The way people perceive the world varies from one cultural or religious group to another. The variation in worldviews affects intercultural communication. In this respect, personal worldview is a cognitive orientation that determines how one perceives the world. According to Tilburt (2010), “worldviews are sets of beliefs and assumptions that express how cultures interpret and explain their experience” in the complex world (p. 178). Given that the world is complex, knowledge, skills, philosophies, beliefs, traditions, religions, and cultures influence the way people perceive different aspects of the world. The existence of diverse cultures and religions highlights the essence of intercultural communication which is very important because it helps people communicate effectively. Therefore, this essay explains the impact of the Christian worldview on intercultural communication and on answering implicit association tests.
Religions influence the way people people observe the outside world. They attribute the origin of humanity to varied theories depending on their beliefs. From a Christian worldview, humans originated as creatures of God. In the Garden of Eden, God created heaven and earth, and then created humans and other forms of life to occupy it. In the Garden of Eden, God and humans enjoyed common fellowship, as humans were without any blemish. However, humans have alienated themselves from God by committing sins. When God observed that humans have become evil and have turned against His will, He cursed them together with the earth (Mortenson, 2012). In this view, the world is no longer safe for humans because iniquities and curses are present. From a Christian point of view, the only remedy that can fix iniquities and curses that burden the world is Jesus. God sacrificed Jesus to wash the sins of people and get rid of the iniquities and curses on the earth.
In the implicit association tests, I selected religion implicit association test and Arab-Muslim implicit association test. In the process of conducting them, I learned that my religious background influenced the nature of responses that I provided. From a Christian worldview, I could easily identify topics and teachings of the Christian religion than that of other religions. The results of the religion implicit association test indicate that I prefer Christianity and Judaism to Buddhism and Islam. Comparatively, during the process of associating Arab-Muslim with good or bad, I learned that my Christian worldview impacted on my answers considerably. The results outline that I have little to no preference for other people over Muslims. This means that my Christian worldview dictates how I should perceive people of other religions.
Ethnocentrism is evident in the manner I answered the questions in the Arab-Muslim implicit association test. When answering, I could easily differentiate Islamic names from other names. The ability to isolate Islamic names from a mixture of names shows my ethnocentric sensitivity. Owing to the ethnocentrism, stereotypes and prejudices arise. A stereotype is a generalized belief about a certain race, ethnicity, or a group of people. For instance, following September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, Americans stereotyped that Arabs and Muslims are terrorists. Cox, Abramson, Devine, and Hollon (2012) assert that stereotypes lead to prejudice. In this case, prejudice is an adverse judgment of an individual basing on stereotyped attributes, which are not factual.
Thus, personal worldview is an important factor that influences intercultural communication among people from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds. From a Christian worldview, people believe that God is the creator, while the devil is the slayer. Moreover, Christians are sure that God through Jesus can save humanity from the iniquities and curses that have crippled the world. In answering the religion and Arab-Muslim questions, I realized that my Christian worldview influenced my answers and did indicate existence of biases towards Christianity. The realization indicates that ethnocentrism makes people stereotype and prejudice other persons from other racial or religious groups.
References
Cox, W., Abramson, L., Devine, P., & Hollon, S. (2012). Stereotypes, prejudice, and depression: The integrated Perspective. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7(5), 427-449.
Mortenson, T. (2012). The fall and the problem of millions of years of natural evil. The Journal of Ministry and Theology, 16(1), 122-158.
Tilburt, J. (2010). The role of worldviews in health disparities education. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 25(2), 178-181.