The meanings of specific, socially relevant behaviors and perceptions can vary in important ways across cultures: Psychology Assignment, KU, Singapore

The meanings of specific, socially relevant behaviors and perceptions can vary in important ways across cultures. To take just a few examples, making eye contact with someone, or a prolonged silence during a conversation or someone saying “yes” — or even what it means for something to be “closer” in time — all can have different meanings across different cultures.

Imagine that a white medical doctor is seeing an Aboriginal cancer patient from a rural Aboriginal community for the first time. The doctor sits in a treatment room with the patient, and carefully reads the patient’s medical history from a computer screen while telling the patient the name of the medication they’re prescribing and instructing the patient to take the medication “until finished”.

The doctor asks the patient if they’ve understood, to which the patient replies, “Yes.” According to the information sheet and article, in what ways might this communication be inadequate?