Pyschology Research
Content
1.0 PROBLEM RATIONALE Background of the study Culture is the way of living which a group of people has developed and transmits from one generation to the next. It includes concepts, skills, habits of thinking and acting, arts, institutions, ways of relating to the world, and agreement on what is significant and necessary to know. Race, ethnicity, class, and gender are cultural creations; they derive their meanings from the culture (Tan, 2004). According to Samovar, Porter and McDaniel there are five elements of culture; history, religion, values, social organizations and language (2010). These elements distinguish one culture to another. History highlights the culture’s origins, it is the recognition of what is deemed important, and gives identification to a particular culture. As said by Ferraro (2008), religion impacts everything from business to politics to individual behaviour. Peoples and Bailey (2009) mentioned that values are critical to the maintenance of culture as a whole because they represent the qualities that people believe are essential to continuing their way of life. As Nolan cited, social organizations/structures reflect ones culture, it is how members of the culture organize their lives. Language is another feature that every culture has, without our capacity for complex language, human culture as we know could not exist (Haviland, 2002) Culture of a particular group of people may vary based on the part of the world they belong into; Western or Eastern part of the world. Western and Eastern culture differs in material and non-material culture. The United States of America and Korea are good examples of two opposing culture from east and west. Consider the following cultural contrasts between America and Korea: Americans believe that individuals are the most important, while Koreans think individuals are just part of, therefore, subject to, the families, groups, companies, and communities they belong. American home has rooms separately designed and used for different functions (e.g., bedroom, dining room, living room, den, etc.), a traditional Korean residence has only multipurpose rooms, any of which can be used for dining, sleeping, studying, playing, etc. Whereas Americans frequently utter such common phrases as Hi, Hello, Thank you, You’re welcome, Excuse me, and I am sorry, Koreans sometimes express thoughts by just eye contacts or bodily gestures without saying such phrase. Cultural patterns can be thought of as systems of integrated beliefs and values that work in combination to provide coherent, if not always consistent, model for perceiving the world (Samovar et al, 2010). There are two patterns introduced by Samovar et al that can be used to analyze the key behavioural pattern in every culture. The first pattern is Hofstede’s Value Dimensions and the second is Hall’s High-Context and Low-Context 1
Orientations. The first pattern which is developed by Hofstede, has five dimensions; individualism/collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance, masculinity/femininity, and long-term/short-term orientation. Base on the research of Hofstede Americans are individualistic, does not feel uncomfortable to uncertainty, has high-power distance orientation, prefers masculine traits and has short-term orientation. On the other hand, Koreans are collectivist in general, uncomfortable of uncertainty, are high-power distance oriented, prefers feminine traits and has long-term orientation. The second cultural pattern by Edward Hall is categorized into low and high-context culture orientation. This is depending on the degree to which meaning comes from the setting rather than from the words being exchanged. According to Hall, Americans are categorized in low-context culture while Koreans belong to high-context culture. The world is becoming a global market for rising and emerging businesses. There is an important goal that they want to sell their goods to potential customers. Nevertheless, if companies want to provide an
efficient and an effective communication between different countries, the companies need to analyze culture of other countries, (Philip and John, 2002). Generally it is concerning how negotiation income, how agreements are specified, and how employees should be controlled. The world is becoming a global market for rising and emerging businesses. There is an important goal that they want to sell their goods to potential customers. Nevertheless, if companies want to provide an
efficient and an effective communication between different countries, the companies need to analyze culture of other countries, (Philip and John, 2002). Generally it is concerning how negotiation income, how agreements are specified, and how employees should be controlled. Culture of Koreans and Americans as mentioned, differs, but people have the ability to have communication with people of other cultures which is called intercultural or cross-cultural competence. According to Cindy King (2006), cross-cultural competence is needed due to cross-cultural communication blunders, cultural perceptions and cross-cultural differences. Cross-cultural communication blunders are serious mistake typically caused by ignorance or confusion in communication due to variety of differences among people that leads to misunderstandings, through cross-cultural competence, right procedures and adequate skills one can limit these misunderstandings from becoming cross-cultural communication blunders. Different cultures perceive things differently, sometimes these differences are very subtle and sometimes perceptions can lead to totally opposite interpretations. Through cross-cultural competence, differences on perceptions among culture are understood and it can be very effective in communication. Cross-cultural differences can never be avoided and with cross-cultural competency one can adapt and can make strong relations with different cultures in varieties of aspects.
