Unit4EyeContactinInterculturalCommunication预案.ppt

* LOGO * LOGO * LOGO Unit 4 Eye Contact in Intercultural Communication Eye contact can indicate interest, attention, and involvement. In some culture, looking people in the eye is assumed to indicate honesty and straightforwardness. In other cultures, however, it is seen as challenging and rude. Most people in Arab cultures share a great deal of eye contact and may regard too little as disrespectful. In English culture, a certain amount of eye contact is required, but too much makes many people uncomfortable. Most English people make eye contact at the beginning and then let their gaze drift to the side periodically to avoid “staring at the other person”. In South Asian and many other cultures direct eye contact is generally regarded as aggressive and rude. In some cultures and religious groups eye contact between men and women is seen as flirtatious or threatening. In Japanese, African, Latin American, and Caribbean cultures, people avoid eye contact to show respect. The timing of eye contact also can reflect cultural differences. English speakers prefer to have prolonged eye contact while conveying. To them, a person who does not look you in the eye when talking to you is not trustworthy. In France, a man can look at woman from her head to her feet whether they are friends or strangers, which just implies that “I like you or I appreciate you”, and women will not feel embarrassed or angry at the eye contact. However, this kind of eye contact is not approved in Chinese culture, because it is looked upon as rudeness or sexual harassment. To look someone in Japan is rude because it is invading someone’s space. When the samurai held power, a strict code of behavior was enforced regarding who could look at whom and for how long one could look, and one violated those codes at one’s own peril. This has been carried over into modern society. The Japanese may sit close together in an office, but they seldom look at each other in the eye. Even on the crowded subway