly in most cultures. the study of body movement including gestures, hand, arm, and leg movements, facial expressions, eye contact, and stance or posture Low-context message a message where the message is encoded in the words used or in the verbal expression and not as much in the context Masculinity-Femininity Once again we return to the differences between high-context and low-context cultures. People are comfortable standing close to each other. Cultures where the group is valued over the individual promote. Hall identifies high-context cultures as those in which harmony and the well-being of the group is preferred over individual achievement. Because of this, many features of cultural behavior in high-context cultures, such as individual roles and expectations, do not need much detailed or thought-out explanation. High-context cultures are those that communicate in ways that are implicit and rely heavily on context. Examples of high-context cultures include China, India, and many non-Western societies. Culture and Interpersonal Communication. He studied English literature at the University of Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru University. Members of ingroups usually share many characteristics and experiences. Most notably, members of either culture must recognize and make an effort to understand the values and characteristics of other cultures so that miscommunications may be avoided. Relationships: The components of these cultures tend to value long-term relationships. This allows individuals of different generations to communicate through a shared set of values, which, in turn, provides stability to the culture. The study tested 16 items, covering various aspects of the high-versus-low context concept, including social orientation, responsibility, confrontation, communication, commitment, and dealing with new situations. Members of the culture place emphasis on interpersonal relationships. Overall, this study provides further evidence to support the high versus low-context culture concepts with Chinese, Korean, and American participants. [6] How does her experience in Japan demonstrate what youve learned so far about the different dimensions of culture? All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. Examples of high-context cultures include Asian, African, Latin American, and some European countries. Cultures and communication in which context is of great importance to structuring actions is referred to as high context. Settings and cultures where people come together from a wider diversity of backgrounds such as international airports, large cities, or multi-national firms, tend to use lower-context communication forms. Having a firm grasp on what constitutes high- and low-context, particularly in a communication setting, will truly help you better understand each . While some cultures are low or high . High context is where the groups of people or societies in which individuals have had close links in the course of a long period. Communicators in low-context cultures (such as those in North America, Scandinavia, and Germany) depend little on the context of a situation to convey their meaning. The general terms "high context" and "low context" (popularized by Edward Hall) are used to describe broad-brush cultural differences between societies. Examples of a low context communication cultures include The United States, the UK, Switzerland, Canada and Germany. The continuum pictures how people communicate with others through their range of communication abilities: utilizing gestures, relations, body language, verbal messages, or non-verbal messages. Cultural contexts are not absolutely "high" or "low". [41] One study on McDonald's online advertising compared Japan, China, Korea, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and the United States, and found that in high-context countries, the advertising used more colors, movements, and sounds to give context, while in low-context cultures the advertising focused more on verbal information and linear processes. High Context Culture And Its Importance On the other hand, certain intercultural communication skills are unique for each culture and it is significant to note that these overlaps in communication techniques are represented subgroups within social interactions or family settings. Oxford University Press. Teachers can share their own experiences and examples with their students. Listen to business speaker Erin Meyer explain how cultural differences can affect communication. Since North American business practices tend to follow low-context norms, most of us are more familiar with this system than we are with high-context cultures. Examples of low-context cultures include the United States, Australia, and many Western countries. High-context cu. In. Mostly, western cultures are low context cultures like the UK, Australia, and the United States. Some common characteristics of high-context cultures include: Though the United States has a low-context culture, we have all been placed in situations that are considered high-context. [2] Collectivist societies prioritize the group over the individual, and vice versa for individualist ones. The theory of High and Low Context Cultures puts how people communicate in a dimension. The aim of this report is to evaluate the concept of different communication cultures through the application of Hall's high and low-context model of culture. Conclusions are explicitly stated. To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member. Give some examples of cultural differences in the interpretation of body language. Beyond Culture. We also make strong distinctions between those who are a part of our family and those who are not. Whereas low-context cultures prefer more words (to a certain extent), high-context cultures prefer more images. A few examples of high-context cultures