Some differences between oriental and western culture in behavior

PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale Every individual member of any given society is bound to a certain cultural identity Individuals who belong to a certain cultural identity will embrace common characteristics such as languages, practices, customs, values and views In fact, cultural identity has significant influences towards individuals’ behavior either within the same group as well as behavior between those from different groups Therefore, individuals’ cultural identity will influence the social interactions that occur among them in which will be reflected through their social behavior Thus, cultural identity may influence one behavior in both ways; positively and negatively Therefore, people who grasp strongly to their cultural identity may capitalize and optimize their strong values or practices while interacting within the society Equally, strongly embracing to a certain cultural identity may also draw upon some barriers in social interactions such as issues of intolerance in blending their culture with others The most effective communication skills are the same in an intercultural setting as those we use to communicate within our own culture: listen without judging, repeat what you understand, confirm meanings, give suggestions and acknowledge a mutual understanding However, when we are communicating with a different culture, we need to add to these basic skills We need to build some understanding of how, even with the best intentions, our misperceptions can cause confusion and create misunderstanding In patient-doctor interactions, the stakes are high Confusion over which bus takes you downtown is one thing, but misunderstanding that leads to misdiagnosis is quite another At first glance, it might make sense to learn the beliefs, customs, and taboos of each “foreign” culture we interact with regularly But memorizing lists of dos and don’ts is both impractical and ineffective because every situation is different It is the context of an intercultural interaction that is key By way of example, you might be told that in Japan it is customary to bow when you are greeting someone True, but you need to understand the status relationships of the people involved to know how to bow If you don’t bow appropriately, you will surely offend someone more severely than if you don’t bow at all because a Japanese person doesn’t expect a foreigner to understand their custom In fact, many Japanese will say they prefer that foreigners not bow unless they really understand what the gesture means and the context of the interaction Obviously, it would be peculiar to bow to a Japanese patient during an office visit here It would be totally out of context Today, visiting foreign countries to study, to travel, to entertain, or to experience new things or meet new people is popular to a lot of people It is obvious that whether living in another country, people will face to a plenty of problems due to differences in language, lifestyle, customs, behavior; therefore, it is necessary for them to adapt to new people, new environment and to change, of course Many misunderstandings may come about if they are not willing to deal with these problems The main reason is probably culture It is the immediate cause of culture shock, cross-cultural conflict, cultural misunderstanding Culture is not bound in language, clothes, food or customs because it refers to all fields in the life, in both physical and mental aspects In fact, there are variety of disparities between cultures of other countries as each nation has its own identities As a result, it is important that we learn about customs, features and lifestyles of different cultures Each culture think, feel, act and behave in its own way Therefore, there is no standard to classify which culture is superior or inferior to the others European Americans are more likely than Asian-Americans to judge an individual's personality based on behaviors, such as presuming someone who, say, won't touch a door handle is neurotic, a new study suggests The key is culture, according to the researchers European American culture emphasizes individual independence; meanwhile, Asian culture is more interdependent and more sensitive to social contexts This difference means European Americans are inclined to account for someone's behavior by making assumptions about their personality, while Asians are not (at least not without some context), according to the researchers "Culture can be very important in shaping some fundamental aspects of the human mind" says study researcher Shinobu Kitayama, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan "This study is one example of a demonstration that culture can influence what appears to be a very deep part the human mind, something that happens automatically and continuously." Exploring the differences among cultural groups and societies can previse cultural relativism This does not indicate normality for a man of for a society Cultural acknowledgement can be built by discussing and exploring different cultures This helps improve awareness of communication as well as partnership in trading and business In the study, the author selects to analysis “Some differences between Oriental and Western Culture in Behavior” Aims of the study: - Studying the relationship between culture and behavior in daily communication - Helping people understand more deeply about the importance of culture and behavior in daily life - Bringing out the fundamental features of cultural differences