PPA Final Analysis
Student: Brooke Colna
Date: December 9, 2018
Popular Press Analysis
COMM 314
Brooke Colna
Honor Pledge: Brooke Colna
Nonverbally communicating with other people through gestures, eye movement, and, in general, body language is crucial for establishing relationships. Additionally, it is also essential for breaking barriers between people that are associated with various cultures and external environments. When we learn how other cultures communicate, compared to our own, we have the ability to control how others may see our culture. We can control their view of our culture in whether we are open or close-minded of theirs. his paper will evaluate a popular press article that discusses the role of body language in cross-cultural communication, and it will provide research that will educate the audience on the importance of nonverbal communication in Chinese culture.
Summary of Popular Press Analysis
The article, Take A Hint: A Chinese Guide to Body Language by Jeffery Hackbarth, addresses various ways to read one’s surroundings by studying Chinese body language. These ways of nonverbal communicating in Chinese culture include specific facial expressions, gestures, and postures. It also talks about gestures and behaviors that are ethical versus unethical in Chinese culture. Some of the gestures described are used to demonstrate characteristics like power or respect. As Hackbarth writes, one example is the “I’m a Boss” pose. He describes this pose in detail by writing that “when it comes to the ultimate power pose, stick a foot out and place your hands on your hips. The chest is barreled out showing strength, but the abdomen is left vulnerable to attack…” (Hackbarth, 2015). Other poses are used relationally towards family, friends, or a significant other like the “shenma” posture and “fanning” gesture. Hackbarth describes the “schema” as a “gesture is all about the slumped over shoulders synchronized with a sudden paralysis of the jaw muscles and eyelids. This is the equivalent of the more recently famous “facepalm” found in the West.” While “fanning” is described as “when a woman masks the lower portion of her face from her potential lover using a fan” (Hackbarth, 2015). Overall, there are many different types of gestures to represent different cultural norms, or moods, to a specific target audience. However, as Hackbarth also states, each form of body language in Chinese culture should be taken seriously. He writes that “quite possibly, gestures are the most dangerous of all components of body language. With little crossover among cultures, giving a thumbs up in the wrong place could land you in an embarrassing or even dangerous situation. The thing about gestures that makes them unique is our innate ability to use them in place of words” (Hackbarth, 2015).
Importance of Gestures and Body Language in Relationships
There are scholarly articles that support the claims are Chinese body language being, not only important to the people that reside in China, but should be important for those who enter China and have different cultural backgrounds. Different types of body language represent status, class, and positions, as much as they represent interpersonal relationships. In Huang, Wang, Liu, Neumann, Shum, and Chan’s article (2017), Ekman, Frieson, (1969), Roter, Frankel, Hall, and Sluyter (2006) confirm that the Chinese ways of communicating are crucial to understanding their culture by stating that nonverbal behaviours such as eye gazing, hand gestures and smiling convey important information during human interactions (Huang, J., Wang, Y., Liu, B., Neumann, D., Shum, D., & Chan, R., 2017; Edman & Frieson, 1969; Roter, Frankel, Hall, & Sluyter, 2006). They are important because they express different emotions and lifestyles that say so much about a person’s identity. Huang, Wang, Liu, Neumann, Shum, & Chan (2017) also confirm the importance of nonverbal behavior in Chinese culture by stating that information derived from observing how one behaves nonverbally conveys one's interpersonal roles. Furthermore, one's role in a social interaction can influence one's nonverbal behaviour. (Huang, et al., 2017). So, by confirming this, they are confirming that, in addition to knowing someone’s identity, a person can also know who they associate with or how they associate themselves relationally with other people.
Huang, Wang, Liu, Neumann, Shum, and Chan’s (2017) study also confirmed the differences in cultural techniques of problem solving between Chinese and Australian subjects who either played the role of the student or the instructor. They write, “To examine social nonverbal behaviour and its determinants, the current study used a novel puzzle‐solving task to assess dyadic interactive nonverbal behaviour. The main findings highlight the importance of an individual's cultural background and role in the dyadic interaction. Specifically, the Australian instructors and solvers displayed longer eye gazing overall, longer eye gazing after their partner gazed, and more hand gestures when they were talking than the Chinese instructors and solvers”. They also state that, “the cultural background of the Australian dyads is Western. Previous research has shown that the physical actions of Westerners are expressive so that people can guess gender and attractiveness by just watching how someone walks” (Huang, J., Wang, Y., Liu, B., Neumann, D., Shum, D., & Chan, R., 2017; Troje, 2003). So, because it is known that American behavior is similar to Australian behavior, an audience can infer that Western culture and Chinese culture as very different. However, it is important for people who solely know Western body language to know Chinese body language in case they encounter someone in their life who is unfamiliar with Chinese body language. This study also confirms how important it is to understand what a specific segment of gestures in Chinese culture mean compared to how other gestures are recognized.
