Communication Differences: Koreans and American Cultures

Nonverbal immediacy is related to the emotional distance communicated nonverbally between people. A close emotional distance would be communicated nonverbally by touching and affection displays. In contrast, one who is less immediate would be more touch avoidant and less likely to display emotion outwardly.

Andersen and Leibowitz found that communication apprehension is positively correlated to touch avoidance. The degree of touch avoidance people sense varies by culture. Hall designated societies on the basis of how much they avoid touching. At least in terms of public touch, Hall designated both Korea and the US, as being touch-avoidant cultures. However, McDaniel and Andersen's study found this not to be the case in that people from the US were among the most tactile cultures in their entire study. On the other hand, McDaniel and Andersen as well as Ruch fully supported Hall's characterization of Korea as a culture possessing disinclination toward touch.

In addition to touching behavior, all public displays of emotion are embarrassing to Koreans. According to Kim, Korean couples avoid any outward displays of affection. This was corroborated by Park and Kim and Matsumoto, Takeuchi, et al., who found that after Russians, South Koreans exert the highest control over their expressions with Americans having the least controlled emotions. Accordingly, the following hypothesis is posed:

Immediacy reflects positive feelings and verbal aggression reflects negative feelings. Thus,this negative-approach communication will be considered as the last distinguishing trait between Korean and US American cultures. Verbal aggressiveness is defined as "a personality trait that predisposes persons to attack the self concepts of others instead of, or in addition to, their positions on topics of communication".