Hình ảnh khuôn mẫu về con người nhật trong nhận định của học sinh ulis và phản hồi từ du học sinh nhật

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF LINGUISTICS AND CULTURE OF ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES GRADUATION PAPER ULIS STUDENTS’ STEREOTYPES OF JAPANESE PEOPLE AND RE

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF LINGUISTICS AND CULTURE OF ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES

GRADUATION PAPER ULIS STUDENTS’ STEREOTYPES OF JAPANESE PEOPLE

AND RESPONSES FROM JAPANESE EXCHANGE STUDENTS

Supervisor: Phan Thị Vân Quyên, M.A Student: Đỗ Như Quỳnh

Course: QH2013.F1.E6

HÀ NỘI – 2017

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ

KHOA NGÔN NGỮ VÀ VĂN HÓA CÁC NƯỚC NÓI TIẾNG ANH

KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP

HÌNH ẢNH KHUÔN MẪU VỀ CON NGƯỜI NHẬT TRONG NHẬN ĐỊNH CỦA HỌC SINH ULIS

Signature of Approval:

_ Supervisor’s Comments & Suggestions

_ _ _ _ _

I hereby state that I: Đỗ Như Quỳnh, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts accept the requirements of the college relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper

Signature,

Date

This thesis would not have been possible without the contribution and support of many people, I would like to express my deepest attitude for:

 My supervisor, Mrs Phan Thị Vân Quyên; she has not only supported me with her knowledge, advice and precious suggestions for my research, but also acted as a huge source of inspiration and motivation for me to complete my work Without her supervision, this thesis would not have been accomplished

 My beloved friend – Trương Minh Hằng, for always encouraging me to try harder

in every single day of writing this research paper She is always the one who cheered

me up every time I suffer from depression and wholeheartedly supported my work

 Twelve both Vietnamese and Japanese participants, who have devoted their precious time to take part in this study

 My parents, who always support and inspire me to move on and finish the work I’m strongly in debited to their conditional love and care

ABSTRACT

The globalization in many recent decades has boosted the international cooperations between many countries and territories, thereby generating higher demand for cross-cultural understandings For that purpose, many studies have been conducted underneath this topic with the aim of increasing the cultural knowledge of every country to each other

as well as minimizing the misunderstandings in the diplomatic affairs The birth of this research about stereotypes could also be with that purpose under the situation that the relationship between Japan and Vietnam are undergoing higher level of cooperation and development The researcher aimed at investigating the perceptions of ULIS students to Japanese people, then asked several Japanese exchange students to check whether those stereotypes reflect the true characteristics of Japanese people or not, thereby perceiving a more general look on Vietnam-Japan affairs as well as supplementing a source of cross-cultural knowledge for the stakeholders This study adopted the Qualitative Reseach Methodology in twelve subjects in which eight of them were students from ULIS and the rest were Japanese exchange students in Hanoi The researcher collected data through semi-structured interviews with the aim of finding out the image of Japanese people in the perception of ULIS students and the responses to that image from Japanese exchange students

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i

ABSTRACT ii

LIST OF TABLES iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study 1

1.2 Aims and objectives 5

1.3 Significance of the study 6

1.4 Scope of the study 6

1.5 Organisation 6

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 8

2.1 Background concepts 8

2.1.1 Stereotypes 8

2.1.2 Stereotypes and generalization 9

2.1.3 Stereotyping as a universal tendency 12

2.1.4 Stereotype, prejudice and discrimination 13

2.1.5 Stereotype as a barrier in interpersonal communication 14

2.1.6 Intergroup contact in correlation with stereotypes 16

2.2 Previous studies 17

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 19

3.1 Research questions 19

3.2 Selection of informants 19

3.3 Research method 19

3.4 Data collection instruments 20

3.5 Data analysis procedure 21

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 23

4.1 Findings from interviews with ULIS students 23

4.1.1 Sources of information 23

4.1.2 Japanese people in the perception of ULIS students 24

4.2 Responses from Japanese exchange students 35

4.2.1 Description about Japanese interviewees 35

4.2.2 Responses of Japanese students to the perception of ULIS students 38

CHAPTER 5: FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION 46

5.1 Summary of findings and conclusion 46

5.2 Implications and applications 48

5.3 Limitations of the research and suggestions for further study 48

REFERENCES

APPENDICES

LIST OF TABLES

Graph 1: Japan and Korea images among Vietnamese from Q&Me Vietnam Market

Research

Graph 2: Difficulties that Vietnamese students encounter when meeting Japanese people

for the first time

Table 1: Sources of information

Table 2: Japanese people in the perception of ULIS students

Table 3: Description about Japanese interviewees

Table 4: Responses of Japanese students to the perception of ULIS students

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ASEAN: Association of South East Asian Nation

