Cultural values: the role of perception „What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are.” –C.S. Lewis

Perception is selective Perception is selective. Perceptual patterns are learned and, therefore, influenced by one’s culture Perception is consistent—once you perceive something in a particular manner, that interpretation is usually resistant to change Perception is inaccurate—you view the world through a subjective lens: you see what you expect or want to see

A good rule of thumb for any intercultural encounter: If you consider the other person strange, they probably consider you strange

Your behaviors are a reflection of your values, which are based on your beliefs (a concept or idea that an individual holds to be true)

Understanding Cultural Patterns (cultural value orientations)

Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s value orientations What is the character of human nature? What is the relation of humankind to nature? What is the orientation toward time? What is the value placed on activity? What is the relationship of people to each other?

Hall’s high-context and low-context orientations How much meaning is derived from the contextual environment rather than the actual words exchanged during communicative interactions? Context=the information that surrounds an event „A high-context communication or message is one in which most of the information is already in the person, while very little is in the coded, explicitly transmitted part of the message. A low-context communication is just the opposite—the mass of the information is vested in the explicit code.”

Hofstede’s value dimensions --individualism/collectivism --uncertainty avoidance (the extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations) --power distance (how societies manage the fact that people are unequal) --masculinity/femininity (assertive vs. nurturing behavior) --long-term/short-term orientation (degree of emphasis on future rewards)

Minkov’s cultural dimensions industry vs. indulgence monumentalism vs. flexumility (self-flexibility, humility) exclusionism vs. universalism (collectivism vs. individualism) Other categories: tight vs. loose