Biodata

Grace is an undergraduate at the National University of Singapore. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Science Degree in Life Sciences, concentrating in Biomedical Sciences. Her interest in science was piqued in secondary school, when she was selected from among her schoolmates to present her project on diagnostic immunology to teachers from other schools. Her passion in science has propelled her to want to share her knowledge and enthusiasm in science with others. During her stint as a relief teacher, she was attached to the science department, where she was trained to communicate scientific concepts to students through preparing lectures and facilitating science experiments. She also participated in the MOE Excel Fest 2006, where she put together a presentation on DNA for the 2-day event and shared ideas with teachers and parents on creative ways to kindle the students’ interest in science.

Besides developing herself academically in the area of science, Grace is also active in pursuing her other interests, as she believes in having a holistic personal development. She is an avid tennis player and has represented her school to participate in inter-school tennis tournaments. Her enthusiasm in tennis also gained her a position as a secretary of her secondary school tennis team and vice-captain of her junior college tennis team, allowing her to hone her leadership skills. She also volunteered to help out in the national schools debate competition because she enjoys learning from the debaters and watching their exchange of ideas. Grace continually enriches herself through self-improvement courses in NUS, in addition to her studies, because she sees learning as a process, not an end.

Giving to others as much as she has received herself is the basis for Grace’s involvement in various community projects, and her service in various capacities in Church and in a Christian organization in school. Her strong principles and beliefs stem from her faith.

Laughter - A means of communication

An article in The Straits Times section “Mind Your Body” about laughter as a means of communication and a kind of “social glue” caught my attention, and I thought it would be interesting for us to share on the blog our thoughts and experiences with laughter as a means of communication.

A brief outline of the article “Send in the Clowns” (Source: The Straits Times, Mind Your Body, Gary Hayden)

• Laughter is a basic pleasure, akin to the pleasures of eating, drinking and having sex.
• Laughter keeps our minds flexible and adaptable and contributes to our survival because it helps us to respond creatively to new and unexpected situations.
• Laughter is a means of communication which develops a stronger bond between two persons, depending on the extent of laughter. The social bonding theory of laughter explains that we are 30 times more likely to laugh when we are in company. Dr Robert Provine, professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Maryland, said: “Laughter is a message we send to other people. We know this because we rarely laugh when we are alone. We laugh to ourselves even less than we talk to ourselves.” Laughter is powerful also because it cuts across language and cultural barriers. People of every nationality can speak and understand the universal language of laughter.

For the purpose of this course, we’ll discuss the communication aspect of laughter and leave the others for another time.

Laughter is no doubt a communication tool in all societies and some call it the “punctuation” in everyday speech. Laughter can be a bane or boon in communication though, and it very much depends on the context of the situation and the reason for laughing. For example, laughter is an effective means of communication in a nervous situation, where people tend to laugh to make others feel more comfortable. In other situations, laughter evokes trust and avoids the “flight or fright response”. In an office setting, an employee laughing at a boss’s joke will serve to establish a rapport between the employer and employee. On the other hand, laughter can also be exploited by some as a communication tool to manipulate and control a relationship. Another scenario where laughter as a communication tool leads to negative implications would be the use of it to ridicule and ostracise another person. However, laughter can serve as an enjoyable social corrective in some instances because people are less likely to repeat their mistakes for fear of evoking laughter from others or ourselves. The situations and intentions for laughing therefore result in different responses to laughter and achieve different outcomes.

With regards to intercultural communications, laughter may lead to misinterpretation amongst people of different cultural groups for the same reason, and even more so because of inherent cultural differences. Some people see laughter as a universal language which transcends language and cultural barriers but I feel that cultural differences can affect the interpretation of laughter in some situations. In Milford, Patricia’s paper “Laughter as Communication: Some Intercultural Implications”, she explains three manifestations of laughter and only one of the three conveys a constant meaning across cultures, and that is the reflex response to a particular physical stimulus. The second manifestation depends on the socially learned behaviours of the heterogeneous groups and only when they share the similar attitudes or experiences will they benefit from laughing together. The third manifestation of laughter is where laughter encodes semantic meanings significant to the receiver and sender and depends on the context for interpretation, as I have discussed earlier.
We see from here that laughter as a means of communication is as likely to result in misunderstandings as any other forms of communication, but when used appropriately, is an effective tool to bridge relationships, heal hurts and bring joy to people around us.

Feel free to share anecdotes where laughter was used to your advantage/disadvantage while communicating with others or any thoughts on this topic. Share jokes if you want, I’m sure we all need a good laugh! :)

Here’s one to start the week…

A sign outside a secondhand shop
WE EXCHANGE ANYTHING - BICYCLES, WASHING MACHINES, ETC. WHY NOT BRING YOUR WIFE ALONG AND GET A WONDERFUL BARGAIN?

Intercultural Communication

I was in Busan, Korea, for a short conference and mission trip.

During the short mission trip, a group of eleven of us, consisting of seven Korean and four Singaporean students, had the opportunity to visit and stay in a small church in Busan. We were introduced to the Korean culture as we interacted with the pastor and his wife and the congregation there. The pastor and his wife were extremely hospitable and had no qualms about allowing us to stay in their church for the night. They even provided us with food and treated us to ice-cream and Chinese cuisine at a nearby restaurant before we left.

Manner of greeting

In Korea, when you meet an elderly or someone first, it is good manners to greet first by stooping at a 30 degree angle and maintaining that posture for two to three seconds, while holding up your head. As for men, keep your arms and hands tight to your body and as for women, keep your hands together in front and stoop. It should be done in front about 2 to 5 meters away. The upper body stooped in greeting should be held up slowly after the interval of one breath of receiving the other’s return courtesy. Also, stooping slightly is just enough as the manner but nodding is considered to be bad manners. It is good manners to keep eye contact while stooping and to maintain that posture for a second. It is also good to say Annyeonghasipnigga (Hello) while stooping.

Source: Seoul, Jang-gu Culture and Tourism, http://tour.junggu.seoul.kr/english/zoom/zoom03.php

Upon reaching the church, we were greeted first by the pastor’s wife, who was standing a considerable distance away from us. Her manner of greeting was the typical 30 degree angle stoop, with her hands together in front of her. Along with the stoop came the verbal greeting “Annyonghaseyo”. I wasn’t too sure how to respond to the greeting and was feeling a little nervy for fear that I would appear to be rude. Thankfully, the Koreans in my team immediately reciprocated the greeting in a similar manner. The four Singaporeans mimicked what they did.

In Singapore, we would normally go up to the person and give a handshake to someone whom we were meeting for the first time, but it wasn’t in their culture to do so. At that point, I actually felt like I hadn’t greeted the host properly and had the urge to go up to her and reach out my hand to offer a handshake, but I eventually refrained from doing so. I wasn’t sure how they would react to a handshake and thought I’d just play safe by following what the Koreans did.

On the last day, the pastor sent us off to the bus stop and, to our surprise, gave each of us a handshake before he left. Even then, his other arm and hand were kept tight to his body and his back was slightly arched, which were characteristics of the Korean manner of greeting. I wasn’t sure if it was the influence of western culture in their lifestyle too or it was out of courtesy for our culture that he offered the handshake, but I was really grateful for that handshake. It allowed me to sincerely thank him for his love and hospitality towards us throughout our short stay there, in a manner that I was familiar and comfortable with.