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has been labelled as intercultural communication competence. People with
higher levels of intercultural communication competence interact more
effectively with people from different cultures.

Cognitive Disposition

Cognitive complexity: In the past twenty years probably no cognitive dis-
position has received more attention from scholars in communication than
cognitive complexity. Cognitive complexity may be defined as the number
of different constructs an individual has to describe others (differentiation),
the degree to which those constructs cohere (integration), and the level
of abstraction of the constructs (abstractness). The bulk of research has
demonstrated positive consequences for complexity. Individuals, who are
cognitively more complex, offer more people-centred responses (Applegate
1980, Burleson 1998), whether in terms of comforting, persuading, or using
of regulative message. The reason for this appears to be that, cognitively
complex individuals are better able to perform a variety of tasks related to
communication, such as recognizing affect (Burleson 1994), decoding non-
verbal behaviours (Woods 1996), and integrating information (O’ Keefe).
Cognitive disposition and cognitive complexity locus of control: Locus
of control means an individual’s beliefs about his or her control over the
environment (Rotter 1966). There are two types of individuals with two
types of locus of control - the internal and the external. At one end of the
continuum are individuals with internal locus of control; these ‘internals’
believe that they have mastery over what happens to them. They believe
that they themselves are the ‘origins’ of their actions. If they want some-
thing to happen, they can make it so.
At the other end of the continuum are those with external locus of
control; ‘externals’ believe that they are ‘pawns’ and their lives are shaped
by chance, luck, and other powerful variables over which they have no
control; that they have little control over their fates. Communicatively,
internals are more attuned to information that have bearingss on their
lives and are less likely than externals who, experience negative stres-
sors (Thoits 1995). Internals are more attentive listeners, more socially
skilled in conversations, more sensitive to social cues (Lefcourt, Martin
and Fick 1985), and less likely to withdraw in conflict situations (Canary,
Cunningham and Cody 1988).

Authoritarianism and Dogmatism

In the early years of the empirical study of communication, authoritarianism
and dogmatism were of special importance to researchers. In many ways the

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