Week 10: Identity-And Relational-Based Intercultural Personal Relationship Development

 

Week 10 IDENTITY- AND RELA IDENTITYRELATIONAL-BAS TIONAL-BASED ED INTERCUL INT ERCULTURA TURAL L PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP DEVELOPMENT

 Nguyen Thi Ngoc Mai Phung Minh Duong Vu Phuong Hanh

 

Personal relationship development  based on membership and contextual conditions

01

 Nguyen Thi Ngoc Mai

02

Identity and development intercultural personal relationship  Phung Minh Duong 

Relation and intercultural personal relationshipVudevelopment. Phuong Hanh

03

 

01 Personal relationship development based on membership and contextual condition  Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Mai

 

Personal relationship

Any close relationship that exhibits a certain degree of 

Affective sentiments Voluntary Engagement Partners want to be involved Relational Interdependence Partners influence others on cognitive, emotional or  behavioral levels

Positive/negative feelings for each other 

Personalised understanding Exchange unique personal information Ting-Toomey, 1999

 

Membership and contextual conditions that affect the development of personal relationships

(1) Cultural and ethnic membership values (2) Gender expectations and norms (3) Individual personal attributes (4) Situational contact conditions Ting-Toomey, 1999

 

(1) Cultural and ethnic membership values Firstly,  cultural and ethnic membership values of individualism and collectivism undergrid many themes

+ Individualism: How private relational culture influences individuals’ selfhood actualization process + Collectivism: social intimacy network context influences the development ofHow relationship For example: gaining approval of family and friends will affect one’s love life

 

(1) Cultural and ethnic membership values Second, if kinship ties are ⇒

+ W eak People love love (US)(Korean) Strong Peoplevalue valuepassionate companionate ⇒

Third, in forming and ending relationship

+ Individualists low-context, direct approach + Collectivists high-context, indirect approach ⇒

⇒

 

(2) Gender expectations and norms

- People learn about gender roles due to their observation For example: At US school: + Boys’ games involve large groups, have clear objectives, rules, roles and win-lose outcomes ⇒ Masculine tendencies: independence, competition, verbal assertiveness

+ Girls’ games involve pairs or small groups, discussion and gossiping Feminine tendencies: relatedness

interdependence,

cooperation,

 

⇒

verbal

 

(3) Individual personal attributes Low vs High Ambiguity

Tolerance

for

-

Independent vs Interdependent self 

+

Tolerance Ability to dealforwith ambiguity: unfamiliar contexts + Low: overwhelmed by unexpected situations + High: use adaptive relational strategies ( cultural-sensitive requests) cultivate rls

⇒

initiate

and

Independent individualistic:

observed focus in culture,

on uniqueness + Interdependent: Observed in collective culture, people define themselves as part of a community

 

(4) Situational contact condition Contact conditions can impact the development of relationship

+ Equal status interactions + + + +

Disconfirm stereotypes (competition vs cooperation) Cooperative interdependence Intimate contacts (over extended period) Social norms

  Teachers divide colored and white students into mixed-ethnic groups for discussion (cooperative interdependence+ disconfirm stereotypes). They will work with each other for the whole semester (intimate contact). Every member of the group is encouraged to give their opinions (equal ⇒

 

status sta tus int inter eract action ion .

02 Identity and intercultural personal relationship development Phung Minh Duong

 

Identity and intercultural personal relationship development

The Identity Vulnerability & Security theme

The Identity Autonomy & Connection theme

 

The Identity Vulnerability & Security theme

context: unfamiliar situations, at least 2 complete strangers Identity Vulnerability

Identity Security

- degree of stress

- sense of confidence - sense of

-  perceived threats - fear of the unfamiliar 

resourcefulness - comfort and safety

 

 

EXAMPLE OF IDENTITY VULNERABILITY

 Michael (European (European American) American) asked Mae (Chinese) (Chinese) to go to go on a date after 3 weeks of knowing each other.

- Mae thought the request came too soon => hesitant hesitant to  to respond - Michael saw Mae’s hesitation => embarrassed embarrassed about  about himself

Cultural unfamilarity => Anxiety + Information uncertainty Intragroup vs Intergroup Intergroup encounters:  encounters: the latter produce greater anxiety  

(Gudykunst &

 

 

HOW TO REDUCE IDENTITY VULNERABILITY

- Anxiety tends to decrease over time. - Both parties are proficient in a shared language. language. - Both parties are open-minded open-minded about  about each other’s cultural

 background.  backgrou nd.

- The native language user has cultural sensitivity. sensitivity. - Be aware of the influence of individulism vs collectivism (example in the next slide)

 

 

 Previous  Pr evious example: Michael Michael ( individualistic individualistic ) asked Mae ( collectivistic collectivistic ) to go to go on a date after 3 weeks of knowing each other.

