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Jandt, An Introduction to Intercultural Communication 9e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
Chapter Exercises
Chapter 7: Dominant U.S. Cultural Patterns Using Value Orientation
Theory
Exercise 1: My Dominant Value
Purpose
To help you increase your understanding of what you value most
Instructions
From the list of values, select the 10 that are most important to you. These may be values that
act as guides for how to behave, or they may be as component that you consider key for a
valued way of life. Feel free to add any values of your own to this list.
Achievement
Friendships
Physical challenge
Advancement and
promotion
Growth
Pleasure
Adventure
Having a family
Power and authority
Affection (love and
caring)
Helping other people
Privacy
Arts
Helping society
Public service
Challenging problems
Honesty
Purity
Change and variety
Independence
Quality of what I take part in
Close relationships
Influencing others
Quality relationships
Community
Inner harmony
Recognition (respect from others,
status)
Competence
Integrity
Religion
Competition
Intellectual status
Reputation
Cooperation
Involvement
Responsibility and accountability
Country
Job tranquility
Security
Creativity
Knowledge
Self-respect
Decisiveness
Leadership
Serenity
Democracy
Location
Sophistication
Ecological awareness
Loyalty
Stability
Economic security
Market position
Status
Effectiveness
Meaningful work
Supervising others
Efficiency
Merit
Time freedom
Ethical practice
Money
Truth
Excellence
Nature
Wealth
Excitement
Being around people
who are open and
honest
Personal development
Fame
Wisdom
Freedom
Fast living
Order (tranquility,
stability, conformity)
Work with others
Financial gain
Work under pressure
Working alone
Go through the following process:
1. Imagine that you are only permitted to have five values. Which five would you give up?
Cross them off.
2. Now imagine that you are only permitted four. Which would you give up? Cross it off.
3. Now cross off another, to bring our list down to three.
4. And another, to bring our list down to two.
5. Finally cross off one of your two values. Which is the one item on the list that you care most
about?
Then, answer the questions in the “Conclusions” section of the exercise.
Conclusions
1. How did you feel about the values you had in front of you? How did you feel about your
initial list of 10 most important values?
2. How did it feel to cross off values?
3. Are there examples of situations in which people have taken other people’s values away
from them? How did they react? How might you react?
Exercise 2: Values Checklist
Purpose
To compare your own values to those identified as dominant U.S. cultural patterns
Instructions
Place a “+” in front of the statements you personally agree with, a “-” in front of those you
believe are not true for you, and leave blank those with which you neither agree nor disagree.
_____
1. I believe in a personal God (i.e., a God I can know personally, like a friend).
_____
2. Human life is the most unique form of life.
_____
3. Humans have power to control the plants and animals of the earth.
_____
4. Science helps people.
_____
5. You can tell something about a person by their possessions.
_____
6. Buying things on credit (credit card, car loan, etc.) is OK.
_____
7. Work gives me a feeling of accomplishment.
_____
8. Work should be a serious business.
_____
9. An active, busy life can be a satisfying life.
_____
10. It’s important to organize and plan your time.
_____
11. It is more important to focus on achieving short-term goals than long-term
goals because the distant future is uncertain.
_____
12. Change is good.
_____
13. New, improved products sell better than old ones.
_____
14. Time should be managed responsibly.
_____
15. We should use the present to work for a better future.
_____
16. People are born with the potential for good and evil.
Jandt, An Introduction to Intercultural Communication 9e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
_____
17. People can make decisions for themselves.
_____
18. People can change their behavior.
_____
19. It’s important to have an identity that is based on yourself and not on other
people.
_____
20. It’s important to decide goals for yourself.
_____
21. Everyone should have equal opportunity.
_____
22. It’s fun to keep in touch with trends (e.g., fashion, hairstyles, and “cool” clubs).
_____
23. I’m proud of my country.
_____
24. I’m willing to fight for my country.
Conclusions
1. How do your values compare to the dominant U.S. cultural patterns?
2. Which three values on this list are the most important to you?
3. Can you identify when and where you first learned these three values?
4. Do these three values affect how you communicate? If so, how?
5. How do these three values affect your intercultural communication?
Exercise 3: Discovering Values in Axioms
Purpose
To identify commonly held values in the United States
Instructions
Write down all the axioms, maxims, and proverbs that you have heard repeatedly. These are
the words of wisdom that your parents probably tried to tell you when you were growing
up. Try to locate other sayings from different cultures through online searches or
discussions with others. Make a list of the sayings you have gathered.
Look at each and try to determine what value is being taught.
Example:
Axiom
Value
The wheel that squeaks the loudest is the one
that gets the grease.
Individualism (United States)
Jandt, An Introduction to Intercultural Communication 9e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
One arrow can be broken easily, but three
arrows cannot be broken easily.
Group orientation (Japan)
Then, answer the questions in the “Conclusions” section of the exercise.
Conclusions
How do you believe axioms reflect and transmit cultural values?
Note: Based on Robert Kohls, “A Way of Getting at American Values,” in David S. Hoopes and Paul
Ventura (Eds.), Intercultural Sourcebook: Cross-Cultural Training Methodologies (Chicago:
Intercultural Press, 1979), p. 159.
Exercise 4: Regional Values
Purpose
To help you increase your understanding of regional U.S. values
Instructions
Interview two or three students from various regions of the United States (e.g., Northwest,
Northeast, South).
Ask them to discuss with you how, in their view, regional identity has impacted them.
Then, answer the question in the “Conclusions” section of the exercise.
Conclusions
How are identities impacted by regional cultural values?
Exercise 5: Social Media and Cultural Values
Purpose
To examine how cultural values are disseminated and expressed via social media sites.
Instructions
On Twitter.com or the Twitter app, change the location for the "trending" tweets. As you change the
location, you will see the hashtags and topics most talked about for that location. Compare at least
two different locations and consider the topics that are trending.
Jandt, An Introduction to Intercultural Communication 9e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
Conclusions
1. What can we learn about a culture from what is trending on Twitter?
2. How have social media sites such as Twitter or Facebook changed how we communicate
dominant cultural values?
