Robert Shuter

The centrality of culture

Culture has been neglected by researchers of intercultural communication. During the last decade, there have been scattered investigations of world regions and countries, and only Japan and the U.S. have been investigated in depth through multiple communication studies. Africa, S.E. Asia, Latin America, and Europe have been virtually ignored by intercultural researchers. Intracultural communication is described as a new research and teaching direction for the 90s.

Intercultural New Media Studies: The Next Frontier in Intercultural Communication

New media (ICTs) are transforming communication across cultures. Despite this revolution in cross cultural contact, communication researchers have largely ignored the impact of new media on intercultural communication. This groundbreaking article defines the parameters of a new field of inquiry called Intercultural New Media Studies (INMS), which explores the intersection between ICTs and intercultural communication. Composed of two research areas—(1) new media and intercultural communication theory and (2) culture and new media—INMS investigates new digital theories of intercultural contact as well as refines and expands twentieth-century intercultural communication theories, examining their salience in a digital world. INMS promises to increase our understanding of intercultural communication in a new media age and is the next frontier in intercultural communication.

A field study of nonverbal communication in Germany, Italy, and the United States

This study examined the distance, axis, and tactility patterns of conversants in Venice Mastre, Italy; Heidelberg, Germany; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Multivariate and univariate analyses of variance revealed significant interaction effects between sex and culture on all the variables.

Initial Interaction of American Blacks and Whites in Interracial and Intraracial Dyads

Summary The study explores racial differences in initial interaction by focusing on the first four minutes of conversation in interracial and intraracial interactions. A repeated measures design was used, with black male, black female, white male, and white female American Ss interacting with four stimulus persons orthogonally varied by race and sex. The Ss’ conversations were unobtrusively recorded and the content analyzed to determine the number and types of questions asked and the length of Ss speaking time. The results indicate that blacks and whites significantly change initial interaction depending on the composition of the dyad. In addition, males and females varied question patterns depending on the partners race. The results suggest that initial interaction for blacks and whites may be governed by different conversational rules.

Introduction: New Media Across Cultures—Prospect and Promise

The worldwide explosion of new media technologies is uniquely situated at the crossroads of interpersonal, intercultural and mass communication. Information and communications technologies (ICTs), including social media, mobile phones, text messaging, email, online games (MMOG), blogs, and Skype, enable people to connect interpersonally across cultures, nations, time, and space in ways unimagined until the dawn of the 21st century. The ascendance of new media as vehicles for global communication is certainly worthy of investigation and, while studies have examined ICTs within the United States and selected European and Asian countries, there has been scant research on the intercultural implications of information communication technologies across cultures, co-cultures, and nations. This Forum on Intercultural New Media Research is a pioneering effort to advance knowledge and theory on the impact of ICTs on intercultural communication. Although there is limited published research on new media and intercultural communication, the initial call for proposals for this forum resulted in more than 60 submissions, well beyond expectations. After multiple blind reviews, four proposals were selected and developed into state-of-the-art essays on new media across cultures. The four essays commissioned for the forum, each examining different types of digital media, explore critical 21st-century issues on the interplay between new media and intercultural communication. The first essay by Pfister and Soliz serves as the conceptual portal for the forum, offering four new and dynamic theses on the connection between new media and intercultural communication. Their stimulating essay suggests that because new media has dramatically altered intercultural contact, both enhancing and constraining intercultural transactions, it is critical that intercultural scholars reconceptualize their understanding of intercultural communication in a digital age.

Emerging interpersonal norms of text messaging in India and the United States

This study examines whether there are emerging interpersonal norms of text messaging—an etiquette (“textiquette”) of texting—that guide its use in India and the United States. One hundred and thirty-seven participants recorded multiple text messages sent and received in specially designed text logs. Each log secured data on the following dimensions: (1) the context in which a text was sent and received/read; (2) who each participant was with—and the reaction of this person(s)—when the participant sent or received/read a text message; and (3) what constitutes impolite text messaging behavior. Results reveal emerging interpersonal norms of text messaging in both countries that vary significantly across cultures on all three dimensions. Implications and limitations are discussed.

A Study of Nonverbal Communication among Jews and Protestants

Summary This study explored the nonverbal communication of Protestant Americans (Episcopalians) of Anglo-Saxon descent and American Jews. Conducted in Jewish synagogues (n = 164 males and females) and Episcopalian churches (n = 160 males and females), the investigation examined the distance and axis at which communicators interacted and the types of gestures and tactile behavior conversants displayed. Few significant differences were found between Jews and Protestants; accordingly, nonsignificant statistical trends were reported in addition to the limited number of tactility and gestural scores that were significantly different. Genders did not differ significantly on distance, axis, and tactility. Significant differences were found between men and women on gesticulation.

Cross-cultural small group research: A review, an analysis, and a theory

Abstract The small group research reported in the literature has been conducted predominantly with American subjects. Because these studies have primarily sampled only one culture, it was speculated that the findings may not be applicable to groups in other societies. After examining the available cross-national small group research, the investigator found that group behavior frequently varied from culture to culture, particularly with regard to leadership, conformity, network performance, and risky shift. In discussing cultural differences in group behavior, a value theory of small group development was posited. Essentially, the theory maintains that cultural values determine how a small group and its members behave. Research strategies for testing the theory are also examined in the article.

Managing student digital distractions and hyperconnectivity: communication strategies and challenges for professorial authority

ABSTRACT Recent debates on the use of technology in classrooms have highlighted the significance of regulating students’ off-task and multitasking behaviors facilitated by digital media. This paper investigates the communication practices that constitute professorial authority to manage college students’ digital distractions in classrooms. Findings from interviews with American professors illustrate how they constitute their authority through distinct communication strategies including the enactment of codified rules, strategic redirection, discursive sanctions, and deflection. Furthermore, results highlight the multiple constraints and tensions in instructor communication to manage digital distractions in everyday and routine interventions. Insights generated in this paper contribute to deepening understanding of the (re)construction of contemporary pedagogical authority in times of digital hyperconnectivity, as well as its adaptions and challenges.

An exploratory study of pain expression styles among blacks and whites

Abstract This study examines pain expression styles of black and white patients. Focusing on patient description of pain, the study explores the willingness of patients to disclose information about their pain and the quantity and quality of information patients use to describe their pain. The research was conducted in an urban hospital where nurse / patient interviews were recorded and subsequently analyzed by two raters who used a content analysis system developed for this study. It was found that blacks make fewer pain disclosures than whites, and they also convey less information about the intensity of their pain. Implications of the results for health care are offered.