Soc/110 Communication Research Paper

1301 Words6 Pages
COMMUNICATION PAPER Kimberly Haines SOC/110 April 5, 2012 Dr. Victoria Yancey COMMUNICATION PAPER How is communication between cultures and genders communicated? The following questions will be answered in this essay. How do people communicate? How are verbal and nonverbal communications different? What are challenges in communicating between genders? How might someone of the opposite gender understand similar information differently than you? What are challenges in communicating across cultures? How might someone from another cultural background understand communication styles differently than you? How might you communicate more effectively in diverse environments? One of the most important things in society today is the…show more content…
Some of the challenges that arise when communicating with different cultures are difference in communication styles, attitudes towards conflict, decision-making styles, and approaches on tasks. It is important we accept each and everyone’s differences. Non-verbal communication may be more effective when dealing with different cultures and languages. Effective communication requires special attention and consideration from each party. When cultural barriers exist, one must rely on nonverbal communication to relay the correct message. However, being knowledgeable of other cultures gestures and body language is essential. Here in America, we valuable others personal space. However, in Mexico being close to each other when engaged in a conversation is respectful. Eye contact can be a sign of respect in some culture but in others it may seem rude. Another example that’s varies between cultures is touching. Some cultures see shaking hands acceptable, other see a kiss on the cheek is the polite thing to…show more content…
It is very important to know the difference between verbal and non-verbal communication. We utilize verbal communication every single day and yet we still have problems understanding one another. As we speak the actual words when we communicate, that is verbal communication and verbal communication only makes up 10 percent of the messages that we are trying to send to one another. The rest of the 90 percent is actually non-verbal communication and believe it or not most of the times we can understand non-verbal messages more than verbal. These non-verbal messages that we send are eye contact, facial expressions, voice tone, rate of speech, silences and pauses, hand gestures, body positioning, and body distance. It is astonishing how complicated and how simple communication between cultures and genders can be. There are very successful people that have the ability to tap into the 90 percent of communication that reaches and leads people. The reason being is because today many people do not understand the messages being used verbally and many people are reacting more by using non-verbal communication. Communicating with different cultures can be very complicated and very misunderstood for the obvious reasons of language barriers, but communicating with different genders can arise some difficult challenges. Some of the challenges that may arise are often misunderstandings with
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