3.4.3 Embracing World-Mindedness

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Embracing World-Mindedness

The second way to improve your perception is to embrace world-mindedness: acceptance of and respect toward other cultures’ beliefs, values, and customs (Hammer, Bennett, & Wiseman, 2003). This is done in three ways (Shah, King, & Patel, 2004). First, accept others’ cultural expressions as natural elements in their interpersonal communication, in the same way that your interpersonal communication is a reflection of your cultural background. Second, avoid the temptation to evaluate others’ cultures as “better” or “worse” than your own. Third, consistently treat people from different cultures with respect. This can be especially challenging when differences in race, nationality, religion, or sexual orientation seem unbridgeable or when others’ cultural ways conflict with your own beliefs, attitudes, and values. But practicing world-mindedness means more than just coldly “tolerating” cultural differences you find perplexing or problematic. Treating people with respect means communicating in a consistently kind and courteous fashion, and endeavoring to preserve others’ personal dignity by respecting their rights to possess viewpoints that differ from yours.

World-mindedness is the opposite of ethnocentrism, the belief that one’s own cultural beliefs, attitudes, values, and practices are superior to those of others. Highly ethnocentric people view their own culture as the center of everything and the standard against which all other cultures should be judged (Neuliep & McCroskey, 1997). Ethnocentric people tend to presume that their own communication is competent, while that of people from other cultures is incompetent. Ironically, this leads them to be more incompetent communicators, especially when interacting with people from other cultures (Massengill & Nash, 2009).

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Figure 3.18: One way to embrace world-mindedness is to experience other cultures firsthand. Groups like the Peace Corps provide volunteering opportunities around the world (shown), while some college students choose to study abroad for a semester or more. No matter the situation, when you communicate with people from other cultures, be sure to do so in respectful ways that increase your world-mindedness.