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PART A: INTRODUCTION
i. Rationale
“One’s eyes are more accurate witnesses than ears”
Heraclitus
To our understanding, language is a great heaven prize and treasure for human in order to
fulfill our vital needs as the social beings: communication. Language appeared, remains
and flourishes along with human history. With the seen development of language and
language studies at the moment, there is no need in proving the crucial and irreplaceable
position of language in human life.
However, there are now more and more researchers believing that communication without
spoken and written words, termed “nonverbal communication” (NVC), is of vital role. As
Heraclitus states above, people tend to rely on NVC and to base the partners’ message on
the nonverbal cues they receive. One more important thing is that even nonverbal
communication takes a big part in transferring meaning in communication; most people do
not know how to read other’s behaviors. Thus, the question is: what shape our behaviors
and decision? For a successful communication event, one possible answer is emotion.
Therefore, the studies into nonverbal expressions for internal emotions have been paid
much attention to. The primary emotional states studied include: surprise, fear, disgust,
anger, sadness and happiness. Nevertheless, disappointment, one of two primary emotions
(together with regret) that involve in decision-making – the success of a communication
event, has not been much concerned.
All of this leads the author to the research naming: “An American – Vietnamese crosscultural study on non-verbal expressions of disappointment”. This preliminary study
tries to feature out the most common nonverbal expressions for disappointment in order
that a successful communication event can be achieved between American and Vietnamese
communicators.
ii. Aims of the study
This research aims to:
- investigate the most common nonverbal expressions for disappointment used by
Americans and Vietnamese in cross-cultural communication.
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- raise the awareness of the importance of NVC and suggest ways to improve cross-cultural
NVC.
In order to achieve the set aims of the study the research questions are as follows:
- What are the most common nonverbal expressions for disappointment used by Americans
and/or Vietnamese?
- What are the similarities and differences between American and Vietnamese nonverbal
expressions of disappointment?
iii. Scope of the study
Nonverbal messages are widely transferred through many channels. For the common
consideration, it includes: paralanguage, body language, object language and environment
language, of which object language and environment language do not have much
contribution to express emotions which include disappointment. It comes to our awareness
that paralanguage (the vocal characteristics, types of vocal flow, vocal interferences,
silence…) adds a high percentage to the process of communication. However, due to the
time constraint and lack of reliable equipment (voice recorder, voice analyzer…), this kind
of factor will be unavoidably out of the scope of the study.
So, the study only focuses on body language. That is, this study limits itself to facial
expressions, gestures and postures only.
iv. Methods of the study
In order to set up a firm theoretical background for the study, relevant publications are
critically reviewed. Information from the Internet sites and previous studies are also
referred to.
The main method used in this study is quantitative with the illustration of tables and charts
presenting statistic data. The analysis is mainly based on the data collected through the
survey questionnaires.
Consultation with the supervisor, discussion with colleagues, as well as the author’s
observation in daily life and his own experience in cross-cultural communication are also
of great help in finding out the answers to the research questions.
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v. Organization of the study
The study will be organized into the following structure:
Part A: INTRODUCTION outlines the rationale, the methodology, the aims, the scope, the
significance and the organization of the study.
Part B: DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 1 LITERATURE REVIEW reviews the theoretical issues. It briefly presents and
discusses the theory of communication, NVC with more detailed discussion on facial
expressions, gestures and postures which are major parts of body language.
Disappointment as a human feeling and its nonverbal expressions are also discussed.
Chapter 2 METHODOLOGY describes the data collecting instrument, the informants and
research procedures.
Chapter 3 DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS OF THE FINDINGS presents and
discusses similarities and differences in how to express disappointment nonverbally by the
American and the Vietnamese.
Part C: CONCLUSION
Summary of major findings
Conclusion and Implications for cross-cultural communication
Limitations of the study and Suggestions for further study.
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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. CULTURE
As Harrison and Huntington noted, “the term ‘culture,’ of course, has had different
meanings in different disciplines and different contexts”. By stating “culture is the humanmade part of the environment,” W.J.Lonner and R.S.Malpass (1994:7) contrast the culture
and the nature. In their ideas, things in environment will never become cultural without the
“touch” of human.
According to H. Triandis (1994:23), “Culture is a set of human-made objective and
subjective elements that in the past have increased the probability of survival and resulted
in satisfaction for the participants in a ecological niche, and this became shared among
those who could communicate with each other because they had a common language and
they lived in the same time and place.” The subjective elements of culture here are
elements such as values, attitudes, beliefs, orientations and underlying assumptions
prevalent among people in a society. All of these elements act as a framework that
influences your interpretation of the world and interactions in it.
1.2. COMMUNICATION
1.2.1. Definition of Communication
“We are great communicators”
Liz & John Soars: 1997
We, human beings, communicate during our whole life for our own purpose. A child cries
(communicates) to his parents as he needs changing his diaper or feeding. Family members
communicate for help and emotional support and to maintain a good family atmosphere. At
work, people communicate for the purpose of exchanging ideas, negotiating… Leaders
communicate their visions to their staff. Executives communicate to the lower-level
employees. Organizations communicate to their customers and the public. Press
conferences, press releases, employee newsletters, catalogues, direct mail, phone calls,
employee suggestion systems, meetings, formal performance appraisals, on-the-job
feedback from managers, attitude surveys, speeches, conference room briefings, letters,
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memos and evaluation forms - all of these are examples of communication. We now come
to a conclusion that communication is very important in our lives, as Hybels (1992:5)
claims “Communication, then, is vital to our lives. To live is to communicate.”
