Communication Correlates of Individualism and Collectivism

Abstract

Conversations in 12 European and 12 Chinese families in New Zealand were recorded and a sample of 15,988 turns of talk was coded under single-and multiaddressee turns. As predicted, the two types of turns varied with cultural individualism/collectivism in both inter-and subcultural comparisons. Single-addressee turns were more common in European (individualistic) than in Chinese (collectivistic) families, and in high (individualistic) than in low (collectivistic) acculturated Chinese families; the reverse was true for multiaddressee turns. The predicted relationship was confirmed by an individual-level comparison: Members of Chinese families who were highly acculturated used more single-and fewer multiaddressee turns when compared with less highly acculturated members. This relationship was unaffected by language (English or Chinese) or age of family members. In a separate analysis of the effect of turn types on turn taking, it was found that multiaddressee turns were associated with more false starts (two or more members started talking simultaneously). Implications of the results for cross-cultural and communication research were discussed.