Com 105 Study Guide # 1 This study guide contains lecture notes and general ideas from the readings assigned for the course. It does not contain direct quotes from the reading for copyright reasons.

What is a cultural dimension?

Lecture Notes: 

- 500k years ago:

o Homo Erectus “Art” – the emergence of complex human  

communication.

o Ex: Lascaux Cave Paintings

- 50k years ago:

o Behavioral Modernity Arrives – display culture and language in a way  they never had before, through Art. This was a new way to  

communicate in ways they never had before.

- 3200 B.C.E:

o Homo Sapiens first use of written language – first symbols as writing  system in Mesopotamia.

- Today (Modern Time):

o We have amazing ways and amounts of communication, social media  in particular.

- Definition: Communication: It is a systematic process in which individual  people interact using symbols to create as well as interpret meanings.” o Components:

What is the accuracy of perception?

 Systematic: involves interrelated parts that affect one another  Process: ongoing, never ending, and always in motion. We are  always communicating with one another, even if we are not  

speaking or not intending to.

 Symbols: Languages, behaviors, and literal symbols we use to  represent a concept or idea. There are many different symbols  

that have a strong meaning. Ex: religious symbols (the cross, the star of david, ect.)

 Meanings: People see different things when they see symbols,  different symbols mean different things to different people.  

- Global Scale Communication:

o Interpersonal Communication:

 Learning new customs and non-verbal traditions across cultures  to respect the other. Physical space is an example, because it  

How people use space to communicate with others?

We also discuss several other topics like What is the cell theory?

varies across countries. In some cultures, it is acceptable to be  much closer to others, where as in other cultures being very  

physically close would be an invasion of personal space.

o Mass Communication:

 Media regulations on the global scale.

 What are some of the standards that determine if the press is  restricted or not and how that affects the population?

o Social Media from the Global Perspective (computer-mediated  communication):

 This is communication over the internet using computers, where  people are not face to face.

 There is information posted on the internet that the public was  never meant to see. Ex; Wiki Leaks

 How people adapt to censorship of the internet?

 How are people using the internet and deep web to do  

dangerous things? Commit crimes?  

- Cultural Dimensions:

o Material Culture – physical artifacts created by a society.

 Tangible objects

 Can serve practical purpose or not

o Intangible Culture – language, customers, ect.

 These are the things that make us who we really are.

 These are central to how we view the experience, and engage  with the world around us.

 Cultural practices impact world views on the subject of  Don't forget about the age old question of What is a chemical reaction?

evolution.

 These are the things that shape our morals and actions.

- Cultural Values and Perceptions:

o A singular issue can be seen in different ways.

o There are different cultural displays around the world, and an example  is alcohol consumption around the world is very different.

o Culture is not genetically inherited, it is taught through the social  environment and created by people. Don't forget about the age old question of What is neuroplasticity?

o Grounded Cognition Theory: Humans represent abstract concepts in  terms of concrete experiences in the physical world.  

 People take physical manifestations and apply them to abstract  concepts.

 It is a way of influencing people.

 Ex: distributors know that Americans associate the color green  with health, freshness, and general goodness. So companies put  green on nutrition labels to make consumers feel as though they are eating healthier. Look for the green label on a candy bar next time you go to the store.

o Perception: is the socio-physiological process of obtaining information  and interpreting the meaning.

o We impose meaning or come to a collective agreement about what  certain things mean.

- Stages of Perception:

o Selection: selecting information from our environment to process and  make sense of later. This is limited for us.

 Things which are important to us to select are unexpected  nature or rarity of experience.

 Repetition of Experience can capture your attention. If you want to learn more check out Can hydrophobic molecules aggregate spontaneously?

 The intensity of your experience.

 Things that have a negative affect will gain greater attention  than something with a positive effect. If you want to learn more check out What is nucleotide?

 It is ingrained in humans to determine if something is a threat or not and react accordingly.

o Organizing: once you have gathered information you must organize  and make sense of it.

o Interpretation: what sort of meaning does the information have to you  after you have organized it?

o Types of human perception:

 Visual – ability to perceive visual phenomena  

 Sound – ability to perceive sound by detecting vibrations

 Speech – process by which sounds are heard, interpreted and  understanding complex meaning  We also discuss several other topics like Which of the following is not an example of stabilizing selection?

 Haptic Perception – perception through touch

 Taste – ability to perceive the flavor of substances

o Stages of perceptions:

 Selection – we select things from the environment to perceive  can be anything from the list above. We cannot perceive  

everything in the world around us, meaning we have limited  capacity to perceive things. We choose things to focus on based  on unexpected or rarity of an event, repetition of experience,  and the intensity of experience.

∙ Weapon Focus Effect: victims of violent crime usually  

focus on the weapon which is the immediate threat.  

Focusing on the weapon, leaving out peripheral details,  

and the memory of the event is distorted.

 Organization into (perceptual) schema - a mental framework to  organize information that we select into constructs, which are  organizational schema that are based off of past experiences.  This is how we make sense of the information we take in.

o We have four types of schema we use to organize:

 Physical Constructs (outward appearance) - such as the height,  skin tone, attractiveness  

 Role Constructs (social or professional position) - teacher,  accountant, sister

 Interaction Constructs (behavior) - outgoing, aggressive, shy  (this can change from culture to culture because it is based on  people's experiences)

 Psychological Constructs (thoughts and feelings) - such as  angry, self assured, insecure.

o Interpretation - based on your personal experience, your knowledge,  Cultural Upbringing  

- Accuracy of Perception: Misperception  

o Cognitive Biases - involve perceptual distortion, inaccurate judgment,  and illogical interpretation.  

 Psychological in nature - everyone commits these kind of biases  influences all stages of perception (selection, organization, and  interpretation)

 "Pareidolia" = finding faces in random things, we are  

programmed to look for faces

- subjective validation = we take vague and non-specific statements and make  meaning of it, and make ourselves believe it is personal to us. - Stereotypes: generalizations about a person based on the group to which  they belong, and people can belong to many different groups thus having  many stereotypes.

o The first thing we do when we see an individual we organize them to  find what group they belong to.

o Second we cognitively activate the schema of that group, so people  can cognitively activate more than one schema about various groups o Finally, we generalize those schema to that person, this is when the  stereotype is applied and tied to the individual we are seeing. - Mass media plays a role in how we make constructions about certain groups - We tend to view Bias as a negative connotation, however stereotype always  carry bias.

- Selective Memory Bias - the tendency to remember information that supports stereotypes while forgetting information that does not.  

- Cultural Stereotypes can affect our organization of people of certain groups  such as Americans vs. Japanese culture, or our stereotypes of Nerds vs. who  "nerds" actually are (Bill Gates)

- Interpersonal Communication: someone sends a message to one person, and  then receive feedback from the other person.  

- Source Message Channel Receiver Model (SMCR)  

o the source is the individual which is creating the message to send to  the other person. They have a special set of skills, and have baggage  that influence everything they do. The message that the source comes  up with can be interpreted differently between the sender and the  receiver, leading to misunderstanding.  

o Using all that baggage they will encode a message, combining all their  baggage into the message which can either be very strategic or less  strategic. Messages are meant to have meaning to the sender and the  receiver.  

o once the message is created it must go through a channel, (hearing,  seeing, touching, ect) it is the medium through which the message is  communicated

o the receiver decodes the message they receive, organizing the  information based on their own baggage and deconstructs the  message to get the meaning

o People are senders and receivers of information simultaneously  - Messages:

o Verbal - communication via words, either through written and vocalized language.

 Channels - hearing, seeing, touching,  

 Context - the information that surrounds communication and  helps convey a message. Things such as the tone of voice a  

person uses when talking to you

 Same verbal message can mean different things (emotional  context, cultural context, euphemism, sarcasm)

o Verbal Communication -levels of quantity

 succinct - few words and avoids loss of face  

 exacting - enough words to convey message and no more (too  few = ambiguity; too many = exaggeration). Low to "middle of  the road" context cultures. (England)

 Elaborate - a lot of talking, detailed description and information.  Common in high context cultures. (Arabic-speaking countries)

o Contextual and Personal Styles:

 Contextual style/ sensitivity - language reflects the hierarchy of  the situation, thus maintaining barriers of high power - distance  cultures (the use of titles and the use of formality/informality)

 Personal style - language breaks down hierarchy of the situation. More common in low power-distance cultures

∙ People are senders and receivers  

∙ It is a constant flow of both sending and receiving  

∙ What people send and what other people receive might be different based on the things which define a person as an individual

∙ Burlose = unidirectional but it is trans directional

∙ Verbal Messages - context

o Emotional context (common example: if you feel someone is upset with you, so you ask "are you upset?" and they say no "no." but the tone of  their voice, and body language suggests otherwise)

o Cultural Context (example: pants in American English means trousers,  whereas pants in Britain means underwear.)

o Euphemisms: (example: drug names, code language for bad activities) o Sarcasm: (example: a form of humor, saying something you do not  mean to make a point)

o Culture can shape the use of context

∙ Verbal communication - levels of quantity  

o Succinct - using the bare minimum to communicate only what needs to be.

o Exacting - communicating just enough information but not too much  personal information

o Elaborate - communicating a lot of information, being open a lot, giving a lot of personal and social information

∙ Contextual and Personal Style:

o Contextual style/sensitivity - careful about using names which  demonstrate hierarchy  

o Personal style - being personal, with friends

∙ Affective & instrumental styles  

o Affective Messages are emotionally sensitive both in receipt and  delivery. Requires intuition and reading of subtle verbal/non-verbal cues. ∙ Most common in the middle east, Latin America, and Asian  cultures

o Instrumental orientation is 'raw' and focused on information transfer.  Common in low-context cultures such as Switzerland, Sweden, and the US. o We sometimes support hierarchy through the verbal communication  we use

Nonverbal Messages:

∙ Kinesics

o Body movement: posture, gestures

o Facial expressions

∙ Eye contact (oculesics)

∙ Proxemics

o How people use the space to communicate with others

o Study the way people use physical space to convey messages o Example: The US

∙ Intimate distance - confidential communication

∙ Personal distance - family and close friends

∙ Social distance - more business conversation

∙ Public distance - public speaking, ect.

o Can vary across cultures

o US distance norms are farther than parts of the Middle East or South  America

o Distance norms are shaped by environmental and social forces ∙ Chronemics  

o How time is used with in a culture

∙ Monochronic  

 Linear schedule  

 Individualistic cultures such as the US, Canada, Australia  ∙ Polychronic  

 Doing several things

 Accomplishment is secondary to involvement  

 Focus on the group as a whole

 Latin America, Middle East

o Cultural Differences:

∙ Punctuality  

∙ Speed of speech

∙ Daily Agenda  

o Concept of time shaped can be shaped by social forces

o Based on the relative nature of time, in how different cultural traditions view time different than others.

o Other cultures might care how your time is spent, and the expectations of time are different.

∙ Chromatics  

o How color is used to communicate

o Grounded cognition theory - taking abstracts and giving them  meanings, such as associating an action with a color

∙ Some might say nonverbal communication is key: 93% of human  communication is nonverbal

o 7% verbal

o 38% tonal messages

o 55% physiology  

o But this is not really true because then people would not need to learn  foreign languages

o 7%-38%-55% rule only applies to very specific contexts, especially how  we communicate emotions and attitudes (like vs. dislike)

o Mehrabian studies:

∙ Nonverbal communication is useful for communicating attitudes and  emotions

∙ If words are incongruent with tone or physiology, people tend to rely on non-verbal elements (for example: if you ask someone how they are,  and they reply in a regular voice "I'm fine" then they might indeed be fine, but if you ask and they say "I'm Fine" but in a harsh tone, and  show body language that says otherwise, you may understand they  are not fine).

