Free Practice Question
RC · Reading Comprehension
555-605
Short Passage - Humanities
Reading Passage
In mono-cultural societies such as Japan or Poland, finding common ground on ethical and moral principles is easier than in societies with competing ideologies. One knows essentially what to expect from the people who have formed the political and social compact in monocultures. Members know what to expect of one another. They know the code composed of meanings and rules by which that society functions. Common cultural origins produce proverbs, motifs, icons, symbols, nuances of language, nonverbal behaviors, and metaphors that are immediately understood and accepted by anyone in the group. However, such commonality is more difficult to achieve once one moves to societies with a diverse population with different cultural backgrounds or to the global society of international relations. Such societies are often called multi-cultural individualistic societies. Hence, the United States, which favors individual effort and has less concern for the group as a whole is seen to be high on individualism. Such cultural differences lead to contrasting communication styles to the extent the historians label the communication style of collectivist cultures as "High Context" and the style of individualistic cultures "Low Context". A high-context communication or message is one in which most of the information is either in the physical context or internalized in the person, while very little is in the coded, explicit part of the message" and a low-context message is the opposite, with the information explicitly coded in the message.
The author’s main purpose of writing the passage is to
Answer Choices
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Explain the differences in two cultures and the resulting impact on the contrasting communication styles.
B
Present data on how different communication styles influence the culture of the society.
C
Establish that mono-cultural societies hold the ethical and moral principles to much higher standards than multi-cultural societies do.
D
Illustrate why collectivist cultures lead to more direct communication styles while mono cultures prefer to communicate in a manner in which most of the information is either in the physical context or internalized in the person.
E
Explain the impact that culture has on communication styles.
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Difficulty
555-605
Type
RC
Category