Culture Shock: what is it, the causes and treatments
Wilson(2009, p.4) says ‘Culture shock is a state of disorientation that can come over anyone who has been thrust into unknown surroundings, away from one’s comfort zone.’ This term was first introduced by the anthropologist Oberg (1960) to describe the signs of anxiety that occur when people bump into a new culture that presents similar symbols or behaviors.
Where there is intercultural contact, there is culture shock. It is one of the most common experiences by students abroad. They may go through the feeling of depression, melancholy, confusion, and even hostility, owing to the misunderstanding in the cross-cultural context. The aim of this essay is to synthesize the causes of culture shock and illustrate the characteristics of it in my perspective and proposes some possible treatments to relieve or overcome it.
It seems that there are several reasons of encountering culture shock.
First of all, the inconveniences in daily life and academic frustration because of the language barrier are the major problems. For abroad students, the language skills have always been in need of improvement. It's not easy to adapt within a short time when be in a purely full English environment, and the different accents you come across sometime add more difficulties.
From a cultural point of view, when one confronts the new cultural patterns and still uses the deep-rooted original thoughts as his understanding and judgment of existing
A sudden change in one’s surroundings can result in culture shock. Culture shock refers to the anxiety and surprise a person feels when he or she is discontented with an unfamiliar setting. The majority of practices or customs are different from what a person is used to. One may experience withdrawal, homesickness, or a desire for old friends. For example, when a person goes to live in a different place with unfamiliar surroundings, they may experience culture shock. Sometimes it is the result of losing their identity. In the article “The Phases of Culture Shock”, Pamela J. Brink and Judith Saunders describe four phases of culture shock. They are: Honeymoon Phase, Disenchantment Phase, Beginning Resolution Phase, and Effective
Cultural shock is a common feeling a person experiences when transitioning into a completely different environment and living situation. Throughout the world, immigrants experience many difficulties when assimilating into a new culture.
When the topic of culture shock comes up, one may picture a hapless individual, unaware of other ways of life, in some kind of comedic scenario; it could be that they embarrass their boss in front of the local clientele; or, maybe they unwittingly cause a scene out in the city; or, even still, perhaps they simply get homesick and learn an important lesson along the way about what really matters in life. Who has not seen a movie like that? The reality of culture shock is, it takes work to adjust to a new environment and it just may not for everyone. Even more critical is the fact that the adjustment period can cause stress, confusion or even depression. As MacLachlan (2016) states, the anxiety of culture shock can
Eckermann (2010), defines culture shock as segregation of two communities, creating conflict, inequality of rights, and inhuman treatment. Due to the divide, and Aboriginals being the minor group, they lost their identities and experienced tremendous stress and anxiety due to culture shock.
The word ‘CULTURE’ has been derived from the Latin word ‘CULTURA’ which means to cultivate, to grow (Harper 2010). Anthropologist Edward B. Taylor, defines culture as “That complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits.” (O’Neil 2006). This is the basic premise that beliefs, morals, and customs are all based on one’s culture. In the essay, “No Place Like Home” by Neil Bissoondath, the author describes how multiculturalism creates uneasiness on different levels to immigrants in Canada. The author points that Canada’s Multicultural Act, focuses on cultural
Culture shock is very important concept to understand. Over the years many researchers have tried and to redefine the term to make it very specific to when someone experiences culture shock. The feeling of loss of your own culture and moving to another, and the sense of starting over. This comes to a hurtful surprise to many who travel. When you go to strange or new places you almost lose the power of communication, world views and systems change
Culture shock is a reaction to having a lack of experience in how to function within a culture. When experiencing culture shock, and trying to learn new customs and languages, it is important for one to be humble, relax, and let the natives help with the learning process. Avoiding the new culture is counterproductive, and will never lead to overcoming culture shock.
