Essay Sample on Cultural Norms: How They Shape Us & How We Acquire Them

Introduction

Culture refers to the values, customs, beliefs, and norms that that shape the way we behave and relate with other people in society. People can have more than one culture depending on how and where they have been brought up (Marcella and Axner 12). Also, some people can obtain a new culture with time by socializing and relating to new people in their life. Culture can also be influenced by people moving from geographical region to another. Culture serves as one of the significant causes of communication conflicts in our day to day lives (Michelle 25). It governs the way we communicate with others, the way we solve problems and how we react to various situations in life. Conflicts arise because when people come together, they tend to people from different cultures. Some people may accept and appreciate the culture of other people while others tend to react differently causes various types of conflicts in inter-cultural communications. This paper aims to discuss the various causes of intercultural communication conflicts and how they can be successfully solved.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

One of the causes of intercultural communication conflict is the existence of different communication styles where people from varied cultures have distinct language usage. Some words are used in a different context in different cultures (Marcella and Axner 12). Also, some non-verbal communication is given different levels of importance depending on one's culture. Also, some non-verbal communications may have different meanings depending on some culture. A good example is when an American can start and end a conversation with a kiss on the chick, and it does not look offensive. On the other hand, the same behavior may be considered unethical in some countries such as China (Michelle 35). A woman from China might develop a negative attitude towards an American who kisses another person on the chick in an office even if they did not mean to portray any unwanted behavior.

Another cause of intercultural communication conflicts is the existence of different methods of approach to the completion of tasks. People from varied cultural backgrounds may have distinct ways in which they get access to resources and how those resources are used in competing given tasks. A perfect example is the use of time to complete tasks that is punctuality (Marcella and Axner 12). Most people from western culture value strict time punctuality. If a boss from America says that the opening hours of his business if 6 A.M., he will open precisely at 6 A.M. However, the eastern countries mainly in Africa, punctuality is not such as a strict rule to follow. Being late for an hour or two does not make them feel like they have done wrong.

Also, the variation in attitudes towards disclosure is another cause of intercultural communication conflicts (Michelle 30). Some people from different cultural backgrounds have a variety of emotions towards what they feel comfortable to disclose to others. Some people may judge such people by thinking they are too secretive or maybe they have hidden agendas in their relationships. As a result, they end up developing negative attitudes towards each other thus leading to intercultural communication conflicts.

According to "Good Will Hunting" Film, we can see some of the causes of intercultural communication conflicts. The movie is about a young boy, Matt Damon, who is a genius boy who enjoys hand around with friends and involves themselves in unpleasing behaviors such as getting drunkard. The young man's behavior can change if influenced by others and he chose to switch to a better person. His behavior is influenced by the place he was brought up and the experiences he has had in life. One of the root causes of intercultural communication conflicts portrayed in this film is the difference in decision-making styles. Chuckie(Ebert 2), Will's friend since childhood, tries to advise him to take the opportunity of his brightness to win himself an important position at MIT as a mathematics professor. However, Will views that becoming a professor in the institution would be an act betraying his friends and his native neighborhood. Moreover, different knowing styles are another source of intercultural communication conflicts shown in this film. According to most of the people at MIT, spending time to read books and attend classes is one of the best ways of learning and getting knowledge in school(Ebert 3). According to Damon, he believes that he can only learn just reading the whole contents in the libraries once and does not spend much time reading and attending lectures. This makes him be viewed as a reckless person with poor behavior that most people wonder how he gets to be bright than the others in high school.

According to one of my life experience in college, another cause of intercultural conflicts is the difference in attitudes towards conflicts resolution. In the United States, conflicts are mostly solved through face to face dialogue. In most of the eastern countries, solving conflicts face to face is viewed as embarrassing. I learned this when we had some misunderstanding with one of my African friend in class, and she ignored me when I wanted we dialogue face to face to solve our problem. She later wrote a letter to tell me how sorry she is because according to their culture she could not resolve the conflict through face to face dialogue since it is demeaning to her.

Accepting and appreciating other people's culture is one of the best ways to successfully solve intercultural communication conflicts. Also understanding that people come from different cultural backgrounds can help resolve communication conflicts(Marcella and Axner14). Also, listening to other people's opinions and trying to understand what they are going through in life is also one of the ways to solve intercultural communication conflicts(Ebert 4). This is shown in the "Good Will Hunting" film where the counselor listens to Will and understands what he is going through. Will also listens to McGuire and finds some inspiration which helps him change to a better person.

Conclusion

In conclusion, intercultural communication conflict has numerous causes. However, these causes are rooted back to the existence of different cultures in the world. The problem can be solved through a variety of ways with the primary solution being acceptance and understanding that people have different cultures instead of trying to view others as the causes of problems in intercultural communications.

Works Cited

DuPraw, Marcella E. And MaryaAxner. "Working on Common Cross-cultural Communication

Challenges," PBS, 1997, www.researchgate.net/publication/269168852_Working_on_common_cross-cultural_challenges. Accessed 3rd November 2018.

LeBaron, Michelle. "Culture and Conflict."Beyond Intractability. The Conflict Information Consortium,University of Colorado. July 2003. Accessed 4 November 2018.

Roger, Ebert. " GOOD WILL HUNTING" www.rogerebert.com/reviews/good-will-hunting-1997. Accessed 25 December 1997