About Culture

This section offers a bit about what culture is, where to find it and how to deal with the shocks of entering a new culture. Some of the materials were adopted from elsewhere.

Culture is what guides people in their lives, shapes their behavior and determines their attitude. To live and successfully adjust in a foreign culture requires a lot of information about what to do and what to avoid, what to talk about and how, and above all how to handle culture shock which will arrive. This section mainly focuses on two questions: 1) What is culture? and 2) What is culture shock and how to deal with it? It is useful for anybody wishing to know more about cultural adjustment in general.

Definitions of Culture

Compare what others had to say about what culture is. Give some thought to the Ice-Berg Model.

“Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group from another.”

Geert Hofstede

“Culture is the set of shared assumptions, values and beliefs of a group of people by which they organize their common life.”

Gary Wederspahn

“Culture is an integrated system of learned behavior patterns that are characteristic of the members of any given society. Culture refers to the total way of life for a particular group of people. It includes everything that a group of people thinks, says, does and makes its customs, language, material artifacts and shared systems of attitudes and feelings.

Culture is learned and transmitted from generation to generation.”

Robert Kohls

“Culture hides more than what it reveals and strangely enough what it hides, it hides most effectively from its own participants.”

Edward T. Hall

“Culture refers to whatever an identifiable group of people share in order to meet its basic human needs and provides its sense of identity.”

Jean-Claude Arteau

These quotations were presented by Laurette Benhold-Samaan at a Peace Corps workshop in Arbanassi, Bulgaria.

Stereotypes vs. Generalizations

Saying “He’s a Czech, he never smiles at people he doesn’t know” is making a stereotype. Stereotypes lead into conflict and misunderstandings. Saying “He’s a Czech, therefore he is less likely to smile at people he doesn’t know” is a generalization.

Generalizations are not only useful but also necessary for human lives. Cross-cultural training and living is a constant struggle between stereotypes and generalizations. All statements in this manual should therefore be understood as generalizations.

Stages and Symptoms of Culture Shock

Culture shock is a real state which shares certain stages. Each stage in the process is characterized by "symptoms" or outward signs typifying certain kinds of behavior. These are described here.

adapted from work by
Laurette Bennhold-Samaan and Craig Storti, 1996

Each stage in the process is characterized by "symptoms" or outward signs typifying certain kinds of behavior:

Honey Moon	Initially many people are fascinated and excited by everything new. The visitor is elated to be in a new culture.
Culture Shock	The individual is immersed in new problems: housing, transportation, shopping, and language. Mental fatigue results from continuously straining to comprehend the foreign language.
Initial Adjustment	Everyday activities such as housing and shopping are no longer major problems. Although the visitor may not yet be fluent in the language spoken, basic ideas and feelings in the second language can be expressed
Mental Isolation	Individuals have been away from their family and good friends for a long period of time and may feel lonely. Many still feel that they cannot express themselves as well as they can in their native language. Frustration and sometimes a loss of self-confidence result. Some individuals remain at this stage.
Adjustment	A routine (e.g., work, business, or school) has been established. The visitor has accepted the habits, customs, foods, and characteristics of the people in the new culture. The visitor feels comfortable with friends, associates, and the language of the country

Strategies For Coping With Stress

Take care of yourself: Rest, develop daily routines, protect your health.

Reduce uncertainty: Seek information, take action.

Get away from it all: Exercise, read, play.

Reduce demands: Establish priorities, eliminate some activities, reduce self-imposed demands.

Assume control: Make choices and decisions, make your needs known.

Finish unfinished business: Write it out, express emotions, set short-term goals.

Take advantage of your environment: Establish a support group, use resources, share in others’ experiences.

Successful Cultural Strategies

Ten factors leading towards a sucessful integration into the other culture.

Developed by Laurette Bennhold-Samaan for the Peace Corps, 1996.

1. Open Mindedness

Open-mindedness is demonstrated by a willingness to try to understand and appreciate (although not necessarily to adopt) the values and beliefs of others and the fact that a different point of view is equally valid.

2. Sense of Humor

A sense of humor is important because in another culture there are many things that lead one to cry, get angry, or be annoyed, embarrassed, or discouraged. The ability to laugh it off and not take one’s self or the situation too seriously will help guard against sadness.

3. Ability to Cope with Failure

The ability to tolerate failure is critical because everyone fails at something overseas. Persons who go overseas are often those who have been successful in their home environments and thus may have rarely experienced failure. Experience with failure is important in developing a range of coping behaviors.

4. Communicativeness

Many situations in other cultures are confusing and ambiguous. A successful volunteer needs to be able to express his/her feelings and thoughts, as well as to be able to ask for help in interpreting unfamiliar behaviors and subtle cultural cues.

5. Flexibility and Adaptability

The ability to respond to or to tolerate the ambiguity of new situations is a crucial factor in cross cultural adjustment. This may mean having to alter and/or give up familiar behavior patterns and become familiar with or take on new behaviors of the host family and culture.

6. Curiosity

Curiosity is the demonstrated desire to know about other people, places, ideas, etc. This skill is important for intercultural travelers because they are constantly being confronted with new and different events and behaviors, and a genuine interest in those differences usually leads to positive response.

7. Positive and Realistic Expectations

It is well known that volunteers choose to spend time overseas for a variety of reasons. It is important to notice how realistically the volunteer understands that this experience will be difficult but worth the reward if he/she perseveres.

8. Tolerance for Differences

A person will need to be able to tolerate people who have different values, beliefs, and practices. This implies an inner strength to be able not only to learn about others, but also to feel secure within one's self while in the company of others who may feel, look, and act in a different manner.

9. Positive Regard for Others

This factor includes the ability to express warmth, empathy, respect, and positive regard for other people. People are most effective when they are able to communicate this positive regard for others, even when a situation or behavior may make them feel uncomfortable.

10. Sense of Self

A clear, secure feeling about oneself is usually present in individuals who are neither weak nor overbearing in their relationships with others.

Persons with this strong, secure sense of themselves stand up for what they believe but do not cling to those beliefs in the face of new information.