between the Oriental culture and Western culture - Analyzing some common misunderstandings caused by cultural differences in communication 3 Scope of the study: Culture and its importance in behavior, daily life as well as communication are very wide fields and it takes a lot of time to study The paper mainly focuses in some following aspects: - The definition of culture and behavior as well as the relationship between them - Laying out some cultural differences between Oriental culture and Western culture in some cases of behavior - Analyzing some misunderstandings caused by cultural differences in the communication process - Making some suggestions to manage and overcome the conflict caused by cultural differences Method of the study: This graduation paper is an attempt to evaluate the cultural differences between the Oriental culture and Western culture as well as some understandings caused by culture in behavior in daily communication All aspects of this study were obtained by: - Collecting all the information and data from the various sources relating to the aims of the study - Interpreting and synthesizing all the collected information and data logically - Comparing and contrasting the two cultures representing the Western and Oriental culture Design of the study: To gain the above aims and logical systematic paper, the graduation paper is divided into three parts Part A is the introduction consisting the background and the overview of the study Part B is the development Chapter is the literature review mentioning the definition of culture and behavior; the relationship between culture and behavior; the role of culture in forming behavior Chapter studies the framework of cultural differences between Oriental and Western Chapter is some different cultural behavior caused by misunderstanding between Oriental and Western, including an overview on misunderstanding and culture shock in cross-cultural communication Part C is the conclusion PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature review This chapter deals with the definition of culture and behavior; the relationship between culture and behavior; the role of culture in forming behavior 1.1 Definition of culture and behavior 1.1.1 Definition of culture The term “culture” has been concerned with for a long time and attracted much interest from many scientists to thorough research Each scientist has his own definition about culture and they still argue about how culture should be defined In general, culture refers to human activity Different definitions of culture reflect different theories for understanding, or criteria for valuing human activity Culture is traditionally the oldest human character It significantly traces separate man from the animals Taylor (1871) and Scollon (1995) share the idea that culture is the customs, worldview, language, kinship system, social organization and it includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs, and many other capabilities and habits acquired by members of society Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn (1952) compile a list of a more than 200 different definitions of culture in their book Different definitions, either simple or complex, have been provided for consideration Jandt (1995) defines culture as all the experience that guide its individual members through life, such things as languages and gesture, personal appearance and social relationship; religion, philosophy and value; courtship, marriage and family customs; food and creation; work and government; education and communication systems; health, transportation and government systems; and economic systems Goethe (1997, 69) confirms that: “Culture is the actions and results of humans in society, the way people make to the world they find” He also thinks that culture is what ordinary people everyday, the way people behave, speak, relate and make all things exist in the life However, culture, according to Professor Tran (1998, 17), is “the spiritual product of people creativity and it was born with the appearance of human beings on Earth” In contrast, Nguyen (2002) has another definition He claims that culture as a share background (eg national, ethnic, religious) resulting from a common language and communication style, customs, beliefs, attitudes and values His views have some similarities with Taylor (1871) and Scollons (1995) To sum up, there are some typical definitions of culture It takes much time and effort to understand clearly about culture Up to this time, humankind has not still succeeded in finding a united definition of culture However, all the definitions of culture and logical and applied under the view of each scientific branch 1.1.2 Definition of behavior: Behavior is one the issues, which have attracted many people Each person has different views of behavior Behavior shows character, soul, religious, family, and even ethnic First, Greetz (1973) says that behavior means manner of acting or controlling yourself Behavior is also defined as the action or reaction of something (as a machine or substance) under specified circumstances, the behavior of some particles can be studied in experiments In the terms of behavioral attributes, on the other hand, behavior is the way a person behaves towards other people He also thinks that behavior is the aggregate of the responses or reactions or movements made by an organism in any situation Wikipedia (2007) defines that: “Behavior refers to the actions or reactions of an object or organism, usually in relation to the environment Behavior can be conscious or