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Unpacking Culture Shock - Coggle Diagram
Unpacking Culture Shock
Characteristics of Culture Shock
Culture shock basically refers to a stressful transitional period when individuals move from a familiar environment into an unfamiliar one. Culture shock involves
(1) a sense of identity loss and identity deprivation with regard to values, status, profession, friends, and possessions;
(2) identity strain as a result of the effort required to make necessary psychological adaptation;
(3) identity rejection by members of the new culture;
(4) identity confusion, especially regarding role ambiguity and unpredictability; and
(5) identity powerlessness as a result of not being able to cope with the new environment (Furnham, 1988)
In fact, Ward et al. (2001) discuss the ABC’s of culture shock in terms of the affective, behavioral, and cognitive disorientation dimensions.
Affectively, sojourners in the initial culture shock stage often expestressrience anxiety, bewilderment, confusion, disorientation, and perplexity as well as an intense desire to be elsewhere.
Behaviorally, they are at the confusion stage in terms of the norms and rules that guide communication appropriateness and effectiveness. They are often at a loss in terms of how to initiate and maintain smooth conversations with their hosts and how to uphold themselves in a proper manner with the proper nonverbal cadences.
Cognitively, they lack cultural interpretive competence to explain many of the “bizarre” behaviors that are occurring in their unfamiliar cultural settings.
Pros and Cons of Culture Shock
Negative implications include three major issues.
1) psychosomatic problems (e.g., headaches, stomachaches) caused by prolonged stress;
2) affective upheavals consisting of feelings of loneliness, isolation, depression, drastic mood swings, and interaction awkwardness caused by the inability to perform optimally in the new language; and
3) cognitive exhaustion caused by difficulty in making accurate attributions.
On the other hand, culture shock, if managed effectively, can have the following positive effects on the newcomer.
1) a sense of well-being and heightened positive self-esteem,
2) emotional richness and enhanced tolerance for ambiguity,
3) behavioral competence in social interaction, cognitive openness and flexibility,
4) an enhanced optimism about self and others
5) the everyday surroundings.
Approaching Culture Shock: Underlying Factors
The following factors have been found to influence why people manage their culture shock experience differently.
motivational orientations
personal expectations
cultural distance
psychological adjustment
sociocultural adjustment
communication competence
personality attributes.
Initial Tips to Manage Culture Shock
New arrivals can defuse their perceived threat and, hence, anxiety level by :
(1) increasing their motivations to learn about the new culture
(2) keeping their expectations realistic and increasing their familiarity concerning the diverse facets of the new culture (e.g., conducting culture-specific research through readings and diverse accurate sources, including talking with people who have spent some time in that culture)
(3) increasing their linguistic fluency and learning why, how, and under what situations certain phrases or gestures are appropriate, plus understanding the core cultural values linked to specific behaviors
(4) working on their tolerance for ambiguity and other flexible personal attributes
(5) developing strong ties (close friends) and weak ties (acquaintanceships) to manage identity stress and Loneliness
(6) being mindful of their interpersonal behaviors and suspending ethnocentric evaluations of the host culture.