include China, Japan, South Africa, Argentina, and Spain; While low-context cultures are found more dominantly in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Low and High Context Culture. An error occurred trying to load this video. Reviewers ensure all content reflects expert academic consensus and is backed up with reference to academic studies. In other words, high-context communicators attach great importance to everything that surrounds the explicit message, including interpersonal relationships, non-verbal cues, and physical and social settings. When it comes to emails, texts, and online messaging, low-context cultures use it to fire off quick, frequent messages. In high-context cultures, language may be used to assist and maintain relationship-building and to focus on process. These are some important high-context culture characteristics to look out for. Table 2 shows a classification of countries in low and high context, their characteristics and the expected role . Sage Publications. Examples of low-context cultures include the United States, Australia, and many European countries. "High context". According to Hall's theory, the Chinese and Korean samples represented higher-context cultures while the American sample represents a lower context culture. High-context communications, as well as low-context interactions, are important to understand from many perspectives. Both often take many aspects of the other's cultural communication abilities and strengths into account. The difference between High and Low Context Culture is that Low Context Cultures (Individualistic Cultures) do not need a lot of additional (Contextual) information to engage in " communication ". Try refreshing the page, or contact customer support. After completing this chapter, you will be able to: Now that we know, broadly, what culture is, lets discuss some ways to categorize aspects of different cultures. People from low-context cultures value logic, facts, and directness. In S. Thompson (ed. However, there are some other characteristics also. Rules are not directly or explicitly written or stated. [30], Punctuation marks and emojis are more often used by high-context users than low-context users. Relationships are easy to build, can start very quickly but end just as soon. Furthermore, cultural aspects such as tradition, ceremony, and history are also highly valued. [3] Low-context cultures do the opposite; direct verbal communication is needed to properly understand a message being communicated and relies heavily on explicit verbal skills. In a high-context culture, emphasis is placed on interpersonal relationships rather than personal achievement. Two Types of Reflective Writing Assignments, Additional Resources for Improving Writing, Consistency in comparatives and listed elements: Parallelism, Hofstede Insights country comparison tool, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oYfhTC9lIQ, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQvqDv4vbEg, https://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/42958_2_The_Cultural_Context.pdf, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, Tend to prefer indirect verbal interaction, Tend to understand meaning at one level only, Tend to understand meanings embedded at many sociocultural levels, Are generally less proficient in reading nonverbal cues, Are generally more proficient in reading nonverbal cues, Communication in highly structured messages, provide details, stress literal meaning, Communication is simple, sometimes ambiguous, messages; understand visual messages readily, Define cultural context (Guffey et al., 2013, p. 64), Contrast communicate styles for low-context and high-context cultures (Meyer, 2017, p. 59), Explain how cultural differences can affect workplace communication (Lavin Agency Speakers Bureau, 2014). Since understanding every culture has its level of complexity, it is hard for other country people to determine what is the state of culture of the country they visit as a traveller. Low-context cultures can seem slightly more formal due to the explicit & precise nature of their messages. Generally, high-context cultures prefer oral communications, while low-context cultures favor written communications. High-context cultures are built on a sense of shared experiences and history. Lower-context culture: United States, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden, Canada and other European nations. [24] The table shows the major differences and similarities between individual queries. [2], Website design among cross-cultural barriers include factoring in decisions about culture-sensitive color meanings, layout preferences, animation and sounds. In contrast, take a look at the ads on the front page of Weibo, which is considered China's version of Facebook. Learn more about our academic and editorial standards. Germany, Sweden, and the United States are generally classified as low-context cultures. Japan and China are some of the best examples of high-context cultures, in addition to Brazil, Argentina, Spain, and many nations throughout Africa and the Middle East. High context cultures have a communication style based on body language, tone, and overall context; while low context cultures are more straightforward and explicit in communication. [33] This significance follows into many situations such as the workplace, which can be prone to diversified cultures and opportunities for collaboration and working together. The following chart will compare the main differences between high-context vs. low-context cultures and a discussion of example cultures will follow: While nations such as the United States have many low-context situations, it is important to recall that all societies experience high-context events as well. They rely less on the shared values/assumptions of the group and the context of the situation.