Saturday, April 4, 2009
Assumption of similarity
One of the concepts from Chapter 12 that peaked my interest is assumption of similarity. Trenholm (2008) describes this concept as, “a refusal to see true differences where they exist” p. 357. The example of a smile from the text was a great example. The fact that a smile can be interpreted according to culture is something that never occurred to me. The example the text used of the different interpretations surprised me; “a smile may be interpreted as a sexual invitation or as a sign of derision…extremely impolite” (Trenholm, 2008, p. 358). I really wish the text disclosed which cultures had the different interpretations. I usually smile as a sign of friendliness or acknowledgement and never considered this universal expression to be interpreted so differently. How naive.
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I agree with sending the wrong signals due to peoples different cultural background. Some cultures do connect eye contact as respect but as disrespect. It is really interesting to learn and realize that people throughout the world are vastly different and that the world is similar as we think when it comes to signals. Everyday we send signals to other people and it gets interpreted correctly or not depending on what cultural lifestyle the person came from. Living in a place like the bay area, we are often coming together to find a common ground where we all can relate to each other in a smooth fashion.
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