Identity
Personal, social, and cultural identities.
What are the three main types of identity?
A socially constructed category based on differences in appearance that has been used to create hierarchies that privilege some and disadvantage others.
What is race?
The ability to communicate effectively and appropriately in various cultural contexts.
What is intercultural competence?
Social groups to which a person does not belong and often views as different from their own group
What are outgroups?
A fixed, oversimplified belief about a group of people that ignores individual differences—like assuming all older adults struggle with technology or all athletes are bad at academics.
What is a stereotype?
Identities placed on us by others.
What are ascribed identities?
Changing from one way of speaking to another between or within interactions.
What is code-switching?
The ability to continually supplement and revise existing knowledge to create new categories rather than forcing new knowledge into old categories.
What is Cognitive flexibility?
The natural human tendency to prefer, trust, and give favorable treatment to members of one’s own group over those in out-groups. While this instinct may have helped early humans survive by fostering loyalty and protection within small groups, it no longer serves us in today’s diverse and interconnected world.
What is In-group favoritism?
A negative attitude or judgment toward a person based solely on their membership in a particular group—such as disliking someone just because of their race, religion, or nationality, without knowing anything about them personally.
What is prejudice?
Socially constructed categories that teach individuals specific ways of being and behaving. These identities come with built-in expectations for how to act, speak, and engage within a cultural group.
What are cultural identities?
An identity based on internalized cultural notions of masculinity and femininity that is constructed through communication and interaction.
What is gender?
An individual’s attitude about and level of comfort in uncertain situations. Some people perform better in uncertain situations than others, and intercultural encounters often bring up uncertainty.
What is Tolerance for uncertainty?
When a sports team credits their win to their skill but blames a loss on bad refereeing or bad luck.
What is an example of group-serving bias?
An older employee hesitates to contribute during a team meeting after hearing a comment about “young people being better with technology,” fearing their input will be judged through the lens of age-related stereotypes.
What is an example of stereotype threat?
A social identity that holds more power, privilege, and access to resources within a given society.
What is dominant identity?
A system of social structures and practices that maintains the values, priorities, and interests of men as a group.
What is patriarchy?
A reflective practice by which we acknowledge intersecting identities, both privileged and disadvantaged, and implicate ourselves in social hierarchies and inequalities
What is intersectional reflexivity?
One variable that makes us less prejudiced.
What is education?
Unfair or unequal treatment of people based on their group membership—such as denying someone a job because of their race, gender, or religion.
What is discrimination?
A framework that helps us understand how multiple aspects of a person’s identity—such as race, gender, class, sexuality, and ability—interact and overlap to shape their experiences of privilege and oppression.
What is intersectionality?
An intellectual and social movement advanced women’s rights and our overall understanding of gender.
What is feminism?
Motivation, self- and other-knowledge, and tolerance for uncertainty.
What are three key components of intercultural communication competence?
When children from different ethnic groups play together at school, their attitudes toward each other improve. Similarly, when college students study abroad, they meet people from other cultures and become more open-minded.
What is an example of contact hypothesis?
The tendency to see members of an out-group as all the same, while seeing members of your own group as diverse and unique—for example, saying “they all act alike” about another culture while recognizing many differences within your own.
What is the out-group homogeneity effect?