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Psychological perspectives 57

1.1.1.2. Focus on reception and evaluation
If motivation drives the way interactants approach an intercultural encounter,
it also drives the way they perceive such an encounter. Thus, social psycholog-
ists have been interested largely in the impact of communication, rather than in
the characteristics of communication per se. Thus, theory has highlighted the
role of the attribution process in interpreting communication from members of
another culture. Most psychological theory in this area, for example, has posited
the value of an ethno-relative or intercultural perspective (e.g. Kim 1995, 2001;
Triandis 1996) to more effective intercultural encounters. Whereas scholars in
other fields may study in great detail the specific features of language and non-
verbal communication, with little regard for the subtleties of their impact, social
psychologists have tended to do the opposite.

1.1.1.3. Focus on identity
Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the social-psychological approach to in-
tercultural communication is the central role given to identity, especially social
identity. As the discussion below indicates, intercultural communication can be
conceptualized almost entirely in terms of identity management (cf. Ting-Too-
mey 1993). The underlying assumption is that interactants bring their identity
into an encounter, and may (or may not) negotiate a change in personal or social
identity depending upon their evaluation of the encounter. In recent years, social
psychologists have begun to explore the extent to which identity may emerge as
a result of the communication process itself (e.g. Hecht 1993; Hecht et al. 2001),
but there is still a tendency to construct identity as primary and communication
as flowing from it.

1.1.2. Methodology

1.1.2.1. Questionnaires
The favourite measure of social psychologists is undoubtedly the questionnaire,
and this method is probably the most common in the social-psychological study
of intercultural communication. The advantage is that questionnaires are easy
to administer and analyse, and a wide variety of attitude questions, norms, and
knowledge of social variables can be tapped efficiently. The disadvantage is
that they may not have much to do with situated behaviour in intercultural en-
counters. In a classic example of this, Bourhis (1983) asked French Canadians
in Montreal whether they would change to English if a stranger asked them for
help or directions. In his questionnaire study, the majority said they would not
accommodate. When he observed actual behaviour in shops in Montreal, how-