Apprehension and Anxiety in Communication

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diyako Rahmani
Keyword(s):  
Intercultural Communication ◽  
Communication Apprehension ◽  
Intergroup Contact ◽  
Group Identification ◽  
Willingness To Communicate ◽  
Negative Feeling ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Group Status ◽  
Intergroup Anxiety ◽  
Prejudice And Discrimination

Intergroup anxiety is a form of restlessness and negative feeling caused by communicating with someone with a different social and cultural identity. Just like any other form of anxiety, intergroup anxiety has negative consequences, such as disability in social interactions, weak cognitive performance, and even life consequences. Intergroup anxiety is the result of fear of being disapproved, embarrassed, and rejected across different racial, ethnic, religious, and social groups’ interactions. Theoretically, intergroup anxiety is influenced by the previous experiences one has had with the members of other groups, one’s knowledge of other groups, and the situation in which one interacts with other groups. Intergroup anxiety has behavioral, cognitive, and affective consequences. There are different theories of communication that explain the nature and function of intergroup anxiety. Uncertainty reduction theory, for example, defines anxiety as a result of uncertainty and asserts that to maintain communication, parties should decrease their uncertainty and consequently their anxiety. Anxiety/uncertainty management theory focuses on anxiety and argues that to have effective communication the level of intergroup anxiety should be managed between a minimum and a maximum threshold. A decrease in anxiety and uncertainty is also essential to intercultural adaptation. Different factors can increase the amount of anxiety in intergroup contexts, namely ethnocentrism, prejudice, and discrimination. These factors are related to individuals’ feeling of threat due to one or some of the following: intergroup conflict, unequal group status, in-group identification, knowledge of out-group, and intergroup contact. To settle intergroup conflicts individuals are advised to establish more high-quality intergroup contacts and to change the way they make distinctions among various groups. Quality intergroup contact can be reached through strategies such as establishing cross-cultural friendships and intergroup disclosure. One form of intergroup anxiety is intercultural communication apprehension, which is the apprehension individuals feel due to real or imagined intercultural communication. Intercultural communication apprehension is positively correlated with uncertainty and ethnocentrism, and negatively correlated with intercultural willingness to communicate.

scholarly journals Intergroup Threat as a Mediator of Ethnic Identification and Intergroup Orientations

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 534-550 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margareta Jelić ◽  
Ena Uzelac ◽  
Dinka Čorkalo Biruški
Keyword(s):  
Minority Groups ◽  
Group Identification ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Ethnic Identification ◽  
Perceived Threat ◽  
Group Status ◽  
Right To Education ◽  
Majority Group ◽  
Prejudice And Discrimination ◽  
The Relationship

In Croatia, four minority groups practice their right to education in their respective mother tongues. Relations between the majority and minority groups in the four multiethnic communities have developed under different historical circumstances. Thus, in some regions the different language of the minority and the majority group can be perceived as a threat to identity and result in intergroup prejudice and discrimination, whereas in others it might not. In this study, we wanted to examine: (a) the mediating effect of perceived threat on the relationship between in-group identification and intergroup orientation, (b) whether those relationships are moderated by the group status, and (c) contextual specificities, that is, we wanted to test the model in four different contexts. Results showed that ethnonationalism (rather than ethnic identity) is detrimental for intergroup relations, partially due to its connection to the perception of the out-group as a threat. Model tests in different contexts revealed some contextual differences.

scholarly journals COMMUNICATION APPREHENSION AND INTERCULTURAL WILLINGNESS TO COMMUNICATE AMONG UNDERGRADUATES IN MALAYSIAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (18) ◽  
pp. 01-11
Author(s):  
M Pragash ◽  
A Sultana ◽  
K. K Khor ◽  
Charles Ramendran
Keyword(s):  
Intercultural Communication ◽  
Public Universities ◽  
Communication Apprehension ◽  
Willingness To Communicate ◽  
Moderate Level ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Fundamental Factor ◽  
High Level ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
The Relationship