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With the gathered facts, studies and theories, the researchers would want to analyze and identify the differences between Americans and Koreans. The researchers would want to analyze how the two theories affect the lives of Americans and Koreans. Also, the cross-cultural competency of the two countries and its importance will be discussed through this research. This paper hoped to show the most relevant analyzation of Western and Eastern culture through the representation of two countries; United States of America and Korea. This thesis was structured as follows: Section I previews the whole study through the introduction and relevant related studies, Section II describes the framework used to conduct this study, and Section III presents the findings of the analyzation and interpretation of data as well as conclusion and recommendation.
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Theoretical Framework
Culture
HighContext Culture
Korea (Eastern Culture)
United States of America (Western Culture)
LowContext Culture
Collectivist culture, uncomfortable of uncertainty, high-power distance oriented, femininity oriented and long-term oriented
Individualist, does not feel uncomfortable to uncertainty, high-power distance oriented, masculinity oriented and long-term oriented
Figure 1 Paradigm Figure 1 shows that culture is identified into two opposing poles; Western and Eastern culture which are represented by the United States of America and Korea. Also, the characterizations of cultural patterns by Hofsdtede and Edward Hall for both countries are shown in the diagram.
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Hofstede’s Value Dimensions Hofstede’s Value Dimensions is a cultural pattern that identifies five value dimensions (individualism/collectivism, uncertainity avoidance, power distance, masculinity/femininity, and long-term/shortterm orientation) that are influenced and modified by culture. Individualism/collectivism is a concept of individual versus group orientation. Collectivist cultures emphasizes community, collaboration, harmony, the public good and maintaining face, while individualistic cultures emphasizes personal rights and responsibilities, privacy, freedom and self-expression (Andersen, 2003). With regards to the two opposing pole, the United States of America has individualistic culture orientation while Korea has collective culture orientation. Uncertainty avoidance defines the extent to which people within culture are made nervous by situations which they perceive as an unstructured, unclear or unpredictable situations which they therefore try to avoid by maintaining strict codes of behaviour and a belies in absolute truths. Americans, in general, according to Hofstede does not feel uncomfortable with uncertainty while Koreans on the other hand are classified as the group which does not like uncertainty. Power distance is another value dimension of Hofstede which classifies cultures between high and lowpower distance. Individuals from high-power distance cultures accept power as part of society, as such, superiors consider their subordinates to be different from themselves and vice versa (Gudykunst, 2001). Cultures referred to as low-power distance are guided by laws, norms and everyday behaviours that make power distinction as minimal as possible (Brislin, 2000). Through the research of Hofstede, he found out that both Americans and Koreans belong to low-power distance culture. Masculinity/Feminty of Hofstede refers to the degree to which masculine or feminine traits are valued and revealed. Masculine cultures like the Americans use the biological existence of two sexes to define very different social roles for men and women; they expect men to be assertive, competitive and to strive for material success. Cultures that value femininity, for example Koreans, promotes sexual equality and views that man need not to be assertive that they can assume nurturing roles Long versus short term orientation, also referred as “Confucian Dynamism”, appears to be based on the teachings of Confucious. Cultures that belong to long-term orientation like Korea would most likely have employees who reflect a strong work ethic and show great respect for status differences. On the other hand cultures that belong to short-term orientation like United States, often do not place a high priority on status, try to postpone old age, are concerned with short term results, and seek quick gratification of their needs.
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Hall’s High-Context Culture and Low-Context Orientation Edward Hall developed an effective means of examining cultural similarities and differences in both perception and communication. He categorized cultures as being high-context and low-context. In some cultures, such as those of Americans, Scandinavians, Germans and the Swiss, communication occurs predominantly through explicit statements in text and speech and they are thus categorized as Low-Context cultures. In other cultures, such as the Japanese, Korean and Chinese, messages include other communicative cues such as body language and the use of silence. Essentially, High-Context communication involves implying a message through that which is not uttered. This includes the situation, behaviour, and Para-verbal cues as integral parts of the communicated message (Wurtz, 2005).