Larry A., Richard E. Porter and Edwin R. McDaniel (2006:12) select the all-encompassing
definition of “human communication is the process through which symbols are transmitted
for the purpose of eliciting a response”. Lustig (1996:29) defines communication as “a
symbolic process in which people create shared meanings”. In the both definitions, the
centre is “symbol”. A symbol may be “a word, action or object”, containing thoughts,
perception or feelings one wants to communicate with others.
1.2.2. Forms of Communication
Communication as claimed by Lustig above is the process of exchange shared meanings.
And in order to create share meaning, people have to use code or symbol. In reality, the
two kinds of code or symbol are verbal (spoken and written) and nonverbal (unspoken).
These are referred to as forms of communication.
To get a better view, communication can be illustrated in the following diagram:
COMMUNICATION
VERBAL COMMUNICATION
NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
1.2.3. Components of Communication
The followings are components of communication according to Hymes: 1972.
- Situation: setting and sense
- Participants: speaker, presenter, hearer, receiver, narrator
- End: purpose, result or goal
- Act sequences: model or language content
- Key: Clues that establish the "tone, manner, or spirit" of the speech act.
- Instrumentalities: channel, form or style
- Norms: norms of interpretation, norms of interaction
- Genres: kind of speech act or event
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Among these, the participants (speaker and hearer) and situation are prominent to the
choice of message coder (language or nonverbal cues used). The participants’ background
impacts much on the choice of the coder used. The background includes: age, sex, living
place, occupation… When discussing different participants and situations, the underlying
effect of power (P), social distance (D) and rank of imposition (R) have to be considered.
With combination of the three factors, the choice of message coder can be in diversity.
1.2.4. Cross-cultural communication
The relationship between culture and communication is often compared with the bond
between the voice and the echo. From culture and communication, there are three branches
of communication as follows:
Intra-cultural communication: is the communication between people who live in the same
country and come from the same cultural background.
Inter-cultural communication: is the communication between people who live in the same
country but come from different cultural background.
Cross-cultural communication: is the communication between people who live in different
countries and come from different cultural background.
Coming from different geographic locations and holding different values, beliefs,… people
in cross-cultural communication face more problems than in intra-cultural and intercultural branches. This is because people have different ways of interpreting social
meanings conveyed in their interaction with the outside world.
1.3. NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
1.3.1 Definition of nonverbal communication
In the process of communication, people do not only send verbal messages but nonverbal
ones as well. NVC is understood as a way of communicating without the use of written or
spoken language.
According to Lustig (1996:187-188), “nonverbal communication is a multi-channeled
process that is usually performed simultaneously; it typically involves a subtle set of
nonlinguistic behaviors that are often enacted subconsciously. Nonverbal behaviors can
become part of the communication process when someone intentionally tries to convey a
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message or when someone attributes meaning to the nonverbal behavior of another,
whether or not the person intend to communicate a particular meaning.” As Lustig pointed
out, when some meaning is attached to a nonlinguistic behavior, whether by message
transmitter or perceiver, that behavior becomes part of communication process.
The detailed description of NVC is presented by Nguyen Quang “all the components of the
message that, when taken together, constitute the communication which is not verbally
coded but both vocally and non-vocally channeled. Nonverbal communication is composed
of paralinguistic factors (nonverbal - vocal channel), such as rate, volume, etc., and extralinguistic factors (nonverbal - non-vocal channel), such as body language (gestures,
postures, facial expressions,…) object language (including clothing, jewelry…) and
environmental language (proxemics, settings…)”.
1.3.2 Importance of nonverbal communication
Most people believe the best way of communicating is verbal. However, NVC is there,
even when people do not speak a word. Pease (1984:7) states “The miracle is that human
hardly recognize his or her appearance, movements and gestures can tell one story while
his or her voice is telling another story.” (Cited in Nguyen Quang).
A number of researches, with different approach and methods have pointed out the
importance of NVC.
Albert Mehrabian found that the total impact of a message is about 7 percent verbal (words
only), 38 percent vocal (including tone of voice, inflection and other sounds) and 55
percent nonverbal. (Pease, 1984:6)
Importance of nonverbal
communication - Mehrabian
7%
Verbal
Nonverbal
93%
Chart 1: Importance of Nonverbal Communication
It is easy to conclude that NVC is an indispensable and all pervasive element in human
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behavior. Perhaps its most obvious application is found in the fact that young children start
comprehending words at around six months of age yet understand NVC well before that
time. Hence, from the moment of birth to the end of life, NVC is an important symbol
system.
1.3.3. Differences between Nonverbal Communication and Verbal Communication
First of all, NVC seems to be more ambiguous than verbal communication. This is because
nonverbal cues can be intentional or unintentional. If an intentional behavior is perceived
and interpreted correctly, this can help to maintain good communication. Meanwhile, if an
unintentional behavior is interpreted as conveying meaning, it can cause the social
interaction to go wrongly or even stop. Additionally, the nonverbal cues can carry various
meanings. A silence can be interpreted as: agreement, disagreement, wondering, waiting
for other’s response, an indicator of surprise or happiness…
Secondly, NVC is continuous. Verbal communication only starts when people start to
make sounds in an organized order and stops when the sound chunks stop. However, NVC
starts when someone appears in communicating partner’s sight, continues even when the
two people keep silent, and only ends when one gets out of the other’s sight.
Thirdly, NVC is multi-channeled. Units of verbal communication appear in a linear order
in accordance with rules of grammar, vocabulary…. Nonverbal cues appear at the same
time, requesting us to receive by some, even all five of our senses. There are not only cues
but also cluster of cues and areas of cues.
Fourthly, NVC reveals more about human’s emotion than verbal communication. Verbal
communication is often thought to be accurate in describing the various emotional states.
In fact, it only describes either one aspect or one status of that emotional state.
The fifth characteristic of NVC is that people tend to rely on NVC if there is contradiction
between verbal messages and nonverbal messages.
