Demographics- nonattitudinal characteristics
Psychographics- attitudinal characteristics
Geodemographics- characteristics based on where a person or group lives
Culture- group of people unified by shared characteristics
*cross cultural communication is important in PR
Things to consider
- Cultural attributes
- Attitudes about time- vary depending on culture
- Attitudes about formality- includes the proper greetings
- Attitudes about individualism- i.e. order of first and last names
- Attitudes about rank and hierarchy- some societies have specific class systems
- Attitudes about religion
- Attitudes about taste and diet
- Attitudes about colors, numbers, and symbols- includes things such as unlucky numbers, or hand gestures such as the thumbs up sign
- Attitudes about assimilation and acculturation- some cultures are more accepting than others to new customs and traditions
Cross-cultural- exchanges of messages among the members of different cultures, must stay aware of obstacles to successful communication between members of different cultures
- Encoding and decoding
- Gestures and clothing- traditions differ between cultures about what type of clothing is appropriate in certain situations, i.e. shoes are not worn in some places
- Stereotyping
- To be successful when communicating across cultures-
- Awareness
- Commitment- really learn about the culture
- Research
- Local partnership- form connections with organizations from cultures you are attempting to communicate with
- Diversity
- Testing
- Evaluation
- Advocacy
- Continuing education
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