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1、The Stereotype on the Impact of Cross-cultural Communication1.Introduction With the advent of the information age, economic globalization makes the world integration trends becoming evident. The international community enables the development trend of globalization, inter-ethnic increasingly frequen
2、t cross-cultural communication, among the state and national boundaries, social and community isolation have been much smaller. “Global village“ culture has become more concentrated, and these changes in society brought about the exchanges which are more and more closely. Different cultures, differe
3、nt geography, different races, different languages have been started by leaps and bounds in the exchanges, people are collectively referred it to “cross-cultural communication.” “Cross-cultural communication”generally refers to native and non-native communication between, but also refers to any lang
4、uage and cultural backgrounds in different aspects of communication between people. Taylor, in his “original culture”, which was published in 1971, proposed a cultural meaning of the book, systematically described it as “Culture is a complex body, which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, custo
5、ms and learned the rest of the community capacity and habits.” Because among all the nations of different social and historical development, which led the nation in the cultural orientation, values, social norms, the degree of development of material differences, these differences often lead to cros
6、s-cultural communication in the process of mutual misunderstanding, communication barriers arise, and even a clash of cultures occurred. Later, in the United States, some sociologists, cultural anthropologists slightly amended the definition of Taylor, added the “kind” to the cultural phenomena. Peo
7、ple exchange and contact between the fully embodies and the characteristics of culture, whether it is a formal social occasion or an ordinary gathering of friends, and cultural infiltration of the disposal of the entire activities. So people will reference books for information on specific occasions
8、 in the required details of the protocol, with particular emphasis on their appropriateness and ability with each other have a common topic. “Culture includes all the product of human society to share.” It includes not only cities, organizations, schools, and other material things, but also ideas, h
9、abits, family patterns, language and other non-material things. In short, culture refers to the entire life of a society, a nation of all activities. However, people usually understand that the characteristics of the culture is a product of the whole, not individuals, and very often people tend to i
10、gnore this point, blindly attached to the common individual, to the neglect of the characteristics of individual existence. Cross-cultural communication as a factor in the impact of one characterization of the “stereotype” , constitutes a cross-cultural communication in the impact of value judgments
11、 and decisions interfere with the understanding of communication strategies and modes of communication an important link of factors, it directly leads to and impact of cross-cultural communication the result of the conduct. Therefore, how to correctly understand and properly use the “stereotype” of
12、cross-cultural communication in the study is very important. The concept of “stereotype” is particularly important. Dodd (1991) pointed out that the success of cross-cultural communication is closely related with three factors: emotional factors, operation factors, cognitive factors. Stereotype is a
13、 study from the day after tomorrow. A behavior, once formed, would be more stable and have a profound impact on cross-cultural understanding and communication.2. Cross-culture Communication Owing to cross culture is a significant definition for us to understand the concept of stereotype,so what is c
14、ross-culture is a problem we should solve first.2.1The Definition of Communication and Culture2.1.1 The Definition of Communication From the antiquity to the present time，people have fostered comparatively mature views of communicationIn this thesis，the author adopts the definition by Wood：“communic
15、ation is a dynamic，systematic process in which meanings are created and reflected in human interaction with symbols”.2.1.2The Definition of Culture Culture is a complex，abstract，and pervasive matrix of social elements that functions as an all encompassing form or pattern for living by laying out a p
16、redictably world in which an individual is firmly orientedDefinitions of culture range from all-encompassing ones(“it is everything“)to narrow ones(“it is opera，art，and ballet”) What is most notable is the close relationship between culture and communication. As is reminded by Hall, “culture is comm
17、unication and communication is culture“(Hall,P.14)In the book Communication Between Cultures, Samovar and Porter put forward their definition of culture that contain the theme of how culture and communication are linked together: “Culture is the deposit of knowledge, experience beliefs, values, atti
18、tudesMeanings, hierarchies ,religion，notions of tone，roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions. Acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving ”(Samovar and Porter,P.18)This definition can suit the purpo
19、se of this thesisAlso we should not overlook the word group in this definition: only a group，not all individual can have its culture.2.2. The Characteristics of Cross-Cultural Communication2.2.1 Cultural IdentityCulture is formed in a particular environment, and after a long period history of the cu
20、mulative in the formation of groups for human. So culture is a social phenomenon, rather than individual phenomenon. People who belong to a certain culture have a strong sense of belonging and identity to their own culture. Cultural identity to peoples groups, including that people hold a recognized
21、 attitude to code of conduct in their culture, and may think about the habits of other cultures as “deviant”and even “absurd rude”. Then in cross-cultural communication, it is easy “to intended to deliver people own heart.”If a Chinese and an American culture of China and the United States have thei
22、r own identity, cross-cultural communication and a lack of knowledge, then the two communication conflicts will inevitably come out from time to time.2.2.2 Unconscious Nature of CultureNo one was born with a sense of identity of his national culture. Human genes is only to provide the physical condi
23、tions which people can acquire culture, but the acquisition to culture is that the environment turns such a possibility into a reality .Sometimes peoples behavior deviated from the code of conduct of the national culture, as a result they meet many difficulties. Family and school education is to mak
24、e people to understand the nations communication rules more or less. What is more important is the social environment forcing the people to consciously abide by the norms of communication. On the other hand, everyone was born in a certain social and cultural circumstance, so that a person unknowingl
25、y has a certain culture, the natural speech and deportment marked imprint of the national culture. To a certain age for people, the majority of the communication of the national culture acts as a natural habit. This habit must make cross-cultural communication more difficult.2.2.3 Ethnocentrism In a
