Culture Shock Flashcards
What is culture shock?
Oberg 60
personal disorientation caused by a strain due to effort required to make necessarily psychological adaptations to a new culture
stages of culture shock
Oberg 60
honeymoon: differences between old and new culture seen in a romantic light
about 3 months after arriving, differences become more apparent and induce feelings of disgust and/or anxiety, sense of loss and confusion
adjustment and recovery: 6-12 months after arrival
4 outcomes of adjustment stage
Bochner
passing: reject old and accept new culture (approx 10% of people)
chauvenistic: reject new and emphasise old (rare) = intergroup friction
marginal: flitting between first and second cultures, mutually incompatible
mediation: synthesising the 2 cultures = intergroup harmony (30%)
Individualistic cultures
more direct and explicit in expression, engage in job on a calculative basis independent of personal life
Collectivist cultures
define selves in terms of relationships with others, motivated for interpersonal harmony and avoid direct confrontation, loyal to work
Differences may
act as a barrier to effective communication in the workplace where outcomes are contingent on mutual understanding
individuals may not understand the thoughts and behaviours of others = feelings of alienation
Mumford 00
questionnaire to measure culture shock in 380 young British volunteers in 27 countries, 3 weeks after arrival
cultural difference accounted for 36% of the variance in culture shock experience
culture shock scores predicted greater risk of returning home
Redmond 00
self-report of 4 cultural dimensions (incl. individual and collectivist) to compare countries closest and furthest to US in similarity
those responding from cultures more culturally distant from US experienced more stress, less able to handle stress effectively
BUT Mumford 00
didn’t account for all of the variance - other factors taken into account
only assessed at 3 weeks, not a long enough period to fully assess impact, many may still have been in the honeymoon period
Future research – follow up travellers at regular intervals after arrival in order to assess impact of culture shock and what may influence it long term
ALSO may not be honest in answers dont want to seem incompetent - more likely to pin difficulties on cultural differences rather than personal distances
Banani et al. 99
attitudes of British managers in a British bank in London compared to expratriate managers in banks in other countries
trust between managers and their supervisors was greater in homogenous than heterogenous work settings
Kaye et al. 97
intercultural sensitivity of expratrite managers in the business secotr of hotel industries influenced level of culture shock experienced
Selmer 06
surveyed Western business expratrites in China
no signficant relationship between cultural novelty, intercultural interaction and work adjustment
– just as difficult to adjust to a similar culture as a dissimilar culture
Kuo et al. 76
external locus of control more powerful predictor of psychological symptoms of culture shock in Chinese immigrants movign to the uS than life changes
external locus of control also..
associated with lower levels of life satisfaction, developing depression and psychosomatic complaints among immigrants
BUT
immigrants may not honestly wish to report the problems they experience with life changes of immigration due to the view some hold that immigrants should not be allowed to enter the US
Leong et al. 02
Australian sojourners in Singapore
N - adjustment problems
E, A and C - successful psychological and emotional adjustment
Future research?
control individual differnces such as locus of control and personality when investigating influence of cultural distance on experience of culture shock
Berry 97
acculturative experiences are a major life characterised by stress and demanding cognitive appraisal
Ward et al. 01
consistent correlations between life changes, depression and psychosomatic stress
– so important to provide coping strategies for those who travel abroad
Black et al. 99
cross-cultural training
employees develop skills related to the fostering of relationships with host nations, cross-cultural skills related to self maintenance, cognitive skills to promote a correct perception of the host environment and its social systems
Ward et al. 01
effective in diminishing the liklihood of premature return
positive impact on employees self condience in adjustement and in indepenedet measures of perofmrance in multicultural work settings
social support
those in cultures which stress independence suffer less from psychological stress than those in cultures that emphasis independence
Ward et al. 01
social support has an important role in reducing negative side effects of major life events and daily hassles, can reduce loneliness
Ong 00
social support scale for sojourners which highlighted the availability of social support
the more available it was, the more sojourners were satisfied with social support and the more they had an increased sense of mastery, less social isolation and lower levels of depression
