Communication Between Cultures

• Kim sees acculturation, or cultural adjustment, as a continuing process of stress-
  adaptation-growth.


• Cultural adaptation strategies include learning about the host culture and its lan-
  guage, avoiding ethnocentrism, and maintaining contact with your own culture.


• Obstacles to effective intercultural communication include a preference for similar-
  ities, dealing with uncertainty, the risk of withdrawal, stereotyping tendencies, pro-
  blems of prejudice and racism, and issues of power.


• Prejudice is a strong feeling or attitude toward a particular social group or thing.


• Racism occurs when individuals believe that their race/ethnicity is superior to
  anotherrace/ethnicity.


• Because communication is an activity that has a consequence, we must develop a
  communication ethic.


• The two major perspectives on ethics are relativism and universalism.


• An intercultural ethic asks you to be mindful of the power of communication,
  respectthe worth of all individuals, seek commonalties among people and cultures,
  recognize the validity of differences, and take individual responsibility for your
  actions.

Activities

1. Go to YouTube and search for “Examples of
   culture shock.”You can also search for“cultural
   adaptation,”“cultural adjustment,”“reverse
   culture shock,”or“U-curve.”After viewing some
   of the videos, try to isolate some of the most com-
   mon causes of culture shock. (Warning:“Culture
   shock”will bring up many nonrelated videos.)


2. Working alone or in a group, choose a country
   and compile a list of preparations to minimize
   the effects of culture shock in that specific
   nation.


3. To measure your implicit social attitudes about
   race, gender, sexual orientation, etc., go to the

Harvard University–sponsored“Project Implicit”

website (https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit) and

take the test(s). The tests can be taken anony-

mously online with results provided immediately.

4. Go to the“Shooter Task”website (http://www.
   csun.edu/~dma/FPST/consent.html) and read
   about the voluntary study to measure “implicit
   associations and the demographic variables.”Par-
   ticipate if you like.


5. Working with others, discuss the components of
   intercultural ethics. How would you recommend
   that such ethics be internalized so that they are
   always present during intercultural exchanges?

Concepts and Questions

1.Whydosomanyimmigrantshaveadifficult

time adapting to a new culture? What

suggestions do you have for making that process

less troublesome?

Concepts and Questions 407

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