Research Objectives Generally, the study aimed to have a pen portrait analysis of two opposing poles; Western and Eastern culture represented by United States of America and Korea. Specifically, it also aimed to answer the following questions: 1. What are the differences between American and Korean culture in terms of: a. History b. Religion c. Values d. Social organizations e. Language? 2. Is there any similarity between the culture of Americans and Koreans? 3. How does Hofstede’s Value Dimensions (individualism/collectivism, uncertainity avoidance, power distance, masculinity/femininity, and long-term/short-term orientation) affect both Americans and Koreans in terms of their: a. Profession life b. Personal life 6
c. Social life? 4. How does Hall’s High-context and Low-context Orientation affect both Americans and Koreans in terms of their: a. Profession life b. Personal life c. Social life? 5. Is Cross-cultural competency important to both Americans and Koreans? 6. How does Cross-cultural competency affect both Americans and Koreans in terms of their: a. Professional life b. Personal life c. Social life? 7. Is American culture superior to Korean culture? Hypothesis 1. There is a similarity between the culture of Americans and Koreans. 2. Hofstede’s Value Dimensions (individualism/collectivism, uncertainity avoidance, power distance, masculinity/femininity, and long-term/short-term orientation) affect both Americans and Koreans positively in terms of their: a. Profession life b. Personal life c. Social life 3. Hall’s High-context and Low-context Orientation does affect both Americans and Koreans positively in terms of their: a. Profession life b. Personal life 7
c. Social life 4. Cross-cultural competency important to both Americans and Koreans.
5. Cross-cultural competency affect both Americans and Koreans positively in terms of their: a. Profession life b. Personal life c. Social life 6. American culture superior to Korean culture.
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Research Model
A Pen Portrait Analysis of two opposing poles; Western and Eastern Culture
Hall’s High-Context Culture and LowContext Orientation in professional, personal and social life
Similarities and Differences in
terms of: History, Religion, Values, Social organizations and Language Hofstede’s Value Dimensions in professional, personal and social life
United States of America (Western Culture)
Importance of Cross Cultural Competency Korea (Eastern Culture)
Figure 2: Framework depicting Paradigm Figure 2 shows what the research wants to achieve which is to have a pen portrait analysis of two opposing poles; Western and Eastern culture. This goal can be achieved by recognizing the importance of crosscultural competency and identifying the similarities and differences between the two representing nations from east and west; United States of America and Korea, in terms of culture. Both Hall and Hofstede’s theory will be analyzed on how these theories affect a particular culture in terms of their professional life, personal life and social life.
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Chapter II Orientation of Samples Samples The study focuses in analyzing the Western and Eastern culture, wherein it is represented by United States of America and Korea. Samples for this research are foreigners, Koreans and Americans more specifically. Two Koreans and two Americans, 18 above; either male or female, will be interviewed by the researchers. Data Gathering Method Data gathering will be a combination of archival research process and interviewing method. Researching from different journals, books, valid webpage, articles, etc., is done for reliable data gathering. The interviewing method is done by the researchers up front to interviewees for dependable and valid data. Process The method used for this research is structured below: 1. Researching for cultural similarities and differences in references in form of archival method. 1.1 Research on reliable books, journals and articles. 1.2 Research on valid WebPages in the World Wide Web. 2. Researching for cultural similarities and differences in references in form of interview method. 2.1 Preparing for the questions for the interviewees. 2.2 Finding six foreigners; two Americans and two Koreans, above 18 years-old, either male or female. 2.3 Interviewing the four foreigners.
