Comm 330 Ch 2

Front 1

Afrocentricity

Back 1

An orientation toward African or African American cultural standards, including beliefs and values, as the criteria for interpreting behaviors and attitudes.

Front 2

collectivistic

Back 2

The tendency to focus on the goals, needs, and views of the ingroup rather than individuals' own goals, needs, and views. (Compare with individualistic.)

Front 3

communication accommodation theory

Back 3

The view that individuals adjust their verbal communication to facilitate understanding.

Front 4

conceptual equivalence

Back 4

The similarity of linguistic terms and meanings across cultures. (See also translation equivalence.)

Front 5

critical approach

Back 5

A metatheoretical approach that includes many assumptions of the interpretive approach but that focuses more on macrocontexts, such as the political and social structures that influence communication. (Compare with interpretive approach and functionalist approach.)

Front 6

cross-cultural training

Back 6

Training people to become familiar with other cultural norms and to improve their interactions with people of different domestic and international cultures.

Front 7

dialectic

Back 7

(a) A method of logic based on the principle that an idea generates its opposite, leading to a reconciliation of the opposites; (b) the complex and paradoxical relationship between two opposite qualities or entities, each of which may also be referred to as a dialectic.

Front 8

dialectical approach

Back 8

An approach to intercultural communication that integrates three approaches—functionalist (or social science), interpretive, and critical—in understanding culture and communication. It recognizes and accepts that the three approaches are interconnected and sometimes contradictory.

Front 9

distance zones

Back 9

The area, defined by physical space, within which people interact, according to Edward Hall's theory of proxemics. The four distance zones for individuals are intimate, personal, social, and public. (See also proxemics.)

Front 10

diversity training

Back 10

The training meant to facilitate intercultural communication among various gender, ethnic, and racial groups in the United States.

Front 11

emic

Back 11

A term stemming from phonemic. The emic way of inquiry focuses on understanding communication patterns from inside a particular cultural community or context. (Compare with etic.)

Front 12

ethnography

Back 12

A discipline that examines the patterned interactions and significant symbols of specific cultural groups to identify the cultural norms that guide their behaviors, usually based on field studies.

Front 13

etic

Back 13

A term stemming from phonetic. The etic inquiry searches for universal generalizations across cultures from a distance. (Compare with emic.)

Front 14

functionalist approach

Back 14

A study of intercultural communication, also called the social science approach, based on the assumptions that (1) there is a describable, external reality, (2) human behaviors are predictable, and (3) culture is a variable that can be measured. This approach aims to identify and explain cultural variations in communication and to predict future communication. (Compare with critical approach and interpretive approach.)

Front 15

individualistic

Back 15

The tendency to emphasize individual identities, beliefs, needs, goals, and views rather than those of the group. (Compare with collectivistic.)

Front 16

intercultural competence

Back 16

The ability to behave effectively and appropriately in interacting across cultures.

Front 17

interdisciplinary

Back 17

Integrating knowledge from different disciplines in conducting research and constructing theory.

Front 18

interpretive approach

Back 18

An approach to intercultural communication that aims to understand and describe human behavior within specific cultural groups based on the assumptions that (1) human experience is subjective, (2) human behavior is creative rather than determined or easily predicted, and (3) culture is created and maintained through communication. (Compare with critical approach and functionalist approach.)

Front 19

macrocontexts

Back 19

The political, social, and historical situations, backgrounds, and environments that influence communication.

Front 20

paradigm

Back 20

A framework that serves as the worldview of researchers. Different paradigms assume different interpretations of reality, human behavior, culture, and communication.

Front 21

perception

Back 21

The process by which individuals select, organize, and interpret external and internal stimuli to create their view of the world.

Front 22

postcolonialism

Back 22

An intellectual, political, and cultural movement that calls for the independence of colonialized states and also liberation from colonialist ways of thinking.

Front 23

processual

Back 23

Refers to how interaction happens rather than to the outcome.

Front 24

proxemics

Back 24

The study of how people use personal space.

Front 25

qualitative methods

Back 25

Research methods that attempt to capture people's own meanings for their everyday behavior in specific contexts. These methods use participant observation and field studies.

Front 26

quantitative methods

Back 26

Research methods that employ numerical indicators to capture and ascertain the relationships among variables. These methods use survey and observation.

Front 27

rhetorical approach

Back 27

A research method, dating back to ancient Greece, in which scholars try to interpret the meanings or persuasion used in texts or oral discourses in the contexts in which they occur.

Front 28

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

Back 28

The assumption that language shapes our ideas and guides our view of social reality. This hypothesis was proposed by Edward Sapir, a linguist, and his student, Benjamin Whorf, and represents the relativist view of language and perception. (See relativist position.)

Front 29

social reproduction

Back 29

The process of perpetuating cultural patterns.

Front 30

social science approach

Back 30

A study of intercultural communication, also called the social science approach, based on the assumptions that (1) there is a describable, external reality, (2) human behaviors are predictable, and (3) culture is a variable that can be measured. This approach aims to identify and explain cultural variations in communication and to predict future communication. (Compare with critical approach and interpretive approach.)

Front 31

textual analysis

Back 31

Examination of cultural texts such as media—TV, movies, journalistic essays, and so on.

Front 32

translation equivalence

Back 32

The linguistic sameness that is gained after translating and back-translating research materials several times using different translators. (See also conceptual equivalence.)

Front 33

variable

Back 33

A concept that varies by existing in different types or different amounts and that can be operationalized and measured.

Front 34

worldview

Back 34

Underlying assumptions about the nature of reality and human behavior.

Front 35

anxiety uncertainty management theory

Back 35

different levels of anxiety and uncertainty plays a role in successful interaction with another culture

Front 36

conversational contraints theory

Back 36

cultural groups vary in their fundamental concerns regarding how conversational messages should be constructed

Front 37

diffusion of innovations theory

Back 37

comm and relationships affect new ideas that are adopted or not by individuals and groups

Front 38

face negotiation theory

Back 38

cultural groups vary in preferences for conflict styles and face saving strategies

Front 39

hybrid identity

Back 39

a conscious mixture of different cultural identites and cultural identites

Front 40

participant observation

Back 40

a research method where investigators interact extensively with the cultural group being studied