unconscious, overt or covert, and voluntary or involuntary Generally, organism with complex nervous systems have a greater capacity to learn new responses and thus adjust behavior” Human behavior by means of social control In sociology, behavior is considered having no meaning, being not directed by other people and thus is the mast basic human action Lastly, there are some behavior quotations by some authors “If language did not affect behavior, it could have no meaning.” (Kenneth L.Pike, 1998,45) “If you want to change attitudes, start with a change in behavior.” (William Glasser, 2002,32) “Behavior is the mirror in which every shows their image.” (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 2005,6) In conclusion, it is very difficult to understand and define the term “behavior” properly However, the above definitions will help us understand the notion of behavior clearly 1.2 The relationship between culture and behavior: Everything in the world has mutual dependence relationship and mutual supplement to exist together The relationship between culture and behavior is not out of this natural law The culture and behavior have a close relationship Culture has been addressed as an influential factor of human behavior Chatman (2000, 94) finds that “cultural and social norms affect ways in which people choose to respond, are passive, or ignore behaviors” Culture shares the meaning of people’s behavior and rules determine who is to be considered an information agent The way we handle, exchange and use information is determined to a large extent by the culture Through living and working, people discover, shape or create information during the process of interacting with the environment or other people Culture as a situation not only stimulates people’s information need, but also influences people’s way of seeking and using information Also, people filter information through the various components of culture Since the society exists before the birth of each individual, the social norms and tradition normalize people’s behavior imperceptibly and form a society called a symbolic universe The symbolic universe gives people a direction and lets individual judge whether or not their behavior is legal The symbolic universe is a reference to people’s actions and provides the chance for people to share with others Each individual accepts and follows the standard of the symbolic universes and identifies himself as a belonging to one symbolic universe From the object and habitual traditions, people extract and absorb rules, which are part of their personal norms In general, cultural and social norms rule over our behavior In fact, culture and behavior always go together If we practice the relationship properly, it is easier to create good relationships and avoid mistakes in communication 1.3 The role of culture in forming behavior As the matter of fact, each country has its own traditional culture This traditional culture includes the concepts of human values, thinking modalities, moral standards, regions and beliefs, social rites, etc All of above factors have a contribution to create the differences between countries As mentioned before, the culture and behavior have a close relationship Correspondingly, culture has an important part in forming behavior According to Tracy Bowens (2000), a person’s behavior is often rooted in his values and beliefs Therefore, to understand why people they It is important to understand their values and beliefs This may seem obvious to you now, but have you ever thought about the times people in your own country have done things that made no sense to you, but seemed perfectly normal to them? These people are probably operating under a different value or belief system In their world, it is normal, in yours, is not The same is true when you travel abroad Consider the following example: One morning Sue, who teaches English in West Africa, was told that the father of one of her students has died The next day, one of her classes asked to be excused because of the death of the student’s father These students were not even in the student’s actual class, but this seemed to be the norm The next day, Sue was asked is she saw the funeral procession which included a large number of students wearing uniforms from her school Sue thought this was interesting and noted it in her journal because when her father died while she was in high school, her best friend was the only classmate attending his funeral It is clear that this story makes us partly understand the role of culture in forming behavior and you not surprise if this thing is not ok for you but it is ok for others Simply, they are behavioral differences Apart from culture, there are some factors affecting human behavior such as: family, society, friends, etc However, culture is also an important factor in forming behavior 1.4 The importance of culture in daily communication Culture is indeed an evasive and complex concept It is evasive because we are surrounded by culture and we live deep in it, in a practical sense, culture is the air and water breath and drink day in and day out Since humans 10 say compliment can soften a criticism or request Whereas, Manes (1983), Wolfson (1983) and Herbert (1989) believe that it establish and reinforce solidarity between the speaker and the addressee Moreover, Herbert (1990) thinks it serves as expression of praise and admiration However, Celce & Murcia (1991) say that in the West, a compliment is often used for maintaining social harmony and for sustaining social interaction Gajaeseni (1994) and