Culture shock Essay

Culture in simplicity is a consistence of learned behavior, a collection of beliefs, habits and traditions, sh ard by a soldiery of people and successively learned by people who enter the society. Furthermore, finale is learned, non inherited. If this is correct, then it can be assumed that it is not infeasible to learn new cultural traits and to unlearn old angiotensin-converting enzymes. Therefore, it must be feasible to integrate cultural differences. Cultural adaptation would involve more essentials as, language verbal and non-verbal, economics, religion, politics, social institutions, values, attitudes, manners, customs, material items, aesthetics and education.Culture daze is primarily a set of aflame reactions to the loss of perceptual reinforcements from unrivaleds consume refinement to new cultural stimuli, which concord smallish or no meaning. In laymans terms, finale buffet is the anxiety resulting from losing ones sense of when to do what and how. There be many dissimilar ways to experience acculturation shock. It can be experienced across the dry land or as near as ones backyard. Some aspects of close shock include protract caused by the effort to adapt, sense of loss and incuring of deprivation, status, profession, possessions, feelings of rejection and rejecting members of the new culture, discombobulation in part, values, self-identity crisis, anxiety, disgust, anger on foreign practices and feelings of helpless(prenominal)ness of not beness capable of adapting to the new environment.Culture shock is a widely experienced phenomenon when people enter a several(predicate) country. Many Americans would venture that they require themselves real culturally judge. Often, when these same Americans travel abroad, they experience culture shock. It is not evermore a negative thing. Often it is precisely the shock of being in a place that is completely various in all(prenominal) way from anything one has ever cognize. The first Push factor is that in operation(p) in an un kn sustain environment is stressful and hard work. Secondly, it leads to feelings of helplessness as well as self-doubt. The role of an somebody may be mistake due to the new environment. Lastly, the more one learns close to a different culture, the more visible differences become. The different practices could disgust a soul, and the person would feel guilty because they failed to respect local customs. A good example is paseo through a door regardless of otherpeople culmination behind. I did it so many terms with a clear take heed not knowing how detrimental in was to my reputation on campus. So many kids misunderstood my ignorance to certain American cultural norms and hated me with a passion. The two Pull factors are loss of status and the ever-common groundworksickness. Whenever something new happens to me, mostly in shock, I remember home. I feel so deprave and want to deteriorate back home.The details do not always have smooth transition and take a different amount of time for each different individual. There is the initial contact, disintegration of the old familiar cues, reintegration of new cues, gradual autonomy and independence. Each stage is described concord to the individuals perceptions, emotional ranges, behaviors and interpretations of these. Disintegration is a period of mix-up and disorientation where the differences become increasingly noticeable as different behaviors, values, and attitudes are introduced. The next stage is reintegration, which is characterized by a strong rejection of the new culture. This is the stage when visitors to a new and different country like me usually return home. It is when an individual wants to return to what theyre used to and know. Autonomy is when there is a rising sensitivity to the apprehensiveness of the new culture.The individual is relaxed and capable of understanding what happens around them. This stage is marked by the growth of personal flexibility and the development of appropriate coping skills. The last stage is independence. This is described as attitudes, emotionality, and behavior that are independent but not independent of cultural influence. Basically this stage is when the individual reaches a self-actualized state of being in which they choose to explore the diversity of the world, while still maintaining their sense of self as a c string uping being. It is the capability of having preconceptions, assumptions, values, and attitudes challenged. I believe that culture shock has a behavioral core, meaning the behavior determines the stage of shock, it has an emotional core, meaning the emotion experienced determines the level.Preparing for a two-year overseas college period program in Lagos, Nigeria, I submitted to no fewer than five shots as a protective measure against everything from yellow fever to hepatitis. Although I managed to revoke anydreaded tropical disease during his assignment, I contracted one malady for which there was no vaccination. The disease was culture shock. To speak of my own experiences, I have traveled abroad several times to different countries. Each time I left Nigeria, I was convinced that the culture in the country I was visiting would not be that ofttimes different.Every time I arrived, even so close to Nigeria in South Africa, I was bombarded by a culture difference than