Latino/Anglo-American differences in attributions to situations involving touch and silence

Abstract

This article focuses on attributions made by Latinos and Anglos to intercultural situations involving touch and to silence. Six etic theoretical dimensions of cultural differences (contact, collectivism, power distance, context, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, and polychronicity), and one emic theoretical concept (Latinos' overarching interpersonal orientation), were used to predict that Latinos would differ from Anglos in attributions to situations involving touch and silence. Data were gathered in a multiphase, large-scale research program on Latino–Anglo differences in interpretations of behavior. Procedures involved interviews with persons from both cultures, observations of interactions, and the use of structured and unstructured questionnaires to obtain episodes of cross-cultural interactions and attributions to these episodes. Analyses of the attributional choices made by teachers and pupils of both cultures to episodes focusing on touch (haptics) and on silence are presented. The Latino–Anglo and Teacher–Student differences found are discussed in terms of the theoretical dimensions and of the implications of these differences for cross-cultural training.