How can culture affect cue interpretation?

• A. The patient's culture discourages eye contact with strangers
• B. Culture has no effect on cues
• C. Culture only affects language
• D. Culture guarantees clear signals

Answer: (A)

Eye contact and other cues are shaped by cultural norms, which direct how people express themselves and how others read those expressions. When a culture discourages eye contact with strangers, avoiding it doesn’t mean the person is disinterested or evasive—it can be a respectful or customary behavior. If a clinician interprets lack of eye contact as disengagement, they risk misjudging the patient’s engagement, understanding, or honesty. Recognizing that culture influences cue interpretation helps you interpret behaviors within the proper context, ask clarifying questions, and communicate in a culturally sensitive way, leading to more accurate assessments and better patient rapport. The idea that culture has no effect, that it only affects language, or that signals are guaranteed to be clear does not fit, because cues are not universal and are often shaped by cultural norms.