Chinese psychologist starts to tell. “For the students who are Afro-American, it can be true, but not for Red-Indian children. These children, culturally, negative or positive, educated to hide their feelings. In a result, it is very hard to understand their feelings according to face expressions. Red-Indian people always say hiding feelings is maturity and sagacity.”
Professor still doubts and says, “They didn’t even ask a question although I asked again and again.”.
Chinese psychologist tries to explain. “They didn’t, because they respect you. Many Red-Indians believe not to ask question in community. Because, if he asks a rational question, he can take the attention from you. This isn’t a modest behaviour for them and this can be seen as an effort of showing himself or priggism. If the question is foolish, he can be ridiculous. Also, the question is good or not, it can cause an impression like the tearcher is not clear enough. And it means directly objecting the rule respecting old ones.
As a result, you cannot even expect the desire to ask a question of a Red-Indian person as an American. I think, it can be said that Red-Indians really believe in the quote “Speech is silver, silence is golden”.”
At that time, the Red-Indian school director, who listened the whole conversation, asks Chinese psychologist “Sorry but, how do you know many things like these about us?”.
Chinese psychologist smiles and answers, “You know, Red-Indians migrated from Asia a few thousand years ago. Isn’t it spontaneous that your Asian cousins share some ethnic characteristics with you?”.
(In Thailand, people greet each other by clasping their hands together and bowing. Evil foreign clowns with plucked eyebrows trying to blend in. A sacrilege, I think..)
(And one of the reasons why I don't visit India :p)
You see, in every country, people act different, or think different. This is because of the cultural differences. According to Geert Hofstede, culture is an intellectual coding which separates a group of people from the others. Culture is learned, changeable. It has a historical length and continuous. It is the satisfier of the needs. Language, religion and folks, values, norms, manner and traditions, attitudes, symbols, laws and moral principles form the culture. In 1980, Geert Hofstede made a research about cultural differences which contains 74 countries in the world. According to this research, we can sort cultural dimensions in two: Collectivist cultures and Individualist cultures.
In Collectivist cultures, communication is based on determining the relationship primary, kindness, acting in manner, prefering indirect and implicit expression. And in Individualist cultures, communication is direct and explicit. It stays away implications and anxiety of manner, it doesn’t depend on rules of courtesy.
The other cultural dimensions are;
a) Uncertainty Avoidence: It’s about the level of a community’s nervousness of some environments where knowledge is insufficient or not clear, where complexity exists, and where the change can not be predictable and quick.
b) Power Distance: It is related to the distribution of the power of the individuals and organizations of a society unequally. In societies that the power range is high, social inequality and hierarchy is excessive; also in these societies, egalitarian implementations can cause reactions.
c) Femininity / Masculinity: This cultural trend states the valid values which are dominant are specific to men or women in a society. Standing at the forefront of success, ambition, assertiveness, materialism expresses masculine values, standing at the forefront of relationships, sacrifice and senses expresses feminine values.
PDI --> Power Distance
IDV --> Individualism
MAS --> Masculinity
UAI --> Uncertainty Avoidance
(http://www.geert-hofstede.com/)
In Collectivist cultures, communication is based on determining the relationship primary, kindness, acting in manner, prefering indirect and implicit expression. And in Individualist cultures, communication is direct and explicit. It stays away implications and anxiety of manner, it doesn’t depend on rules of courtesy.
The other cultural dimensions are;
a) Uncertainty Avoidence: It’s about the level of a community’s nervousness of some environments where knowledge is insufficient or not clear, where complexity exists, and where the change can not be predictable and quick.
b) Power Distance: It is related to the distribution of the power of the individuals and organizations of a society unequally. In societies that the power range is high, social inequality and hierarchy is excessive; also in these societies, egalitarian implementations can cause reactions.
c) Femininity / Masculinity: This cultural trend states the valid values which are dominant are specific to men or women in a society. Standing at the forefront of success, ambition, assertiveness, materialism expresses masculine values, standing at the forefront of relationships, sacrifice and senses expresses feminine values.
PDI --> Power Distance
IDV --> Individualism
MAS --> Masculinity
UAI --> Uncertainty Avoidance
(http://www.geert-hofstede.com/)
Comparison of Turkey and United Kingdom & Comparison of Turkey and United States :
In every culture, in other words, in every country, feelings, acts, behaviours, perspectives, etc. are different. Greetings, symbols, likes... For example, if you greet someone in your country with a hand movement, it can mean a bad thing in another country.
Cultural Differences... and how they affect our perceptions of each other:
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