Last but not least, nonverbal cues can be perceived and interpreted differently in different
societies. The same meanings can be expressed by different nonverbal cues and the same
cues can be interpreted as conveying different meanings in different cultures.
1.3.4 Classification of nonverbal communication
Dwyer (2000) classifies NVC into: body movement, physical characteristics, touch, vocal
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characteristics (paralanguage), space (proximity), artifacts, and environment.
Hybels categorizes NVC into paralanguage, body movement/ kinesics, proxemics,
chronemics, aesthetics, physical characteristics and artifacts.
Lustig et. al. discusses six types of nonverbal codes including: body movement/ kinesics,
touch, time/ chronemics, voice, and other nonverbal code systems, consisting of chemical,
physical, dermal and artifactual systems.
Of the various classifications, Nguyen Quang (2001:9) presents a detailed and easy-tofollow one in the diagram below.
Nonverbal Communication
Paralanguage
Body language/
Kinesics
- Vocal
characteristics
+ Pitch
+ Volume
+ Rate
+ Vocal quality
- Types of vocal
flow
- Vocal
interferences
- Silence…
- Eye contact
- Facial
expressions
- Physical
characteristics
- Gestures
- Postures
- Body
movements
- Touch/ Haptics/
Tactile
…
Extralanguage
Object language/
Artifacts
- Clothing
- Jewelry
- Accessories
- Make-up
- Artifactual
scents
- Gifts
- Flowers
…
Environmental
language
- Setting
- Conversational
distance/
Proxemics
- Time/
Chronemics
- Lighting
system
- Color
- Heat
…
Diagram 1: Classification of Nonverbal Communication
1.3.5. Nonverbal communication across culture
As shown in the discussion of differences between NVC and verbal communication,
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nonverbal cues can be ambiguous even with people of the same culture. With people from
different cultures, this is obviously more problematic.
A big amount of nonverbal cues are culture-specific. This means these cues convey the
messages that only members of that culture can interpret correctly.
1.4. DISAPPOINTMENT AND ITS NONVERBAL EXPRESSIONS
The size of your success is measured by the strength on your desire, the size of your dream,
and how you handle disappointment along the way
Robert Kiyosaki
Is there any one here who has not experienced disappointment in his or her life? It is one of
the oldest human experiences. Each of us could make a lot of our unfulfilled wishes or
seeds we planted which never grew into plants. Anyone who has hopes or dreams may be
waited by some disappointment. When their hopes or dreams can not become true.
Alexander Pope wrote “Blessed is the man who expects nothing, for he shall never be
disappointed”.
Disappointment is a problem which transcends economics. We can be well-off financially
and still have all kinds of disappointment. We can be disappointed with our family
members, disappointed with our friends, with our marriage, or jobs for not reaching
whatever goals we have set for ourselves. We can be disappointed because our life lacks
meaning and direction.
Let us consider a situation described by David E. B. (Jan-Feb. 1985): your boss tells you
he is delighted with your performance over the past year and is giving you a $5000 bonus.
Are you pleased? If you were not expecting a bonus, you would be delighted. If you were
expecting a $10,000 bonus, you would be disappointed. He (David E. Bell) claims that
“Disappointment is, then, a psychological reaction to an outcome that does not match up
to expectations”.
In a broader view, Loralea Michaelis states “Disappointment is a characteristic feature of
our shared condition as mortal creatures subject to the experiences of failure and
frustration: our plans may go awry, our actions may have unwanted consequences, our
expectations may be frustrated and, in a more general sense, we are rarely the kind of
people we would like to be.”
It is stated in a sermon in St. Ansgar’s Lutheran Church that “in the simplest terms,
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disappointment is unmet positive expectation. The word positive here is important. There
are some unmet expectation which bring us joy and satisfaction and not disappointment.
For example you might go to see a physician with the expectation that your symptoms will
lead to a diagnosis of terminal cancer. You will not be disappointed if that expectation
proves to be false. Disappointment occurs when we expect a certain good thing to take
place and it doesn’t.”
The same idea can be seen from Levering Bas “The question is whether expectation is a
sufficient condition for disappointment. Do unfulfilled expectations by definition lead to
disappointment? When a negative expectation is nourished, that is, when I expect
something I would rather not see happen, and in fact it does not happen, then I feel relief
instead of disappointment. The question is whether relief can been seen as the opposite of
disappointment in the sense that the former is about a cheerful feeling and the latter about
an unpleasant one. If I pass an exam about which I have had the most anxious expectations.
I am first relieved, then glad. This means that when talking about disappointment, there
are always desired expectations involved.”
According to Moyo-Angle Bamidele, “everyone that has expectations and desires in life
will experience disappointment in one way or the other” and we experience disappointment
when:
- When we expect something to happen soon but it does not
- When input is not equal to output
- When things does not work out as plan
- When we believe too much in people
- When we expect things to happen in our own ways but they do not.
According to David. E. Bell (Jan.1985), disappointment is similar to regret:
“Disappointment is the feeling of dissatisfaction that follows the failure of expectations to
manifest. Similar to regret, it differs in that the individual feeling regret focuses primarily
on personal choices contributing to a poor outcome, while the individual feeling
disappointment focuses on outcome.”
Francesco Marcatto and Donatella Ferrante claim that regret and disappointment are
different emotions. They are both generated by comparing “What is” with “What might
have been”. However, “the emotion of regret results from a comparison between an actual
outcome and a better outcome that might have occurred had another option been chosen
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(choice- or –behavior-focused counterfactual). Conversely, disappointment stems from the
comparison of an actual outcome with a better outcome that might have resulted had world
events occurred differently (situation-focused counterfactuals) (van Djik, van der Pligt &
Zeelenberg, 1999)”
Disappointment may be very short-lasting and easy to transfer to another emotional state,
anger, frustration or the like. This emotional state can also be very harmful because it may
lead to the following in communication:
- Lack of trust.
