Matakuliah
Tahun
: V0052
: 2008
CULTURE IN SOCIAL CONTEXT
Week 2
Learning Outcomes
At the end of lesson, students will be able to explain
the relations between social interactions and
perceptions, subjectivity of perceptions, influence of
cultures on perception, perception of verbal signals,
non-verbal signals and interactions, and Perception
Distortion
Mahasiswa dapat menjelaskan hubungan antara
budaya, interaksi sosial dan persepsi, subjektivitias
persepsi, pengaruh budaya terhadap persepsi,
persepsi terhadap sinyal-sinyal verbal dan nonverbal dan distorsi persepsi.
Bina Nusantara
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Subjects
- Concept and Definition (Konsep dan Definisi)
- The Relations between Culture, Social Interactions and
Perceptions (Hubungan Antara Budaya, Interaksi Sosial
dan Persepsi)
- Subjectivity of Perceptions (Subjektivitas Persepsi)
- Types of Perceptions (Jenis-jenis Persepsi)
- Influence of Cultures on Perception (Pengaruh Budaya
terhadap Persepsi)
- Perception of verbal signals, non-verbal signals and
interactions (Persepsi terhadap Tanda-tanda Verbal, NonVerbal dan Interaksi)
- Perception Distortion (Distorsi Persepsi)
Bina Nusantara
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Week 5
Microsoft in India
• When colouring in 800,000 pixels on a map of India,
Microsoft coloured eight of them a different shade of
green to represent the disputed Kashmiri territory. The
difference in greens meant Kashmir was shown as nonIndian, and the product was promptly banned in India.
Microsoft was left to recall all 200,000 copies of the
offending Windows 95 operating system software to try
and heal the diplomatic wounds. It cost them millions.
Bina Nusantara
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Week 5
McDonald’s in China
• The fast food giant McDonald's spent thousands on a
new TV ad to target the Chinese consumer. The ad
showed a Chinese man kneeling before a McDonald's
vendor and begging him to accept his expired discount
coupon. The ad was pulled due to a lack of cultural
sensitivity on McDonald's behalf. The ad caused uproar
over the fact that begging is considered a shameful act
in Chinese culture.
Bina Nusantara
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Why Did Those Two Things Happen?
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Week 5
Concept and Definitions
• Perception is the process through which people
see the world around themselves (Schiffman
and Kanuk, 1987)
• Perception referred to perceptions as the
process that shape and produce what we
actually experience (Mitchell, 1978)
Bina Nusantara
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Week 5
Concept and Definitions
• Perception is the process by which stimuli are
selected from the external environment and
interpreted into meaningful internal experiences
(Samovar and Porter, 1991)
Bina Nusantara
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Week 5
Subjectivity of Perceptions
• Perceptions and their meanings are subjective
• The meaning of the subject or an event differs
depending on the perceiver
• People differ in the perceptions because they have
different views of the world (Krech and Crutchfield,
1948, Robertson, 1970)
• Perceptions depend on people’s value orientations,
expectations, experiences and interests that are
culturally determined (Schiffman and Kanuk, 1987
and Cohen J.B. , 1972).
Bina Nusantara
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Week 5
Three types of Perceptions
• Perceptions of other people
E.g. tourist perceptions of hosts and host
perceptions of tourists
• Perceptions of one’s own
Tourist’s perceptions of themselves and host’
perceptions of themselves
• Perceptions of the perceptions (called
metaperceptions)
Tourist perceptions of how they are perceived by hosts.
Bina Nusantara
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Week 5
Theory of Metaperceptions
• If the tourists like their hosts, tourists will
perceive that their hosts like tourists and vice
versa (Hargie’s, 1986)
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Week 5
Perceptions Vs Satisfaction
• Perception affects satisfaction.
• Tourists usually do have knowledge about the
destinations they have not previously visited.
However, they hold perceptions of alternative
and ideal destinations.
• The smaller the differences between actual and
ideal perceptions, the higher the tourist
satisfaction.
Bina Nusantara
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Week 5
Factors Shaping Perceptions
• External environmental factors
– Economic, social, cultural, geographical
• Internal environmental factors
– Demographic, psychographic, behaviouristic
Bina Nusantara
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Week 5
The Influence of Culture on Perception
• Culture is strongly influences the environment in which people
are raised
• Culture teaches people how to perceive experiences and
interpret meanings
• Different cultures tend to expose themselves to dissimilar
experiences as people respond to different stimuli and their
perceptions of the external world vary
• Culture causes different nationalities to perceive differently
• According to Tajfel (1969), perceptions are influenced by
cultural similarity and familiarity.
• Robinson and Nemetz (1988) stated that cultural similarities
bring people together and dissimilarities separate people.
Bina Nusantara
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Week 5
Perception of Verbal and Non-verbal Signal
• The non-verbal signals such as space, gesture, use
of time and expression of emotion may be perceived
positively or negatively, depending on culture.
• E.g. In some cultures such as the US or France, gifts
should be opened and shown, in other cultures such
as Japan or China, gifts should be acknowledged and
put away.
Bina Nusantara
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Week 5
Perception of Interaction Patterns
• Interaction patterns can be perceived differently in
various cultures. For example, the formality of
Japanese social behavior may be perceived
negatively by Australians, because for the
Australians it has negative value and informality
has positive value.
Bina Nusantara
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Week 5
Perception Distortion
• Perceptions can be distorted by biased sources
of information, stereotypes, ethnocentrism,
physical appearance, quick jumping to a
conclusion or “hallo effect”.
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QUESTIONS?
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Review Questions 5
1. Explain the ways culture influences perceptions
2. Name factors shaping perceptions
3. Give examples for:
- Perception of verbal signals
- Perception of non-verbal signals
- Perception of interaction patterns
4. Name perception distortion.
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