Roy Vincent L.
Baricawa Purposive Communication
1st Year, BS Psychology
ASSIGNMENT AND ACTIVITY 6
Compare the culture of two countries of your choice. Based on what you see or observe
from the people living in these different countries. Don't get Philippines as the other country of
your choice. You have to choose different countries.
CULTURE COMPARISON OF AMERICA AND CHINA
United States of America
Language American English
 Giving tips to anyone
who gives you a
service.
 Giving “thumbs up” as
a sign of affirmation.
 Shaking hands upon
meeting.
Norms  Young people after
finishing High School
or College lives
independently.
 Wearing less-than-
casual clothes is
common.
 Individualism
 Informality
 Equality
 Time oriented
Values  Direct
 Assertive
 Freedom
Individualistic Society – a
Society society in which the people
are individualistic or self
oriented.
Political System Federal Constitutional
Republic and Representative
Democracy.
Dominant Religion Christianity
Dr. Maria C. Cuntapay
People’s Republic of China
Mandarin
 Burping is a sign of
gratitude.
 Spitting loudly in
public is common.
 Compliments
shouldn’t be accepted.
 Giving tips is
offensive.
 Whistling is rude.
 Pointing using index
finger is disrespectful.
 Wearing full-face
masks at the beach is
normal.
 Harmony
 Benevolence
 Righteousness
 Courtesy
 Honesty
 Loyalty
 Filial Piety or Respect
to parents
Collectivistic Society - a
society in which the people
are contributing or working
for general welfare.
Republic, socialist, unitary,
communist, and one-party
state.
Chinese Folk-Religionist
 The difference that America and China have can be traced by their concept of society.
America, as an individualist society is likely to be more liberated than China as they are self-
oriented, which brings much fewer norms and more freedom whereas China, they are more of a
collectivist society in which they are considerate to their group and with it involved, standards
are likely to be wide which creates more norms and restrictions compared to America.

Bibliography

China Highlights. (n.d.). Chinese Etiquette — Do's and Don'ts in China.

https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/guidebook/etiquette.htm.

Computer Systems Institute. (2016). A List of Cultural Norms in the United States.
http://www.csinow.edu/blog/list-cultural-norms-united-states/.

Council on Foreign Relations. (n.d.). Religion in China.

https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/religion-china.

Jake, D. (n.d.). Individuality in China and the U.S. University of Delaware.

https://sites.udel.edu/ci/programs/nsli-y-china/individuality-in-china-and-the-u-s/#:~:text=As
%20such%2C%20China%20can%20be,prefer%20a%20more%20structured%20hierarchy

Ediplomat. (n.d.). China. http://www.ediplomat.com/np/cultural_etiquette/ce_cn.htm.

Lihua, Z. (2013). China’s Traditional Cultural Values and National Identity. Carnegie-Tsinghua:
Center for Global Policy. https://carnegietsinghua.org/2013/11/21/china-s-traditional-cultural-
values-and-national-identity-pub-53613#:~:text=The%20traditional%20cultural%20values
%20that,%2C%20loyalty%2C%20and%20filial%20piety.

Lumen: Boundless Sociology. (n.d.). The U.S. Political System.

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-sociology/chapter/the-u-s-political-system/.

Pew Research Center. (n.d.). Religious Landscape Study. https://www.pewforum.org/religious-

landscape-study/.

University of Portland. (n.d.). American Values and Assumptions.

https://www.up.edu/iss/advising-services/american-values.html.

List down some influences of culture in communication based on your own experiences.
 Culture assigns meaning and it is radically diverse considering that there are a lot of
cultural groups and listed below are some of the influences of culture in communication from my
lens:

1. Body Language – This is effective in giving non-verbal signals, which is established by

culture. For example, I do give eye contact to emphasize my sincerity and I do give a
“mano” to the elderly since my culture urges young people to express respect to elders in
that manner.
2. Addressing People – People address people differently, be it by the name, or some sort a
title, culture has a significant influence on it. Addressing people can be done by either
their name or the title that a certain culture has assigned and this may vary depending on
the degree of closure and formality. For example, in the Filipino culture, “Kuya” refers to
an older male or a male sibling, and “Ate” refers to an older female or female sibling.
Addressing people are bounded by the degree of closure, formality, and age.
3. Manners – This keeps the mutuality of people since this is meant to show respect and
culture also plays a significant role in it. In the Filipino context, We use “po/opo”
whenever we are talking to someone older than us and often, people give a “mano” to the
elderly as well.
4. Refusal – Refusing also varies depending on their culture. In the Filipino context, people
often give refusals indirectly since our culture has the idea of “hiya” or being shy because
we are not comfortable or we do not want to offend anyone on our refusal so, indirect
reasoning is often practiced.
5. Degree of Formality – Formality depends on things like the degree of closure (whether
they are close or not), our relationship (are they their friends, colleagues, instructor, boss,
family, etc.), and in some cases, being informal is usually directed to friends. Culture
makes the degree of formality hierarchical.
6. Interpretation – Culture can create meanings and misunderstandings. A certain word
may have a different meaning from the other dialect or language. For example, in the
Filipino context, the word "itlog" which means egg has a different meaning in the
Capampangan (one of the eight major languages in the Philippines) because, in that
language, egg means "ebun" and it is pronounced similarly to Tagalog’s "ibon" which
means bird so, whenever a person say "ibon,” People who are using the Capampangan
language usually interpret it like eggs. This, therefore, creates a misunderstanding and
culture takes a part in it.