Glossary

Stresses that issues are best understood through theories, principles, and data, with emphasis on the general rather than the specific.

Combines the indirect and emotionally restrained approaches.

Earning and using a code that other group members will be able to recognize.

The process where people from one culture adopt the process of another culture which is not their own.  Acculturation begins when two cultures meet.

Changing to suit changing conditions.

Could involve you meeting your need for security, by playing with your hair for example, or hugging yourself for warmth.

Help us feel comfortable or indicate emotions or moods.

Occurs when people become aware that their feelings and emotions are incompatible.

We need to recognize and affirm that the other person might have different values, beliefs, and behaviors which form both their individual and cultural identities.

Can mean returning to traditional cultural medicinal practices such as herbal remedies and sweat lodges, or it can also mean seeking out medical practices that are part of other cultural traditions rather than your own such as acupuncture and cupping.

The confusion about how to handle or define the conflict.

Fear about the possible negative consequences because of our actions or being uncertain of how to act towards a person from a different culture is another challenge.

The things we possess that influence how we see ourselves and that we use to express our identity to others.

Are personal, social, or cultural identities placed on us by others.  They are sometimes considered "involuntary" identities.

Thinking that all people are basically similar, denies cultural, racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and many other valuable insightful differences that are important to the human experience.

An identity that you choose for yourself.  Also known as voluntary identities.

Strong assumptions, convictions, principles, tenets, and axioms held by individuals, groups or cultures about the truth, existence, or worth of something.

Occurs when the physician chooses to communicate only part of a patient’s diagnosis.

Refers to the use of products and practices found in nature.

Doctors look for physical signs of what is wrong using scientific methods.

Acknowledges that illness is not always just a physical thing.

Labeling with language and analyzing with language the smaller components parts of an issue.

Refers to the use of massage or chiropractic manipulation to promote health.

This attitude is a common response by hosts who do not want a lot of interaction with tourists.

Building relationships with other people and organizations.

A sensory route on which a message travels to the receiver for decoding.

The study of how we refer to and perceive time.

Communication is conducted in a circular movement, developing context around the main point, which is often left unstated.

A word or phrase that has lost impact through overuse.

A group of people whose values, beliefs, and behaviors set it apart from the larger culture, which it is a part of and with which it shares many similarities.

The practice of shifting the language that you use to better express yourself in conversations.

People become aware that their thought processes or perceptions are in conflict.

An exchange of dialogue that is oriented fully in the present moment and builds on Mindful Listening and Mindful Reframing to practice communicating with different linguistic or contextual resources.

Is a social organization in which individuals are seen as subordinate to the group.

Cultures that put more emphasis on the importance of relationships, loyalty, and working together.

Education is seen as a tool for strengthening the country rather than for the betterment of an individual.

The colonizers educational systems were imported into the conquered or assimilated nations.

A powerful nonverbal message across cultural boundaries.

People who have developed good and effective communication skills.

People make assumptions about each other based on their backgrounds.

Promotes escalation.

Opposites attract.

Both people must sacrifice some aspect of their life.

Stresses that issues are best understood through stories, metaphors, allegories, and examples with an emphasis on the specific rather than the general.

An expressed struggle between at least two interdependent parties who perceive incompatible goals, scare resources, and interference from others in achieving their goals.

Based several assumptions about the extent to which face negotiated within a culture and what existing value patterns shape culture members’ preferences for the process of negotiating face in conflict situations.

Arises when people disagree about a plan of action or when they have incompatible preferences for a course of action.

Meaning is often not found in the dictionary but in the minds of the users themselves.

As our communication skills increase, and our focus is on cultural concepts and communication styles.

People have the vocabulary to identify the concepts, and know what they should be doing, but they are not communicating as well as they could.

Based on negotiation and mutual agreement, neither person must assume that they must abandon their own culture.

Govern the meaning of words, and dictate which words represent which objects.

