文化定势对跨文化交际的影响

北方民族大学北方民族大学 学士学位学士学位论论文文 论文题目论文题目 文化定型文化定型对对跨文化交跨文化交际际的影响的影响 院 部 名称 外国语学院 学生姓名 屈 云 专业 英语语言文学 学号 20081749 指导教师姓名 马 腾 北方民族大学教务处制 The Effects of Cultural Stereotype in Intercultural Communication A graduation Thesis Submitted by Qu Yun In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For The Degree of Bachelor of Arts In the Subject of English Language and literature To College of Foreign Language Of The North University for Nationalities June 2011 Acknowledgements I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the teachers and friends for their kind help in my studies of this university First and for most I would like extend my sincere thanks to my teacher who helps me in my study of thesis writing She has helped me in learning the course of intercultural communication and instructed me how to collect information and what should be taken into consideration in writing Without her the completion of this paper would have never been possible I would also like to extend my sincere gratitude to my friends and fellow classmates who have offered many materials in my collecting and revising this thesis My thanks would also go to my beloved family for their supporting and encouragement all through these years In a word I will appreciate all the people who have given a hand to me 内容摘要 随着经济和信息全球化步伐的日益加快 世界已经进入跨文化 交际时代 各种文化相互影响 相互渗透 因此 地球在某种意义上 已越来越小 但是在交流过程中任然存在着一些因素影响交流的顺 利进行 而文化定型就是其因素之一 本文对文化定型的概念 以 及其对跨文化交际产生的影响进行分析 同时提出一些策略来提高 跨文化交际能力 作者希望通过本文能够给来自不同国家的人们交 往提供一些帮助 使交流更加有效 关键词 跨文化交际 文化定型 影响 策略 有效 Abstract With the development of economy and telecommunication the world has entered into an era of intercultural communication Therefore the earth has been smaller and smaller in a sense Different cultures have many opportunities to influence and be influenced by each other Meanwhile it is not different to find that there are some factors affecting the communication among people One of such factors is stereotype This essay focuses not only on the analyzations of the conception of cultural stereotype and its effects but also on how to improve intercultural communication aiming at helping people from different countries and making the communication more effective Key Words intercultural communication cultural stereotype influence strategies effective Contents Acknowledgements 内容摘 要 Abstract Introduction 1 Definitions of stereotype 3 2 1 Literature Review 3 2 2 Definitions of Stereotype 4 The effects of cultural stereotype in intercultural communication 6 3 1 The positive effects of cultural stereotype 6 3 2 The negative effects of cultural stereotype 7 3 3 The correct attitude toward cultural stereotype 8 Strategies to improve Intercultural Communication 11 4 1 Learning about Culture Difference 11 4 2 Avoiding prejudice 11 Conclusion 13 References Introduction With the increasing development of economic and information globalization people are in a rapidly changing time and the earth has become smaller and smaller as a global village There are many kinds of various industries such as technology tourism business migration and so on which are forcing more and more communication among people who are from different backgrounds and educational levels Whether people like it or not and regardless of where we live such kind of intercultural communication is and will be more frequent As human activity and a field of study intercultural communication is a basic concept of and culture The first step in learning to communicate across cultures is to consider what people mean when they talk about culture Culture is the total accumulation of beliefs customs values behaviors institutions and communication patterns that are shared learned and passed down through the generations in an identifiable group of people People from different cultures communicate with each other However in communication there are also several factors that can cause misunderstandings and conflicts One of such factors is the stereotype which is studied in the field of psychology sociology ethnics and 1 intercultural communication When discussing concepts of stereotyping it is important to understand the meanings of this term firstly Having the concepts clearly defined helps us to think about how it may influence human interactions 2 Definitions of stereotype 2 1 Literature Review Many scholars both Chinese and American have studied stereotype in the field of intercultural communication Some give a general description of stereotype such as Samovar and Porter 2000 246 who have indicated that Stereotypes are means of organizing our images into fixed and simple categories that we use to stand for the entire collection of people Some scholars mainly have explained stereotype that it is a natural result of communication process Gudykunst 2 Assuming stereotypes are best first guesses not definite answers 3 Using loose interpretive categories rather than evaluative categories 4 Qualifying our perceptions and interpretations 5 Being open to new information ready to redefine categories 6 Getting to know the identities of individuals within the group 7 Recognizing meaningful and valid differences between our group and theirs Ting Toomey 1999 163 Not all the stereotypes must be avoided It is better to make sure whether the stereotypes in the mind are right or wrong If they are true make full of them in the communication If they are wrong a correct attitude to them is needed in order to eliminate the possible negative 9 effects on intercultural communication This requires people to improve bearing capacity and use a tolerant open and flexible attitude to cope with all the problems when facing the uncertainty during the communication Being aware of the possible incompleteness and incorrectness of stereotypes when facing people from other cultures be surely get more accurate answers 10 10 Strategies to improve Intercultural Communication One can t exist without stereotype which gives points of references to indicate one s behavior towards strangers because stereotype simplifies complex feelings and attitudes In intercultural communication understanding one must learn to manage stereotype That is to maximize and appreciate the positive values and to minimize the negative ones 4 1 Learning about Culture Difference Because of different cultural backgrounds cultural experiences ways of thinking norms of behaviors and customs it is not surprising to find out that people have many difficulties and obstacles in understanding and communicating with others People from different cultures have their own cultural perceptions beliefs values and social customs Therefore people should raise awareness of the other culture to build bridges across misunderstandings among different cultures Furthermore people should also respect their cultural differences and improve their communicative abilities to avoid unnecessary misunderstanding and stereotype in intercultural communication 4 2 Avoiding prejudice Prejudice is mostly directed at a racial or religious group and it can 11 also be directed at individuals for whatever reason One has to be careful with prejudice because it is mostly based on unreasonable grounds and can be very hurtful Some people believe that members of a particular group are inferior according to some standards Prejudice would make communication over generalized and be with strong feelings It also prevents normal communication Therefore prejudice should be avoided through these ways including getting to know something about the person or group being open minded and having an objective attitude towards people 12 Conclusion The world is getting more and more complicated If people want to know or understand the characteristics of the unknown things they must simplify these things and use the classification of concept to understand the world cultural differences which make the world colorful need understanding Finding and explaining the differences is just the beginning while seeking commons and identities among cultures is the end A successful intercultural communicator always has a good knowledge of the basic general features of other cultures Stereotype which is used to generalize others is a strategy that human beings used to understand the complicated world In order to really understand another culture people need to learn mush more than a few simple stereotypes To become an effective intercultural communicator people need to not only understand other culture but also be aware of the limits those generalizations From what have been discussed above it is necessary for people to know the cultural differences and how to learn them Though the study of cultural differences when people communicate with others they can avoid some embarrassments It should 13 not be forgotten that people cannot show the prejudice to other people because everyone has equal rights and there is no racial discrimination sexual discrimination or class discrimination Due to the phenomenon this thesis firstly intr