ULIS: University of Languages and International Studies

1.1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study

Intercultural communication and stereotypes

Intercultural communication, in the tide of the globalization, is urgently needed as

an interactive communication skill by the demand for promoting economic development and cultural exchange Eilers (1992) defined intercultural communication as an instrument which helps people with different cultural backgrounds share information, knowledge, sentiments and experiences However, the involvement of multicultural groups also complicates the situation According

to the Bonacich (1990), various patterns of communication have been shaped by their cultural environments, related to their own language, values and norms In this case, the participants of intercultural communication face language obstacles, unacquainted customs and different communication styles (Spencer-Rodgers and McGovern, 2002)

According to Allwood (1985), studies and teaching programs that deal with intercultural communication are often based on attempts to understand national cultures, therefore, there is a great risk of neglecting the significant differences which exist between activities, groups and individuals on a non-national level An orientation toward national cultures combined with efforts to find easily conveyed generalizations gives a firther risk, namely that of taking over stereotypical notions

of a “national character” that have arisen to serve what a certain group sees as its own or national interests Advisedly, stereotyping was asserted to be a critical source which could motivate inimical attitudes toward cultural difference (Stangor

& Lange, 1994)

The prevalence of Japanese culture

In their book on the political economy of media globalization, Herman and McChesney (1998) argue that “Japan is supplying capital and markets to the global

media system, but little else.” This statement echoes the assumption that Japan has money and technology but does not have a cultural influence on the world However, Herman and McChesney’s argument overlooks the recent spread of Japanese culture without considering the dramatic increase in Japanese exports of popular cultural forms From animations, comics, and characters to fashion, pop music and

TV dramas, Japanese popular culture is now well received and enjoyed in many parts of the world Japanese TV dramas such as Long Vacation and Love Generation have been passionately embraced in many parts of East Asia, Pokemon has become

a global phenomenon and Gosho Aoyama’s most renowned comic book Detective Conan has been the sidebed companion for many people The rise of Japanese popular cultural forms in global audiovisual markets has engendered a soft nationalism in Japan and proved the rule that an economically powerful nation in its heyday should produce global popular culture whose influence matches its economic power (Henshushitsu, 1995)

As the development of entertainment businesses is the key to Japan’s survival as a global power, Takemura (1996) argued that it is no longer enough for Japan to create “faceless” products in order to produce global commodities: “Unless Japanese products embody a clearly articulated Japanese identity and sensitivity, they will reach a global standard” And Pokemon, to be one of the outstanding illustrations, associating global appeal with Japanese symbolic power by bearing wonderful characters, imaginaries and commodities (Kamo, 2000), has rescued the Japanese traditional cultural sensitivity and aesthetic from its status as a cheap copy

of Western Japanesque product (Takemura, 1996) Along with the booming economy since 1960s, Japan has built a very strong cultural image around the world and was ranked 6th out of the world in Cultural Influence Index.1

Japan in the eyes of foreigners

1 http://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/japan

There are some who believe that the rising popularity of the socially constructed

“cool Japan” and products that have been an essential “Japaneseness” about them serve to reduce bad feelings toward Japan that came after World War II (Allen, 2006) In fact, the survey conducted by TNS2 Singapore in 2008 about the attitudes

of six ASEAN countries’ residents toward Japan (MoFA, 2008b) showed that respondents in all six countries provided a very favourable opinion of their country’s relationship with Japan with over 90 percent positive responses across the countries (Edward, 2015)

The latest investigation on the website Q&Me.net in September 2016 also received the similar result: Japan was associated with “high quality”, trust” and “worth paying”

Graph 1: Japan and Korea images among Vietnamese from Q&Me Vietnam Market Research

The contact opportunity between Vietnamese and Japanese

The official relationship of Vietnam and Japan was set up in 1973, however, the relationship has its origin for nearly five century when the Japanese entrepreneurs came to Vietnam for trading According to the Institute for Northeast Asian Studies, the Nguyen Dinesty in Vietnam when establishing its political power in Cochin (the Southern part of Vietnam) executed many positive policies for foreign trading to