People stand closer together while talking, make more direct eye contact, touch more frequently, and speak in louder voices.

The factors that work together to determine the meaning in communication events.

Refers to the practice of telling the patient only what he or she wants to hear or to know.

The process by which previously distinct technologies come to share content, tasks, and resources.

The “bubble” of space surrounding each individual when having a conversation.

Promotes perceived similarity, trust, flexibility, and open communication.

Relating to culture.

When different cultures become similar or even merge together.

The geographical and social spread of different aspects of one or more cultures.

Based on socially constructed categories that teach us a way of being and include expectations for social behaviors or ways of acting.

The way that developing countries are attracted to, pressured, forced, and sometimes bribed into shaping social institutions to correspond to, or even promote, the values and structures of the dominating center of the system.

The creation, production, and distribution of goods and services that are cultural in nature and usually protected by intellectual property rights.

Form of public activism that helps us to become better interpreters of media rather than simply being consumers of culture.

The characteristics of popular culture that are considered to fulfill social functions within a culture.

The social and cultural contexts in which our identities are formed.

“A learned set of shared interpretations and beliefs, values, and norms, which affect the behaviors of a relatively large group of people.”

Personal disorientation when a person moves to a cultural environment that is different than their own.

Seven-step conflict resolution model that guides conflicting groups to identify the background of a problem, analyze the cultural assumptions and underlying values of a person in a conflict situation, and promotes ways to achieve harmony and share a common goal.

The application of new technologies such as GIS or Google Earth to create realistic experiences.

The process of turning communication into thoughts.

Changes coming from changing demographics and/or changing immigration patterns.

The meaning of words often found in the dictionary.

Leads people to make sweeping generalizations about the problem.

Occur in values, perceptions, and communication styles.

Refers to people who grew up with access to technology versus those who did not have access to technology and did not develop the associated skills.

People who grew up using technology.

Verbal messages reveal the speaker’s true intentions, needs, wants, and desires.

Refers directly to verbal strategies of speaking directly or indirectly communicating.

Favored by cultures that think conflict is a good thing, and that conflict should be approached directly, because working through conflict results in more solid and stronger relationships.

Combines direct and emotionally restrained dimensions.

Quality of being different.

Historical and currently have more resources and influence.

Uses indirect communication along with more emotional expressiveness.

Helps developing countries make the most of their tourism potential without all the stress of environmental consequences.

Uses natural plants to work with the natural process of the body.

Reflected by the impact that business globalization has on the average person.

Uniting conservation, communities, and sustainable travel with direct financial benefits for conservation, and the local community.

The use of rich and expressive language in everyday conversation.

Quantity of talk that a culture values and is related to attitudes towards speech and silence.

Represent a specific verbal meaning and can replace or reinforce words.

Represent a specific verbal meaning and can replace or reinforce words.

Those who value intense displays of emotion during conversations.

Those who think that disagreements are best discussed in an emotionally calm manner.

The process of turning thoughts into communication.

The process by which people acquire the values, norms, and worldviews of their cultural group.

Could include acupuncture, Reiki, and certain types of massage.

Emphasizes a verbally direct and emotionally expressive approach to dealing with conflict.

Involves the physical aspects of our surroundings.

Tendency to think that our own culture is superior to other cultures.

Assisting terminally ill people in committing suicide.

Work is viewed as a necessary burden.

Other ways of developing knowledge.

Express emotions, regulate a conversation, indicate listening behavior, show interest in others, respect, status, hostility, and aggression.

Self-image

Self-image

The communication strategies that people use to establish, sustain, or restore social identity during interaction.

Communicate an endless stream of emotions, and we make judgements about what others are feeling by assessing their faces.

The way that consumers can annotate, comment on, remix, and otherwise talk back to culture in unprecedented ways.

Includes messages sent in response to other messages.

Embrace values that are more widely thought of as feminine values, such as modesty, quality of life, interpersonal relationships, and greater concern for the disadvantaged of society.