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Orientations. The first pattern which is developed by Hofstede, has five dimensions; individualism/collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance, masculinity/femininity, and long-term/short-term orientation. Base on the research of Hofstede Americans are individualistic, does not feel uncomfortable to uncertainty, has high-power distance orientation, prefers masculine traits and has short-term orientation. On the other hand, Koreans are collectivist in general, uncomfortable of uncertainty, are high-power distance oriented, prefers feminine traits and has long-term orientation. The second cultural pattern by Edward Hall is categorized into low and high-context culture orientation. This is depending on the degree to which meaning comes from the setting rather than from the words being exchanged. According to Hall, Americans are categorized in low-context culture while Koreans belong to high-context culture. The world is becoming a global market for rising and emerging businesses. There is an important goal that they want to sell their goods to potential customers. Nevertheless, if companies want to provide an
efficient and an effective communication between different countries, the companies need to analyze culture of other countries, (Philip and John, 2002). Generally it is concerning how negotiation income, how agreements are specified, and how employees should be controlled. The world is becoming a global market for rising and emerging businesses. There is an important goal that they want to sell their goods to potential customers. Nevertheless, if companies want to provide an
efficient and an effective communication between different countries, the companies need to analyze culture of other countries, (Philip and John, 2002). Generally it is concerning how negotiation income, how agreements are specified, and how employees should be controlled. Culture of Koreans and Americans as mentioned, differs, but people have the ability to have communication with people of other cultures which is called intercultural or cross-cultural competence. According to Cindy King (2006), cross-cultural competence is needed due to cross-cultural communication blunders, cultural perceptions and cross-cultural differences. Cross-cultural communication blunders are serious mistake typically caused by ignorance or confusion in communication due to variety of differences among people that leads to misunderstandings, through cross-cultural competence, right procedures and adequate skills one can limit these misunderstandings from becoming cross-cultural communication blunders. Different cultures perceive things differently, sometimes these differences are very subtle and sometimes perceptions can lead to totally opposite interpretations. Through cross-cultural competence, differences on perceptions among culture are understood and it can be very effective in communication. Cross-cultural differences can never be avoided and with cross-cultural competency one can adapt and can make strong relations with different cultures in varieties of aspects.
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With the gathered facts, studies and theories, the researchers would want to analyze and identify the differences between Americans and Koreans. The researchers would want to analyze how the two theories affect the lives of Americans and Koreans. Also, the cross-cultural competency of the two countries and its importance will be discussed through this research. This paper hoped to show the most relevant analyzation of Western and Eastern culture through the representation of two countries; United States of America and Korea. This thesis was structured as follows: Section I previews the whole study through the introduction and relevant related studies, Section II describes the framework used to conduct this study, and Section III presents the findings of the analyzation and interpretation of data as well as conclusion and recommendation.
3
Theoretical Framework
Culture
HighContext Culture
Korea (Eastern Culture)
United States of America (Western Culture)
LowContext Culture
Collectivist culture, uncomfortable of uncertainty, high-power distance oriented, femininity oriented and long-term oriented
Individualist, does not feel uncomfortable to uncertainty, high-power distance oriented, masculinity oriented and long-term oriented
Figure 1 Paradigm Figure 1 shows that culture is identified into two opposing poles; Western and Eastern culture which are represented by the United States of America and Korea. Also, the characterizations of cultural patterns by Hofsdtede and Edward Hall for both countries are shown in the diagram.
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Hofstede’s Value Dimensions Hofstede’s Value Dimensions is a cultural pattern that identifies five value dimensions (individualism/collectivism, uncertainity avoidance, power distance, masculinity/femininity, and long-term/shortterm orientation) that are influenced and modified by culture. Individualism/collectivism is a concept of individual versus group orientation. Collectivist cultures emphasizes community, collaboration, harmony, the public good and maintaining face, while individualistic cultures emphasizes personal rights and responsibilities, privacy, freedom and self-expression (Andersen, 2003). With regards to the two opposing pole, the United States of America has individualistic culture orientation while Korea has collective culture orientation. Uncertainty avoidance defines the extent to which people within culture are made nervous by situations which they perceive as an unstructured, unclear or unpredictable situations which they therefore try to avoid by maintaining strict codes of behaviour and a belies in absolute truths. Americans, in general, according to Hofstede does not feel uncomfortable with uncertainty while Koreans on the other hand are classified as the group which does not like uncertainty. Power distance is another value dimension of Hofstede which classifies cultures between high and lowpower distance. Individuals from high-power distance cultures accept power as part of society, as such, superiors consider their subordinates to be different from themselves and vice versa (Gudykunst, 2001). Cultures referred to as low-power distance are guided by laws, norms and everyday behaviours that make power distinction as minimal as possible (Brislin, 2000). Through the research of Hofstede, he found out that both Americans and Koreans belong to low-power distance culture. Masculinity/Feminty of Hofstede refers to the degree to which masculine or feminine traits are valued and revealed. Masculine cultures like the Americans use the biological existence of two sexes to define very different social roles for men and women; they expect men to be assertive, competitive and to strive for material success. Cultures that value femininity, for example Koreans, promotes sexual equality and views that man need not to be assertive that they can assume nurturing roles Long versus short term orientation, also referred as “Confucian Dynamism”, appears to be based on the teachings of Confucious. Cultures that belong to long-term orientation like Korea would most likely have employees who reflect a strong work ethic and show great respect for status differences. On the other hand cultures that belong to short-term orientation like United States, often do not place a high priority on status, try to postpone old age, are concerned with short term results, and seek quick gratification of their needs.
