Cultural Influence On Communication

Cultural influences are evident in human interaction and development. My personality, thoughts, ways I express myself and skills have been shaped by my cultural environment in which I have lived. My cultural background has influenced my assumptions, approaches and my overall perspective of conflict resolution. This will continue in my lifetime as I continue to explore what builds my personal perspective of conflict resolution and further my study of culture and conflict. My own cultural background has influenced my assumptions about conflict and conflict resolution substantially. First of all, I have a very strong Greek influence as I am of the first born Canadian generation on my mother’s side. One assumption that I believe stems from my …show more content…
I personally prefer a low key, interpersonal verbal conflict resolution style where communication is honest and valued but still controlled. Examples of this include small circles, discussions, or mediation. This discussion based environment makes it an open ground to accommodate to personality, behavioural, intersubjective and structural factors. However, this lacks the inclusion of cultural approach, and for that I prefer for there to be an aspect of empathy within conflict resolution. Empathy is a multi-culturally understood concept that is at the core of many conflict resolution tactics. Carolyn Calloway-Thomas states in Empathy, In The Global World: “Of all the sentiments that have the potential to alter what we do interculturally; none are more important than empathy or sympathy…. Empathy is the crucible of intercultural relations”. This statement explains how empathy ties together an wide cultural scope for conflict resolution and only strengthens why it is one my preferred approaches. Other characteristics that I prefer are incorporated in empathy, including understanding, honestly and openness. One skill I hope to embody as one of my skills in my cultural approach to conflict is adaptability. While culture shock is a process of adapting, my ongoing desire for understanding effects my cultural perspective towards conflict resolution. With adaptability, my goal is to …show more content…
First of all, my approach of attempting to be adaptable is one that I hope will guide me through learning about other approaches. I am open minded in nature and hope to be able to cater knowledgeably to every party’s needs within a conflict. Secondly, I hope to learn more about how I can accommodate to different cultures and identities in a way that is polite and effective for healthy communication to foster within conflict resolution. One characteristic that I hope to adapt within my own approach is to be more outspoken and expressive about feelings. Though it was included in my background, there are cultures where expressing deep emotion happens on a regular basis where in the western world, these expressions more calculated or neutral. There are many different characteristics within many cultural approaches in the topic of conflict resolution, but I hope to continuously learn various approaches that will aid in the growth of my cultural approach to conflict resolution. Over all, I have many assumptions about approaches to conflict resolution that are based off of my own multi cultural background, my own personal characteristics and views. Through this understanding, I acknowledge that there are approaches to conflict resolution that I am unwilling to compromise to. I hope that throughout my education and my experience with different