- Destruction of relationship
- Changing our perceptions to life, people and things we do.
According to many researchers and the author’s personal observation, expressions of
disappointment is highly-culture-controlled. In most Oriental countries, people, especially
women, are taught not to express their emotional states, especially ones like
disappointment, in social interaction in order to maintain the harmony in the community.
However, at many points during the communication process, disappointment is
intentionally expressed, not verbally but non-verbally, in order to let the partners to know
our own emotional state.
From the author’s own observation and analysis of videos and photos searched on the
Internet, the most popular expressions for disappointment are as follows:
Facial expressions:
When disappointed, people seem to have abnormal head positions which include: sidetilted (left or right side), head-down (tilted forward) or face-up (to the ceiling). The sidetilted position can be found mostly when people are sitting while head-down and face-up is
often found with standing postures.
The eyes of disappointed people tend to lower down or to aim at nothing. Many cases are
found with frowning eyes – eyebrows are pushed together. Another popular cue is the
curve-up of eyebrows with frowning forehead. In addition, the disappointed gaze is not
very often straight. It is often down-looking with lowered eyelids, sometimes up-looking or
side-looking, especially, when people try to control the disappointment, they tend to move
eye sight from side to side, avoiding eye contact with communicating partners.
With mouth, there are some popular cues including: contorted (pushed to one side),
pouting (upper and/or lower lip pushed up). Sometimes, the stiff lips are also found with
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hard-pressed lips and jaws making lips thinner than in normal state. There are still cases in
which people have smirks – or contorted smiles.
For gestures, it is the most common to find hand-with-face gestures and hand-with-head
gestures. They can be: one palm covering one eye and/or cheek, one palm covering
forehead, both hands covering face, one or both hands touching or pulling hair. With
sitting postures, fisted hand or hands, open palm or palms pushing cheeks or supporting
chin can be found. Another popular cue is the wide open arms with shrugging shoulders.
With standing posture, the cue of arms over head (like religious gesture of Muslim people
when praying to Allah) is also found. Besides, the followings are also met: thumb-down
gesture together with spouting lips, head shaking from side to side while spouting lips and
maintaining lower look.
Disappointed postures vary into categories: sitting and standing. For sitting postures, the
followings can be found: collapsed posture with slouching arms and head down, head
resting on folded arms, whole body collapsed with chin resting on table, semi-lying posture
(like ownership posture with feet on floor) and knees up head down. For standing and
walking postures, the most common are collapsed standing posture with head down or face
up, with slouching arms or hands resting on hips. The following shift-of-postures are
regularly met: from normal posture, especially sitting one, shifting to a collapsed one with
back resting; from standing posture shifting to a sitting or lying one. When people are
trying to put their disappointment under control, they can shift the head from the normal
state into a face-up (often found with middle open mouth), maintain some seconds and
then back to the normal state.
Followings are some illustrations of nonverbal expressions of disappointment.
Head position: The head in this expression is little tilted to the left
or right
Facial cues: The lower eyelids are a bit pulled down and the eye
gaze fixes at a low or sided position. Lips do not close completely
and lip corners are a little pulled down.
Posture: Standing or sitting posture, arms are folded in a standard
arm-cross
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Head position: The head is often side-tilted.
Facial cues: Both lower and upper eyelids fall down making the eye
gaze a little down. The lower lip is a bit pulled down and the mouth
does not completely close.
Gesture: The arms are straight down along the body in standing
posture or put on thighs in sitting one.
Head position: The head is often in straight position.
Facial cues: Both upper and lower eyelids fall down while inner
corners of eyebrows are raised making a frowning forehead. The eye
gaze is often a little down The lips are in normal state
Gesture: Both hands are straight, holding cheeks
Head position: The head is often bent forward and/or little tilted.
Facial cues: The lower eyelids are pulled down with eyebrows
curving up making the forehead frowning. The eye gaze is often
fixed at a low position.
Gesture: One hand supports the chin and covers the mouth with
fingers close.
Posture: This is a sitting posture with bending-down back, one
elbow putting on the thighs.
Facial cues: Both upper and lower eyelids are pulled down with
eyebrows being pushed together. The eye gaze is fixed on the floor
or a very low position. The lower lip is a bit pushed up making the
area between lower lip and chin like a hollow.
Head position: The head is straight or little forward-leaning.
Facial cues: This face seems to have nothing “abnormal” except a
little frown on the forehead made by the little raise and drawingtogether of the inner corners of eyebrows. The eyes are expressive
with low eye gaze which does not focus. Lips, chin and nose are in
neutral states.
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Head position: The head is often straight or little tilted.
Facial cues: Both upper and lower eyelids are pulled down while the
inner corners of eyebrows are raised, making the curving lines on the
forehead. The lower lip is raised whereas the lips corners are pulled
down shaping the mouth into a reversed “u”. The muscles below lip
corners are pulled down while the area between lower lip and chin is
pulled up.
Facial cues: Every part on the face is neutral except the eye. The
upper eyelids are little drawn back making the eyes open but the eye
gaze is at nothing – a blank look.
Posture: This is sitting posture with knee up, head down. The chin
rests on the knees and arms are put around the legs
Head position: The head is often straight or little forward.
Facial cues: The face here is mostly covered by the hand but
normally it is neutral with close eyes.
Gesture: One hand with spreading fingers cover most of the face,
with fingers touching the face skin. Mouth and nose are often
covered up.
Head position: The head is side-tilted with the support from one
hand over the ear.
Facial cues: The face is often blank, with just some frown over the
forehead.
Posture: This is a sitting posture with knees raised to support arms
(elbow position).