Willingness to interact with people from different cultures is the most fundamental factor for successful and effective intercultural communication, and also crucial in the simulation of desire for interaction in such context. However, high-level communication apprehension reduces the level of intercultural willingness to communicate, which eventually affects intercultural communication and vice versa. Meanwhile, some scholars argued that a moderate level of communication apprehension will increase intercultural willingness to communicate. Hence, this study started with the investigation of the level of both communication apprehension and intercultural willingness to communicate and ended with the investigation on the relationship between communication apprehension and intercultural willingness to communicate among multicultural undergraduates from five public universities in Malaysia. A total of 450 respondents were recruited to participate in this study. Neuliep and McCroskey’s Intercultural Communication Apprehension scale and Kassing’s Intercultural Willingness to Communicate scale were adopted and modified to assess respondents’ communication apprehension and intercultural willingness to communicate, respectively. Data were coded, entered, and analysed using the IBM SPSS Statistics version 22. Our findings show that all respondents were having a moderate level of communication apprehension which eventually triggered a high level of intercultural willingness to communicate among these respondents. Pearson’s correlation analysis revealed a significant positive correlation between the moderate level of communication apprehension and intercultural willingness to communicate, just like the results documented in the review of the literature. The implications of the findings are discussed at the end of this paper.

Sex Differences in Intercultural Communication Apprehension, Ethnocentrism, and Intercultural Willingness to Communicate

2003 ◽  
Vol 92 (1) ◽  
pp. 195-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Lin ◽  
Andrew S. Rancer
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Intercultural Communication ◽  
Communication Apprehension ◽  
Willingness To Communicate ◽  
Different Cultures

Communication predispositions influence interactions between individuals from different cultures. Three such predispositions have been found to affect behavior in intercultural contexts: Apprehension about intercultural communication, ethnocentrism, and intercultural willingness to communicate. This study examined differences between men ( n = 130) and women ( n = 175) on those three predispositions. The analysis showed that men reported experiencing higher apprehension about intercultural communication, being more ethnocentric than women, and being less willing to communicate interculturally than women. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Reducing Prejudice Through Narratives

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 185-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Moyer-Gusé ◽  
Katherine R. Dale ◽  
Michelle Ortiz
Keyword(s):  
Intergroup Relations ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Intergroup Contact ◽  
Contact Hypothesis ◽  
Muslim Americans ◽  
Intergroup Anxiety ◽  
Intergroup Interactions

Abstract. Recent extensions to the contact hypothesis reveal that different forms of contact, such as mediated intergroup contact, can reduce intergroup anxiety and improve attitudes toward the outgroup. This study draws on existing research to further consider the role of identification with an ingroup character within a narrative depicting intergroup contact between Muslim and non-Muslim Americans. Results reveal that identification with the non-Muslim (ingroup) model facilitated liking the Muslim (outgroup) model, which reduced prejudice toward Muslims more generally. Identification with the ingroup model also increased conversational self-efficacy and reduced anxiety about future intergroup interactions – both important aspects of improving intergroup relations.

Meeting of minds: Narratives as a tool to reduce prejudice toward stigmatized group members

2021 ◽  
pp. 136843022110127
Author(s):  
Nuri Kim ◽  
Cuimin Lim
Keyword(s):  
Social Presence ◽  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Intergroup Contact ◽  
First Person ◽  
Narrative Texts ◽  
Intergroup Anxiety ◽  
Narrative Perspective ◽  
Third Person ◽  
Perceived Social Presence ◽  
Group Members

This study investigates a mechanism of mediated intergroup contact effects that occurs through experiencing social presence of a stigmatized outgroup character. Conceiving narrative texts as a context for mediated intergroup contact, we experimentally test ( N = 505) the effects of narrative perspective (first vs. third person) and the photograph of the outgroup protagonist (present vs. absent) on perceived social presence of the outgroup character. We further test whether experiencing the outgroup protagonist as socially present affects intergroup outcomes (i.e., perspective-taking, intergroup anxiety, outgroup knowledge, and outgroup attitudes). Findings indicate that first-person narratives are more effective than third-person narratives in inducing social presence of the stigmatized outgroup character; photos, unexpectedly, did not have such an effect. Social presence, in turn, plays a key role in facilitating positive intergroup outcomes from reading online narrative texts. The implications of our findings are discussed.

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