2 A famous Global Market Research Company

promote economy Those strategies accompanied with the economics-development policies implemented by Toyotomi Hideyoshi3 in 1592 boosted the commercial status of Vietnam during this period Until the beginning of 17th century, a large number of Japanese (approximately 2000) came to Hoi An for trading They established many trade associations and even built their own neighborhoods known

as “Japan town” The scale of Japanese community only decreased when the Tokugawa authority applied seclusion policy 40 years later

Both countries experienced much political instability in the next three centuries before they paid more attention to the diplomatic relations in 1970s Since then, framework of relations between the two countries has constantly been being upgraded with the contents of deeper cooperation from relationship "Trusted partner, long-term stability" (4/2002) to “Sustainable Partnership” (7/2004) 4 The relationship has boosted the development of two countries in many fields such as economic, engineering, education and tourism According to the statistics of Japanese National Tourism Organization, the total number of Vietnamese tourists visiting Japan was 185.400 in 2015, which was 49,2% higher than that in 2014.5 In

2011, the number of Japanese tourists coming to Vietnam was 481.519 people in

20116, being superior to the number of domestic tourists coming to Japan and still increased year by year

As can be seen from the above statistics, the exposure of Vietnam-Japan is very strong; however, the contact between the two countries seems to be low In spite of being big fans of travelling, Japanese has little contact with foreign people; in general, many of them do not prefer to make friends with foreigners They seem very shy and reluctant to communicate with people Shyness itself is a common

characteristic with 31% of people living in Israel describe themselves as shy, as do 40% in Germany, 55% in Taiwan, and 57% in Japan (Henderson & Zimbardo, 2001b) The high level of shyness might create a hesitation in speaking, a sense of alienation in the conversations and lead to many obstacles in cross-cultural communication Thus, the knowledge about foreigners is limited for both Japanese and foreigners, which may create stereotypes among the two groups

The need of investigating “Stereotypes”

In correspondence with the increase in the international communication, there has

been a rise in the cross-cultural concerns, especially about stereotypes, among

researchers all around the world Pittam, Kashima and Iwawaki (1990) conducted a research on dimensionality and national function in Australian and Japanese ethnic culture while Masami Ota (2005) conducted a research on the stereotypes and prejudice in intergroup contact between American and Japanese people to discover how the Japanese were perceived in the eyes of Americans in 1940s Those research papers have successfully figured out the typical images of Japanese people in the perception of local citizens; however, almost no investigations have been made in the Japanese stereotypes held by Vietnamese and responses of Japanese people towards this stereotype

1.2 Aims and objectives

Considering previous research studies, the goals of the study are 1) to explore what stereotypes the Vietnamese have about Japanese, 2) to report the responses of the Japanese towards those stereotypes

1) The first goal was set up because there was no current data relating to Japanese stereotypes in the perception of Vietnamese people in general and ULIS students

in particular

2) Japanese for a long time have had little contact with foreigners (Ota, 2005); thus, the knowledge about foreigners or what foreigners think about them is limited

for Japanese It would be great to really investigate how the Japanese response to

what others think about them, and this study will take this chance

To satisfy these goals, the study of “ULIS students’ stereotypes of Japanese people and responses from Japanese exchange students.” will address the two following

questions:

1 What are the stereotypes of Japanese people held by ULIS students?

2 What are the responses from Japanese exchange students to those stereotypes?

1.3 Significance of the study

This study will be a significant endeavor in providing knowledge of cross-cultural communication for both Japanese and Vietnamese who might be involved in Vietnam-Japan cooperation such as businessmen and exchange students Moreover, this research acts as a useful reference for the future research about stereotypes and

of great help to the researchers in this area Last but not least, it could also be a very practical example for the learners in Interculcural Communication Studies

1.4 Scope of the study

For the convenience of collecting data and due to the scope of the graduation paper itself, the chosen participants are all students – 8 senior Vietnamese students from ULIS and 4 Japanese exchange students They are all very enthusiastic, supportive and cooperative Besides, this study adopts the qualitative research methodology, therefore, the main instrument of collecting data is interview, more specifically, a semi-structured interview