Cooper and Cooper (2005) have the same idea about the distinctions between compliment responses of Eastern and Western culture For this reason, compliments have become clearly marked features in English On the other hand, Eastern culture values humility and modesty, thus complimenting, particularly on the appearances of strangers, occurs less frequently in the Eastern community than in the West That is to say, a compliment in the East is a carefully controlled speech act with a much more restricted purpose than a compliment in the West As the values of compliments in the East and West differ, so compliment responses No matter how delighted an Eastern feels about a compliment he receives, he is careful to be modest and refrains from showing any outward sign of pleasure Responding to a compliment includes verbal and nonverbal behavior (body language) such as smiles (Holmes, 1987) Like verbal expressions, smiles in different cultures carry different meanings For instance, Western people smile mainly to show friendliness Eastern one smile for pleasure, acceptance, friendliness, and situation-soothing (when there is an emotional pressure between two people) Thus, a Western person, who does not understand standard Eastern norms of responding to compliments, may be confused when he sees an Eastern person’s smile in response to his English compliment Consequently, the goal of this study is to reveal differences between Eastern and Western culture, in terms of responding to English compliment 32 In addition to differences between cultures, it is important to take the differences between sexes (or gender) in the culture into account (Tannen, 1990) believes that gender differences are parallel to cross-cultural differences Specifically, men and women rely on different sub-cultural norms (hierarchical vs equal relationships) when interpreting the cultural information encoded by language Consequently, it is worthwhile to study the interactions between men and women, men and men, or women and women of different cultures exchanging verbal and non-verbal compliment and responses Herbert (1990), Herring (1994), Holmes (1995) and Tannen (1996) have been writing about the effect of gender on language, and inter-sex communication in a single culture as well The ability to accept a compliment is a social grace that should be cultivated It is so simple to thank a person for a compliment, yet it is amazing when you consider that most of us are not very good at accepting compliments, and often answer compliments by selling ourselves short For the West, people usually use “Thank you” to respond as implication of “receiving” and “agreeing” to the compliment For example: John: I appreciate your work very much Mark: Thank you In another circumstance: Jane: Oh, I like your skirt It is just beautiful Mary: Well, thank you I think it is quite nice On the other hand, when an Eastern person is compliment, he says in a modest way The following example can illustrate the way Eastern people respond to the compliment Speaker: You are very nice today Addressee: Oh, no I’m so ugly 33 The differences in this behavior sometimes cause many misunderstandings and misinterpretations when the interlocutors come from the different culture For instance, supposing what will happen in the conversation between a Vietnamese and English person The Vietnamese states “you flatter me” (ông tâng bốc tôi) or “I feel ashamed” (tôi cảm thấy xấu hổ lắm) to respond to compliment of the English person It is sure that the conversation will be broken down because the English will feel very annoyed by hearing the refusal of compliment of his partner One more example happens in a party where a Vietnamese woman and a English man have a short conversation: A: That’s a lovely dress you have on B: (respond immediately) No, no, it’s just a very ordinary one It is one of the obstacles in cultural communication because the hearer cannot understand the modest statements in Vietnamese culture Hence, he may think that the response implies he does not know how to distinguish the nice and unsightly clothes He does not have the appreciative competence In addition, when inviting the others come home to meal, the Vietnamese usually use the modest statements Though all the dishes are very delicious, the host still must say “Mời bác xơi bữa cơm thường với gia đình tôi” If one speaks like this to a foreigner, they definitely think that: “Why can you receiver me by a casual meal? Obviously, you not respect me?” In the setting of the English culture, the compliments have become a pattern in communication This pattern expresses the polite principles in propriety Following these principles, they usually use the direct pattern to receive the compliment and also express the approval attitude to the evaluation Therefore, in many communication cases “thank you” is used to respond as an implication of “agreeing” and “receiving” For example: John: Your hat is suitable for you, Mary 34 Mary: Oh, thank you However, when a Vietnamese person receives a compliment, he or she always feel ashamed and usually say in a modest way Lan: Trông cậu hơm xinh q! Hồng: Đâu có, ngày mà Or: Mắt cậu hơm có vấn đề khơng đấy? Obviously, the different culture have a very great effect on the way people express their attitudes to the evaluation 3.3.4 The different of greeting behavior Our planet is divided into many different countries which have many different races of people, different customs and different manners Each country has its way of greeting people The first cultural difference is between Western and Eastern