The role of self-concept in cross-cultural communication

Abstract

Empirical evidence supports the notion that communication behaviors in intercultural encounters are effectively extensions of cultural values as well as epistemologies. Study 1 established communication behaviors of Asians and New Zealanders (NZs) as consistent with vertical collectivism and horizontal individualism, respectively. In particular, argumentativeness is positively related to independent self-construal (SC) and negatively related to interdependent SC. This supports Markus and Kitayama’s SC theory. Study 2 showed that NZs exhibited more idiocentric and argumentative behavior, while Asians displayed more sociocentric and less argumentative behavior during two actual interactions; specifically, participants diverged in their communication styles to be more consistent with their cultural values during intercultural interactions. Analyses of decision outcomes provide support that culture moderates cognitive consistency behaviors such that NZs exhibited more inconsistency-reduction behaviors, which is rooted in adherence to noncontradiction. In contrast, Asians exhibited more inconsistency-support behaviors, suggesting that naive dialecticism rooted in acceptance of contradiction is customary in Asian social interaction.