1.5 Organisation

The research is divided into five main parts The first part “Introduction” provides background knowledge about intercultural communication, the need to investigate stereotypes, and the statement of the problem The second part “Literature review”

is used to talk about the key concept “stereotype”, the relation between “stereotype”

and relevant ones, and previous studies in this area Part three “Methodology” states out selection of paticipants, research method, data collection instrument, and data analysis procedure The result of this research will be shown and discussed on part four “Findings and discussion” Finally, part five “Conclusion” is for summarizing the whole study, implications and the suggestions for further research

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Background concepts

2.1.1 Stereotypes

One of the terms that are most frequently employed in research and concern ethnic

attitudes, prejudice, and intergroup perception is stereotype Originated from the

printing trade to describe a printing plate that duplicated any typography, not until

1850 did stereotype have its first reference to the meaning of an image perpetuated

without change (Wikipedia) The term as used in social science was first introduced

by the journalist Walter Lippman in 1922 Since then, the importance of this concept and the intellectual processes presumed to underlie it have a been emphasized by a plethora of research concerned with ethnic attitudes and intergroup relations Cauthen et al (1971) favoured this idea by arguing that stereotyping is a key concept in understanding the dynamics of race and ethnic attitudes

Stereotypes, as perceived by Thomas (1984), is considered as a branch of belief In

his findings, the most popular conception of attitude is its cognitive or intellectual component, which includes the beliefs that Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) regarded as the building blocks of the attitudinal structure, that an individual has about the attitude object When these beliefs are simple, over-generalised, inaccurate or partially inaccurate, they are often regarded as stereotypes

Some writers speak of stereotypes as the use of categories, in which we tend to

categorize people around us into different groups with corresponding perceptions (Brigham, 1971) This orientation of categorizations is expressed by Secord (1959):

“A stereotype is commonly thought of as involving a categorical response, i.e., membership in a category is sufficient to evoke the judgment that the stimulus person possess all the attributes belonging to that category.” When stereotypes are

treated in this manner, the category becomes the observers’s concept of the group

Vinacke (1957) has proposed stereotyping as a conceptual process, whose crucial aspect is that personality traits are involved in the concept, as well as physical

characteristics He suggested: “Stereotypes should properly be regarded as systems, with positive as well as negative functions, having the same general kinds

concept-of properties as other concepts, and serving to organize experience as do other concepts.” Seen in this way, stereotypes can be accepted as an inevitable consequence of social learning as the means whereby kinds of objects (persons) are classified on the basis of perceived properties, thus facilitating meaningful response

to those objects

However, Allport (1994) has an opposite point of view towards the idea of categorization He pointed out that:

“a stereotype is not identical with a category, it is a fixed idea that

accompanies a category For example, the category “Negro” can be held

in mind simply as a neutral, factual, non-evaluative concept pertaining merely to racial stock Stereotypes enter when, and if, the initial category

is freighted with “pictures” and judgements of the Negro as musical, lazy, superstitious or what not The stereotype is not in itself the core of the concept It operates however in such a way as to prevent differentiated thinking about the concept.”

In simplification, it is not stereotypes, as an aspect of human thought and presentation, that are wrong, but who controls and defines them and what interests they serve (Dyer, 1999) I am in favour of this idea rather than the former one

2.1.2 Stereotypes and generalization

The growing concern of students, scholars, and the general public to understand ethnic conflict, cultural diversity, and global problems has generated a demand for educational and research programs to conduct worldwide and comparative studies

of human behavior and society7 The development of cross-cultural studies requires

a large mass of readily available, organized cultural information, thereby requiring

a need of cultural generalization

7http://hraf.yale.edu/cross-cultural-research/basic-guide-to-cross-cultural-research/

http://ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu/ehrafe/

Generalizations of cultures are broad statements based on facts, experiences, examples, or logic Broad characterization of cultural groups can serve as a framework for cultural interactions For example, Hispanic societies have a high degree of machismo, or, in Middle Eastern cultures, women have a lesser status than men—these types of generalizations are helpful when engaging with people of

those cultures Generalization is thereby known as quite a positive term On the other hand, stereotypes can be considered as products of an invalid or faulty process

of generalizations Taking ethnic stereotypes or national stereotypes into consideration, some people believe that stereotypes about ones’ own nation may aid

