ABSTRACT
This chapter uses the Biblical notion that a cord of three strands is not easily broken to represent the inseparability of culture, communication, and conflict. Focusing primarily on interpersonal contexts, this chapter first discusses how communication, culture, and conflict each started as fields of study, but then looks at research to show how these three areas are intertwined throughout the 20th century. The studies examined in this chapter address differences in how people from different cultural backgrounds express themselves, different reasons for why they express themselves the way they do, and different perceptions by others about what people's expression means. Further, this review shows that what people experience and what they say they experience, as well as what they do and what they say they will do, can differ quite significantly so that conflict that arises from these types of misunderstandings in perceived meaning of communication may be more disruptive rather than unifying, unless we seek to find ways to appreciate, rather than disparage, such different forms of communication.
