EA01 - Introduction to Culture Flashcards
Culture
a shared set of traditions, belief systems, and behaviors and is shaped by many factors, including history, religion, politics, and resources
Macro-cultures
the most powerful or the most widely practiced cultures in a particular society, whether the society is a region or an entire country.
Micro-cultures
also called “subcultures.” They are described as a group of people living within a larger society who share values, beliefs, behaviors, status, or interests that are different from the macro-culture or the rest of society.
Holism
all the parts of a culture are interconnected and integrated.
Schema
a cognitive “shortcut” that helps us organize and interpret the vast amount of information that exists in our environment.
Symbols
A culture’s values and beliefs are often manifested as symbols, which can be visible or invisible. Symbols can be words, objects, and stories that are meaningful to our culture.
Worldview
The sum of beliefs and values that people use to define and interpret the world, and their place within it.
Culture-general
Cross-Cultural Competence
The ability to quickly and accurately comprehend, and then effectively act in a culturally complex environment to achieve the desired effect without necessarily having prior exposure to a particular group, region, or language.
Culture-specific
Cross-Cultural Competence
An approach that emphasizes specific aspects of particular cultures, affording individuals much of the knowledge and/or skills necessary to interact more competently with individuals of other cultural backgrounds
Ethnocentrism
The human tendency to negatively judge others (cultures,
behaviors, values) against our own values and beliefs.
Relativism (as an attitude)
The conviction that the beliefs and practices of others are best understood in light of the particular cultures where they are found.
Relativism (as a behavior)
Temporarily suspending one’s own culturally informed opinion and thinking about how others might interpret or value a situation.
3 Cross-Cultural Competence Skills
1 Communicate
2 Negotiate
3 Relate
Cultural perspective taking
a cognitive process by which an individual is able to
identify the thoughts and/or feelings of another culture.
Stereotypes
a fixed or distorted generalization about all members of a particular group that share a particular diversity.
Prejudice
the creation of an adverse or unreasonable opinion about a person or group without gathering all the facts and is usually based on deeply held beliefs.
Discrimination
is the visible act or consideration to act in favor of or against a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person/thing belongs, rather than on individual merit.
4 Components of the OODA Loop
1 Observe
2 Orient
3 Decide
4 Act
Observe
The Observation step involves focused attention on your environment and gathering information through all five senses.
Orient
We begin this step by first attempting to make sense of what we are observing by categorizing (organizing) the data in a practical way that is useful to us.
Decide
In the Decide step, we consider all the courses of action developed and choose one to move forward with based on our options and understanding of the situation.
Act
In this step, you review what you have decided to do, take action, and then reflect on how you executed your decision.
Cross-cultural communication
defined as the “Knowledge, motivation, and skills to
interact effectively and appropriately with members of different cultures.”
Linguistic competence
a speaker’s implicit, internalized knowledge of the rules of their native language.
