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Lecture Notes
Chapter 5: The Perceptual Context
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Discuss cross-cultural differences in perception
2. Define and discuss racial and ethnic stereotypes across cultures
3. Define and discuss the nature of ethnocentrism and racism
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
The higher mental processes required for human communication include the gathering, storing, and
retrieval of information. Although human information processing is a universal phenomenon, it is
influenced by culture. This chapter is about the higher mental activities of the individual that constitute
the perceptual context of intercultural communication. In addition to the cultural, microcultural, and
environmental context, the perceptual context affects how people interact. Every time we enter into a
communicative exchange with someone, we bring with us a perceptual frame of reference through
which all of our messages are filtered. The cultural, micro-cultural, environmental, and perceptual
contexts are interdependent influences that combine in a complex formula that ultimately define our
interaction with others.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. Culture and Cognition
1. People from different cultures think about different things. The life experiences of a
Guatemalan Ladino are markedly different than those of a Ukrainian. Few people question that
the content of thought for people in different cultures varies. What is open to speculation,
however, is whether higher mental processes, such as perception and remembering, differ
across cultures.
II. The Geography of Thought
1. Geographical differences in culture have a dramatic influence on how humans in those distinct
geographical areas perceive the world. Peoples from the East and West think differently
because of foundations of Eastern and Western philosophies that were professed 2,500 years
ago by the ancient Greeks and Chinese. The ancient Greeks focused on linear methods of
understanding and seeing separate objects in isolation without much regard for the context in
which they existed. Individuals are unique, with distinct attributes and goals. Confucian-driven
Chinese philosophies emphasized fluctuation, holism, interdependence, and harmony. All things
(e.g., people and objects) are to be understood in terms of their relationships with others, their
groupness—including the environment in which they exist. The Western tendency is to classify
objects into discrete categories based on their similarity with the Eastern preference to classify
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objects into categories based on their relationships.
III. A Model of Human Information Processing.
1. When it comes to processing information, the human mind is analogous to a computer.
Information is entered, stored, and retrieved in a sequence of stages where each stage performs
a specific operation on the information. During one, the input stage, information is taken in via
the senses, attended to, and then interpreted. This is the stage where raw information is taken
in through the senses and interpreted by the brain. The essential cognitive process during this
stage is perception.
IV. Cross-Cultural Differences in Sensation and Perception
1. In addition to the perceptual filters, culture affects one’s ability to sense and perceive incoming
information. Four explanations for cross-cultural differences in the perception of sensory stimuli
include conditions of the physical environment, indirect environmental conditions, genetic
differences, and cultural differences in how people interact with their environment.
2. Once information has passed through the perceptual filters, it is processed into memory.
Memory involves maintaining information over time. Cognitive psychologists recognize three
kinds of memory, including sensory register (discussed above), short-term, and long-term
memory.
3. Once information has been stored, it is relatively useless unless it can be retrieved. The human-
information processor excels at retrieval. Information that has been stored for a lifetime can be
recalled in an instant. Other times, however, recently stored information seems very difficult to
recall.
V. Cross-Cultural Differences in Memory and Retrieval
1. Culture affects information retrieval. In addition to culture, age and education are two other
variables strongly linked to recall. Age and recall are curvilinearly related. Up to a point, one’s
age facilitates recall. When many people reach a certain age, their memory skills deteriorate,
however. Likewise, educated persons seem to employ different kinds of memory strategies.
2. A culture’s language and literacy rate may affect recall. Some evidence indicates that
nonliterate societies develop mnemonic skills different that those of literate societies. In
nonliterate societies, there may be no written language to facilitate memory.
3. Until more is known, final conclusions about the relationship between culture and memory
should be made with some degree of caution. Although several studies indicate a connection
between culture and memory, these studies may actually be revealing differences in other
factors that affect recall, such as socialization or education.
VI. Categorization and Mental Economy
1. Humans are besieged by so much stimuli simultaneously that they cannot possibly process all of
it. In order to manage the enormous quantities of information, humans tend to engage in
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categorization. Categorization is classifying, sorting, or arranging information into identifiable
compartments that share certain features or characteristics. Most cognitive psychologists
argue that all people, regardless of culture, engage in categorization.
2. Humans cannot avoid categorization. Categories are useful because they help the information
processor reduce uncertainty and increase the accuracy of predictions about others. Moreover,
categories help us to make attributions about the behavior of others and help us recall and
recognize information. Understanding categorization is particularly important for intercultural
communication because whenever we interact with someone from a different culture we are
faced with high levels of uncertainty and unfamiliar stimuli to process.