Refers to the rituals and traditions that maintain a cultural group identity.

Reflect how intercultural couples negotiate their way through differences.

Based on the Conflict Face-Negotiation Theory.

Labeling with language and analyzing with language the smaller components parts of an issue.

Unique and important type of interpersonal relationship that constitutes a significant portion of a person’s social life from early childhood all the way through to late adulthood.

The optimistic idea that things will get better in the future, or the future will be “new and improved.”

Arm and hand movements used for communication.

Arm and hand movements used for communication.

The process of geographically distance cultures influencing one another despite the geographic obstacles that separate them.

When people disagree about a preferred outcome or end state.

First impression was positive therefore all impressions will be positive.

Touch

The notion of preserving or saving one’s face and the face of others.

Travel that is motivated by one’s racial, ethnic or religious history.

Differences within the group, culture, or population.

Cultures in which people assume that others within their culture will share their viewpoints and thus understand situations or nonverbals in much the same way.

Often belongs to social or economic elites, and does not often cross over into the realm of the masses.

Cultures openly accept that a boss is “higher” and as such deserves a more formal respect and authority.

Focus on expertise, authority along with the importance of social and moral order.

People who generally prefer to steer clear of conflict and competition.

Tend to focus on error prevention so smaller amounts of information is given with choices being limited.

Can be a specific address, cities, states, regions, and even nations.

There are similarities within the group, culture, or population.

Concerned with the ethics of individual trustworthiness and respect.

First impression was negative therefore all future impressions will be negative.

A person who invites and receives visitors.

Measures people’s approaches to conflict along two different continuums:  direct/indirect and expressive/restrained.

The level of importance that people place on their cultural identity.

The fact that people view their cultural identity as an important part of who they are.

Nonverbal gesture used to communicate our message effectively and reinforce our point.

Nonverbal gesture used to communicate our message effectively and reinforce our point.

The degree to which you find someone interesting and attractive.

Social group to which a person psychologically identifies as being a member.

Communication is often designed to hide or minimize the speaker’s true intentions, needs, wants, and desires.

Favored by cultures that view conflict as destructive for relationships and prefer to deal with conflict indirectly.

Refers to people’s tendency to take care of themselves and value individual accomplishments.

Education is seen as a tool for getting ahead and students are responsible for their own learning.

Emphasize the importance of a lower power distance with informality, casualness, and suspension of roles.

Sending a message to another person in a purposeful way.

Describes communication as a process in which participants alternate positions as sender and receiver and generate meaning by sending messages and receiving feedback within physical and psychological contexts.

The ability to communicate effectively and appropriately in various cultural contexts.

Measures people’s approaches to conflict along two different continuums:  direct/indirect and expressive/restrained.

The process of orally expressing what is said or written in another language.

Experts in fields of knowledge, cultures, and languages with excellent memories.

Ranges from 0-18 inches.

An occupation-specific language used by people in a particular profession.

Comes from the Greek word, kinesis, meaning “movement,” and includes facial expressions, eye contact, gestures, and posture.

The different ways that students learn.

Resembling a straight line.

Describes communication as a linear, one-way process in which a sender intentionally transmits a message to a receiver.

Language and its structures limit and determine human knowledge or thought.

Language is ever changing and growing, in many ways determines reality.

The study of specific languages and the general properties common to most languages.

Instructional activities scaffold or build upon one another.

Often marked by persistence, thrift and frugality, and an order to relationships based on age and status.

Known for creativity and innovation, but they can also be chaotic.

Cultures in which people do NOT presume that others share their beliefs, values, and behaviors so they tend to be more verbally informative and direct in their communication.

Being commercially successful, self-sustaining, and self-perpetuating.

Cultures that are more egalitarian or equal.

Cultures are highly tolerant of uncertainty and they tend to accept or embrace change and are willing to take risks.

Students are required to take much more responsibility for their own actions and learning.

Classrooms that follow the principles of low power distance.

