Culture

Question 1

What is culture?

Answer 1

Abilities, notions and forms of behaviour persons have acquired as members of society (Hylland)

Culture refers both to basic similarities and to systematic differences between humans
- we are all similar because we all have culture, but we are all different because of our culture

Question 2

What influence does culture have ?

Answer 2

We take our culture with us wherever we go

Culture is the background, which we do not question

Culture is a filter through which we interpret our daily life and a way of orientation

Question 3

What is a Describtive culture perspective?

Answer 3

It is possible to pinpoint features, which are common to all member of the concerned culture

Culture changes only very slowly

Culture is used as an explanation on, why members of the culture act as they do

Question 4

What is a Complex culture perspective?

Answer 4

Not all individual in a culture do the same things

Culture is not something you have, culture is something you do – something which is created among humans

Culture is always changing

Cultures influence can never be predicted.

Question 5

What is ethnocentrism?

Answer 5

The other cultures are evaluated on the basis of one’s own beliefs relating to customs, behavior, language and religion.

Question 6

Describe methods to investigate culture

Answer 6

Be in the culture “see it from the inside”

Systematic observation
- We construct our observational research in such a way that if someone else did it, under the same or similar circumstances, they would come up with the same result.

Intern person as ”translater”

Teoretic knowledge used in analyse

Hypotheses before observation

Report

Question 7

Describe culture in interprofessional coorporation

Answer 7

Different cultures within each profession
- unique professional culture

Prejudice toward other professions and their culture

Stereotyping and preasumptions

Question 8

What is cultural relativism?

Answer 8

The understanding that all cultures and societies are different and have their own logic, and therefore it is scientifically absurd to rank them on a scale

Question 9

What is culture intelligence ?

Answer 9

To be able to negotiate appropriate in situation where culture differences are significant

To make oneself understandable and etablish a constructive cooperation across culture differences.

Question 10

Name 3 dimensions in cultural intelligence?

Answer 10

Interculture engagement
- Motivation for making results together with someone different from oneself

Culture understanding

• Knowledge and thoughts
• Experiences from other culture meeting can be general knowledge

Interculture communication

• The skill dimension
• Verbal and non-verbal
• Be aware of automatic culture references

Question 11

Explain the cultural iceberg:

Answer 11

Some cultural elements are often obvious but possibly less influential than the nonvisible elements

Visible aspects of culture
- food, dress, literature, music game etc.

Non-visible aspects of cuture
- Beliefs, values, ethics, traditions, communication style, handling emotions etc.

Question 12

How does culture influence the perception of illness?

Answer 12

Ilness and health are created by our culture

Different ways of explaining disease depends on culture

The reason of an illness can be found in the

• individual
• nature
• social world/ cultural world
• Supernatural world

Question 13

What is the definition of culture according to Hylland?

Answer 13

The knowledge, values and patterns of behavior people acquire as members of a society.

Question 14

How does network/culture impact on health and disease?

Answer 14

A small/ limited network —> Increased vulnerability —> Which produces greater risk for disease

A strong network is important for good health

Question 15

Mention 4 important ICC (inter cultural collaboration) concepts

Answer 15

Cultural awareness

• understanding of the differences between you and people from other countries or other backgrounds
• Especially differences in attitudes and values.

Cultural knowledge

• Health beliefs and behaviors
• Anthropological, sociopolitical and biological understanding
• Similarities and differences
• Health inequalities

Cultural sensitivity
- The ability to be aware of relevant cultural differences

Cultural competence
- The ability to think and act in interculturally appropriate ways

Question 16

What is Intercultural competence

Answer 16

The ability to think and act in interculturally appropriate ways

Question 17

What is intercultural sensitivity?

Answer 17

The ability to be aware of relevant cultural differences

Question 18

Explain the 6 stages in development of intercultural sensitivity (The Bennett scale)

Answer 18

Denial, Defense, Minimization, Acceptance, Adaption, Integration

Denial

• Being comfortable with the familiar
• Not anxious to complicate life with “cultural differences”
• Not noticing much cultural difference around you.
• Maintaining separation from others who are different.

Defense

• A strong commitment to one’s own thoughts and feelings about culture and cultural difference.
• Some distrust of cultural behavior or ideas that differ from one’s own.
• Aware of other cultures around you, but with a relatively incomplete understanding of them and probably fairly strong negative feelings or stereotypes about some of them.
• Reversal is the opposite of Defense.
• The person feels that some other culture is better and tends to exhibit distrust of their own culture.

Minimization

• People from other cultures are pretty much like you, under the surface.
• Awareness that other cultures exist all around you, with some knowledge about differences in customs and celebrations.
• Not putting down other cultures.
• Treating other people as you would like to be treated.

Acceptance.

• Aware of your own culture(s)
• See your own culture as just one of many ways of experiencing the world.
• Understanding that people from other cultures are as complex as yourself.
• Their ideas, feelings, and behavior may seem unusual, but you realize that their experience is just as rich as your own.
• Being curious about other cultures.
• Seeking opportunities to learn more about them.

Adaptation

• Recognizing the value of having more than one cultural perspective available to you.
• Able to “take the perspective” of another culture to understand or evaluate situations in either your own or another culture.
• Able to intentionally change your culturally based behavior to act in culturally appropriate ways outside your own culture.

Integration.

• To varying extents, have integrated more than one cultural perspective, mindset, and behavior into one’s identity and worldview.
• Able to move easily among cultures.

Question 19

What are the 6 Stumbling Blocks in ICC? (Barna)

Answer 19

1. Assuming similarity
2. Language differences
3. Nonverbal misinterpretations
   Signs and symbols such as gestures, postures etc.
4. Preconceptions and stereotypes
   Stereotypes reduce the threat of the unknown
   Making the world predictable
   Can be true or false, positive or negative
5. Etnocentrism
   Approve or disapprove
   Tendency to evaluate according to one’s own perspective
6. High anxiety (tension)
   Culture chock or culture fatique

Question 20

Explain the 5 elements of Intercultural competence (Byram)

Answer 20

Attitudes
- curiosity and openness, readiness to suspend disbelief about other cultures and belief about one’s own.

Knowledge
- of social groups and their products and practices in one’s own and in one’s interlocutor’s country, and of the general processes of societal and individual interaction.

Skills of interpreting and relating:
- ability to interpret a document or event from another culture, to explain it and relate it to documents from one’s own.

Skills of discovery and interaction:
- ability to acquire new knowledge of a culture and cultural practices and the ability to operate knowledge, attitudes and skills under the constraints of real-time communication and interaction.

Critical cultural awareness/political education:
- an ability to evaluate critically and on the basis of explicit criteria perspectives, practices and products in one’s own and other cultures and countries.