A Cultural Self-Awareness Approach to Improving Intercultural Communication Skills.

Abstract : Communication between persons of differing cultural backgrounds can be hindered by culturally-conditioned assumptions that they make about each other's cognitions. An exercise was designed to reduce this effect through increased cultural self-awareness. It involves participants in analyzing video recordings of staged intercultural dialogues that contain subtle manifestations of cultural influences present in American society. The participants learn how to recognize such manifestations. Some conclusions are made.