in maintaining a national identity due to a collective relatability to a trait or characteristic, thereby containing a grain of truth; however, it is not the case with ethnic jokes, most of which are usually considered to be offensive to varying degree (Wikipedia) In general, stereotypes, whether deemed positive or negative, are

falsified statements and interpretations made about a group of people

Stereotypes place people into boxes and categories and limit them to those specific

perspectives Katz and Braly (1935) stated that: “A stereotype is a fixed impression,

which conforms very little to the facts it tends to represent, and results from our defining first and observing second.” While culturally intelligent leadership

requires you to recognize that generalizations do not apply to everyone within a

cultural group, a person who have stereotypes towards a group of people tend to

apply the same characteristics on every member of this group A stereotype, such

as “Asians are good at math,” does not provide the complete picture someone needs

to understand the Asian culture or the differences between Asian cultures Similarly, just because you meet a 70-year old who does not know how to use current technology, it does not mean that other individuals in that generation do not know how to use it

In that faulty process of generalizations, there appear to be two variants In the first sense, the process itself is seen as inferior, for instance, the person is using

nonlogical reasoning The alternate view is that the person’s basis of acquisition

falls below acceptable standards, that is, he develops his beliefs from sources that

should not be employed, such as hear-say (Brigham, 1971) Klineberg (1954) stated this latter position as follows: “Unlike other generalizations stereotypes are based not on an inductive collection of data, but on hearsay, rumour, and anecdots – in short, on evidence which is insufficient to justify the generalization.” The use of those second-hand sources of information therefore undoubtedly plays an important role in forming stereotypes among people

Another criterion that has been used for the identification of stereotypes is their

rigidity Fishman (1956) pointed out that a stereotype can be seen as rigid only if it

is not modified in the face of (a) new information, (b) changes in a personal needs, motives, or interests, or (c) a changed focus of interaction To Kerr (1943), the hallmark of stereotypes is that they “do not develop but remain ossified”, which means that it satisfies all the three categories (a) (b) (c) above In contrast, generalizations would change based on the input knowledge For example, the statement "All trees have leaves" is a useful generalization, though no one person has ever been able to validate it by inspecting every tree on earth or every tree that has ever existed, and no one knows what trees will be like in the future And of course most trees do not have leaves at various times of the year, and some trees are

evergreens with needles instead of leaves The generalization originates in a

rational effort to categorize, not in an irrational effort to oppress 8 In the next thousand years to come, if the trees will not have leaves, so the generalization will

change accordingly The effect of the generalization, therefore, is to increase

people's ability to manipulate nature to human ends, and so like all acts of knowledge this one affects the power balance between knowers and things known

Studies and teaching programs that deal with intercultural communication are often based on attempts to understand national cultures; therefore, there is a great risk of neglecting the significant differences which exist between activities, groups and

8 https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/gjay/www/Whiteness/stereotypes.htm

individuals on a non-national level An orientation toward national cultures combined with efforts to find easily conveyed generalizations gives a further risk, namely that of taking over stereotypical notions of a “national character” that have arisen to serve what a certain group sees as its own or national interests The danger

of misleading and biased generalizations is one of the greatest risks in research on intercultural communication, and that danger increases as soon as someone tries to describe the differences between groups from the perspective of a particular group’s interests

2.1.3 Stereotyping as a universal tendency

Despite of being considered as a negative notion, stereotypes were seen as part of

the universal tendency to group objects and events on the basis of similarity

Lippmann (1922) suggested that stereotyping is part of simplifying mechanism which allows us to handle “the real environment, which is altogether too big, too complex and too fleeting for direct acquaintance.” Dr Meek (2006) added that all people have an underlying psychological architecture of stereotypes and that human beings are biologically set up to stereotype

Sally (2012) suggested that we make generalizations about the objects in order to make sense of the world It belongs to the nature of humanity When we see something, we want to know what it is and how to react to and interact with it Thus seeing a flat horizontal surface held up by one or more legs, we would generalize that to be a table upon which we could put our stuff, eat a meal, or play a game We generalize about more than just objects, we generalize about people so that we know how to interact with them It is no surprise that there has been an increasing number

of course in predicting the personality of a person based on their outward appearance, especially in the security and crime protection area It is the natural instinct of human that we would have a sense of unsafety, anxiety and out of comfort zone if we had almost no or very little information about the world around us Stereotypes are even inevitable in the intercultural communication In the study of intercultural communication by Spencer-Rodgers and McGovern (2002),

