Critical Incidents: Introduction
Back to: Training Session: Critical Situations in Intercultural Contexts
What are Critical Incidents in intercultural communication?
What do you think is happening here? What is the problem/what are the problems in this conversation? Try to find a number of explanations!
Critical incidents in intercultural contexts are experiences in which at least one of the interaction partners feels unpleasant. He/she sees that there is a problem and traces the irritation back to cultural contrasts.
Using critical incidents as a methodology of teaching intercultural competences has the purpose of increasing awareness and understanding of human attitudes, behaviours and interactions. The method was introduced by the American psychologist Harry C. Triandis in the 1960s. The tool adresses learners at a personal, meaningful level and encourages them to analyse attitudes and behaviours that might be critical in communication processes between persons from different cultural backgrounds. 1
Critical incidents in intercultural training are short descriptions of situations in which a misunderstanding, problem or conflict arises as a result of the cultural differences of the interacting parties. The structure may be described as follows:
- The incidents gives information and describes what happened.
- It also possibly includes the feelings and reactions of the persons involved.
- It does not explain the cultural differences that caused the situation; these are meant to be discovered or revealed by the learners. They should find a number of explanations for the situation and consider which of the explanation(s) are appropriate.
Laura, a German student in Munich, makes friends with a university colleague from Indonesia, Alfia. Some day, Alfia invites Laura to her family who are strictly religious Muslims. Unfortunately Laura does not feel very well. She suffers from a bad cold and has to blow her nose several times during the dinner. She does it in a decent way by turning away from the table. The conversation at the table is not very lively, and Laura notices that the parents are exchanging glances. Then, Alfia asks Laura if she would like to know where the bathroom is. A bit suprised Laura replies: „No, thanks“.
Overall, Laura feels uncomfortable with the atmosphere at the table. She has the impression that the family is not really interested in her, and she hopes that the dinner will end soon. Secretly, she reasons that it is very difficult to get along with strictly religious Muslims because they have prejudices towards non-believers.
After reading this story the learners have to consider what the background for the awkward and irritating atmoshere was. Some potential explanations:
What do you think? Please find indications for every explanation!
- This is possible, but there is no sufficient evidence that Indonesians are particularly afraid of infections.
- Laura is not very relaxed because it is her first meeting with a strictly religious Muslim family. She feels insecure and additionally affected by her annoying cold. But it is not very likely that her condition spoils the entire atmosphere.
- Why has the family invited Laura and prepared a meal for her? Maybe the prejudice is rather on Laura’s side?
- There are indications that this explanation is correct. Alfia’s hint to the bathroom can be interpreted as a sign that blowing one’s nose at the table is unwanted. Laura has disobeyed a cultural rule. And because the rule refers to a cultural taboo her friend is not able to express it openly.2