greeting customs Although the greeting is one of the simplest human communications, both countries have different methods of greeting each other Three differences include introduction, self-introduction, and departure In addition, the main reason for the difference is what Westerners use verbal greetings and the Easterners use nonverbal greetings First, the order of introduction in the West is the reverse of the East way In the West, generally elderly people are introduced first For example, if a friend is invited to another’s house, and the host will introduce his father first, then his mother, his older brother, and his young sister After that, he introduced his friend to his family In contrast, the traditional rule is opposite in the East In other words, young people have to be introduced first in the East This rule is the sort of manner in the East, and the people who not follow this regulation are considered rude The methodology of self-introduction varies between the West and the East The Westerners prefer the inductive method that brings out the general idea from concrete; therefore, they are apt to talk about their privacy first 35 Almost all the Westerners talk about their family or themselves For instance, a woman who is a student at St Cloud State University talked about her Iowa State and her family who are farmers Then she said, “The crops are mainly potatoes, and my family likes potatoes.” Finally, she said that her family is a German line In contrast, the Easterners prefer a deductive method In other words, Easterners are likely to talk about where they belong to For example, the typical Eastern person first talks about his university or his major, then what kind of club they belong to Finally, they usually talk about hobbies or an event that happened recently Departures in the Western and the Eastern cultures depend on whether people are close or not The Westerners just say “bye” Nevertheless, if the conditions differ, this departure changes completely in the West In fact, the Westerners often give a hug or kiss to their families when they leave In contrast, unlike Westerners, who just say “goodbye”, generally Easterners make a shallow bow and look back two or three times with their waving hand Due to the different farewell, every Eastern person who is in the West is surprised when they get a hug from a foreign friend, and they feel the Westerners are emotional or sentimental On the contrary, they feel empty and passionless when many Westerners say “bye” and just walk away Many reasons for the differences in greetings are the verbal in the West and nonverbal in the East Generally Westerners are apt to use the verbal, so Westerners always say “Hi” or “How are you?” Even people who are strangers say, “How is it going?” Due to inexperience with this greeting, first, most Eastern people who come to the West are confused whether they should respond or not As a result, they think Westerners are friendly, refreshing, or sociable However, Eastern people tend to use nonverbal language Many Easterners just make a bow with a smile indicating respect Usually, young people have to make a deep bow for their superiors In addition, not only gesture but also voice and countenance are very significant Consequently, 36 every Westerner who is in the East feels uncomfortable at first because they are not used to Eastern customs The cultural pattern of the Western countries, especially England is the conscious of the individual, so the individualism emphasizes the independence or individual freedom, and respects the privacy On the other hand, the Oriental countries, especially Vietnam dignify the collectivism, the awareness of interests of individual privacy is disregarded Accordingly, there are many things that the Vietnamese can put to the public while the English consider as the privacy of individuals and cannot open to the public For them the individual right will be violated if someone asks them with the private questions The limited and difference of private things in Western are expressed mainly in their greeting English, outwardly, are quite reserved, which may cause them to appear cool and indifferent or overly formal in their greeting way In fact, they show a very friendly and help character to foreigners English tend to use commonly the open-ended questions in greeting The questions usually mention to health and work such as: “How are you?” or “What have you been doing?” etc Generally, their greeting questions are not too curious and going into detailed problem The interjection form such as: “hello”, “hey”, “hi” is seemed as informal one more common used in young generation like students within the same age group The English also usually shake hands with everyone present when greeting at business and social meetings But their handshakes are quite light On the other hand, greeting in Vietnamese is quite complicated as the addressing terms used depend on the age and the gender A common Vietnamese greeting usually begin with “Xin chào” Unlike English, the Vietnamese tend to use both form of open-ended and close-ended questions (yes-no question) They usually concern with health, work, and meal in their greeting For example, “Bác ăn cơm chưa?”, “Dạo khỏe chứ”, or 37 “Công việc dạo rồi?”, etc Besides, it is very important to use the correct pronoun in Vietnamese Unlike in English, there are only pronoun “I” and “you” using in communication, in Vietnamese the pronoun is quite complex such as: Ơng, bà , cơ, dì, chú, bác, etc A person can simple greet “Chào ông”, “Chào bà”, or “Chào cô”, with or without a given