Issue 7: Incorporating Culture Into Conflict Models
In addition to examining each type of conflict-related emotion in more detail, there is a general need to investigate conflict communication using more diverse populations. The vast majority of research reported in this chapter comes from U.S.
samples consisting mostly of people with European American backgrounds. Yet scholars recognize that people from different cultures and cocultures express and regulate emotions differently (Planalp, 1999). In general, studies suggest that people from some Asian cultures tend to express less emotion than people from other cultures. For example, Rime, Corsini, and Herbette (2002) reported a study where people from France, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and the United States recalled their most recent experience of an unpleasant emotion. Although there were no cultural differences in felt emotional intensity, people from Japan, Korea, and Singapore reported significantly less emotional sharing than did people from France and the United States. For example, people from the United States reported that they shared their emotional experiences with others about 95% of time, whereas people from Korea reported sharing their emotions less than 80% of the time (see Rime, Finkenauer, Luminet, Zech, & Philippot, 1998, for details). Similarly, research has demonstrated that people from some Asian cultures avoid conflict and mask negative emotions such as shame, anger, and disgust more than their Western counterparts (Barnlund, 1989; Matsumoto, 2000). In contrast, people from some Arab countries tend to approach conflict and express negative emotions more than people from the West (Almaney & Alwan, 1982; Feghali, 1997). As these studies suggest, cultural differences in emotional expression could exacerbate conflict in cross-cultural or intercultural interaction.Indeed, some studies have shown differences in conflict patterns based on culture or coculture.
Chua and Gudykunst (1987) noted that individuals from low-context cultures, such as the United States, use more solution- oriented conflict behaviors, while individuals from high-context cultures, such as Japan, prefer nonconfrontational behaviors. Flores, Tschann, Marin, and Pantoja (2004) found that Mexican American couples who were more oriented toward Mexican culture than Anglo culture tended to report avoiding conflict, whereas those who were more oriented toward the Anglo culture tended to report expressing more feelings during conflict. Other research has shown that people in collectivist cultures are more likely to use avoidant conflict strategies than are those in individualistic cultures, who are more likely to use confrontational strategies (Cai & Fink, 2002; Pearson & Stephan, 1998).In cultures where individuals value interdependence and group identity, people may be unlikely to confront one another or express negative emotions (Kim & Leung, 2000). With regard to interdependent cultures, attention needs to be focused on nonverbal communication as a means of perceiving the indirect, emotional messages conveyed during conflict (see Doi, 1973; Okabe, 1983). In addition, research on how people from various cultures manage emotions differently during conflict may be one of the keys to understanding some of the cross-cultural differences mentioned here.