Journal Reflection Chapter 5 - The Importance of Understanding Culture

Culture plays an important role in interpersonal communication. "Culture is an established, coherent set of beliefs, attitudes, values, and practices shared by a large group of people" (McCornack & Morrison, 2019, p.123). "Scholars suggest that seven dimensions underline cultural differences in our interpersonal communication: individualism versus collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance, high and low context, emotion displays, masculinity versus femininity, and views of the time" (McCornack & Morrison, 2019, p.131). Considering the ever-increasing cultural diversity in America it is imperative to understand the seven dimensions in order to achieve interpersonal communication competence.

I feel like experiencing my boyfriend's culture has improved my ability to communicate with others who do not share the same culture as myself. My boyfriend's family is from El Salvador and his parents frequent their home country regularly. Prior to meeting him and his family, I don't believe I had ever experienced/been a part of Spanish culture. It was a learning experience for me. I loved and still love trying new foods and learning how to cook authentic Spanish dishes. Food plays such an important role in culture. Over the years I have also adopted other aspects of his culture such as beliefs, attitudes, values, and more. After experiencing his culture I have shared with my family aspects of his culture that I have adopted, furthering their interpersonal communication competence. Different cultures are fascinating and I hope to learn and experience more throughout my life.

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