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To cite this article: Ringo Ma (1999) The relationship between intercultural and
nonverbal communication revisited: From facial expression to discrimination, New
Jersey Journal of Communication, 7:2, 180-189, DOI: 10.1080/15456879909367366
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The New Jersey Journal of Communication. Volume 7, No. 2, Fall 1999, pages 180-189
Ringo Ma1
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The inclusion of nonverbal communication has given communication studies a broader range of cross-
cultural application and eliminated some "blind spots" in intercultural communication. Theories of
nonverbal communication can now be applied to study discrimination in intercultural contexts. Some
modules of discrimination are proposed to suggest a new relationship between intercultural
communication and nonverbal communication studies.
issues such as the theoretical and conceptual development of the two areas due to
their mutual influence has yet to be addressed and is worthy of scholarly attention.
Discrimination as a social problem has caused severe tension between people
of different ethnic background, gender, and sexual orientation. Although
discrimination is usually communicated and detected through nonverbal channels,
it has not received the attention it deserves from the scholars in intercultural
communication and nonverbal communication. Fiske (1998) also notices a dearth
of scholarship on discrimination in social psychology. This paper raises some
macro issues of culture and communication that have been closely tied to
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Gordon (1968), equal opportunity policies may simply imply lipservice in many
organizational settings: "corporate behavior has been discussed as if it were
always consistent with corporate policy. This may not always be true. What a
company does is sometimes inconsistent with its policy statements; these
inconsistent company behaviors define policy for the manager and may influence
his [sic] decisions in a manner contrary to stated policy"(p. 79).
Research also discovered a general pattern of overt friendliness and covert
rejection (implied in differential treatments) in interracial encounters between
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blacks and whites (Weitz, 1972). Therefore, the only way to detect
discrimination, under many circumstances, is through the unspoken dialogue. In
communication studies, the verbal dimension of discrimination has been
extensively explored (e.g., Kirkland, Greenberg, & Pysczynski, 1987; Van Dijk,
1987). The role nonverbal communication plays hi discrimination, however, has
yet to be established. In the next section of this essay, some previously identified
cases of discrimination are presented in five modules to demonstrate the nonverbal
components of discrimination. All the cases were collected from junior
communication professors at annual conventions of the National Communication
Association (NCA) over the past seven years. The cases were first disclosed in
informal conversations. Later, the victims were consulted for accuracy before this
essay was written.
Module One
In module one, members of the majority group are less willing to give credit
to minority members for similar or better accomplishments. An Asian professor
was working on her Ph. D. dissertation during her first year of teaching in a
communication department in which two other faculty members were also
working on their Ph. D. dissertations. She was the first to complete her
dissertation, about which the department showed no enthusiasm. However, the
other two were given credit for almost every little progress they were making,
even though one completed the dissertation much later and the other one has not
completed hers yet.
The unspoken dialogue exchanged between the department chair and the junior
faculty member was "You don't deserve the same honor as others even though
you perform better." The message was crystallized when related events were
pieced together over an extended period of time.
Module Two
applies to the evaluation of your work." At the beginning it was unclear whether
it was a new requirement or a requirement for him only. However, the message
became clear as newly hired professors were not requested to do the same thing.
Module Three
Module Four
In module four, members of the majority group are less likely to tolerate
minority members' boat-rocking behavior than majority members'. On the other
hand, they do not accept minority members' silence either. An Asian professor
joined a white colleague to criticize the hiring policy in his department and later
received a message from a colleague disciplining him. The primary trouble maker
(white) did not receive any message. On a different campus, another Asian
professor who seldom made any comment at department meetings was criticized
for lack of verbal contribution when his contract renewal was discussed.
What has been presented to the two Asian professors through mutually
contradictory messages is "you can never be right, talking or not talking." In the
first case, the Asian professor was also hinted through implicit messages that he
does not have the right to criticize as others do.
Module Five
reading too much into it when they try to confront an unequal treatment. An Asian
professor was assigned to an office smaller than most of his colleagues' when he
was hired as a full-time tenure-track assistant professor. He was told that the
arrangement was based on seniority. A professor hired two years later, however,
was given a larger office. When the inconsistency was questioned, he was accused
of reading too much into it.
The messages the Asian professor received in this unspoken dialogue were
"You don't deserve equal treatment" and "You'd better believe whatever I tell
you otherwise you'll be in trouble." However, it took him a few years to decode
the silent message.
Discussion
The scenarios presented above are real cases. Similar situations have happened
throughout the United States. None of the modules presented above used racist or
sexist language or constituted the main components of discrimination. In fact, the
language received by the discrimination victims was usually quite supportive, or
at least, non-suggestive to what was done to them. The unspoken discrimination,
however, was communicated through either differential treatments or inconsistent
behaviors.
Inconsistency is usually the key component of nonverbal discrimination. It
refers to either different expectations toward ingroup and outgroup members or
contradictory rules applied to the same outgroup member. The inconsistent pattern
identified in the five modules is different from the previously identified negatively
inconsistent nonverbal behavior (Leathers, 1997, p. 277). The latter is
simultaneously accompanied by a positive verbal message, so it can not be
detected in a single setting within a short moment. The former, nevertheless,
requires attention paid to communication behaviors over an extended period of
time. In other words, the unspoken dialogue can only be detected macroscopically
instead of from a traditional snapshot approach (through the experimental or
observational method).
Concluding Remarks
This essay intends to address some often ignored issues regarding the
relationship between intercultural communication and nonverbal communication.
The meanings created via nonverbal behavior at the micro level have usually been
emphasized. Larger issues including the role of nonverbal research in the study
of intercultural communication has yet to be addressed. It is argued in this essay
that the departure from the traditional argumentative approach to a more universal
view of communication was made possible largely due to the inclusion of
nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication also played a key role in the
development of intercultural communication. Furthermore, it has become the key
component of discrimination.
Future research can be conducted to further investigate the close relationship
between intercultural communication and nonverbal communication. What
constitutes intercultural communication that is related to discrimination and other
antisocial behaviors should be examined by both intercultural and nonverbal
specialists. A joint effort from the two areas will not only make the analysis of
the issue easier and more fruitful but also contribute to the further universalization
of communication studies.
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