mine. charge within these individual countries there were different sub-cultures that were completely new to me. I spent a few months in South Africa and just when I thought I had gotten used to the culture, something would happen that made me experience culture shock all over again. That was quite a clash of different cultural beliefs and a difficult one to explain to my parentsOne proper(postnominal) example of cultural difference is the securities industry bargain. In America, when one goes to leverage an item, most times, no matter where one purchases it, it has a set market price. In Nigeria, there is no such thing as a set price unless you go to big stores. The venders expect and want their customers to vend with them and bargain the prices down. When I first tried to buy a necklace, the vendor got insulted because I wouldnt haggle and refused to sell the necklace to me. Eventually I got the hang of haggling, but as soon as I got used to that, American culture found other differences to swing my way.Towards the end of my most new-fashioned two-month stay in a college where I intend to get my college degree, I feel reached a stage of autonomy in the model of culture shock. I was astonished by the sight of students who disregard the riches of the world and dressed in shabby outfits in practice popularly known as hippies. Many of them had metals pierced through their tongues, nipples, belly buttons, lips and eyebrows. In other countries, theres nothing wrong with that, it was just direful to have something I had always taken for granted so blatantly pointed out I was appalled to find out just how Nigerian I am.Therefore an understanding of cultural self-awareness is important to understand ones own logic and structure before one can understand another. another(prenominal) essential ingredient is communication. For a long time, my work supervisor treat a bad impression toward my attitude to work because Ialways responded contrary to her instructions. The only reason was the difficulty I had to apprehend the American accent. This problem lingered until I explained myself out. Because of this problem, many students feel uncomfortable interacting with me. It seemed to me like an everlasting quest to blend into the society because I had no other plectrum other than explaining myself to a student body of seven hundred. Proficiency in communicating can also play a major role in adjusting to culture shock. Enhancing intercultural communication improves the procedural insight of a person interacting with those of another cu lture.For example, it is a known fact that Americans can be very expressive and open blunt fits well, an American expatriate going to Nigeria, for instance, volition face difficulties in holding back their thoughts as Nigerians are a fairly reserved set of people. Cultures have different perceptions of how each of these categories should be interpreted to be appropriate. Americans have very high individualism and comparatively low power maintain thereof, they prefer to do things themselves and are couple in terms of power. Conversely many of the underdeveloped countries such as Nigeria, Hong Kong and Columbia are characterized by a large power distance and low individualism, these nations tend to be collectivist in their approach.In summary, the home culture of an expatriate predisposes them to certain behaviors and situations. It allows them to operate efficiently in the environment. However, pitiable to another country changes that operating environment and makes their mental software less efficient and effective. Better cultural understanding gives randomnessal knowledge, in essence, about the host country and culture. My advice is not to mimic or copy local behavior, instead, just be yourself. Concepts such as values, needs, behaviors and norms are required to be understood. This information can assist them in better executing their work tasks and by knowing that culture shock may be present and is not a permanent disease will hopefully reduce their symptoms.In order to avoid culture shock, I suggest cross-cultural study programs that emphasize the cultural differences between behaviors of two different cultures. It would provide skills and information regarding the culture so that the visitor knows what to expect with their new culture. The training is aimed at cognition and designed to change the way peoplethink about differences between different societies. Communication, in-groups, and socially acceptable activities as well as socially unaccepta ble activities are all discussed and explained.Personally, as much as I think that would help limit culture shock, nothing bypass from going to the different cultures itself would eliminate it completely. A doctor cant cure a patient with out ever seeing them I dont think culture shock can be prevented with out exposure. I personally dont see a problem with culture shock as long as it doesnt result in something harmful to oneself or others. A result of information about another culture abruptly through culture shock, is that the individual learns about his or her self, his or her own culture, and new identities in the different culture. The individual learns to grow towards multicultural perspectives and develop alternative futures for his or her self, thus making his or her self a more culturally accepting person.