name When meeting each other, the Vietnamese usually greet: “Anh đâu đấy?”, “Anh làm thế?”, “Anh ăn cơm chưa?”, “Chào anh”, etc to express the thoughtful attitude to the partner Obviously, the questions like those are only considered as the exchanges in the proprietary activities without any practical meaning The questioners also not take care of what their partner or where they are going However, for English, the greeting pattern like “Where are you going?”, or “What are you doing?” are considered as so curious and put hand into other’ business Where they go or what they is their private businesses so it is easy to be regarded as impolite greetings The question patterns about name, age, sex, marriage status, salary, family life, etc., are not considered violating the personal privacy in the Vietnamese culture It is, on the contrary, claimed as the thoughtful care to the others The above question patterns, nevertheless, are seemed to be violated to their personal rights in the Western culture In conclusion, even the simplest communication is quite different because of culture The first impression of the greeting is very important because some people distinguish whether this person is good or not In other words, people who live in other countries have to obey a method of greeting in each country 38 3.4 Way to manager cross-cultural conflict in Oriental and Western communication 3.4.1 Definition cross-culture conflict Culture is an essential part of conflict Cultures are like underground rivers that run through our lives and relationships, giving us messages that shape our perceptions, attributions, judgements, and ideas of self and other Though cultures are powerful, they are often unconscious, influencing conflict and attempts to resolve conflict in imperceptible ways Culture conflicts arise because of the differences in values and norms of behavior of people from different cultures A person acts according to the values and norm of his or her cultures; another person holding a different worldview might interpret his or her behavior from an opposite standpoint This situation creates misunderstanding and can lead to conflict Conflict also can range from minor disagreements, such as a difference of opinion with someone with whom we have an ongoing relationship Conflict is inevitable in many going relationships; it is going to happen whether we want it to or not Cultural conflict has three dimensions To the two dimensions that every conflict has (content and relational), cultural conflict adds the third one “a clash of cultural values” This third dimension constitutes the foundation of the conflict since it determines personal identity Cultural conflict can be identified by the following signs: first, it usually has complicated dynamics Cultural differences mentioned above tend to create complex combinations of expectations about one’s own and others’ behavior Second, if addressing content and relational issues does not resolve the conflict, it can be rooted in cultural differences Last, conflict recurs or arises strong emotions even though the issue of disagreement is insignificant 39 3.4.2 The solution of conflict Conflict is one thing we cannot avoid in communication especially for people from different cultures However, we still can limit or manage these conflicts to have better communication In each situation, context or each culture, we have own method to manage conflict With own experience, knowledge about communication and conflict, each person has own way to avoid unintended conflicts According to Andrea Williams (1994), the resolution of cross-cultural conflict begins with identifying whether cultural issues are involved He brings out three ways of cross-cultural conflict resolution The first way is probing for the cultural dimension The resolution process should start from the parties’ acknowledgement that their conflict contains a cultural dimension Next, there should be willingness on all sides to deal with all conflict dimensions including the cultural one Third, systematic phased work on the conflict is needed Williams identified four phases: (1) the parties describe what they find offensive in each other’s behavior; (2) they get an understanding of the other party’s cultural perceptions; (3) they learn how the problem would be handled in the culture of the opponent; (4) they develop conflict solutions Resolution of the conflict is particularly complicated if the conflict arose not just out of misunderstanding of the other’s behavior, but because of incompatible values The second way is learning about other cultures People can prevent cross-cultural conflicts by learning about cultures that they come in contact with This knowledge can be obtained through training programs, general reading, talking to people from different cultures, and learning from experience Important aspects of cultural education are understanding your own culture and developing cultural awareness by acquiring a broad knowledge of values and beliefs of other cultures, rather than looking at them through the prism of cultural stereotypes 40 The last one is altering organizational practices and procedures Often the organizational structure reflects the norms of just one culture and inherits the cultural conflict In such cases, structural change becomes necessary to make the system more sensitive to cultural norms of other people Abdul Aziz (2001) says that one of the most important findings of cross-cultural conflict resolution research is that the religion is a perennial and perhaps inevitable factor in both conflict and