Value assertiveness, competition, and material success.

The scientific language used by doctors to describe specific medical conditions.

The verbal or nonverbal content being conveyed from sender to receiver.

Web-based self-reporting of short messages.

Sometimes called a “local” culture and refers to cultural patterns based on a specific locality or within a specific organization.

Focuses on using the mind to influence the body.

Pay special attention to the cultural and personal assumptions being expressed in the conflict interaction.

This is another face-honoring skill that requires the creation of alternative contexts to shape our understanding of the conflict behavior.

Verbal and nonverbal behaviors that convey contradictory meanings.

Being punctual, completing tasks, and keeping schedules is valued, and may be more important than building or maintaining personal relationships.

View time as something to be managed so learning proceeds along a linear path with clear prerequisites and milestones.

Cultures that follow the principles of monochronic time.

The patterning of words.

Enthusiasm for doing something.

Labeling with language and analyzing with language the smaller components parts of an issue.

A group that is extremely patriotic to the point of being anti-immigrant.

One must clarify our values, beliefs, and behaviors to ourselves and to each other, not to mention to our families and possibly to our communities.

Traits and characteristics negatively attributed to a social group and to its individual members.

The face-to-face process of resolving conflict to a mutually satisfying end.

An area defined by its own cultural identity.

Refers to things that influence or block the effectiveness of interpreting communication.

People stand farther apart while talking, maintain less eye contact, and touch less.

Historically had, and currently have less resources and influence.

Includes those aspects of communication that do not involve verbal communication, but which may include gestures, facial expressions, posture, distance, vocal characteristics and more.

The different means used for transmitting information (kinesics, vocalics, proxemics, haptics, chronemics, physical appearance, artifacts, and environment).

Informal guidelines that govern what is proper or acceptable behavior within a specific culture.

Both partners try to erase or obliterate their original cultures and create a new “culture” with new beliefs, values, and behaviors.

Groups with which an individual does not identify.

Belief that history has a greater influence on what has happened to us than current life.

The possibility of different races, ethnicities, languages, and cultures existing together.

Include the components of self that are primarily intrapersonal and connected to our life experiences.

The distance we occupy during encounters with friends and ranges from 18 inches to 4 feet.

The study of the production, acoustics, and hearing speech sounds.

The patterning of sounds.

The degree to which a person’s physical features are considered aesthetically pleasing or beautiful.

It is expected that many events happen at once, and things get done because of personal relationships.

Learning is seen as the practice needed to reach perfection, so goals are secondary as one adapts to the situation.

Being commercially successful, self-sustaining, self-perpetuating, and readily available to the masses.

Humans can stand up straight or slouch, lean forward or backward, round or slump our shoulders, and tilt their heads.

The ability to influence people or events.

Language in context.

A negative preconceived judgment or opinion that guides conduct or social behavior.

Sets of ideas or values based on stereotypes.

Recognize the value of living in the here and now.

Features skills that make it possible to manage conflict situations effectively and appropriately.

Refers to communication through the use of physical distance or space.

Often being around each other.

The distance ranges from 12 feet and beyond.

The recipients of the message.

Attracted to people who are attracted to us.

Loyalty to an area that holds cultural meaning.

Govern how we arrange words into sentences and how we exchange words in verbal conversations.

Nonverbal messages which control, maintain or discourage interaction.

You believe that no behavior is inherently right or wrong, rather everything depends on perspective.

This attitude can be passive or aggressive.

You’re attracted to people who can give you what you want and who offer better rewards than others.

The host actively avoids contact with tourists by looking for ways to hide their everyday lives.

Communities passively accept community members who actively develop tourism opportunities to keep the community from dying.

Are “voluntary,” and most cultures stress the importance of openness, mutual involvement, shared nonverbal meanings, and relationship assessment.

The structure of a language determines a native speaker’s perception and categorization of experience.

Noticing your feelings, your reactions, your thoughts, your behaviors, and more.

