BACKGROUND TO

INTERCULTURAL
COMMUNICATION
STUDIES
Catherine Baker
General Education Dept.
Modern College of Business and
Science, Muscat, Oman.

Adapted from: Ward, Furnham & Bochner

(2001) The Psychology of Culture Shock.
– Since ancient times, people have travelled and have
had what we would now call intercultural contacts as
a result. Think of Marco Polo and Christopher
Columbus, Sir Francis Drake and Captain Cook, Abu
‘Ubayda’ Abd Allah bin al Qasim al Umani (Sindbad),
and Ibn Battuta, to name but a few.
 Abu ‘Ubayda’ Abd Allah bin al Qasim al
Umani (Sindbad) and Ibn Battuta
 Sindbad sailed to China in the 8th Century
 1325 aged 21, Ibn Battuta set out on 3,000-mile journey by donkey from Tangier,
Morocco to Mecca. Walking, riding, and sailing over 75,000 miles to 4 corners of
the Muslim world, he visited 40+ modern countries and documented the
movement of gold, wool, silk, ivory and people in the 14th century.
(From 1001 Inventions, The enduring Legacy of Muslim Civilization, Prof. S.T S. al-Hassani, National
Geographic Society, 2012)
– Their journals also refer to the interpersonal and
sociopolitical difficulties such contacts often create. The
difference between then and now is scope, that is the
quantum increase in the movement of people across
national and ethnic boundaries due to factors including
mass access to jet travel, globalisation of industry,
expansion of educational exchanges, increasing affluence
supporting a burgeoning tourist industry, and growing
migrant, refugee and foreign worker movements. All of
these developments involve some contact between
culturally disparate individuals.
– The key end-products of intercultural contact can be
referred to as outcomes. These are dependent
variables which include participants’ behaviours,
perceptions, feelings, beliefs, attitudes and self-
references.
These are measured in a range of studies which focus on
certain of those variables, and some of these are: cognitive
theory (perceptions); social psychology (attitudes, beliefs and
attributions); behavioural psychology (intergroup processes
and social skills); communication theory (verbal and non-
verbal messages); and personality theory (feelings, states and
traits). Of course, society and its interactions are studied
through many other subjects, such as sociology, anthropology,
history, political science, economics, international
development and inter(multi)cultural communication training.
Research into intercultural contacts more often than not leads
to social/political action.
– ‘Multiculturalism’ is a term that is increasingly used to describe the
form of intercultural contact that takes place either among the
residents of a culturally diverse nation or society or when a person
from one society travels to another country with a particular
objective in mind; for example, to work, play, study, exploit, convert,
or provide assistance. Not many countries can be described as
completely monocultural in our present world, though some are
more culturally diverse than others. For example, Japan and Korea
are often referred to as being relatively culturally homogenous,
particularly when contrasted with The USA, Australia or Canada.
– What seems to be the most important dependent
variable when considering intercultural contact is
whether the outcome tends to be positive or
negative. Did the participants like or hate each
other? Did they trust each other or were they
suspicious of each other?
– Did they enjoy each other’s company or did they find the
interaction awkward? Were they willing to work with, play
with, or even marry each other? Did they gain a sense of self-
enhancement or humiliation in the company of culturally
disparate individuals? What other emotions did they
experience when engaging in social interactions, and how did
they behave as a reflection of their feelings? It is therefore
necessary to establish exactly what occurs when individuals
from different cultural backgrounds meet, so that theory-based
intervention and training programmes can be developed to
increase the incidence of harmonious intercultural contacts in
the so-called real world.