Posture: This is a sitting posture in which knees are up, head is
down. The back is bent forward and arms folded on the knees for the
forehead to rest on.
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Facial cues: This is similar to sad face with eyelids pulled down.
The eye gaze is often fixed at nothing. Cheeks are pushed up
Gesture: Both hands open with fingers upward, holding cheeks and
supporting chin.
Posture: This is a sitting posture with legs folded, knees raised to
support arms. The back is bent forward.
Posture: This is a sitting posture with legs tightly close, vertical to
the floor. The back is bent forward. Arms rest on knees and support
the face. Hands open, palms are upward, covering the face.
Posture: This is a walking posture with disappointed face and head
down and straight arms
Posture: This is a standing posture with disappointed face and head
down. The body leans against something.
Facial cues: The face is characterized with the raise of inner corners
of eyebrows and a curving-lined forehead accompanied with an open
mouth.
Posture: This is a standing posture in which the knees are in a little
lower position so legs are not straight. Legs are also straight in other
variations.
Gesture: Both arms are raised high to face. Hands are holding the
head.
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Facial cues: This is often accompanied with open mouth and
strongly-pressed teeth. The nose is pushed up while lip corners are
drawn to face sides.
Posture: It is a standing posture with knees in lower position so the
whole body is lowered.
Gesture: Both hands are in fists, putting in front of the chest.
Facial cues: The face is upward with mouth opening.
Posture: This is a standing posture with hands resting on hips.
Posture: This is a standing posture with upper half of body bending
down, hand or hands holding head.
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CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY
2.1. COMMENTS ON THE SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES AND DATA
COLLECTION METHOD:
This research use data collected from various sources.
Firstly, the most common expressions of disappointment have been found from videosharing services, photo-sharing services on the Internet
Then, questionnaires are distributed to Americans who have lived or worked with
Vietnamese, and Vietnamese who have lived or worked with the Americans. Hybels claims
“Often we do not recognize our own nonverbal behavior” (Hybels, 1992:109). This is a
study on cross-cultural communication, so the author decided to investigate one’s
nonverbal expressions of disappointment through the observation, perception and
interpretation of their communicating partners. That is, the American informants were
asked to give their comments on their Vietnamese communicating partners’ nonverbal
expressions of disappointment, and the Vietnamese informants were asked to comment on
the way their American communicating partners express their disappointment nonverbally.
The questionnaire has three parts:
Part 1 is designed for getting personal information of the informants including the length of
stay or work with Vietnamese/American people and the informants’ understanding about
host cultures or culture of their communicating partners.
Part 2 investigates the most common nonverbal expressions of disappointment used by
American and Vietnamese people. Here are some of the expressions believed to express
disappointment and informants were asked to choose the frequency at which each
expression is used by American and Vietnamese people.
Question 1: From your personal observation, how often do Vietnamese people use the
following nonverbal behaviors to express their disappointment? Please choose from 1 to 3
(1 = Never, 2 = Sometimes and 3 = Always)
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Part 3 includes three questions to get the information about American and Vietnamese
people’s amount of expressiveness in general and under the influence of some components
of communication such as communicating partners and communicating situations.
The survey questions are as follows:
Question 2: From your personal observation, do Vietnamese/ American people tend to
clearly express or hide their disappointment?
Question 3: From your personal observation, do Vietnamese/ American people express
freely or control their disappointment with the following communicating partners (boss,
colleague, subordinate, client, close friend, family member and stranger)
Question 3: In the following situations (at home, in public places and at work), do
Vietnamese/ American people express freely or control their disappointment?
2.2. COMMENTS ON THE INFORMANTS
45 survey questionnaires were handed out and 45 survey questionnaires returned to the
author were then analyzed. There are 15 American informants and 30 Vietnamese
informants.
American informants have stayed or worked with their Vietnamese communicating
partners from 0.5 year to 11 years while Vietnamese informants have stayed or worked
with their American communicating partners from 0.5 year to 8 years. Therefore, all
informants were divided into 2 groups basing on their length of stay or work with
communicating partners: less than 1 year and more than 1 year.
Similarly, the informants’ knowledge of their communicating partners’ culture varies and
therefore informants were divided into 3 groups: much understanding, not much
understanding and no understanding.
The parameters of informants can be seen clearly in the table below.
Informants
groups
American
Vietnamese
More than
1 year
7
13
Much
Not much
Less than
No
understandi understandin
1 year
understanding
ng
g
8
2
9
4
21
2
24
4
Table 1: Informants’ parameters
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2.3. THE PROCEDURE OF DATA COLLECTION
The pilot questionnaires are initially distributed among a small group as pilot ones. After
being revised, the complete questionnaires are given to informants.
However, there might be a few cases in which informants are reluctant and unwilling to
answer the questions or they just put it randomly. Therefore, the findings should be thought
to be suggestive and tentative.
2.4. DATA ANALYSIS METHOD
After being collected, the data is statistically analyzed using quantitative method. The
findings are mainly based on frequency distribution.