5
Hall’s High-Context Culture and Low-Context Orientation Edward Hall developed an effective means of examining cultural similarities and differences in both perception and communication. He categorized cultures as being high-context and low-context. In some cultures, such as those of Americans, Scandinavians, Germans and the Swiss, communication occurs predominantly through explicit statements in text and speech and they are thus categorized as Low-Context cultures. In other cultures, such as the Japanese, Korean and Chinese, messages include other communicative cues such as body language and the use of silence. Essentially, High-Context communication involves implying a message through that which is not uttered. This includes the situation, behaviour, and Para-verbal cues as integral parts of the communicated message (Wurtz, 2005).
Research Objectives Generally, the study aimed to have a pen portrait analysis of two opposing poles; Western and Eastern culture represented by United States of America and Korea. Specifically, it also aimed to answer the following questions: 1. What are the differences between American and Korean culture in terms of: a. History b. Religion c. Values d. Social organizations e. Language? 2. Is there any similarity between the culture of Americans and Koreans? 3. How does Hofstede’s Value Dimensions (individualism/collectivism, uncertainity avoidance, power distance, masculinity/femininity, and long-term/short-term orientation) affect both Americans and Koreans in terms of their: a. Profession life b. Personal life 6
c. Social life? 4. How does Hall’s High-context and Low-context Orientation affect both Americans and Koreans in terms of their: a. Profession life b. Personal life c. Social life? 5. Is Cross-cultural competency important to both Americans and Koreans? 6. How does Cross-cultural competency affect both Americans and Koreans in terms of their: a. Professional life b. Personal life c. Social life? 7. Is American culture superior to Korean culture? Hypothesis 1. There is a similarity between the culture of Americans and Koreans. 2. Hofstede’s Value Dimensions (individualism/collectivism, uncertainity avoidance, power distance, masculinity/femininity, and long-term/short-term orientation) affect both Americans and Koreans positively in terms of their: a. Profession life b. Personal life c. Social life 3. Hall’s High-context and Low-context Orientation does affect both Americans and Koreans positively in terms of their: a. Profession life b. Personal life 7
c. Social life 4. Cross-cultural competency important to both Americans and Koreans.
5. Cross-cultural competency affect both Americans and Koreans positively in terms of their: a. Profession life b. Personal life c. Social life 6. American culture superior to Korean culture.
8
Research Model
A Pen Portrait Analysis of two opposing poles; Western and Eastern Culture
Hall’s High-Context Culture and LowContext Orientation in professional, personal and social life
Similarities and Differences in
terms of: History, Religion, Values, Social organizations and Language Hofstede’s Value Dimensions in professional, personal and social life
United States of America (Western Culture)
Importance of Cross Cultural Competency Korea (Eastern Culture)
Figure 2: Framework depicting Paradigm Figure 2 shows what the research wants to achieve which is to have a pen portrait analysis of two opposing poles; Western and Eastern culture. This goal can be achieved by recognizing the importance of crosscultural competency and identifying the similarities and differences between the two representing nations from east and west; United States of America and Korea, in terms of culture. Both Hall and Hofstede’s theory will be analyzed on how these theories affect a particular culture in terms of their professional life, personal life and social life.
9
Chapter II Orientation of Samples Samples The study focuses in analyzing the Western and Eastern culture, wherein it is represented by United States of America and Korea. Samples for this research are foreigners, Koreans and Americans more specifically. Two Koreans and two Americans, 18 above; either male or female, will be interviewed by the researchers. Data Gathering Method Data gathering will be a combination of archival research process and interviewing method. Researching from different journals, books, valid webpage, articles, etc., is done for reliable data gathering. The interviewing method is done by the researchers up front to interviewees for dependable and valid data. Process The method used for this research is structured below: 1. Researching for cultural similarities and differences in references in form of archival method. 1.1 Research on reliable books, journals and articles. 1.2 Research on valid WebPages in the World Wide Web. 2. Researching for cultural similarities and differences in references in form of interview method. 2.1 Preparing for the questions for the interviewees. 2.2 Finding six foreigners; two Americans and two Koreans, above 18 years-old, either male or female. 2.3 Interviewing the four foreigners.
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