In looking at the word culture, our emphasis was on recognizing and accepting yourself as a cultural being. We defined culture as the ever changing values, traditions, social and political relationships, and worldview created and shared by a group of people bound together by a combination of factors (which can include a common history, geographic location, language, social class, and/or religion). There are no hard edges to the word, rather, there are phenomena that tend to overlap and mingle.

In the second section, five reasons for studying intercultural communication included (1) Developing a sensitivity to various cultural heritages and backgrounds in order to better understand your own identity; (2) Enhancing personal and social interactions; (3) Understanding the basis for and at least on a personal level, helping to solve cultural misunderstandings, miscommunications, and mistrusts; (4) Recognizing and respecting ethnic and cultural diversity in order to value the ways in which it enhances and enriches the quality of our civilization; and (5) Assisting readers in becoming effective citizens of our national communities.

In the third section, the influence of intercultural communication on the model of communication discussed in Chapter 1 was discussed, and then how intercultural communication dynamically impacts communication as a transaction. That dynamic impact occurs because the model of communication focuses more on the physical act of communication whereas communication as a transaction focuses more on the psychological act-where intercultural influence is most likely.

In section four, we looked at six dimensions of culture that allow you to study cultural differences. Power distance relates to social inequality. Individualism versus collectivism relates to the degree of integration and orientation of individuals within groups. Feminity versus masculinity relates to the division of roles between women and men. Uncertainty avoidance relates to the degree of tolerance for the unknown. Long-term orientation relates to the trade-offs between long-term and short-term gratification of needs. Finally, high context versus low context communication refers to either the amount of information already in the person or context [high context] or the amount of information in the coded, explicit, intentionally transmitted part of the message [low context].

In section five, we discussed four barriers to intercultural communication. These included (1) Ethnocentricism, the belief that one's own cultural group is superior to all other cultural groups, (2) Stereotyping, which is using oversimplified or distorted views of another race, ethnic group, or culture, (3) Prejudice, which is possessing a negative attitude toward a cultural group based on little or no experience, and (4) Discrimination, which includes the overt actions one takes to exclude, avoid, or distance oneself from other groups.

Section six discussed how barriers to intercultural communication are often dealt with. When members of a nondominant group work to get what they want from dominant group members, they use one or more of three main strategies: assimilation, working to fit into the dominant group; accommodation, trying to get the dominant group to change so that it includes experiences of the nondominant group; and separation, leaving the dominant group.

In the final section we provided five suggestions for improving intercultural communication: (1) Pay attention to your own words and actions. (2) Control your assumptions. (3) Engage in transpection, the process of empathizing across cultures. (4) Gain knowledge. (5) Gain experience.