21
CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF THE FINDINGS
3.1. DATA ANALYSIS:
3.1.1. Most common expressions of disappointment used by Vietnamese and
American people
Expression
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
Always
American Vietnamese
13.3%
10.0%
53.3%
63.3%
46.7%
43.3%
66.7%
53.3%
86.7%
46.7%
0.0%
16.7%
0.0%
83.3%
53.3%
6.7%
66.7%
86.7%
0.0%
13.3%
6.7%
10.0%
46.7%
0.0%
60.0%
56.7%
6.7%
10.0%
0.0%
13.3%
46.7%
10.0%
6.7%
10.0%
20.0%
16.7%
6.7%
10.0%
Frequency
Never
Sometimes
American Vietnamese American Vietnamese
60.0%
60.0%
26.7%
30.0%
0.0%
6.7%
46.7%
30.0%
20.0%
6.7%
33.3%
50.0%
6.7%
20.0%
26.7%
26.7%
0.0%
20.0%
13.3%
33.3%
80.0%
50.0%
20.0%
33.3%
66.7%
0.0%
33.3%
16.7%
20.0%
66.7%
26.7%
26.7%
13.3%
3.3%
20.0%
10.0%
53.3%
43.3%
46.7%
43.3%
26.7%
60.0%
66.7%
30.0%
26.7%
16.7%
26.7%
83.3%
0.0%
6.7%
40.0%
36.7%
80.0%
23.3%
13.3%
66.7%
86.7%
36.7%
13.3%
50.0%
20.0%
40.0%
33.3%
50.0%
60.0%
43.3%
33.3%
46.7%
46.7%
63.3%
33.3%
20.0%
66.7%
23.3%
26.7%
66.7%
Table 2: American and Vietnamese common expressions of disappointment
The table expresses the frequency of occurrence of some nonverbal expressions of
disappointment in American and Vietnamese cultures. The most commonly used
expression in American community is expression number 9 which is always used by 86.7%,
sometimes used by 10% and never used by 3.3% of American people. Similarly, the most
common expression in Vietnamese culture is expression number 5 which is also always
used at the rate of 86.7%, sometimes used at the rate of 13.3% and never used at the rate of 0%.
22
Expression No. 9
Expression No. 5
It can be seen that the least common expression among American people is number 8
which is never used by 66.7%, sometimes used by 26.7% and always used by 6.7% of
American people. Whereas in Vietnamese culture, the least common expression is number
15 with 86.7% never used, 13.3% sometimes used and no one always uses.
Expression No. 8
Expression No. 15
It is obviously seen that American and Vietnamese people share some common
expressions. They are: 2, 4, 5, 9 and 13, of which each is always used by the higher
percentage of people than the percentage of sometimes and never in both cultures.
Expression 13
Expression
Expression 4
Expression 5
Expression 9
2
There are 3 expressions which are common in Vietnamese culture while they are used by
American people at very low percentage. They are: expression number 8, 12 and 16. And
23
on the other hand, the expression number 7 is only common (always used by 83.3% people)
in American culture whereas it is never used by 66.7% of Vietnamese people.
Expression 7
Expression 8
Expression
12
Expression 16
3.1.2. Amount of expressiveness in American and Vietnamese cultures
Amount of expressiveness
Clear expression
Not clear expression
No expression
American
Vietnamese
6.7%
13.3%
73.3%
60.0%
20.0%
26.7%
Table 3: Amount of expressiveness in American and Vietnamese cultures
It can be seen from the table that most American and Vietnamese people choose not to
show their disappointment clearly in social interaction. 73.3% of American people do not
have clear expression of disappointment while 60% of Vietnamese people select to do the
same.
80.0%
73.3%
70.0%
60.0%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
26.7%
20.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
13.3%
6.7%
American
Vietnamese
0.0%
Clear expression
Not clear
expression
No expression
Chart 2: Amount of expressiveness in American and Vietnamese cultures
However, the difference between the two figures indicates that Vietnamese people do not
24
show clear expression of disappointment as much as the Americans. Therefore, it is
understandable that the percentage of Vietnamese people who choose not to show their
disappointment is higher than that of American people (26.7% and 20% respectively).
Meanwhile, there are still 13.3% of Vietnamese people showing their disappointment
clearly whereas this percentage of American people is fairly low (6.7%).
3.1.3. Amount of expressiveness in Vietnamese and American cultures as seen from
informants’ parameters
Culturally, the background of communicators has great impact on the perception and
interpretation of the nonverbal messages. Thus, the researcher tries to find out the
influence of some of informants’ parameters on the way they “decode” the nonverbal cues
of their communicating partners.
3.1.3.1. Length of stay or work with native people
American informants have stayed or worked with their Vietnamese communicating
partners from 0.5 year to 11 years while Vietnamese informants have stayed or worked
with their American communicating partners from 0.5 year to 8 years. However, if the
informants are divided by the mean value, the numbers of informants in two groups are
significantly unequal. As a result, the informants are divided into 2 groups basing on their
length of stay or work with native people: less than 1 year and more than 1 year. The
statistical result is as follows:
Informants' length
of stay or work with
native people
More than 1 year
Less than 1 year
Amount of expressiveness
American
Vietnamese
Clear
Not clear
No
Clear
Not clear
No
expression expression expression expression expression expression
0.0%
21.1%
90.9%
42.1%
9.1%
36.8%
0.0%
10.0%
80.0%
70.0%
20.0%
20.0%
Table 4: Amount of expressiveness as seen from informants' length of stay
The table shows the influence of the informants’ length of stay or work with native people
on their perception of the amount of expressiveness. The first thing which can be seen from
the table is that most Vietnamese and American people do not show their disappointment
clearly. Despite staying / working for long or short time, informants claim that the majority
of American people choose not to show clear expressions of disappointment (42.1% as
25
observed by informants living less than 1 year and 90.9% as observed by informants living
more than 1 year). The same thing can be said about the informants’ perception on
Vietnamese amount of expressiveness (70% and 80% respectively).
The table also reveals that there is a significant improvement in the Vietnamese
informants’ perception of American amount of expressiveness. In the eyes of informants
living or working with the American less than 1 year, 36.8% of American people do not
show their disappointment. However, after living or working for longer time, these
informants claim that only 9.1% of American people choose to do the same. In contrast,
the perception of American informants seems to have little alteration, even no change.