26、 word, People in a certain culture are generally accustomed to and agree on the behavioral patterns and the customs and habits of their own culture, thus they will regard those which is different from their own as “abnormal”or even “rude and offensive”. That means they will judge the behavior and cu
27、stoms of other people by their own criteria. In this way they will often meet with obstacles in cross-cultural communication. If they can realize this, and try to learn some cross-cultural communication knowledge, the result will be better. Actually, many people have been well adapted to their own c
28、ulture and can never realize their own shortcomings. In many cases they are so proud of their own culture as to suffer from whats called “ethnocentrism”. 3.General Introduction about Stereotype3.1The Production and Definition of Stereotype3.1.1 The Production of Stereotype The word of “stereotype”wa
29、s a printed professional word once a time, refers to the printed layout of the punch when the word version. In 1922, the U.S. journalist Lippmann in Public Opinion brought the word “stereotype“ to the introduction of social and political context, used to refer to people of a particular social group
30、concepts and fixed ideas and a way too simplistic of thinking, in other words, “stereotype” referred to the images of different social groups in peoples minds. He pointed out that environment, whether natural or social environment, are too complicated, so that the world will not allow him to all peo
31、ple, all the things one by one and first-hand experience and understanding. In order to save time, people use a simplify understanding way to shape the same image which are the same characteristics of a group of people or any nation.(Lippmann,P.59)Lippmann claimed that the stereotype is wrong , non-
32、rational.3.1.2 The Definition of Stereotype3.1.2.1 Definitions of Stereotype in DictionariesIn recent years, as intercultural communication studies develop so fast, peoples opinions concerning stereotype have changed substantially. Dictionaries generally reflect the social understanding of a concept
33、 in a certain period, and often once they are brought out, they are in effect for a long time until their explanations of some terms are so old-dated that they have to be replaced by new interpretations .Anyway，it is helpful for us to consult dictionaries in the first place，even if the explanations
34、in dictionaries are old fashioned, but we can still gain some perception of the historical understanding of the termWebs Third New International Dictionary(1976)presents the following explanation of stereotype：Something repeated or reproduced without variation something conforming to fixed or genera
35、l pattern and lacking individual distinguishing marks or qualities: especially a standardized mental picture held in common by members of a group and representing an oversimplified opinion, affective attitude, or uncritical judgment(as of a person, a race, an issue or an event) Macmillan Student Enc
36、yclopedia of Sociology(1983)gives a definition as follows: A belief that is oversimplified in content and unresponsive to evidence which on rational criteria, indicates that it needs to be revised. Also used more loosely to refer to preconceived ideas about individuals，groups or objects，when these p
37、reconceptions are shared by members of particular groups or societies. Similar definition is also found in Dictionary of Sociology(Bhushan,P.79).It is a one-sided, exaggerated and normally prejudicial view of a group，tribe or class of people and is usually associated with racism and sexismThere is n
38、o need to list definitions in other dictionaries, for they generally give interpretations that are alike except for slight differencesFrom those listed above，we can see that the meanings dictionaries give all agree upon the point that stereotype is a preconceived idea of a group of people and allows
39、 for no individuality. Yet all these reference books were compiled before 1990s；therefore for up-to-date progress and changes, we have to go to newly published materials3.1.2.2 Definitions of Stereotype Given by Scholars As an important concept, stereotype has never been neglected by sociologists, p
40、sychologists and experts at intercultural communication. From 1930s onwards, scholars, especially social psychologists, have advanced varied understandings on stereotype Katz and Braly (1933),conducted the first classic empirical study of stereotype and linked stereotypes to attitudes and prejudice
41、Allport，in his classic book The Nature of Prejudice ,said，“a stereotype is an exaggerated belief associated with a categoryIts function is to justify(rationalize)our conduct in relation to that category”(Allport,P.191). Julia T. Wood，in his Gendered Lives-Communication, Gender,and Culture，explained
42、the term as“a stereotype is a broad generalization about an entire class of phenomenon based on some knowledge of some aspects of some members of the class”(Julia T. Wood,P.254) In Intercultural Communication: A Discourse Approach, Scholon (1995),compared stereotyping with cultural ideology. They ho
43、ld that “a balanced cultural description must take into consideration the full complexity of cultural themes”(Scholon,P.154)，and stereotyping is a common term for such cultural ideological statements “when one of these themes is singled out for emphasis and given a positive or negative value or is t
44、reated as the full description”( Scholon ,P.154) Social psychologists Brehm and Kassin(2002)defined stereotype as “a belief that associates a group of people with certain traits”( Brehm and Kassin ,P.133).Kosslyn and Rosenberg in their textbook of psychology(2003)gave a moderate definition：“A stereo
45、type is a belief(or set of beliefs)about people in a particular social categoryA stereotype may be positive，such as women are nurturin; neutral，such as Mexicans eat spicy food; or negative, such as Australians drink too much”(Kosslyn and Rosenberg ,P.683).Chinese scholars also have done a lot of res
46、earch on stereotype. Jia(1997),described stereotype as an integrative model cultural depiction, which means to analyze cultures by uniform standards, considering each member of a culture as a stereotypic representative. Hu,in his An Introduction to Intercultural Communication(2003),defined stereotyp
47、e as a set of briefsabout traits of some individual or group.Another Chinese scholar of intercultural communication, Gao (2000),quoted Lippmanns view, holding that stereotyping referred to a selection process that was used to organize and simplify perceptions of others，and the underlying hypothesis
48、was that members from the same group harbored similar attitudes and behavioral tendency To summarize, we can find various understandings of stereotype from scholars. To classify stereotype according to its value, there are stereotype as a negative concept and stereotype as a neutral oneIn this thesi
49、s, I agree with the view that stereotype is a neutral term：stereotype itself should not to blame; whether it is negative or not is decided by people-creators as well as subjects of stereotype. This second point deserves intense discussion as this thesis proceeds3.1.2.3 Definition of Stereotype in the Present Thesis Generally speaking，when a