Culture Defining Behavior and Interpersonal Roles
Keller, Abels, Borke, Lamm, Yanjie Su, Yifang Wang, & Lo (2007) discuss, in their article, the manner of which Chinese babies are prone to behave a certain way nonverbally compared to babies born in American culture. They write, from the research of Chao (1994) & Wu (1985) that children are trained to show good manners, i.e. to act according to parental wishes and to show socially desirable and culturally-approved behaviors (Chao,1994; Wu, 1985; Keller, Abels, Borke, Lamm, Yanjie Su, Yifang Wang, & Lo, 2007). Therefore, an audience can additionally confirm that the nonverbal behavior is, not only linked to the environment of someone who is Chinese, but it is also biological. The article also shows how Chinese and Euro-American children develop into adults from learning how to behave specific ways culturally.
Keller, Abels, Borke, Lamm, Yanjie Su, Yifang Wang, & Lo (2007) write that “the present study assesses parenting behaviors as well as parenting ethnotheories with respect to three-month-old babies in middle-class families in Los Angeles and Beijing. Euro-American parents' behaviors towards their children, as well as their parental ethnotheories are assumed to express the cultural model of autonomy; whereas Chinese parents' socialization strategies are assumed to be shaped by the cultural model of relatedness” (Keller, Abels, Borke, Lamm, Yanjie Su, Yifang Wang, & Lo, 2007). In other words, studies show that Chinese parents teach their children to be more relational while Euro-American parents teach their children to be more independent. This reflects how these cultures behave nonverbally, and it also reflects how they develop from what they learn as kids to what they know as adults. Chinese people take body language more seriously than most Americans because relationships are more important to, and beneficial for, their culture.
Comparison and Contrast between articles
It can be noted that although some articles may be misleading, this popular press article was not. All of the information discovered through research supported the different aspects of Chinese body language Hackbarth described was not only supported, but enhanced through more research. Although there was no scholarly research to support the specific types of body language he referred to, the articles did support the general use of body language used in Chinese culture. They also compared the differences between Chinese and Westernized forms of body language.
In comparing Australian and Chinese body language, Huang, Wang, Liu, Neumann, Shum, and Chan’s (2017) write, “To examine social nonverbal behaviour and its determinants, the current study used a novel puzzle‐solving task to assess dyadic interactive nonverbal behaviour. The main findings highlight the importance of an individual's cultural background and role in the dyadic interaction. Specifically, the Australian instructors and solvers displayed longer eye gazing overall, longer eye gazing after their partner gazed, and more hand gestures when they were talking than the Chinese instructors and solvers”. They also state that, “the cultural background of the Australian dyads is Western. Previous research has shown that the physical actions of Westerners are expressive so that people can guess gender and attractiveness by just watching how someone walks” (Huang, J., Wang, Y., Liu, B., Neumann, D., Shum, D., & Chan, R., 2017; Troje, 2003).
In comparing American and Chinese cultural and behaviors styles, Keller, Abels, Borke, Lamm, Yanjie Su, Yifang Wang, & Lo (2007) write that “the present study assesses parenting behaviors as well as parenting ethnotheories with respect to three-month-old babies in middle-class families in Los Angeles and Beijing. Euro-American parents' behaviors towards their children, as well as their parental ethnotheories are assumed to express the cultural model of autonomy; whereas Chinese parents' socialization strategies are assumed to be shaped by the cultural model of relatedness” (Keller, Abels, Borke, Lamm, Yanjie Su, Yifang Wang, & Lo, 2007).
Conclusion
Overall, the popular press article seems to be supported by research presented in this analysis. The popular press article, and the research discussed in the scholarly articles, serves to demonstrate that it is crucial to understand body language in different cultures in order to understand the identity and social lifestyle of another human being. It is also important to understand the similarities and differences of nonverbal communication between different countries so that readers can develop a sense of empathy towards a person from another country. Through being aware of other cultures act nonverbally, a reader can truly know, or be aware, of a someone’s social status, economic status, how they were raised, how they feel, their job occupation, how they problem solve, their relationship with someone, etc. Therefore, the popular press article and scholarly research articles proves that readers can know so much about one person just a simple gesture, eye gaze, or posture.
References
Chao, R.K. (1995). Chinese and European American cultural models of the self
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Ekman, P., & Frieson, W. V. (1969). The repertoire of nonverbal behavior: Categories, origins, usage and coding. Semiotica, 1, 49–98. https://doi.org/10.1515/semi.1969.1.1.49.
Hackbarth, J. (2015, June 05). A Guide to Chinese Body Language. Retrieved November 28, 2018, from http://www.heredg.com/2015/05/take-the-hint-a-guide-to-chinese-body- language/
Huang, J., Wang, Y., Liu, B., Neumann, D., Shum, D., & Chan, R. (2017). Decoding dyadic interactive nonverbal behaviour in Chinese and Australian cohorts: A novel dyadic puzzle‐solving task. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 20(2), 128-136.
Keller, H., Abels, Borke, Lamm, Yanjie Su, Yifang Wang, & Lo. (2007). Socialization environments of Chinese and Euro-American middle-class babies: Parenting behaviors, verbal discourses and ethnotheories. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 31(3), 210-217.
Roter, D. L., Frankel, R. M., Hall, J. A., & Sluyter, D. (2006). The expression of emotion through nonverbal behavior in medical visits. Mechanisms and outcomes. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 21, S28–S34. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1525-1497.2006.00306.x.
Troje, N. F. (2003). Cat walk and Western hero‐motion is expressive. IGSN report, 40–43.
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