3.1.3.2. Cultural knowledge
The cultural knowledge of informants varies much. So for easy and convenient statistics,
informants are divided into 3 groups basing on their understanding of the native culture:
much understanding, not much understanding and no understanding. The statistic figures
are presented in the table below:
Informants'
knowledge of native
culture
Amount of expressiveness
American
Vietnamese
Clear
Not clear
No
Clear
Not clear
No
expression expression expression expression expression expression
Much understanding
Not much understanding
No understanding
0.0%
16.7%
0.0%
100.0%
58.3%
50.0%
0.0%
25.0%
50.0%
0.0%
0.0%
25.0%
100.0%
77.8%
50.0%
0.0%
22.2%
25.0%
Table 5: Amount of expressiveness as seen from the informants' cultural knowledge
The table shows the informants’ perception of the amount of expressiveness under the
influence of cultural knowledge. The informants’ perception seems to be proportional to
their cultural knowledge. With limited understanding of native cultures, informants are still
not sure about American amount of expressiveness (with 50% not showing and 50%
showing not clearly) and Vietnamese amount of expressiveness (with 25% showing clearly,
25% not showing and 50% showing not clearly).
However, when they have gained a good knowledge of the native culture, they all agree
that both American and Vietnamese people do not show their disappointment clearly
(100%).
26
3.1.4. Influential factors on the amount of expressiveness
The components of communication have certain influence on the strategies people use in
communication. Among these components of communication, the participants and
communicating situation are of prominent influence. Therefore, the author wants to find
out if there is a relation between these two components and the way Vietnamese and
American people choose to express their disappointment. The result is presented below.
3.1.4.1. Communicating partners
Communicating
partners
Amount of expressiveness
American
Vietnamese
Free
expression
Boss
Colleague
Subordinate
Client
Family member
Close friend
Stranger
23.3%
53.3%
50.0%
0.0%
53.3%
93.3%
23.3%
Controlled
expression
Free
expression
76.7%
46.7%
50.0%
100.0%
46.7%
6.7%
76.7%
20.0%
46.7%
73.3%
6.7%
93.3%
100.0%
20.0%
Controlled
expression
80.0%
53.3%
26.7%
93.3%
6.7%
0.0%
80.0%
Table 6: Influence of communicating partners on amount of expressiveness in American
and Vietnamese cultures
This table shows the impact of communicating partners on the amount of expressiveness in
American and Vietnamese cultures. As can be seen, the Americans choose to express their
disappointment in a similar manner with Vietnamese people. When Americans choose free
expressions, Vietnamese people also choose to express their disappointment freely and
vice versa. The highest percentage of people in both cultures choosing “free expression” is
when communicating with their close friends and the lowest one is when communicating
with their clients. However, when they feel safe to express their disappointment freely, the
percentage of Vietnamese people is higher than that of the Americans. Except the case of
clients, when they feel that they have to control their expressions, more Vietnamese people
than American people control it.
Both American and Vietnamese people control their disappointment, when communicating
with bosses. The controlled expression is chosen by 76.7% of American people while this
makes up 80%. The difference between the two groups is not remarkable (3.3%).
27
It is noticeable that when communicating with colleagues, 53.3% of American people
show their disappointment freely while the same number of Vietnamese people choose to
control it.
There is a big difference between American and Vietnamese choice when communicating
with their subordinates. American people seem to be more neutral with 50% choosing “free
expression” and 50% choosing “controlled expression”. Nevertheless, a very high
percentage of Vietnamese people (73.3%) feel that they do not have to control their
expressions of disappointment to a subordinate.
In the case of clients, it is obvious that American and Vietnamese people control the
expressions most of the time. All American people control their expressions whereas
93.3% of Vietnamese people choose to do the same.
In communication with family members, only 53.3% of American people show their
expressions freely while 93.3% choose to do the same. The percentage of American people
controlling their emotion is much higher than that of Vietnamese people (46.7% and 6.7%
respectively).
When communicating with their close friends, all Vietnamese people express their
disappointment freely whereas there are still 6.7% of American people controlling their
emotion.
With the case of communicating with strangers, 80% of Vietnamese people tend to control
their expressions while this percentage in American group makes up 76.7%. There is still
some difference but the gap is not big.
3.1.4.2. Communicating situations
Communicating
situations
At home
In public places
At work
Amount of expressiveness
American
Vietnamese
Free
Controlled
Free
Controlled
expression expression expression
expression
66.7%
33.3%
93.3%
6.7%
26.7%
73.3%
20.0%
80.0%
43.3%
56.7%
40.0%
60.0%
Table 7: Influence of communicating situations on amount of expressiveness in American
and Vietnamese cultures
The table shows the amount of expressiveness in American and Vietnamese cultures in
different communicating situations. There are obvious similarities between Vietnamese
28
and American people’s amount of expressiveness in all three surveyed situations. At home,
they choose to express their disappointment most freely. In the other 2 situations, in public
places and at work, they tend to control it.
Comparing the three situations we can see that, more Vietnamese people than American
people (93.3% against 66.7%) choose to express their disappointment at home. In public
places and at work, however, there are 73.3% and 56.7% of American people respectively
choose to control their emotion compared to 80% and 60% in Vietnamese culture.
3.2. DISCUSSIONS OF THE FINDINGS:
Expressions of disappointment:
The data analysis reveals that disappointment seems to be a universal emotion because its
expressions are recognized by most people across cultures. The most commonly-found
expressions imply that when disappointed, both American and Vietnamese people seem to
use more facial expressions than postures and more postures than gestures. It is also found
from the survey that a combination of nonverbal cues (facial expressions, gestures and
postures) makes the expression clearer and seems to indicate higher degrees of
disappointment.