VII. Stereotyping
1. Categories are the basis of prejudgment, such as stereotyping. Considered a subset of
categorization, stereotyping involves members of one group attributing characteristics to
members of another group. These attributions typically carry a positive or negative evaluation.
In this sense, stereotypes are categories with an attitude.
2. Stereotypes typically refer to membership in social categories like sex, race, age, or profession
that are believed to be associated with certain traits and behaviors.
3. Stereotyping is a natural, and universal information-processing strategy. Stereotyping should
be seen as a normal and essentially benign process that is a useful information-processing tool
in diverse societies. The difficulty arises when stereotypes carry a negative valence and are used
to overgeneralize negative traits to an entire group of people when in reality few members of
the group actually possess such traits.
VIII. Racial and Ethnic Stereotypes
1. The systematic study of racial and ethnic stereotypes in the United States began in the 1930s
with a study conducted by David Katz and Kenneth Braly. In their study, college students were
presented with a list of adjectives and were asked to indicate which traits were characteristic of
ten ethnic groups, including Americans, African-Americans, Chinese, English, Germans, Italians,
Irish, Japanese, Jews, and Turks. The results of their study showed that the college students
consistently agreed on which traits described which group. The results were particularly
consistent for African-Americans and Jews.
IX. American Stereotypes
1. The negative connotation associated with stereotyping may be uniquely American. The study of
stereotypes in the United States has mainly focused on white stereotypes of African-Americans,
which have been particularly brutal and negative.
2. Psychologists studying interpersonal attraction have long understood that perceived similarity is
a major determinant in how much people are attracted to and like others. The more we
perceive people to be similar to us the more likely we are to be attracted to and like them.
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Hence, stereotypes that emphasize group differences essentially block the potential for
intergroup friendships.
3. Studies demonstrate that stereotypes and personal beliefs are conceptually distinct cognitive
structures. Stereotyping is an automatic information processing strategy whereas prejudice is a
controlled process.
X. Media Influence on Stereotypes
1. A considerable body of research suggests that media play a significant role in the development
of stereotypes. One theory, called cultivation theory, developed by George Gerbner and his
colleagues proposes that long-term exposure to media, especially television, “cultivates” in
viewers a perception of social reality that is reflective of the content they view on television.
2. The central thesis of the theory is that the images, characters, news accounts, and especially the
stories (e.g., situation comedies, reality shows, dramas, etc.) portrayed on television, whether
accurate or not, become the social reality that viewers believe is correct and representative of
their society.
3. A number of researchers applying cultivation theory have studied microcultural groups in the
United States and how they are depicted on television, and the resulting stereotypes associated
with them. Three specific groups studied include African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, and
Asian Americans.
XI. The Stereotype Content Model (SCM)
1. At the core of the SCM is the thesis that individuals’ social perceptions (i.e., stereotypes) about
others are based on the two judgments of (a) warmth and (b) competence. The model posits
that people ask two questions upon encountering out-group members: Do they intend to harm
me? and Are they capable of harming me? In the SCM, judgments of warmth and competence
stem from two appraisals: (a) the potential harm or benefit of the target’s intent and (b)
whether the target can effectively enact that intent. Judgments of warmth are based on social
perceptions of honesty, trustworthiness, friendliness, sincerity, etc. Judgments of competence
are based on social perceptions of skillfulness, knowledge, intelligence, confidence, etc. When
stereotyping, competitors lack warmth, while noncompetitors are warm; high-status people are
competent, while low-status people are incompetent. When a person stereotypes someone,
that stereotype is based on a combination of both warmth and competence. The stereotyped
person could be judged as either high or low on warmth and either high or low on competence.
2. According to the SCM, the origins of perceived warmth and competence stem from larger social
structures seen in all cultures, specifically competition and status. In all cultures, groups
compete with one another for resources (e.g., jobs, schools, housing). In all cultures, groups are
ranked within some social hierarchy (e.g., microcultures). Noncompetitive groups are seen as
warm, while competitive groups are seen as cold. High-status groups are seen as competent,
while low-status groups are seen as incompetent. SCM posits a direct link between the larger
social structures, stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination.
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XII. Why Stereotype?
