Communication Differences: Koreans and American Cultures

According to Fujihara, Kohyama, et al., Asian cultures, which possess interdependent self-construals, seem to be more permissive of direct verbal aggression compared with Western cultures. In addition, Merkin found that hostility strategies were associated with cultures possessing a high degree of uncertainty avoidance (e.g.,Korea) as opposed to cultures possessing a low degree of uncertainty avoidance (e.g., US Americans). According to Hofstede, people from high-uncertainty avoidant cultures have a lower tolerance for "uncertainty and ambiguity, which expresses itself in higher levels of anxiety and energy release... and less tolerance for groups with deviant ideas and behavior". More specifically, Hofstede found that people from high-uncertainty-avoidant cultures tend to display their emotions more than those from low-uncertainty-avoidant cultures (e.g., the North Korean leaders' aggressive communication about their nuclear program). Furthermore, though US Americans have been found to be more argumentative and assertive than Koreans, nevertheless, Koreans were found to be more aggressive in their communication than US Americans. Therefore, it is possible that despite their need to be indirect, members of the high-uncertainty-avoidant interdependent Korean culture could be more likely to resort to using verbal aggression than the US American low-uncertainty-avoidant independent culture. Thus, the following hypothesis is posed: