COMM 1080
Term Research Paper
Ryan Hermansen
Comm1080
Research Paper: High vs Low Context Cultures
Overview
Culture shapes our identities. These identities take on many forms, including societal, familial, and individual roles – roles that we exercise on a daily basis. These identities form how we communicate with one another; how we express thoughts, feelings, and expectations to the world around us. Conversely, our culture can also be responsible for ours or others miscommunication, often giving way to frustration and disappointment. As of 2012 in the United States, the census tabulated 313,873,685 people, a land with many cultures, co-cultures, and diverse attitudes toward communication (Ford-Brown, 2015). In this paper, I will be highlighting the concepts of “high-context” and “low-context” cultures. I will explain how these cultures vary, their strengths and weaknesses, as well as how they can not only co-exist but work with one another. Learning to live in a world where context cultures flourish for their respective uniqueness but not be limited by their particularities will promote understanding and ideally reduce otherwise inevitable conflict. Helping these two groups communicate more effectively, understanding each side, and reducing conflict is the goal of this paper.
Theory/Concept
Communication can be broken down into three parts; words, material things, and behaviors (Hall). It is by studying these three parts that Edward T. Hall suggests we may begin to understand what might be considered a “silent language” among fellow human beings (Hall). What makes the understanding of these parts of communication so useful is they are often universally applicable, in the home as well as professional workspace. Hall uses the example that humans could be compared to complex computers running on unique programs. When we, knowingly or unknowingly, try to apply our programs to the computer of another, the computer is not designed to read the program accurately. The computer may not have the same algorithm. If in the algorithm of culture, one or more important steps are omitted then we should expect our cultural exchanges cannot work harmoniously (Hall). So where does one begin? The first step in learning the proper steps of discourse is to first appreciate that all human beings have a culture. Cultures reflect a belief, actions, behaviors or symbols that are understood and represent a people (Jones, 2025).
While cultures represent a macroscopic view, we look more closely and identify co-cultures, or smaller groups of people within a culture who share a closer identity (Jones, 2025). Behaviors from various co-cultures around the world begin to tell us about the cultural landscape such as the collective and individualistic minded views of people. This will be the beginning of our deeper focus of this paper, understanding these two groups. First, collective minded cultures value the needs of the group, or collective, over individual needs or desires. Working together and cohesion are important. Conversely, individualistic cultures are self-oriented and independent. Individualism is often associated with a low context culture and collectivism with high context cultures (Jones, 2025). Low context cultures often focus on and enjoy “individualistic” communication styles, an emphasis on spoken or written speech with the rules explicitly or directly stated (Jones, 2025). The groups of people who make up low context communicators are often diverse and made up of different backgrounds. High context cultures communicate mainly through contextual clues, including but not limited to body language, status, tone of voice, and the rules are not directly or explicitly stated (Jones, 2025). The groups of people who make up high context communicators are often close-knit and considered less diverse.
Low context cultures have other shared characteristics. This type of communication often works well in stereotypical western culture. A benefit of this style is that it allows for a basic level of communication to be understood by as many people as possible. The actual purpose and practice of communicating is often viewed as more important than what others might know (Jones, 2025). The focus or literality of the words spoken also takes on increased significance, summarizing or repetition are welcome practices to ensure all receive the message. For this reason, silence often creates a feeling of discomfort, as silence can be synonymous with a problem or is perceived negatively. Low context cultures often view high context styles as ineffective and problematic. Other common perceptions of high context cultures include a cloud of secrecy, undisciplined, and lack of transparency (Jones, 2025).
Members of high context cultures also have shared qualities amongst their group. One distinction of high context behavior is the emphasis toward long-term relationships. Relationships are paramount. This can however resemble a clique towards others; i.e. insiders vs outsiders. The shared history and interconnected network among members of this culture allow others within it to understand a situation without the need for an explicit explanation. Finding meaning through context or reading clues is highly important and expected; the contextual elements tell the entire story (Jones, 2025). These exercises often produce individuals who are intuitive, contemplative and often are concerned with what is best for the collective. Silence in this culture is tolerated and even welcomed; it can represent a form of mutual understanding among members. Low context cultures are often perceived by high context members as being overly simplistic and too detailed. Repetition, highly valued for low context members, is not seen as helpful but rather as a wasted use of time for this group.
As described above, each culture has its own nuances. While there are steps to keep in mind, it should be understood that these identities may not fit an exact mold and should only be used as a starting place. Chief editor of Globis, Melissa McIvor, emphasizes how people are different and should be treated as such (McIvor, 2022). This important helps to prevent prejudice. Other challenges can be as simple as the language barrier. Despite the best intentions of translation services or one-to-one translator's, connotation or inflections may not be communicated exactly as one intends. This is why leaving ample room for patience and an abundance of cultural empathy is important when working with someone of another culture context, an olive branch accounting for the difference in language (McIvor, 2022). Maintaining mental flexibility by our ability to listen and be present with little distraction when communicating is important if we hope to gain headway when working toward a functional partnership in cultural context.
Analysis
We now have a better sense of what and who individuals with low and high context cultures represent and some of their norms. Understanding the background helps one avoid biased attributions, or the concept of misinterpreting others and their behaviors (Ford-Brown, 2015). Now I would like to discuss how conflict can arise between these two groups. While there are many possible examples, I will outline several everyday scenarios. The first example could be two individuals faced with a disagreement. We know how low context individuals prefer direct and confrontational interactions. While confronting a problem may seem like a healthy method toward resolution, indirect or less confrontational methods may be preferred resolution style for the other individual. Confrontation (low context) can be seen as too direct and unnecessarily harsh (high context) in calling out an individual for a mistake or during a disagreement. Another example might be verbally agreeing to an important business decision; while one party may find a verbal agreement suitable (high context), the other party might expect a binding document that formalizes the agreement (low context). This may come across as too stringent for the former and distrustful or non-binding for the latter. These are only two examples of how easily conflict can arise when communicating between people of low-high context cultures.
Taking the time to learn and respect the context of a culture has immense benefits including but not limited to avoiding misunderstandings, building stronger relationships, boosting career potential, and avoiding embarrassing or offensive mistakes (Jones, 2025). Strategies to reduce the conflict between these respective groups can include establishing a new “third” culture, in other words, the merging of two identities into a third shared culture. Learning to be creatively flexible, adapting your communication, tolerating ambiguity, listening and asking questions, actively seeking information, and finally avoiding ethnocentrism – or the belief that your culture, or style, has all the answers for avoiding common pitfalls between low-high contextual communication (Jones, 2025). As stated by Edward Hall, the “essence of effective cross-cultural communication has more to do with releasing the right responses than sending the “right” messages” (Hall).
References
Ford-Brown, L. A. (n.d.). How Can Culture Influence Context? . essay.
Hall, E. T., & Hall, M. R. (n.d.). Key concepts: Underlying structures of culture. Key Concepts: Underlying Structures of Culture . http://www.csun.edu/~sm60012/Intercultural/Key%20Concepts%20-%20Hall%20and%20Hall%20-%201.pdf
McIvor, B., By, Editor, M. M., McIvor, M., Editor, C., Diaz, T. I., & Vlad, C. (2022, October 3). High- vs. low-context communication survival guide. GLOBIS Insights. https://globisinsights.com/career-skills/communication/high-low-context-communication-survival/
Jones, Jodie. (3/2025). Communication, Conflict, and Culture: Adapting to Others.
Reflection
The concept of context within cultures really hit home for me this semester, for many reasons. In the past, I have felt misunderstood by coworkers, friends, or even romantic partners before and wondered – how are we not understanding each other? Or they don’t seem to care to be perceptive of what is going on. At times, this has caused me to feel very isolated. There were plenty of moments when I began to wonder if I was making myself feel this way. After reading this section, I felt a sense of self-discovery light up within me. This explains much of how I communicate because of my background and taught me how I can better communicate my needs or understand my own self-perception in coming across to others. Admittedly, I am guilty of being impatient with others when they do not communicate how I prefer, which is entirely selfish, but I am feeling a sense of renewal to give and ask for patience as I learn to better communicate with others. Patience and mental flexibility are two concepts I plan to continue developing as I strive to work better with others in all aspects of my life.