- Michael worried about his self-esteem, credibility and

competence. - Mae worried that accepting Michael might show disrespect for her  cultural + family background. => If Michael knew about Mae’s collectivism values, his

 

The Identity Autonomy & Connection theme

Underlying factors: Cultural values & Personality attributes

Autonomy

Connection

The need for:

The need for:

-- Privacy Personal space - Definite boundaries

-- Relatedness Overlapping space - Merging boundaries

BOTH SHOULD BE SATISFIED IN A RELATIONSHIP

 

The Identity Autonomy & Connection theme

VIEWPOINTS FROM INTIMATE PARTNERS: Independent viewpoint:

Interdependent viewpoint:

- A delicate act that

 balances “me” and “we”

A four-side contest among “me-me-we-they”

me: the individual partner  we: the relationship between partners

they: their networks, groups, societies  

The Identity Autonomy & Connection theme Individualists

- “fall in love” => “marry”/ “move

on” - Contrasting Contrasting forces  forces

-theValuing Valuing personal  personal commitment : desire to continuecommitment: the relationship

 based on subjective feelings

Collectivists

- “marry” => “learn to love” - Complimentary factors Complimentary factors - Valuing structural commitment: commitment:

decision to continue the relationship based on external social relations and relations and alternatives

 

 

REASONS REASON S FOR DISSA DISSATISF TISFACTION ACTION IN ROMANTIC

RELATIONSHIP IN INDIVIDUALISTIC CUL CULTURE: TURE: Excessive Excessi ve autonomy

+ Difficulty in satisfying needs of 2 separate individuals separate individuals + Inability to balance to balance personal  personal freedom and relationship responsibility + Refusal to sacrifice

 

 

REASONS REASON S FOR DISSA DISSATISF TISFACTION ACTION IN ROMANTIC

RELATIONSHIP IN COLLECTIVISTIC CUL CULTURE: TURE: Excessive connection

+ Love is constructed within social network contexts + Love is not perceived as a vital vital experience  experience Ex: German and US people value love more than Japanese people (Simmons, Von Von Kolke & Shimizu, 1986; Simmons, Wehner and Kay Kay,, 1989)

 

 

HOW TO HA HAVE VE A QUAL QUALITY ITY REL RELA ATIO TIONSHI NSHIP P

+ Know the cultural meanings and interpretation of Autonomy vs Connection theme + Understand individual expectations and thresholds + Communicate with culture-sensitive culture-sensitive relational  relational competence

 

03 Relation and intercultural personal relationship development Vu Phuong Hanh

 

Relation and intercultural personal relationship development

The relational dissimilarity similarity theme

The relational openness closedness theme

 

The relational dissimilarity –similarity theme

the degree to which people think others are dissimilar or similar to themselves relational dissimilarity

 perceived differentiation differentiation in  beliefs, values, attitudes, and/or interests

relational similarity

 perceived shared views in  beliefs, values, attitudes, and/or interests

 

Similarity—attraction hypothesis

There is a positive relationship between perceived similarity and similarity  and interpersonal attraction. attraction. (Berscheid & Reis, 1998; Berscheid & Walster, 1969; Byrne, 1971; Gudykunst & Nishida, 1984; Lee & Boster, 1991; Snyder & Cantor, 1998)

 

Similarity—attraction hypothesis

Explanations cognitive consistency (1) weattitudes experience   if we hold similar and outlooks in our relationship

(2) cognitive consistency is ego reinforcing and provides identity rewards and affirmations

(3) with similar others, we tend to invest   less time and energy in managing relational vulnerable feelings

 

ngưu mã tầm mã - Birds  Ngưu tầm ngưu Birds of a feather feather flock

together   

Relational thematic approach

● Individuals desire both similarity and complementarity complementarity   in their close relationships. ● People may be attracted to dissimilar strangers it they have repeated chances to interact with interact with them under favorable contact conditions   and with a  positive conditions mindset.

 

Example Analysis  

Toula is  is from a Greek  family.  family. Toula Her family expects her to "marry " marry a Greek, make Greek babies, and feed everyone until the day she dies". Toula’s father gets wild knowing that Toula Toula is dating with Ian, an Anglo-Saxon boy.

 

Ian  learns to adapt to Greek culture; he even agrees to be Ian  baptized in the Greek Orthodox Church.  Toula’s oula’s family accepts Ian.  T

 

The relational openness - closedness theme

gatekeepers in moving a relationship to greater or lesser intimacy openness

closedness

disclosure of information

the cautious regulation of

concerning the different facets of the public self and private self

information flow between the self and the outer world

 

Toula didn’t tell her family that her boyfriend, Ian,ofwas Anglo-Saxon for fear  being disapproved. 

 Closedness When her family learned that is notup Greek, they triedIan to open to accept him.  Openness

 

The Japanese

more guarded as to disclosing theirprivate inner attitudes and feelings.

U.S. Americans

more responsive in disclosing information of a  personal, private private nature nature (Barnlund, 1975)

 

Information acquisition strategies between strangers

(Berger & Kellerman, 1983) Interrogation

01 Use questions to solicit  background information

Self-disclosure

02

Deception detection

03 Reveal personal and exclusive information

Infer whether a  person is lying

about oneself 

or telling the

 

Collectivists 

interrogation strategies (sociocultural information) The Japanese usually ask  for a stranger’s job

Individualists

active self-disclosure The American often talk about their personal activities and interests. (Gudykunst, 1983)

 

References

● Markus, & Kitayama, S. Culture  Psychology and the self: Review Implications for cognition,H.,emotions, and motivation. , 1991,2, 224-253. ● Ting-Toomey, S. (1999). Communicating across cultures. New York, London: The Guilford Press. P 175-192.