The term culture stock was first presented by anthropologist Kalervo Oberg in the late 1950s. Oberg characterized it as a disease endured by people living in another social condition. Oberg also say’s, culture stock came about because of the loss of surely understood cultural signs and symbols, making people encounter tension, disappointment, and weakness.(Citation 1) culture shock also has impacted the on values we have from our native culture we lived so long, by coming to Canada we are exposed to another culture that we have not been touched by. Communication skills are different as we in can have to look in the eyes of the elder we talk to, as in back home in pakistan, where i'm from we cannot look in the eye of elder as it is disrespectful. As for our beliefs are transmitted from generation to generation through of being taught or observed. Loss of identity is an problem for international student as it can loss due to adaptation to a new place to live in or they have to adopted the new identity. The financial crisis for international students is very related to culture shock because we need to get a job in new culture requires to same communication skills, values and adaptation of identity.
Culture shock is something a man may have when one moves to a social situation which is not the same as theirs. It is likewise the individual bewilderment a man may feel while encountering a better approach for life because of migration or a visit to another nation, a move between social situations, or just change to another method for life. One of the most widely recognized reasons for culture stun includes people in an outside domain. Culture stun can be portrayed as having 4 unique stages. The first is the special first night arrange. The second is the arrangement organize. Third is the change stage and last is the adjustment arrange. Some typical issues with culture stun are, language boundaries, generational hole, innovation hole, yearning to go home, boredom. There are 3 unique results to culture stun and there is no genuine approach to stop culture stun, as people in any general public are by and by influenced by social differentiations in an unexpected way.
Culture Shock is what many would identify as a tremendous change to a person who moved from their country to another, their native language is not spoken, and the surroundings are unfamiliar, resulting in mixed emotions (Haynes, 2005). Educational Assistant (EA) must acknowledge and understand the impact of culture shock on students. EA's must be patient and perceive this move to a new country can be frightening, overwhelming, and also exciting.
Culture shock is generally describes the uneasiness, stress as well as anxiety an individual feels when they encounter an unfamiliar cultural background, as a result of loosing familiar cues along with meanings associated with behavior and communication. Culture shock is thus an experience that happens to a person in every sphere of life when they face different lifestyles and world perceptions whether with regards to education, health or jobs among others. While residents or natives may take for granted their familiar world, strangers find the situation new and as a result experience certain crisis. This situation requires the individual to adapt or adjust. This paper discusses culture shock and cultural adaption alongside its impact on
Being immersed in a completely different atmosphere or culture can be intimidating when you are in a foreign country. While studying abroad in London, I have experienced small effects of “culture shock” myself. Culture shock occurs when one is trying to adjust to a new culture that person is unfamiliar with. I interviewed a girl named Lisa who is studying abroad at Regent 's University this semester and is originally from Russia. Throughout this paper I will be sharing her personal experiences on her cultural adaption between leaving her life from home and coming to study in England.
As the world continue to advance, traveling around the world has become common among people lives. In the past, traveling was not as important as in today’s life. People, nowadays, go abroad to find a better quality of life, such as a higher education, well-paid jobs, different places of entertainment, or maybe they need medical assistant not available in their country. According to that, recent studies have shown that the number of international students who are enrolled outside their countries has increased worldwide in the last decades. Almost all of them will face a phenomenon as soon as they go far away from their hometown, which is called cultural shock. However, learning the phases of cultural adjustment will aid to deal with the culture shock that many people have faced it in different ways, including Chinese, myself, and other international students.
Having to do new thing an embracing what may came with such are a pivotal issue in all of our lives. The umbrella in which all of these experiences fall can be described as culture shock. Culture Shock can be anything from things like being in a new person’s house to trying a new food. An experience where I personally went through culture shock was when I got my dog Peanut. Coming from a family unit with just me and my grandparents even a small dog was a huge change for me. There were I remember some ups and the downs that came with having a new pet. Generally there are four stages of culture shock That I and most will encounter which are the honeymoon,disenchantment,beginning resolution and the effective function stages.
What is culture shock? It is a phenomenon that all types of expatriates experience, no matter if they work abroad for