To me, this lesson was the most interesting thus far as the class was split up into practically 2 factions, the boys... and the girls.
In this class, I challenged Dr Deng to explain to me why men think differently than women in terms of mannerisms and subject choice and he reasoned very succinctly. It all boils down to when we all were little primary school children and how we were all grouped or cliqued in our little "boys team" and "girls team" worlds. The very fact that we grew up unconsciously imbedding societal norms into our minds makes me feel a little bit strange as I've never seriously considered this point when trying to reason why men are from mars and women are from venus.
I've always had some problem understanding the other gender and why they act the way they do. Many misunderstandings often arise because of this lack of insight into the train of thought the other gender makes when conversing with the opposite sex.
Well, I have been watching Gossip Girl a lot lately and it is fast reaffirming what i've learnt in class. Gossip girl is a tv series following the lives of New York's richest kids in school and all the trials that they have to go through in life. This show, although some may say bimbotic, actually summerises this whole less on cross gender communication very fittingly. The boys are often seen displaying a macho and nonchalant attitude while the girls are often seen more preoccupied with their fashion and girly talk. Not that this show stereotypes these two genders fully because they also show exceptions to the rule.
However, upon thorough review of this lesson over the past 1 week, one thing the show does reflect very clearly is how men and women have spoken discourse. In class we learn that men normally are very information based while women are more relationship based. In the show, it can often be seen that the boys often seek each other out purely because they need help or want something; hardly starting a conversation because they generally want to build a strong relationship with the person. Women, on the other hand, are normally found sitting together in groups discussing the latest happenings in each other's lives (like Blair and her gang on the steps of the school in the tv series). Therefore, yes, there is some truth in the research.
However, I must say that this research does not apply to everyone. When compared to myself, I do not seem to fit the typical guy profile. This got me thinking about the different exceptions to the rule and also how i've noticed that my upbringing has helped shape the way I see things now. This will be very useful next time when i'm placed in charge of helping to mould someone's life from their younger years as what I tell or encourage them to do can have far reaching effects on their life.
Terribly interesting class we had that week and I must say, sometimes, opposites attract.
Jon
Monday, March 29, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Communication Systems: Components and Representation
This was an interesting lesson for me. For weeks, we have been studying only the micro aspects of intercultural communication; how to speak, how to write and so on.
However, this particular lesson gave me insight into what was the bigger picture. Intercultural communication is not just about how one person in a particular culture can converse with another person from another culture. There is a larger picture involving different macro socio-psychological values of the different cultures. I feel that understanding this portion of the module is of paramount importance as it helps me to identify behavioural differences between the cultures not just on a personal basis but on the differing cultures as a whole; identifying significant characteristics only particular to each culture investigated.
For example, power distance. Different cultures practice different power differences and we have to be aware of those values when conducting ourselves in front of people from different backgrounds. For example, Austria has a very low power distance value and hence, us Singaporeans, who have a very high power distance value, can easily make the mistake of snubbing their people of authority by saying that they should treat everyone the same way and that they aren't as powerful as they think.
A good example of this would be the Thai people recently underingoing some political problems. The Thai people have a moderate power distance of 64 as in the 1980s, however, it is safe to say that the Thais are fast changing their attitudes to government and moving in the direction of higher power distance values; seen by the throwing of their own blood in front of the government office just a few days ago. Therefore, it is important to not only know the small micro differences in the cultures but also the larger more established trends that the culture follows or changes across time.
There are other parts to the whole macro picture including uncertainty avoidance, infividualism vs collectivism and masculinity vs feminity. And these are all integral to allow the individual to fully grasp the true concept of intercultural communication.
The above example just struck me as very shocking and I feel that it is a true representation of how we can use the information learnt in this module to try to comprehend others and the world a little better.
However, this particular lesson gave me insight into what was the bigger picture. Intercultural communication is not just about how one person in a particular culture can converse with another person from another culture. There is a larger picture involving different macro socio-psychological values of the different cultures. I feel that understanding this portion of the module is of paramount importance as it helps me to identify behavioural differences between the cultures not just on a personal basis but on the differing cultures as a whole; identifying significant characteristics only particular to each culture investigated.
For example, power distance. Different cultures practice different power differences and we have to be aware of those values when conducting ourselves in front of people from different backgrounds. For example, Austria has a very low power distance value and hence, us Singaporeans, who have a very high power distance value, can easily make the mistake of snubbing their people of authority by saying that they should treat everyone the same way and that they aren't as powerful as they think.
A good example of this would be the Thai people recently underingoing some political problems. The Thai people have a moderate power distance of 64 as in the 1980s, however, it is safe to say that the Thais are fast changing their attitudes to government and moving in the direction of higher power distance values; seen by the throwing of their own blood in front of the government office just a few days ago. Therefore, it is important to not only know the small micro differences in the cultures but also the larger more established trends that the culture follows or changes across time.
There are other parts to the whole macro picture including uncertainty avoidance, infividualism vs collectivism and masculinity vs feminity. And these are all integral to allow the individual to fully grasp the true concept of intercultural communication.
The above example just struck me as very shocking and I feel that it is a true representation of how we can use the information learnt in this module to try to comprehend others and the world a little better.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Written Discourse
This is just a reflection.
As china opens up more and more to business opportunities, correspondance with them is going to increase hundred-fold or more. Hence, the need to understand why people of different cultures write the way they do.
Whether we are chinese or not, there is a need for the chinese to understand, say, the singaporean manner of crafting arguments or letters and for foreigners to understand how the chinese write their own letters and articles.
In this class, we have learnt many new styles of writing totally unheard of before we attended the class. Arabic methods of writing, chinese style of writing and western habits in writing. All these writing styles differ from one another and it is imperative that we, as a globalized people, understand the underlying meanings in the way different cultures pen their ideas and thoughts.
For example, in class, Dr Deng went through a very good example of writing. It was interesting to see how an indian professor could mark an indian students paper so highly when all were could see were the errors in the writing style. We picked out all the errors we could find and realized that in the end,
don't use your own cultural writing methods as the yardstick to judge other people's work.
I think that is the most important take away from the class and as china starts to being a powerhouse in the world of business, perhaps this class will have far fetching effects on my future.
As china opens up more and more to business opportunities, correspondance with them is going to increase hundred-fold or more. Hence, the need to understand why people of different cultures write the way they do.
Whether we are chinese or not, there is a need for the chinese to understand, say, the singaporean manner of crafting arguments or letters and for foreigners to understand how the chinese write their own letters and articles.
In this class, we have learnt many new styles of writing totally unheard of before we attended the class. Arabic methods of writing, chinese style of writing and western habits in writing. All these writing styles differ from one another and it is imperative that we, as a globalized people, understand the underlying meanings in the way different cultures pen their ideas and thoughts.
For example, in class, Dr Deng went through a very good example of writing. It was interesting to see how an indian professor could mark an indian students paper so highly when all were could see were the errors in the writing style. We picked out all the errors we could find and realized that in the end,
don't use your own cultural writing methods as the yardstick to judge other people's work.
I think that is the most important take away from the class and as china starts to being a powerhouse in the world of business, perhaps this class will have far fetching effects on my future.
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