affirmative disclosure of negative stereotypes is censured as one of the basic causal factors which lead social perceivers to be biased against out-group However, abundant researches have proved that stereotyping is impossible to eliminate (Peng, 2010) As one of the induction factors, the context of intercultural communication should be taken into account In intercultural communication, individuals frequently face challenge, such as language barriers, low-information context, uncertainty and intergroup anxiety In this situation, stereotyping is employed automatically to reduce information to a manageable size, “simplify and make sense of a confusing and complex barrage of perceptual information” (Hill & Augoustinos, 2011) Krieglmeyer and Sherman (2012) indicate individuals may have the motivation to manage the stereotypes However, they also argue stereotypes can be managed based on the practical individual information only if this information is available But the availability of the information is not always assured, and this leads to stereotyping

In short, we naturally make predictions or generalizations about the characteristics

of a person, and those generalizations turn into stereotypes when this process happens without the existence of founded assumptions

2.1.4 Stereotype, prejudice and discrimination

Along with stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination are separate yet highly related

constructs (Ota, 2005) Stereotypes are generalized ideas about the characteristics

and behaviors of the members of a target group Prejudice, at a higher level, is the

overgeneralization of the stereotypes of the members of the group and the negative

attitudes towards those members (Hilton & Hippel, 1996) Discrimination, to the

extremity, is the behavior which causes the exclusion of the members of the target groups from opportunities Snyder and Miene (1994) state that stereotypes affect people’s views toward the social world, stereotypes lead to the prejudice and discrimination, which may cause physical or psychological pain, the lost of liberties and rights, and other disadvantages for members of the minority group More recently, Devine and Elliot (1995) explained prejudice as negative attitudes toward

the members of a target group and discrimination as the negative behaviors toward those members based on the negative beliefs Thus, stereotypes are followed by prejudice which, in its turn, leads to discrimination

For example, in the Asian American Law Journal Volume 7 January 2000, Rhoda concluded that stereotypes of Asians and Asian Americans influenced the crimial justice system, especially in Vincent Chin’s trial Chin, 27 years old, Chinese American engineer preparing for his upcoming wedding, was beaten to death by two white, unemployed workers named Ebens and Nitz in the auto industry Neither

of them were charged under a hate crime statute, and Ebens was subsequently acquited of manslaughter This conclusion raised many waves of protests One Asian American activist remarked of the sentencing: “Three thousand dollars can’t even buy a good used car these days And this was the price of a life.” The victim’s mother tried in vain saying that if two Chinese killed a white person, they must go

to jail, maybe for their whole life In response, Wayne County Circuit Judge,

Charles S Kaufman explained that “These aren’t the kind you send to jail We’re

talking here about a man who’s held down a responsible job with the same company for seventeen or eighteen years and his son who is employed and is a part-time

student These men are not going to go out and harm somebody else I just don’t

think that putting them in prison will do any good for them or for society You

don’t make the punishment fit the crime, you make the punishment fit the criminal.” Then he sentenced the men to three years probation and fined each of them $3000 plus $780 in fees after considering the opposing arguments In fact, the Caucasian has considered the Asian as inferior beings for such a long time and this case above

is undoubtedly an example of stereotypes leading to discrimination

2.1.5 Stereotype as a barrier in interpersonal communication

Interpersonal communication involves conversations between people that are complicated by the various situational, cultural, complementary, contrasting, and/or emotional contexts they take place within Interpersonal communication can include all aspects of verbal and nonverbal communication, and is either informal

or formal, depending on whether it takes place between strangers, family, members, co-workers, etc Interpersonal communication also includes on-line communication

as well as face-to-face interactions (Lamei, 2013) Intercultural communication, to the broader fiels, refers to the act of exchanging messages between two people from two different cultural backgrounds

In 1960s, Homans, Blau, and Emerson introduced social exchange theory, drawing the attention of scholars to the dynamics of the processes of human interaction According to social exchange theory, “the length, kind, quality and quality of interpersonal communication are based on the benefits individual expect to earn in relationships” (McDonnell, Strom-Gottfried & Burton, 2006) Thus, during our initial communication with other people, we evaluate whether we will gain, or, in contrast, lose something if we pursue relationships with them Theoretically, the stereotypes – positive and negative – weigh in our evaluations of whether to pursue further communication with them

