Intercultural Communication
Attitudinal barriers to intercultural communication is prevalent in Singapore today. Why is this so? Singapore is a multicultural society whereby there are several cultures such as Muslim, Chinese, Indian and Caucasians. Each culture having their own set of norms and rules. In communicating with different cultural groups, one tend to view things from his or her own perception which has been shaped by environmental factors such as family backgrounds, friends and cultures. Hence, it is inevitable that people perceive things in a different light as others. It could be positive or negative. This solely depends on one's open mindedness in cross-culture interaction.
From Thinking Through Communications by Sarah Trenholm (2007), she mentioned that the different attitudes that would hinder the likelihood of comprehension are "stereotype and prejudices, assumptions of similarity, a tendency to withdraw from novelty, and a deep belief in the superiority of one's own culture" (p. 356).
Personally, I feel that the main culprit in hindering Singaporeans to effective intercultural communication is "Stereotype and prejudice". One may correct me if I am wrong. As a teenage Singaporean girl, I encounter several occasions in everyday life going through stereotyping and having prejudices on certain group of people of the silliest reasons if one was to ask me. However, it has been so natural in our lives to stereotype and form prejudice that we did not realize that this will actually leads to us having a disadvantage in the form of future business dealings with different cultural group business partners.
All said, I believe that as a growing nation we will not be able to escape from the fact that we have to have intercultural communication. Therefore, forming stereotypes and prejudices should not be encouraged among groups of people. Let us all work together to achieve this aim for effective intercultural communication!
From Thinking Through Communications by Sarah Trenholm (2007), she mentioned that the different attitudes that would hinder the likelihood of comprehension are "stereotype and prejudices, assumptions of similarity, a tendency to withdraw from novelty, and a deep belief in the superiority of one's own culture" (p. 356).
Personally, I feel that the main culprit in hindering Singaporeans to effective intercultural communication is "Stereotype and prejudice". One may correct me if I am wrong. As a teenage Singaporean girl, I encounter several occasions in everyday life going through stereotyping and having prejudices on certain group of people of the silliest reasons if one was to ask me. However, it has been so natural in our lives to stereotype and form prejudice that we did not realize that this will actually leads to us having a disadvantage in the form of future business dealings with different cultural group business partners.
All said, I believe that as a growing nation we will not be able to escape from the fact that we have to have intercultural communication. Therefore, forming stereotypes and prejudices should not be encouraged among groups of people. Let us all work together to achieve this aim for effective intercultural communication!
posted by Chloe at
2:56 PM
6 Comments:
Indeed, prejudice and stereotypes are prevalent in Singapore. I shall not touch on prejudice but from what i know about stereotypes, it is essential for us as we do not concentrate and think all the time. We do need some mental shortcuts to solve problems. Heuristically, we resort to stereotypes to ease our mind from thinking too much. I'm not advocating that it's good but it's necessary. But i feel that the government has been playing an essential role in removing any form of prejudice or discrimination. So kudos to the government!
Yes i agree with hyriz with the heuristical traits in people. Some people are just cognitive misers. They tend to associate people according to their own set of schemas.
Hmmm... prejudice and sterotypes are inevitable not only in our own country but in others as well...
Just like the other time, i watched this movie Hotel Rwanda, where two racial groups were killing each other and there were chaos and violence everywhere, and to date, i think the racial tension still exists.
And just like what hydriz said, the govt should play a part in the removal of such discrimination, or else... well, the consequences will be undesirable
I so agree that there are alot of stereotypes in singapore.I guess it is quite inevitable especially in singapore where word of mouth is taken very seriously by everyone.
I agree with what hydriz that the government is doing their best to remove these stereotypes.
First of all, thanks for the comments given! =)
Next, I believe that the people in a country would always expect the government to help us eliminate any forms of negativity such as racism(like what winnie mentioned), and discrimination(like what hydriz has mentioned).
However, I would say that what the government can do is only limited. So we should all play a part in ensuring that the nation is peaceful enough to live in harmony.
i agree with you that stereotypes plays a big role in influencing our attitudes and behaviour.. it is because we are too reliant on stereotype that it problems such as misunderstanding between racial groups and ethnicity arises.. therefore, ppl should have more initiative to actually explore and experience the feelings of having differences...
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