Cross Cultural Adjustment

1096 Words5 Pages
Cross-Cultural Adjustment By Dan K. Smith, PhD, Associate Director, International Students and Scholars, UC Santa Barbara The process of living in a culture different from our own can be an exciting and stimulating experience. It is also a tremendous challenge as we realize that our “normal” way of perceiving and behaving may not be appropriate in the new cultural setting. Each of us has been conditioned by our family, friends, and educational and religious institutions—our culture—to act, interpret, think, perceive, and feel in certain ways. These are based on certain core values of our culture, such as “be an individual,” “might is right,” or “time is money.” These values change from culture to culture and, therefore, the behaviors leading to success or happiness in that culture change also. Understanding those values, then, is a key to understanding the culture. Based on these values we each create our own personal interpretation of our experiences, which is reinforced and shared by our friends and cultural institutions. This value orientation and way of behaving is rarely challenged, since it is accepted by our peers and helps us feel secure in our environment. It is only when we encounter someone different from us and choose to spend extended time with that person or in a different culture that our “normal” responses and the values that support them are called into question. This is especially true when our basic needs for friendship, respect, etc. can no longer be satisfied by our usual ways of behaving. What has been easy for us to do in our own culture is suddenly difficult and ineffective, or insulting, to those in the foreign culture. We become frustrated and irritated as we find our previously accepted ways to be in conflict with the lifestyle of those around us. We may feel anxious about the sudden loss or change in our
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