It is obvious from the data analysis that American and Vietnamese people have some
common expressions of disappointment. The most commonly-used expressions for both
American and Vietnamese seem to be:
Expression 5
Expression 2
Expression 4
Expression 13
Expression 9
Besides, some expressions are used at very high percentage in this culture whereas it is
used at much lower percentage in the other. Expression number 7 is used at a very high
percentage in American culture whereas it is commonly found among Vietnamese people.
29
Expression 8
Expression 12
Expression 16
Expression 7
Amount of expressiveness:
Being a negative emotion, disappointment can possibly cause a bad impression in
communication, or change the communicating partners’ idea about things or people or
even can destroy the relationship. When the cause of disappointment is personal, people try
not to show it out. In the same way, when the cause of disappointment is from the
communicating partners, people also tend to hide their emotional state. Therefore, both
American and Vietnamese people mostly do not nonverbally show it clearly to save both
their face and communicating partner’s face. The Vietnamese seem to try to control their
disappointment more than the Americans. However, when they feel safe to express,
Vietnamese people have more clear expressions than the American.
It is obviously seen from the data analysis that the amount of expressiveness in American
and Vietnamese cultures is much under the influence of communicating partners. In our
consideration, this is because of the effect of different power, social distance, rank of
imposition and other factors.
With boss, client and stranger – communicating partners of higher status and far distance,
people choose to control most of their expression. However, boss is in the same interest
group with the behavior user while clients belong to another interest group and they are
expected to bring benefit to the company and thus to behavior user also. This is the reason
why both American and Vietnamese people try to control their expressions with clients
more than with boss.
In case of colleagues, the small difference between the two figures shows that American
and Vietnamese people tend to be neutral in communication with their colleagues.
However, American people seem to be more open to colleagues than Vietnamese people.
With family members and close friend, both American and Vietnamese people choose to
show their disappointment freely. When communicating with close friends, nearly all
people choose to do that because of the intimacy. While much more Vietnamese people
30
show their disappointment freely than American people in communication with family
members. As American culture values independence, when a family member’s idea,
performance or action does not meet their expectation, they still respect that person’s
choice and thus, do not show their disappointment. Vietnamese people, on the other hand,
tend to do things that make other family members happy, not disappointed.
When communicating with subordinates, while American people are neutral with 50%
people show and 50% people control their emotion, Vietnamese people tend to show their
disappointment more clearly. This seems to be a sample of typical difference between
American and Vietnamese culture. Vietnam is a hierarchical society in which people feel
safer and more culturally acceptable to show their disappointment to their subordinates. In
contrast, America is a society which values equality and informality. Therefore, more
American people choose to control their negative emotional behaviors when
communicating with their subordinates.
With the case of strangers, a communicating partner of the farthest social distance, it is
understandable that most Vietnamese and American people choose to control their
disappointment. This is suitable with the choice of controlling this emotional state in public
places as is discussed later.
Beside the influence of communicating partners, the choice of nonverbal expressions of
disappointment is also under the impact of communicating situations. As the data analysis
shows, most American and Vietnamese people feel safe and suitable to show their
disappointment nonverbally at home whereas they try to control their emotional behavior
in public places and at work. The data analysis also reveals that in the same situations,
Vietnamese tend to control more than American people. However, when both choose to
express, Vietnamese people would express more clearly than the American. This result
reinforces our findings about the amount of expressiveness under the influence of
communicating partners.
31
PART C: CONCLUSION
1. SUMMARY OF MAJOR FINDINGS
It is obvious that disappointment is a universal emotion which is internationally recognized.
Both American and Vietnamese people have some common expressions of disappointment.
It is also found that communicators with longer time spending with people of one culture
or with better cultural knowledge will understand the people of the host culture more,
hence their communication is easier.
The research reveals that American and Vietnamese people would try to control their
negative emotion when communicating with partners of higher status, further social
distance and people from different interest groups. In contrast, with partners of lower status,
closer distance and high level of intimacy, American and Vietnamese people would show
their disappointment more freely.
It is also believed that at home, American and Vietnamese people would choose to show
their disappointment while in public places and at work, they would choose to control it.
This seems to be a norm in both cultures.
2. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR CROSS-CULTURAL
COMMUNICATION
From the data analysis, there is obviously a great impact of length of stay or work with
native people on the perception and interpretation of disappointment. Spending more time
staying or working with people of one culture helps people understand that culture and
community, develop their sensitivity, communication skills and achieve more successful
communication. However, it is also found out that not all the people living or working for a
long time with foreigners obtain a good understanding of that foreign culture or on a
contrary, not all people living or working in a short period with foreigners have little
understanding of the foreign culture. The cultural knowledge can only be gained with
passion, wanting-to-know and personal effort.
Additionally, the influence of components of communication on the choice of nonverbal
communication strategy is remarkable. People make a decision to show or not to show and
what level to show their emotional states based on such factors as: power, social distance,
rank of imposition, intimacy, group of interest and the communicating situations.
32
For successful cross-cultural communication, people should focus on improving their
knowledge of the host culture. The more they culturally understand the society, the better
they can understand and communicate with people of that community.
Besides, it will be useful when people try to develop their sensitivity and observational
skills. With these, people can understand behaviors of their communicating partners more,
thus decide to use accurate strategies in communication.
3. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY
Firstly, the number of informants in this research is still modest. Other researches in the
same field should be conducted with a bigger population.
Secondly, the expressions believed to be common in this research are collected from
videos, films and photos only, which may not be all natural expressions in the two cultures.
The author wishes to have chance to conduct another research with hi-tech equipments,
which can help to do collect more authentic data.
33
APPENDICES
APPENDIX
A:
SAMPLE
SURVEY
QUESTIONNAIRE
(FOR
AMERICAN
INFORMANTS)
APPENDIX
B:
INFORMANTS)
SAMPLE
SURVEY
QUESTIONNAIRE
(FOR
VIETNAMESE
34
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