Helps us to gain insights into our own culture along with our own intercultural experiences.

Based on the beliefs, attitudes, and values that you have about yourself.

Style that focuses on the importance of humbling oneself through verbal restraint, hesitation, modesty, and self-depreciation.

Communication style that focuses on the promotion of one’s own accomplishments and abilities.

How we value and perceive ourselves.

The process of learning to understand oneself and one’s position in society.

Meaning

Initiate the message conveyed through the communication process.

State the problem, restate the problem, understand the problem, pinpoint the issue, ask for suggestions, make a plan, follow up.

When instructional activities start and stop promptly according to “clock time.”

Values tradition only to the extent of fulfilling social obligations or providing gifts or favors.

Sharing personalities, values, and preferences.

Reasons for studying intercultural communication (peace, demographic, economic, technology, self-awareness, ethics).

The use of existing or newly invented words in particular groups.

Another way to send nonverbal messages.

A television or radio drama series dealing typically with daily events in the lives of the same group of characters.

Observing and assigning meaning to others’ behavior and then comparing it with your own.

The components of self that are derived from involvement in social groups with which we are interpersonally committed.

Interactive electronic technology that facilitate the creation and sharing of information and ideas.

Used in social situations or with strangers, and ranges from 4 to 12 feet.

An alternative to the traditional vacation and is influenced by such things as economic conditions, availability of discretionary income, and time.

Replacing human complexities of personality with broad assumptions about character and worth based on group affiliation.

Reflects a physician’s decision to provide misinformation to the patient when he or she believes it is in the best interests of the patient.

Focuses on large-scale differences in values, beliefs, goals and preferred ways of acting among nations, regions, ethnicities and religions.

Encouraging students to become independent thinkers, focusing on individual needs, being assertive and expressing opinions, criticism as a strategy for improvement, and trying to bring about conceptual change in students’ understanding of the world.

Involves one partner abdicating power to the other partner’s culture or cultural preferences.

Leaving a positive impact not only on the environment, but also socially within the tourist destinations.

The structure of sentences.

Want to get the job done quickly and right the first time.

Knowledge that is always transferred from an expert to a learner, with conformity and group needs as a focus.

The primary strategies adopted by teachers to convey knowledge in a classroom.

The space you claim as your own, are responsible for, or are willing to defend.

Groups with much stronger norms.

Centered on the fundamental principles of exchange between peoples and experiences.

Describes communication as a process in which communicators don’t just communicate to exchange messages—people communicate to create relationships, form intercultural alliances, shape self-concepts, and engage with others to create community.

Focuses on the conformity of culture through the communication, interactions, contexts, and relationships that senders/receivers have with others in daily life.

Involves the process of producing a written text that refers to something written in another language.

Experts in their fields of knowledge as well as linguists fluent in two or more languages with excellent written communication skills.

Introduced the honeymoon, shock, recovery and adjustment stages.

We can communicate successfully without straining to be competent.

The “be yourself” approach.

Value simple understatement, simple assertions, and silence.

Comes in forms that are demonstrated unconsciously (tone of voice, physical posture).

You believe that cultural differences are only superficial, and that fundamental notions of right and wrong are universal.

Refers to when a physician chooses to communicate the entire diagnosis to a patient.

A difference in ideologies or values between relational partners.

Proposes that all human societies must answer a limited number of universal questions and how those questions are answered by different cultures form a framework for understanding cultural differences.

Deeply felt and often serve as principles that guide people in their perceptions and behaviors.

Uses an enhanced virtual environment that can be seen through a headset or on a computer.

Behavior showing high moral standards.

Involves verbal and nonverbal aspects of speech that influence meaning, including rate, pitch, tone, volume, intensity, pausing, and even silence.

Suggested the stages of honeymoon, culture shock, initial adjustment, mental isolation, and plus acceptance & integration.

Relies on the scientific method to understand what causes illness.

Shared values that form the customs, behaviors, and foundations of culture.