1. When viewed as a natural information processing strategy there are several explanations as to
why stereotyping is so common and universal, none of which relate to prejudice.
a. One explanation is called the outgroup homogeneity effect; that is, the tendency for
people to see members of an outgroup as less diverse and more stereotypic than the
members of that group see themselves.
b. A second plausible explanation for stereotyping is called the illusory correlation
principle. When two objects that are unfamiliar or unusual in some way are observed to
be connected on some occasion, we have the tendency to believe that they are always
connected.
c. Stereotypes may arise out of real conditions. For example, a disproportionate number
of people from a particular racial or ethnic group may live in poverty, and so members
of other groups stereotype all of them as poor or even lazy.
d. Another explanation is their role in self-fulfilling prophecies. The dominant group in a
particular culture may construct social or legal obstacles, making it hard for members of
the stereotyped group to act differently from the stereotype. Hence, conformity to the
stereotype, although forced, validates the stereotype in the minds of the dominant
group.
2. Stereotype threat occurs when we sense that some aspect of our self (e.g., our behavior,
physical characteristics, or social condition) seems to match the stereotype, making it appear
valid. Culturally held stereotypes pose the most danger for stereotyped groups since large
numbers of people may hold them, leading members of the group to sense that the stereotype
is valid. When the stereotype is negative, the effects can be disastrous to the stereotyped group.
XIII. Ethnocentrism
1. One of the central concepts in understanding outgroup attitudes and intergroup relations is
ethnocentrism. Ethnocentricity is a natural condition and that most peoples of the world do not
like foreigners and openly display feelings of hostility and fear towards them. At the core of
ethnocentrism is the tendency for any people to put their own group in a position of centrality
and worth while creating and reinforcing negative attitudes and behaviors toward outgroups.
2. The attitudes and behaviors of ethnocentric persons are biased in favor of the ingroup, often at
the expense of the outgroup. Although ethnocentrism is generally thought to be a negative trait,
ethnocentrism fosters ingroup survival, solidarity, conformity, cooperation, loyalty, and
effectiveness.
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3. Ethnocentrism should be viewed along a continuum; that everyone is, to some extent,
ethnocentric.
XIV. Ethnocentrism, Intercultural Communication, and Interpersonal Perception
1. The effects of ethnocentrism are manifest in any social context, including organizational
environments where persons of different cultural backgrounds interact in the workplace.
Ethnocentrism is negatively and significantly correlated with perceptions of social attraction,
competence, character, and hiring recommendations. Cultural and/or ethnic similarity between
interviewee and interviewer may play a role in hiring decisions. Interviewers are more likely to
hire people with whom they feel they have the most in common (e.g., culture and/or ethnicity).
This effect may be enhanced by ethnocentrism.
XV. Ethnocentrism and Communication in the Workplace
1. In an increasingly growing diverse workplace, managers and subordinates of different cultures
and ethnicities are likely to find themselves interacting together. To the extent that such
interactants are ethnocentric, interpersonal perceptions and communication will be negatively
influenced. In cases where managers and subordinates are of different cultures or ethnicities,
subordinate ethnocentrism may interfere with the interpretation of managerial appraisals. If
ethnocentric subordinates perceive managers of different cultures/ethnicities to be less
attractive, less competent, and less credible, they may be less likely to accept their appraisal and
any of the recommendation contained therein.
XVI. Ethnocentrism and Racism
1. Although the terms racism and ethnocentrism are not synonymous, they are related.
Ethnocentrism refers to the degree to which one sees his or her culture as superior and the
standard by which other cultures should be judged. Racism refers to a belief that one racial
group is superior to others, and that other racial groups are necessarily inferior. To be
ethnocentric, but not racist, is possible. To be racist, and not ethnocentric, is probably unlikely.
There is a biological component at the core of racist ideology that does not exist in the concept
of ethnocentrism. Racist ideology is a belief in the moral or intellectual superiority of one race
over the others. This superiority is biologically based. Because such superiority is biological,
rather than social, it can not be conditioned by culture or education. However, racist ideology
asserts that racial-biological superiority does, in fact, translate into cultural and/or social
superiority.
2. Racism and ethnocentrism have different origins. Ethnocentrism is a universal phenomenon
that reflects a biologically rooted survival instinct experienced, to some degree, by all people in
all cultures. Racism, on the other hand, is not universal, and is thought to be learned.
3. Many political scientists offer a socio-economic-political explanation of the causes of racism,
frequently called the frustration-aggression hypothesis. During times of social, economic, or
political stress (e.g., depressed economy, mass immigration) the dominant cultural group often
will place blame on subordinate racial groups. Racism becomes a way of releasing the stress and
frustration associated with difficult social, economic or political times. In these situations, the
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dominant group often will act out its frustration against the subordinate racial group, via
prejudice and discrimination.