Being considered as an opinion, communication can be explained by four stages of social interactions: “At first, individuals interact very little Then, they become more relaxed to communicate more Later, an open communication between individuals takes place and finally communication means a more and deeper personal interaction.” (Mondeau and Henningsen, 2008, p.64) It is not difficult to assure that stereotypes can affect the way these stages unfold for people who are getting to know each other And the aim of communication is even getting worse if the first step does not occur due to the negative connotation of stereotypes

People, in communicating with others, always have a tendency to find some cues about their personalities for further interaction; however, when there are no cues for people to know what particular strategy is suitable for a specific interpersonal situation, people often go for a “default strategy” (Hashimoto, Li, & Yamagishi, 2010), which is undoubtedly a part of stereotyping process In the case that those stereotypes are matched with their original characteristics, communicators would

have a high chance of communicating successfully, but the opposite case happened, communicators would suffer from a language barrier

In a survey administered at the University of California, Berkely, by Rodgers (2002), American students’ stereotypes discouraged them from seeking relationships with international students And the authors of a 2012 study published

Spencer-in the International Journal of Intercultural Relations reported that few Spencer-international and American students sought to form friendships or working relationship at their highly multicultural university In the way, they stated that they were afraid of the feelings of uncertainty, stereotype-induced shame, discomfort, and the fear of being misunderstood (Lamei, 2013)

In 2012, according to the Institute of International Education, Chinese students are the largest group of college and university students in the U.S In fact, Wan (2001) report that some Chinese students have had difficulty adapting to life on American college campuses because of the stereotypes they have encountered on campus

2.1.6 Intergroup contact in correlation with stereotypes

According to Masami Ota (2005), homogeneity which is the main cause of stereotypes can be reduced through the intergroup contact Brewer and Miller (1984) suggested that the reduction of the homogeneity belief requires frequent contacts with out-group members Their research found that people could decrease the negative stereotypes when they have knowledge about the out-group members and have friendly or intimate contact with the members of those groups Islam and Islam and Hewstone (1993) showed that the quantity and quality of the contacts relates to the attitude toward out-group members, the more and the better contact people have with the out-group members, the more positive their beliefs become Wilder (1986) indicates that people, in favourable and friendly contact with members of out-groups, are likely to think of them heterogeneously because of the similarity between the people and the out-group members The more people find common aspects with the out-group members, the more they interested in the members they are, and the more they see the members not as out-groups but as

individuals (Triandis, 1994) Especially, intimate contact with out-group members makes people trust each other, communicate more frequently and consider others not as out-groups but as their own companions (Brewer & Miller, 1984, Wilder, 1986) The study of Monteith and Spicer found that African American participants who were enrolled in a traditional Caucasian university showed less prejudice toward Caucasians than African American participants who attended a traditional African American university Therefore, the more people know and the more intimate they become with an individual of an out-group, the more heterogeneous the people think of him or her, thus reducing stereotypes for that individual

2.2 Previous studies

Being the very first researchers in this area, Katz and Braly (1933) conducted their research with the aim of investigating stereotypical attitudes of Americans towards different races They used the questionnaire in which American university students were given a list of nationalities and ethnic groups and a list of 84 personality traits They were asked to pick out five or six traits which they thought were typical of each group The results showed that there was a considerable agreement in the traits selected White Americans, for example, were seen as industrious, progressive and ambitious African American were seen as lazy, ignorant, and musical Participants

were quite ready to rate ethnic groups with whom they had no personal contact In

fact, ethnic stereotypes are widespread, and shared by members of a particular social group9

In 1972, Gardner focused his research interest on Stereotype Differential framework, which is quite similar to Katz and Braly technique The study presented the stereotypes of Filipino students about nine ethnic groups as assessed by the Katz and Braly technique and the Stereotype Differential The results indicated that the two techniques provide comparable assessments The Steoreotype Differential, however, has an added advantage in that it permits an individual difference measure

9http://www.simplypsychology.org/katz-braly.html

of the extent to which subjects adopt the stereotype The study also indicated that subjects who stereotype one outgroup tend to stereotype others

Concerning the influence of intergroup contact on stereotypes, Masami Ota (2005)

in his research “Stereotypes and Prejudice – Intergroup Contact Between Americans and Japanese” found that both Americans and Japanese have positive stereotypes of each other The contact opportunity also has an important effect on shaping the perceptions towards the other group, in which the friendly intergroup contact is positively related to the variability of stereotypes and is negatively related to prejudice