∙ 7%-38%-55% rule is Only based off two studies with an all-female  sample

o People may assume that non-verbal behavior is instinctive or part of  "human nature"

∙ Biologically innate

∙ Evolutionarily adaptive

o Charles Darwin wrote "The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals" to study if evolution had an effect on emotions

∙ Universality of basic emotional expressions

 Anger

 Disgust

 Fear

 Happiness

 Sadness

 Surprise

 Contempt  

∙ These are discrete emotions and they affect the way people react to  situations  

∙ Emotions are arguably universal, however cultural displays rules  moderate emotional displays

∙ On average, people are about 54% accurate in detecting deception ∙ Cops fare no better than college students in detecting lies

∙ The three common "signs" are false correlates of deception

Barriers to cross-cultural communication:

∙ Language:

o Going to a country that does not share the same language as your  home country

o Language is unique, in the United States for the most part the  language is the same across the board, but in India there are many  different languages across the area. People in certain regions speak  different languages that are totally different.

o Dialects are also important, because there can be many differences  within a language, such as Arabic language spoken, but some of the  dialects across the area are so different it is like speaking another  language.

o Styles of Formality can lead to barriers because expectations of formal, written communication are different across cultures. In the US someone  might begin with a nicety to prime the person receiving the message to  think good things before they are given bad news, where as in Japan they  give bad news by indirect discussion.

o Perception can cause a barrier in communication, because it is a  person's view of reality. So people perceive things differently, such as  marketing campaigns, company slogans, ect.

o Class and Familiarity cause barriers because the idea of class differs  across cultures. The US tends toward a 'non-class' orientation and a  loose/familiar communication style, however in Arabic speaking countries  class can be recognized based on the way that they speak, maybe slowly  and deliberately with high level of vocabulary.  

o Geography and time cause barriers because of time differences, and  physical space between people. Geography determines the time  differences between places, which impacts work schedule. And Holidays  change how people interact with each other.  

o Non-verbal communication creates barriers because one culture might  view a non-verbal behavior as disrespectful, whereas another culture  might see it as acceptable or even polite.

Negotiation:

∙ The process of bargaining with one or more parties to arrive at a solution ∙ It is about interaction

∙ Very similar to communication, and it is a way we make more sense of the  people we are encountering

∙ It occurs on a large scale but also a interpersonal level. It can go from very  macro to a very micro scale

∙ In history the Silk Road was a significant connection between cultures which  allowed people from different places to interact with other cultures, and people had to negotiate on a very broad scale with others from all around the world.  Another example of integration is the Atlantic Slave Trade, when people from  Africa were violently forced to adopt and become accustomed to European  traditions and life.

∙ Communication Acculturation Theory: the idea that we understand there are  differences in cultural beliefs and traditions, there are other ways of living and  communicating around the world. There are differences in traits, beliefs, and  values which cause barriers. "Cross cultural adaptation as a collaborative effort in which a stranger and the receiving environment are engaged in a joint  effort." Acculturation can have an influence on immigrant group's  communication, such as immigrants adopting some American ideals and  cultures but still proud of their heritage. An example of communication  acculturation theory is the Mediterranean area, where trading has been going  on for years and you can see in the languages which include words and roots in many different languages, such as the Sicilian Language which is made up of  Greek, Italian, and Arabic.  

∙ Integrative Communication Theory : Argues that all humans conform to new,  culturally unfamiliar environment. People unlearn who they were originally. An  example is that Native Americans in the early 1900 would dress like Europeans  in an attempt to assimilate to the Europeans.

o Zero-sum process: new comer loses characteristics of original cultural  identity. They lose the background of their ancestors

∙ Uncertainty Reduction Theory: It is all about how we reduce uncertainty  between the people we meet. All interaction we have with a person is  uncertain because we never know how someone will react. We try to reduce  uncertainty by gathering more information from the environment around us,

and get more information. This information is used to predict the other's  behavior and actions, and decide if they will be a threat after the interaction. o Cognitive Uncertainty - level of uncertainty associated with beliefs or  attitudes of each other

∙ Initial Interaction - people not aware of each-others' beliefs and  attitudes. This happens when we meet someone for the first time. EX: assigned roommate

∙ Ways of reducing this Uncertainty:

 Self-Disclosure - talking about one's self and admitting  intimate things in hopes the other person will disclose this  

information as well. Increased intimacy.

 Verbal Communication - as verbal communications  

increase the uncertainty decreases.

 Nonverbal "warmth" - showing friendly nonverbal  

messages, ex: smiling.

o Behavioral Uncertainty - pertains to the extent to which behavior is  predictable in a given situation.

∙ Initial Interaction - people not able to predict behavior of each  other.

∙ Ways of reducing this Uncertainty:

 Norms - have been developed to reduce behavioral  

uncertainty. They are a standard or pattern, especially of social  behavior, that is typical or expected of a group. How someone  conducts themselves behaviorally, and what society says is ok.  Ex: shaking hands is a way to show you are friendly and reduces uncertainty. If one ignores such norms, behavioral uncertainty  increases because we cannot predict what is going to happen  

from then on. Because of this, the interaction may end, because  the person seems threatening or too much uncertainty has  

mounted.

∙ Injunctive Norms - what we perceive other people  

want us to do.  

∙ Descriptive Norms - what we perceive other people  do.

o Stages of reduction theory: The stages of interaction

∙ (1) entry stage - use of behavioral norms. Dependent on cultural norms.

∙ (2) personal stage - probing others for indications of values  morals, and personal issues.

∙ (3) final stage - strangers decide whether they want to continue to develop relationship.

o tend to approach negotiations using our own cultural norms

∙ Norms are vastly different

∙ When you are in a different culture it is good to  understand the norms of the culture you are in, and do not rely on snap  judgments

Effects of Cultural Differences:

∙ Not all aspects of culture are equally significant (handshakes) ∙ Norms for interaction may be different for you, as an outsider, than for  "cultural insiders"

∙ You don't know as much as you think you do about the other party's culture. Other Aspects of Negotiation:

∙ Distributive Negotiation - bargaining that occurs when two parties with  opposing goals compete over a set value

o Zero sum

o Both trying to get the best deal, but gain for one means loss for the  other

∙ Integrative Negotiation - bargaining that involves cooperation between  groups to integrate interests, create value, and invest in the agreement ∙ Ex: the issue of the free space in the Chinese Sea and who owns it, should  china be allowed to build military islands there.

Notes from Readings: 

Norton, Perceiving the Self and Others 

- Perception: using what we experience to make sense of the world around us. - Selection: when people pay attention to certain stimuli.

- Organization: the process of using the selected information to categorize  information.

- Perceptual Schema: A mental way of organizing information. - Interpretation: the process of giving meaning to information which has been  selected.

- Stereotype: a generalization about a group of people which is applied to the  individual members of that group.

- Selective memory bias: people remember information which supports a  stereotype and forget information which does not support the stereotype. - Primacy Effect: People tend to remember a first impression over later  impressions when forming a perception.

- Recency Effect: People’s tendency to remember the most recent impressions  over earlier impressions when forming a perception.

- Perceptual Set: When a person only perceives what they want or expects to  perceive.

- Attribution: An explanation of an observed action by one person about another. - Self-Serving Bias: the tendency to attribute a person’s success to their stable  internal cause and their failures on an external and unstable cause. - Fundamental Attribution Error: the tendency to attribute someone else’s  behavior to their own internal causes rather than external causes (saying  another person is doing what they are doing because “they’re crazy”). - Self-concept: This is another way of saying identity. This is the perceptions one  has about themselves.

- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: when there is an expectation and people do behaviors  to make the expectation come true.

- Self-Esteem: One’s perception about themselves, and their personal evaluation of their worth.

- Image: the way one wishes for others to perceive them.

- Image Management: When someone behaves in a certain way because they  desire for others to see them a certain way.

- Life Story: The way one presents them self is based on their own self perception but also others.

- Face: The public image one desires, because they want people to see them a  certain way.

- Facework: behaviors one exhibits to keep their desired image with others. - Face Needs: Important components to the public image one desires to have. - Fellowship Face: the need to be accepted, as well as liked by others. - Autonomy Face: the need to avoid being influenced by others. - Competence Face: the need to be viewed in a good light by others, including  being respected, competent, and smart.

- Face-Threatening Act: Any behavior which intimidates one or more of the face  needs.

Beyond Words: 

- The Mehrabian and Ferris study is a study which says 55% of communication  is body language, 38% of communication is tone of voice, and 7% is the  actual words that are spoken by the speaker.

- The Mehrabian-Ferris study (55/38/7 formula) is made up of the predecessor  formula which is the 60/40 formula, where 60% is vocal, and 40% is made up  of the person’s attitude.

- These formulas, especially the 55/38/7 formula, were made for times when  the verbal and nonverbal channels of communication are not matching. - One way to increase the accuracy of analyzing a situation is by applying the  three C’s of Nonverbal Communication:

o Context: environment where the situation is taking place, the history  between the sender and receiver, and finally their rolls in society. o Clusters: these are groups of actions which give an indication to  determining a person’s state of mind or emotion. Ex: if someone  crosses their arms they might be angry, however if they shiver, and  also chatter their teeth they may be cold rather than angry.  

o Congruence: Do the words being spoken match the person’s tone of  voice?

Norton, “Cross Cultural Communication and Negotiation” - Issues arise when people outsource parts of their business to another  country, especially overseas, because there is a difference between the home country of the business and the branch which is international.

- The way there can be more unity within a company is when the home country makes the effort to understand the culture of their international branch.  - There should be mutual respect between the two, rather than a mentality  that promotes a way of communicating and understanding that is not “us vs.  them”.

- There is an importance on good communication and collaboration between  the off shore employees and the home country of the company.

- Contextual Style: focusing on the speaker and the relationship between the  parties, and is usually associated with high-power-distance, collective, high  contrast cultures. Some examples are Japan and India.

- Personal Style: focuses on the speaker and reducing the barriers of  communication between the parties, and is generally more low-power distance, individualistic, and low-contrast cultures. Some examples of this are the U.S., Canada, and Australia.

- Downward Communication: this is the communication from a superior to a  subordinate.

- Upward Communication: this is the communication from a subordinate to a  superior.

- There is a large issue with communication when it comes to translating  languages, especially in a written document. This can be difficult when  offshore employees try to translate a message from the home country, which  can lead to errors and ultimately miscommunication.

- Nonverbal Communication: a message which is sent through behaviors, body  language, physical space, and any other ways which aren’t through talking. - Kinesics: studying communication and conveying messages through body  movement, and facial expressions.

- Oculesics: This is the way people communicate through the use of eye  contact and gaze.  

- Haptics: the way people communicate through the use of body contact; the  way people touch each other.

- Proxemics: The use of physical space to convey a message, the way people  use distance to get their message across.  

o Intimate Distance: The distance between people who are intimate with  each other, or are sharing very confidential  

information/communications.

o Personal Distance: The distance people generally use when talking with friends or family.  

o Social Distance: The distance between people when conducting  business or talking to someone who is an acquaintance or not very well known.

o Public Distance: distance used when calling to someone from across  the room or when speaking to a group.

- Chronemics: The way in which time is used and valued within a culture. o Monochromatic time schedule: A time schedule where things are done  in a linear fashion.

o Polychromic time schedule: A time schedule where many things are  done at once, and higher value is placed on personal involvement  rather than getting things done on time.  

o Chromatics: when a culture uses colors to represent something or  communicate messages.

