Nghiên cứu giao văn hóa việt mỹ về các hành vi động chạm

Part a: introduction

I. Rationale

Touch, known as haptics or tactile communication, is often considered to be the most

basic form of communication that each of us experiences from birth. As well, it is a

fundamental aspect of nonverbal communication in general and of self-presentation in

particular. To some extent, body contact is related to proximity – one can only touch

if one is within close range of the other person. The closer we stand to one another, the

more we increase the likelihood of our touching. Touch is also a crucial aspect of most

human relationships. It plays a part in giving encouragement, expressing tenderness,

showing emotional support, and many other things. Some say it reflects a yearning for

human contact and a desire to restore some unfilled tactile needs. The act of touching

is like any other message we communicate – it may elicit negative reactions as well

as positive ones depending on the configuration of people and circumstances.

In addition, how we feel about touch usually depends on the meanings of touch we

perceived. For example, our meanings are affected by the part of the body that is

touched, the duration of the touch, the amount of pressure that is applied, and the

amount of movement after absence of another person, the importance of any other

person who is present, the situation in which the touch occurs, the mood created by the

situation, and the relationship between the people involved.

Moreover, some research reports that boys and girls get differential early experiences

with touch from parents, but most agree that early experiences with touch are crucial

for later adjustment.

In this thesis, we will discuss touching behaviours and its effects on human

communication. Additionally, we will compare and contrast the way Vietnamese and

American informants apply touching with certain subjects. Hence, we will draw out

some similarities and differences with the view to suggesting solutions to cultural

shock and communication breakdown.

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II. Aims of the study

The aims of the study are:

 To investigate touchable areas on human body.

 To compare and contrast areas of touching on human body and the

influence of the informants’ parameters on touching in the two cultures in

order to clarify similarities and differences in the way the Vietnamese

and the American apply touching.

 To contribute to raising cross-cultural awareness of the potential culture

shock in touching behaviours, thus avoiding communication breakdown.

III. Scope of the study

The study stresses upon the nonverbal communication. Extralinguistically, the study

especially discusses the touching behaviours in the two cultures: Vietnamese and

American.

IV. Methods of the study

In order to achieve the objectives of a cross-cultural research mentioned above, the

major method to be employed is quantitative. Besides, contrastive analysis is also

used. Therefore, all the considerations, comments and conclusions in this thesis are

largely based on:

 Reference to relevant home and foreign publication in both primary and

secondary research.

 Survey questionnaires.

 Statistics, descriptions and analysis of the collected and selected data.

 Personal observations and experience.

 Consultations with supervisor.

 Discussions with Vietnamese and foreign colleagues.

V. Comments on the survey questionaire

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The survey questionaire is designed to investigate the cross-cultural simmilarities and

differences in touching behaviour between the Vietnemese and American culture. In

order to collect sufficient data for contrastive analysis, the author designed two types

of survey questionaires: one in English and the other in Vietnamese. The survey was

conducted with both Vietnamese and American informants. The author has recived

answers from 60 Vietnamese and 60 American informants. They were required to tick

the appropriate boxes, corresponding to where they applied touching, what types of

touching behaviours they employed and they also provided some personal information

to help produce a more precise result (such as age, gender, marital status, etc.) The

data was then analyzed from a cross-cultural perspective, in the light of nonverbal

communication.

The survey questionaire contained the following situation:

(1) After one week out of touch with the following people, identify who

touched you where.

(2) Identify how often you get touched by the following people.

(3) What would be your reaction if one of the following people touch you,

after one week out of touch with him/her?

(4) Identify what kind of touching behaviour you apply on different body

regions for the following people after one week out of touch with him/her.

In these situations, informants had to choose who they would apply certain type of

touching behaviour.

The informants’ communicating partners were people in family, social and business

relations:

 Mother

 Father

 Brother

 Sister

 Close same-sex friend

 Close opposite-sex friend

 Same-sex acquaintance

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 Opposite-sex acquaintance

 Same-sex colleague

 Opposite-sex colleague

 Boss

 Subordinate

The aim of the survey questionaire as stated above is to investigate the similarities and

the differences of touching between Vietnamese and American culture. However, the

author is well aware that it cannot cover other verbal as well as nonverbal factors used

in combination with touching or having certain effect on touching, such as:

 Intralanguage factors: topic of conversation,

 Paralanguage factors: vocal characteristics (pitch, volume, intonation, ) …

 Nonverbal factors: eye-contact, gestures, postures…

 Communicative environment: place, setting, etc

 Mood of participants: happy, angry, confused,…

With respect to these limitation, the thesis is only regarded as a preliminary study and

the result is believed to be tentative and suggestive.

VI. Comments on the informants

To ensure compatibility, the survey questionaires were conducted with two groups of

120 informants. The first group were Vietnamese who are all living in Northern

Vietnam. 60 completed questionaires were received. The second group were American

who are now living in Boston - the United States. Another 60 questionaires were

received from these informants.

Since the status parameters of the informants are believed to be useful when

considering their role relationship, informants from both groups were requested to

provide information about their:

 Nationality

 Age

 Gender

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 Marital status

 Occupation

 Areas where they spend most of their time (urban or rural)

 Acquisition of language(s) other than their mother tongue

However, the informants were assured that they would not be identified in any

discussion of data.

VII. Design of the study

The study falls into three main parts:

PART A: INTRODUCTION: All the academic routines required for an M.A Thesis

are presented

PART B: DEVELOPMENT: This is the focus of the study and consisted of 3 chapters

Chapter 1: Background Concepts

Chapter 2: Touching behaviour as Nonverbal behaviour

Chapter 3: Data analysis and discussion

PART C: CONCLUSION

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Part B: development

Chapter 1: background concepts

1.1. What culture?

The word 'culture' stems from the Latin "colere", translatable as to build on, to

cultivate, to foster. In the early stages of the philosophical debate about what is

'culture', the term often refers to the opposite of 'nature'. 'Culture' was referring to

something constructed willingly by men, while 'nature' was given in itself.

No one can say for sure how many definitions of “culture” there are, but one obvious

thing is that these definitions are all proposed in order to orient and set target for the

researches.

There are and have been many ways to approach the definitions of ‘culture’. Nguyen

Quang has defined culture by contrasting culture and nature, asociating the “being”

part of men with “nature”, the “human” part with “culture”.

- Culture is non-natural

- Nature is the extension of being and culture of human (Nature-Culture and

Human-Being)

(Nguyen Quang, 2005)

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Nature

culture

Human

Being

Nguyen Quang

From another aspect, Levine and Adelman define culture by examining the visible and

invisible nature of the constituents of culture.

Culture is like an iceberg, much of the influence of culture on an individual can

hardly be seen but strongly be felt. The visible part of culture does not always

create cross-cultural difficulties. The hidden aspects of culture exercise a strong

influence on behaviour and interactions with others. (Levine and Adelman, 1993)

Levine and Adelman's iceburg of culture

Examining the nature of “having, thinking and doing” of human beings, Ferrando

claims that: “Culture is everything that people have, think and do as a member of a

society. ” (Ferrando, 1996)

Ferrando's diagrams of culture

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Material

objects

(Have)

Ideas,

values,

attitudes

(think)

Behavior

pattern

(do)

Culture Ferrando.

G.

Language

Food

Appearance

Values Beliefs

Attitudes Perceptions

Communication style

Taboos

Customs

Traditions