Thai vs Western Culture

Steven A. Beebe, Susan J. Beebe, Mark V. Redmond ,Terri M. Geerinck . Interpersonal Communication: Relating to Others, Pearson Education Canada; 5 edition (Feb. 15 2010)

Michael Argyle is a social psychologist who developed theories about interpersonal interaction and human communication. He carried out experimental theories of non-verbal and verbal communication to develop and test he’s theoretical ideas. He has a communication cycle which explains and predicts how communication can occur in a one to one situation.

Culture is a set of ideals and values about life that are widely shared among people and that guide specific behaviors. Differences, as well as similarities, can be seen when comparing world cultures. We communicate with each other, we feed ourselves with food, and when we sleep we often dream. However, we speak different languages, eat different types of foods, and dream different ways. We call these cultural differences. What causes them is not always obvious to the ordinary person (Nancy). I feel culture is what really sets us apart from each other and what makes us unique as individuals and families.

Culture is a behavior that consists of several critical elements, such as language, religion, race and ethnicity, clothing and politics. Culture is what one does in his/her daily life. In order to understand others, we must first keep in mind that every culture carries its own set of values and assumptions. Culture is an evolving, ever changing civilization, which includes several different groups people. For immigrants, America is a land of opportunity; for others it is just the best country in the world because of its economic success and/or its democratic political system. Americans usually value independence a lot, believe in equal opportunity, and have a direct communication style. In exploring the

As a Thai woman who has relocated to the United States of America in 2009. The first thing I noticed about the US is the size of the country. The difference between Thailand and the United States that affected me the most is the “Culture”. There are three cultural values between Thais and the US are Collectivism-Individualism, Competitive and Cooperative, and belief about talk-silence.

This assignment will start by discussing two well-known theories known as ‘the cycle of communication’ by Michael Argyle and ‘the stages of communication’ by Bruce Tuckman. Firstly, it will look at Michael Argyle’s ‘The cycle of communication’.

Throughout the semester there were various aspects of communication that I felt applied to me. It was not, however, until the latter half of the semester that I experienced my greatest revelation regarding my abilities as a communicator. While studying the 12th chapter in the textbook, Interplay The Process of Interpersonal Communication, I learned

Knapp, M. L., Vangelisti, A. L. (2005). Interpersonal Communication and HumanRelationships. (5th ed.) Boston: Pearson.

The world culture has many different meanings depending on the person you ask. Each person has their own view on what they think culture is. To me, culture could be defined as different puzzle pieces that come together to create a person socially, physically and mentally. According to Chapter Three, Culture and the Culture-Learning Process, authors Cushner, McClelland, and Safford (2009) talks about culture and defines it as “Culture determines, to a large extent, people 's thoughts, ideas, patterns of interaction, and material adaptions to the world around them” (p. 61). This definition of culture explains that everyone culture is different based on their environment and influences around them. Culture starts at home and can then branch

Culture is the shared values, norms, language, customs and practices of a group. It also refers to different sub-groups within society. It is important to understand how culture affects our behaviour in order to gain a full understanding of the people we encounter and those we work with. Watson found that the average amount of eye contact made varied between countries, with high degrees of eye contact being seen as insolent by some Africans and East Asians, whereas among Indians and Latin-Americans this was seen as desirable.

“Culture is sometimes described as a lens through which we view the world, meaning that one’s culture influences their perceptions and interactions in everyday life” (Davis, 2006). Every culture has different beliefs and customs

Culture is essentially a learned way of life. Typically, people within the same culture speak the same language, eat identical foods, share common values, and also behave and think in a similar ways.

When comparing cultures, one must form a definition of what culture is. Culture can be easily defined as the social behavior and normality’s found in human societies. It can also be easily made up of a composed arrangement of educated conduct and thought designs. Culture is a sorted out framework since it includes many parts. Throughout the world, there are many cultures that are both very different and also very similar. "Culture encompasses religion, food, what we wear, how we wear it, our language, marriage, music, what we believe is right or wrong, how we sit at table, how we greet visitors, how we behave and one million other things." (Cristina De Rossi.)

They don’t call other’s name without Mr. Ms. in Vietnamese. Even for younger people, they have a word for it. They have very interesting verbal communication style which is they avoid to say no in their conversation because it would be disrespectful. For instance, if someone invites you to a party and you won’t be able to go, but still you should say “yes” at the moment. Even if they said yes, they might not show up. The host won’t get mad or upset in a situation. In their culture, it’s better for them just not showing up with “yes” answer instead of saying “no” in person because they want to keep their face positively. They highly use an indirect communication method. Indirect communication method is common culture in Asia. Still, yes answer which means no would not be acceptable in Japan. Vietnamese also avoid to correct others’ mistake or praise only one person in front of others. They rely on more non-verbal communication than vernal communication. Men use handshake and bowing slightly, but women are not very comfortable to handshake with a man, but it has changed for a younger generation. It’s not necessary to have eye contact like the US. They don’t also use hand gesture much. For verbal communication, it’s very important for them to keep their tones. If a person have a loud voice, they might take it as a negative impression. They want to keep a

With regard to the Thai culture, it can mention that Thai culture has influenced by various religion-based practices because the 95% of the country are following the “Theravada Buddhist” religious practices. These religious values and social believes has a greater impact over the day to day activities of the Thai people. Some of the major