conflict resolution Religion, after all, is a powerful constituent of cultural norms ans values, and because it addresses the most profound existential issues of human life (e.g., freedom and inevitability, fear and faith, security and insecurity, right and wrong, sacred and profane), religion is deeply implicated in individual and social conceptions of peace To transform the conflicts besetting the world today, we need to uncover the conceptions of peace within our diverse religious and cultural traditions, while seeking the common ground among them William Ury (2002) thinks that the key to effective cross-cultural communication is knowledge First, it is essential that people understand the potential problems of cross-cultural communication, and makes a conscious effort to overcome these problems Second, it is important to assume that one’s efforts will not always be successful, and adjust one’s behavior appropriately He suggests that for heated conflict should stop, listen and think or as he puts it “go to the balcony” when the situation gets tense By this, he means withdraw from the situation, step back, and reflect on what is going on before you act This helps in cross-cultural communication as well When things seem to be going badly, stop or slow down and think That could be on here? Is it possible I misinterpreted what they said, or they misinterpreted me? Often misinterpretation is the source of the problem Johnson (1986,26) believes that “Sometimes love is the key ingredient that breaks through the conflict” is opinion about the solution to crosscultural conflict 41 In conclusion, there are many ways to solve cross-cultural conflict Depending on the situation, you can choose suitable way for you to a partly limited these conflicts Above methods are only suggestions for you 3.5 Summary This chapter has studied all the cultural differences as exemplified through the Oriental and Western culture The chapter is situated within a general framework of some different cultural behaviors that cause misunderstanding in behavior in communication In addition, this chapter has many methods or ways to overcome or manage the cross-cultural conflict 42 Part C: Conclusion Behavior is, obviously, a complex action and the combination of many multidimensional relationships between people in society Behavior is not only standard to evaluate a person in a small community but also is specific features of a country in different cultural community Behavior is ruled over much by culture because culture is important in forming behavior, a factor of communication between people and community in daily life In order to have effectiveness in communication, the role of culture is indispensable and undeniable For the people who share who share the same culture , the behavior in communication happens easier than those belong to the different cultures In addition, cultural differences themselves cause many difficulties and misunderstandings for many people who not share the same cultures This graduation paper focuses on some highlight issues in the field such as cultural features and its importance in behavior, Oriental and Western cultural features and some different behaviors relating to differences This study would cover the whole problem relating to behavior in communication and its causes as well as solution to manage misunderstanding caused by cultural differences It is hoped that this paper will provide some ideas for those who are interested in the differences between Oriental and Western 43 REFERENCES English materials American heritage dictionary of English language (2002) Mifflin Company, New York Deutsch, M (1973) The resolution of conflict New Haven, CT: Yale University Press Firth, S (1973) Greeting from highlands of Yemen American Ethnologist Gamble T K & Gamble, M (1992) Communication works McGraw Hill Greertz, Clifford (1973) The interpretation of cultures New York: Basic Books Griffin, E (1976) A first look at communication theory Glen Mc.Clish San Diego State University, McGraw Hill Gudykunst, B W (1991) Bridging differences Newbury Park, CA: Sage Harris, M (1983) Cultural anthropology New York: Harper & Row Hocker, T & Wilmot, W (1991) Interpersonal conflict Dubuque, IA: Wm C Brown 10 Hong Ha, N T Thu Nguyet, N T & To Mai, N T (2001) An English encyclopedia students Culture Information Press Ha Noi 11 Johnson, D (1986) Reaching out Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall 12 Keely, M P & Hart, A J (1994) Nonverbal behavior in dyadic interaction In S W Duck (Ed), Understanding relationship process, 4: Dynamics of relationships Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage 13 Laswell, H D (1948) The structure and function of communication in society In L Bryson (Ed), The communication of ideas New York: Harper 14 Lavenda, R H and Schultz, E A (2000) Core concepts in culture anthropoligy Mayfield Publishing Company London 44 15 Levin, D R And Adelman, M B (1982) Beyond language intercultural communication for English as a second language Prentice Hall Inc 16 Lundstelt, S (1963) An introduction to some evolving problems in cross-cultural research Journal of Social Issues, 14, – 17 McCardle, E S (1974) Nonverbal communication Marcel Decker, Inc New York 18 Murdoch, G P (1956) How culture changes, in Man, Culture and Society Oxford: The University Press 19 Oberg, K (1959) Culture Shock and the problems of adjustment to new cultural environments Washington, DC: Department of State, Foreign Service Institute 20 Prodromou, L (1992) What culture? 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