My Intercultural Communication Skills Of Multicultural Communications

The journal article used in reference to stereotyping was retrieved from the The Journal of Experimental Psychology. The purpose of this article is to illustrate how being exposed to social stereotypes can subconsciously affect our behavior. The article explores the theory that if the self is compared to the social stereotype of a perceived out-group, a group with which one does not identify, one will subconsciously behave differently. Therefore, there will be disparities between the similarities

Stereotypes have great impacts on people all over the world. One of the reasons why people believe stereotypes blindly is that they know less about the objects. In order to decline the uncertainty of this new object, people choose to believe the stereotypes to feel safer. For the purpose of understanding the world more objectively, we ought to treat stereotypes critically and at least not be convinced of stereotypes blindly anymore.

During the time I was born, in the 90’s, stereotypes were taught to children through school, family members, and media. “A stereotype is a mental category based on exaggerated and inaccurate generalizations used to describe all members of a group” (Bennett 91). As a child, I obviously did not realize I was being taught these cruel definitions based to categorize people into which racial group they should belong to. To put it another way, Bennett states, “As psychologists have pointed out, stereotyping is a natural phenomenon in that all humans develop mental categories to help make sense of their environments” (91). Provided that, I stereotyped my interviewee the same exact way numerous people stereotype me. For this reason, to better understand both the interviewee and myself racial identity, I consequently analyzed how we each portrait the world we live in.

Stereotypes are socially constructed, over-generalized views regarding a particular group of persons with certain characteristics that are widely accepted, and usually expected, in a society. The dominant group of a certain society, which in this case is probably Caucasians and men, usually creates these social constructions. Claude M. Steele, a researcher from Stanford University, performed multiple research studies on the idea and psychological effects of stereotypes on its victims. In his studies, he coins the term “stereotype threat” as the “social-psychological predicament that can arise from widely-known negative stereotypes about one's group,” which implies that “the existence of such a stereotype means that anything one does or any of one's features that conform to it make the stereotype more plausible as a self-characterization in the eyes of others, and perhaps even in one's own eyes” (Steele 797).

Stereotypes and generalizations have negatively depicted the image and character of individuals and groups throughout time. In making these stereotypes we forget about the true character of the individual or group. Somehow throughout time what we have gathered and decided through stereotypes has created the everlasting image we have of one another, it's been hard to change the viewpoint ever since. Through the reading of this article and attaining continuous information of the harm of stereotypes are placing in our world we can start to move away from these unfortunate depictions.

What are stereotypes? How do they form? How can we solve this issue for the greater good? There are many definitions to describe a stereotype, but the one that many people agree with, like psychologists is that stereotypes are prejudgments and gossip about the world. However, one phrase that goes perfectly with this topic will be “Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover”. This goes in hand with this topic, because we make prejudgments about how we see our world without knowing what exactly it’s going on around us. In addition, stereotypes start forming throughout our childhood years, since at that age; we learn to define what is right from wrong in our surroundings. One way to resolve this issue is to accept the world as it is. This means that instead

The use of stereotypes is a major way in which we simplify our social world; since they reduce the amount of processing, we have to do when we meet a new person.

In life, there is a common ground on which most every person can relate. At one time or another, we have all been promoters of or victims of the unremitting nature of stereotypes. According to the Webster’s dictionary, a stereotype is defined as “a simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group.” Most stereotypes take on a negative form and are based on characteristics such as age, gender, race, status, and personal beliefs. Generally speaking, the greatest problem that arises with stereotypes is that they judge group of people by the characteristics and actions of their ancestors, rather than on an individual basis. More often than not, these assumptions will

In the U.S, stereotyping is alive and functioning well. A stereotype is a widely held fixed and a simplified idea or image of a given type of a person or a thing. It has been rampant in the country and it has a negative impact. Stereotyping occurs when people judge others based on their gender, their job, their cultural, religious or ethnic background. It has resulted in unfair discrimination of people in the country. People also miss important aspects of the people they stereotype (Inzlicht et al., 230). Through stereotyping, people are not able to achieve their full potential and the country's social development slows down. There are many suggestions that have been placed forward in an effort to end stereotyping,

You know that feeling of home whether it’s with family members or even your loved ones? I don’t think that home is something that is automatically there, I believe that it is something that’s created. I learned that lesson through the eyes of one of my older friends who came from India with his brother when he was 16 in order to make a living. My friend Vikas, told me everything he had to do and the struggles he conquered in order to make his own successful business here in the U.S. Some things he told be reminded me of interpersonal communication, intercultural communication, and intracultural communication. He had to have a lot of communication with his friend who also happened to be from India and some new friends and colleagues he met through his journey. Of course there was homesickness and the occasional depression, but that didn’t stop him from creating his now successful business.

Individuals use stereotypes when they judge others based on their own thoughts and opinions. In today’s society, individuals show prejudice towards others based on what they have heard previously from their friends and families. With that being said, individuals tend to express negative comments against people who have different ethnicities. When people hear the word “stereotypes”, they often forget how there are both positive and negative expressions. In this essay, there will be examples of positive and negative stereotypes and how there is a resemblance of both cases.

Most people find stereotypes to be obnoxious, especially when they have to do with sensitive subjects like gender or race. “Stereotyping is a generalization about a group or category of people that can have a powerful influence on how we perceive others and their communication behaviors” (Floyd, 61). Because they underestimate the differences among individuals in a group, stereotyping can lead to inaccurate and offensive perceptions of other people. Although stereotypes are prevalent in almost every society, becoming aware of our perceptions of others, as well as differentiating between both positive and negative stereotypes can help us overcome those stereotypes.

The presences of stereotypes are overwhelming and are developed by both the environment a subject is raised in and their family. Stereotypes, which are pervasive throughout different societies, become intertwined in the collective values of the society as justification for all forms of social, economic, and political inequality among groups (Devine and Elliot 2000;Kaplan 2004; Operario and Fiske 2004). As people become more exposed to stereotypes they start to become a permanent part of a person’s life, they begin to stereotype themselves almost always involuntarily.

Intercultural communication is commonly explained as an interaction between people of 'different cultures whether defined in terms of racial, ethnic or socioeconomic differences.' Human communication consists of verbal and nonverbal messages (language and gestures) which are shaped by gender, social class or culture. Thus, what perimeters define the intercultural exchange and what primary messages do we need or try to convey?

Intercultural communication competence refers to the ability of an individual to adapt and communicate appropriately and effectively across a wide array of cultural contexts. That is to say, for an individual to be considered an intercultural communicator they must understand other’s cultures as well as they understand their own, and apply this understanding to communication (Chen 1-2). With the increasing diversity at the workplace, school and other social settings, it has become increasingly important to learn how to communicate with people from a diverse array of cultures. More importantly, adapting to a more effective intercultural communication competence model provides us with learning opportunities occasioned by the interaction with people from other backgrounds. The intercultural communication competence model comes with some key components including tolerance for uncertainty, self-knowledge, and motivation. The greatest and most important of these aspects is motivation. An individual must be willing to foster relationships with people from a different cultural background. If an individual lacks the willingness to promote intercultural relationships, then other aspects of the intercultural communication model become moot.