Honorio Gonzalez

EDU 533
Intercultural Competence
Chapter 9 Notes
Explain cultural variations in persuasion.
Persuasion involves the use of symbols to influence others (p. 209). The effective use of
verbal and nonverbal codes to persuade another varies greatly from culture to culture and
the world logical is often used to describe the preferred persuasive style of a culture (p.
210). The preferred way to persuade others are called the cultures persuasive style and
persuasion involved interaction between a speaker and his or her audience, which the
speaker intends to have the audience, accept a point of view or a conclusion (p. 210).
Evidence is what a persuader offers to those she or he is trying to persuade and there are
no universally accepted standards about what constitutes evidence or about how evidence
should be used in support of claims or conclusions (p. 211). The use of expert testimony
in the persuasive process also varies greatly from one culture to another and the
differences in the ways people prefer to arrange the evidence, assumptions, and claims
constitute the cultures persuasive style (p. 211-212). Additionally, cultural patterns
supply the underlying assumptions that people within a culture used to determine what is
correct and reasonable, and they therefore provided the persuaders justification for
linking the evidence to the conclusions desired from the audience (p. 2120. Evidence,
logic, and reasoning are all shaped by ones cultural background (p. 212).
Three general strategies of persuasion that can form a cultures preferred style: the
quasilogical, presentational, and analogical (p. 213). The preferred style for members of
many Western cultures is the quasilogical style and the presentational style emphasizes
and appeals to the emotional aspect of persuasion (p. 213-14). Finally, the analogical
style seeks to establish an idea (a conclusion) and to persuade the listener by proving an
analogy, a story, or a parable in which there is either an implicit or explicit lesson to be
learned (p. 214).
Explain value of talk and silence and rules for conversations.
The importance given to words varies greatly from one culture to the next and some
cultures are very hesitant about the value of words (p. 216). The spoken word is seen as a
reflection of a persons inner thoughts and even theories of communication that are
presented in most book about communication-including this one-are highly influenced by
underlying assumptions that give words the ability to represent thoughts (p. 216). There
are also different cultural preferences for silence and the place of silence in conversation
and the fundamental value and role of talk, as a tool for conversation will vary from
culture to culture (p. 218).
Cultures provide an implicit set of rules to govern interaction and verbal and nonverbal
codes come with a set of cultural prescriptions that determine how they should be used
(p. 218). Conversational structures can vary from culture to culture and cultures that
prefer a direct style use verbal messages that are explicit in revealing the speakers true
intentions and desires (p. 218-219). Those that prefer indirect style will veil the speakers
true want and needs with ambiguous statements and cultural conversational styles also
differ on a dimension of elaborate to succinct (p. 219). The elaborate style results in the
frequent use of metaphors, proverbs, and other figurative language while in the succinct
style there is a preference for understatement and long pauses (p. 219).

In cultures that prefer a personal style, in contrast to those that prefer a contextual style,
there is an emphasis on conversation in which the individual, as a unique human being, is
the center of action while in the contextual style the emphasis is on the social roles that
people have in relationships with others (p. 220). In the instrumental style,
communication is goal-oriented an depends on explicit verbal messages while affective
styles are more emotional and require sensitivity to the underlying meanings in both the
verbal and nonverbal code systems (p. 220). Finally, Like all exchanges, any conversation
is governed by a complex set of rules about who talks to whom, for how long, and on
what topics; yet the participants are unlikely to be consciously aware of these rules until
someone breaks them (p. 220).
Application
The conversational style that would best for a Japanese conversation would be the
indirect style. Therefore, in future conversation with fellow Japanese teachers, I would
have to listen closely to what they would say every time Id speak with one of them. I
would also need to ask for clarification on anything that I didnt understand, otherwise a
misunderstanding could occur. Furthermore, I would also try to say no in the best way
possible, to something that I wouldnt like to do if it were too much to me. I would also
need to watch how a Japanese teacher would say no to me, since it would be indirectly
and that would serve as experience for me in similar future situations.
Biblical Links
Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you Proverbs
4:25. Staying focus in life is always of great importance to whatever you want to
accomplish. The same can be said for your spiritual life; what affects one, affects the
other. Therefore, staying focus on my goal of going to japan is of great importance.
However, I cannot let it be the only thing that is important since it will affect my spiritual
life, which in turn will affect my focus on going there and myself.