- Distributive Negotiations: when two parties negotiate, and the parties have  different goals, and they compete over a set value. Win -lose situation where  one group gains what they want and the other does not get what they want.

- Integrative Negotiation: Bargaining between two groups to integrate  interests, create value, and invest in an agreement. This is the win-win  situation, where both groups collaborate to get what they want.  - The negotiation process:

o Planning: parties identify what it is they would like to gain from the  negotiation.

o Interpersonal Relationship Building: Getting to know the opponents on  the other side of the negotiation, to understand if there are people who will be reasonable, or unreasonable.

o Exchanging Task-Related Information: This is where each group  presents their stance on the negotiation, and the critical instance. o Persuasion:  

 How well the groups understand each other’s position.

 Ability of each side to understand as well as identify the  

similarities and differences between the arguments.

 The ability to create new options.

 The willingness of all parties to work toward both groups’ goals  and for each party to feel as if they have achieved their  

objectives.

o Agreement: Granting concessions and working toward a final  agreement.

- There are some ways people negotiate to come to get the outcome they  want, and these are called tactics. Here are some main ones: o Location – geographical place where the meeting will take place. o Time Limits – can be used neutrally, and can push decisions to be  made more quickly, sometimes with not enough though.

o Buyer-Seller Relations – The relationships between the buyer and the  seller.

- There are also bargaining behaviors which people use to get what they want  in a negotiation:

o Use of extreme behaviors

o Promises or threats

o Nonverbal behaviors

Colgate’s Distasteful Toothpaste: 

- The key take way from this reading is that different cultures can see things  differently, and have different understandings of the same thing, which  means when one culture thinks something is offensive another culture will  not see it as offensive.

- Colgate Toothpaste bought another toothpaste company, named Hawley &  Hazel, which had a preexisting toothpaste brand which was successful in  Asian countries. This toothpaste was called “Darkie” and had a white man in  blackface on the packaging. Asian people really liked the toothpaste, thought  it worked well, and even said the packaging was what encouraged them to  use the product. In contrast, when American’s found out about the “Darkie”  toothpaste they were offended, and wanted “Darkie” toothpaste to be  discontinued. In the end Colgate changed the packaging and the name to  “Darlie” toothpaste which was close to “Darkie”, to keep customer loyalty in  Asia, but no longer affect the Americans.

Euro Disneyland 

- There were several issues and things which happened when Disney decided  to set up their new location in France because of the cultural differences  between the French and the Americans.

- At first the French resisted the idea of Disneyland in their culture because it  would influence French children badly, and that the French Government would take a large amount of land from farmers so that Disney could build the park  on it.  

- While the park would create jobs for French people, some French people  thought that managers having flexible hours would be bad for the people, but they were necessary for the park because of the seasonal variations with the  park. Summer is more popular therefore they need more workers than in the  middle of the winter when there are less people in the parks.

- There were issues and negotiations about where the money from the park  would go, because it was an American company on foreign soil. There had to  be negotiations so that Disney had to pay the French people and government  some of the money they made.

- There were issues of American’s imposing their rules and cultures on the  French people in the park. For example, the park had a ban on alcohol, but  the French drink wine with many meals and have a different opinion on where it should be allowed.

- Even the food had to be adapted to European taste, to be less spicy so that  they would like it.

- Disney was very strict on the appearance of their employees, such as their  hair color, and the jewelry they could wear. While this was acceptable to  Americans, the French could not understand how the Americans did not value the individualism of people.

- When the French visited the park the first time they were shocked as to the  personal space issues, because in Disney Parks people are physically close  when they wait in line, and are in a small space. The French were not used to  this close contact.

- Lastly, the parks initial advertisements were in American English, which  shocked the French, making them feel like strangers in their own country, and not invited to the park at all.