The above research has successfully dealt with the meaning of stereotyping itself and area of concerns that involve stereotyping; however, a little attempt was paid to investigate the stereotypes towards Japanese people and responses of those who are the objects of that stereotyping process This research was therefore conducted to fill in this gap

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research questions

By conducting the study “ULIS students’ stereotypes of Japanese people and responses from Japanese exchange students”, the reseacher hopes to answer the following research questions:

1 What are the stereotypes of Japanese people held by ULIS students?

2 What are the responses from Japanese exchange students to those stereotypes?

3.2 Selection of informants

The data was collected from two groups One group consists of 8 Vietnamese students of the University of Languages and International Studies and the other group consisting of 4 Japanese exchange students in Hanoi

Half of 8 Vietnamese students have had direct contact opportunities with Japanese and the rest do not The two groups of Vietnamese students were intentionally selected for the purpose of discovering the impacts of intergroup contact on the information of stereotypes

3.3 Research method

Priscilla (2005) said that when the central objectives of a study are to explore and explain behavior rather than to describe it, when the subject matter is unfamiliar and insufficently researched, or when a suitable vocabulary with which to communicate with respondents is not available, researchers are well advised to address their research questions through the use of qualitative methods Investigation into many social aspects of culture, especially on stereotypes, fall into one or another of these categories and hence frequently call for qualitative designs

Williams, C (2007) describes qualitative research as "it is a holistic approach that involves discovery" This method is also described as an unfolding model that

occurs in a natural setting that enables the researcher to develop a level of detail from high involvement in the actual experiences (Creswell, 2003) Bryman (2001) defines qualitative measures as a:

"strategy that usually emphasizes words, feelings, perception, rather than quantification in the collection and analysis of data It is intuitivist, constructionist, and interpretive, but qualitative researchers do not always subscribe to all three of these features Qualitative Research tends to be concerned with words rather than numbers"

In fact, the qualitative measures being used in this research can lead us to understand the underlying attitudes and perceptions of the participants towards Japanese people

as well as facilitate better understanding of the responses from their counterparts

3.4 Data collection instruments

This qualitative field research collected data through observation, with data recorded from the interview being transcribed as accurately as possible

Data was collected through the interviews, as “they are a source of well-grounded, rich descriptions, and explanations of processes in identifiable local contexts” (Miles and Huberman, 1994, p.1) Indeed, by giving questions and getting relevant answers in interviews, it was possible for the researchers to collect needed information and to analyze and interprete If the random factors exist in questionnaires as an unavoidable effect, interviews, fortunately, could avoid all of these limitations as long as it is effectively designed

The data of this research will be taken through face-to-face semi-structured

interviews The presence of the interviewer and the interviewee will help avoid the

“poor response rates” as recorded in questionnaire or survey Moreover, the researcher would have chance of both getting the desired answer and asking for further clarification for this answer if necessary As a result, the data collected could

be more accurate

The interview questions fell into three groups:

1 Personal information questions: the researcher asked interviewees some

questions about their name, age, area of interest and major at universities in order to have a basic understanding about them

2 Intergroup contact experience questions: the questions are mainly about the

sources from which the informants get the information about Japanese people, whether they are indirect contact (media, books, ) or direct ones (exchange programs with Japanese, living in Japan, ) The research wanted to find out whether contact opportunity has any effects on the perceptions of the beholders or not

3 Questions about Perceptions of Japanese people for Vietnamese informants and Responses to those perceptions for Japanese informants Vietnamese

students were asked to state out some adjectives that, they think, could describe about Japanese people and give examples based on what they know For Japanese students, the researcher asked them whether those descriptions would be true about people in their country ot not

The data collection procedure followed the process below:

1 The researcher interviews ULIS students

2 The researcher categorizes the received responses into her target category

of analysis

3 The researcher reports this result to Japanese exchange students and records their responses

While browsing through the scripts, the researcher collected the data related to stereotypes and give an explanation of choice Next, the results will be synthesized

before the conlusion was drawn In brief, the data analysis was conducted via the following steps:

1 Synthesize and interprete data collected from the interview,

2 Identify stereotypes from the data

3 Give explanations to both these stereotypes and the responses from Japanese exchange students

4 Discuss the findings