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CULTURAL CONTEXT

The cultural context in which human communication occurs is perhaps the most defining influence on human interaction. Culture provides the overall framework wherein humans learn
to organize their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors in relation to their environment. Although people are born into a culture, it is not innate. Culture is learned. Culture teaches one
how to think, conditions one how to feel, and instructs one how to act, especially how to interact with others—in other words, how to communicate. In many respects, the terms
communication and culture can be used interchangeably. Yet the influence of culture on human interaction is paradoxical. As we conduct our daily lives, most of us are unaware of our
culture; however, culture influences our every thought, feeling, and action. As the late internationally recognized anthropologist Edward Hall asserts in the quote at the beginning of this
chapter, culture hides more than it reveals, particularly from its own members. Australian anthropologist Roger Keesing argues that culture provides people with an implicit theory
about how to behave and how to interpret the behavior of others. People from different cultures learn different implicit theories. These theories are learned through socialization. And
through socialization, individuals also learn the dominant values of their particular culture and their self-identities.

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