The Rotary Youth Exchange
Experience:
Culture Shock
and
Reverse Culture Shock
Dennis White, Ph.D.
dkwhite@itol.com
www.yeoresources.org
Culture
An integrated system of
learned behavior patterns
that are characteristic of
any given society. It refers
to the total way of life,
including how people think,
feel and behave.
Culture Shock
The profound sense of
disorientation and discomfort that
comes with extended travel or
living in a foreign culture markedly
different from one’s own.
Culture shock is precipitated
by the anxiety that results
from losing all familiar signs
and symbols of social
interaction.
These cues, which may be words,
gestures, facial expressions,
customs, or norms are acquired by
all of us in the course of growing up
and are as much a part of our culture
as the language we speak or the
beliefs we accept. All of us depend
for our peace of mind and our
efficiency on hundreds of these
cues, most of which are
unconsciously learned.
These signs are the thousand
and one ways in which we
orient ourselves to the
situations of daily life:
• when, or whether to shake hands
• what to say when we meet
people
• when and how to give tips
• how to make purchases
• when to accept and when to
refuse invitations
• when to take statements
seriously and when not
• what to eat and how to eat it
When an individual enters a
strange culture, all or most of
these familiar cues are removed.
He or she is like a fish out of
water. No matter how broadminded or full of good will we
may be, a series of props have
been knocked from under us.
This is followed by a feeling of
frustration and anxiety. People
react to the frustration in much
the same way. First they reject
the environment which causes
the discomfort: "the ways of the
host country are bad because
they make us feel bad."
Second, they look for anything
or anyone that will help them feel
more comfortable. This can be a
fellow countryman, but it can be
and often is anyone from
anyplace who is also a foreigner
Keep this in mind when we later
talk about The Irritability Stage
and:
The Inbound Syndrome
The Homebound Syndrome
Ethnocentrism:
The universal
tendency for any
culture to see its own
values and practices
as natural and correct.
Ethnocentrism:
All cultures are
ethnocentric - and
must be to impart
their values to their
members.
Versailles
• New Berlin, Wisconsin
• Cairo, Illinois
• Minot, North Dakota
At first we will be dependent
upon translators – sometimes a
risky business
Sometimes, even when we are
trying, pronunciation leads to
problems!
In a new culture everything is
harder
Our own culture, or sub-culture, comes to us as
naturally and unconsciously as our handedness.
We generally don’t think about what hand we
will use to write our names.
Changing our cultural point of view is about as
hard as changing our handedness. Both are
possible, but neither is easy.
Handwriting exercise
The Cultural Iceberg
Conscious
behaviors
1/8th above
the surface
Unconscious
beliefs and
values
7/8ths below
the surface
Advice often mistakenly given to
American Outbound students
(from an ethnocentric point of
view):
Just be yourself!
Consider the new culture to
be an iceberg
You are the Titanic!!!
(Ship Outta Luck!)
“Culture Shock takes me
outside my comfort zone.”
Exchange student journal, 2 months
Personal Examples
• Holding hands
• Crossing the street
• Thumbs up
Culture Shock
The profound sense of
disorientation and discomfort that
comes with extended travel or
living in a foreign culture markedly
different from one’s own.
Stages of Culture Shock:
•
•
•
•
Initial enthusiasm and excitement
Irritability and negativism
Gradual adjustment and adaptation
Integration and bi-culturalism
Culture Shock.doc
The Middle Wave of
Culture Shock.doc
Rotary Youth Exchange
Typical Culture Shock Cycle
Months
Pre-Departure
1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12
Normal
Level of
Feelings
Adapted from a model by Robert Kohls
Return …...
4
1
3
2
Stages of Culture Shock:
•
•
•
•
Initial enthusiasm and excitement
Irritability and negativism
Gradual adjustment and adaptation
Integration and bi-culturalism
Examples of Initial Enthusiasm and Excitement
•
•
•
•
•
Trying any food (once!)?
Saying “yes” to almost any suggested activity
Wanting to go and see as many places as possible
Finding many similarities with things back home
Politely and pleasantly smiling and saying “yes”
whether you understand or not
• Taking lots of pictures
• Frequently sharing your new and exciting
experiences back home
Stages of Culture Shock:
•
•
•
•
Initial enthusiasm and excitement
Irritability and negativism
Gradual adjustment and adaptation
Integration and bi-culturalism
Examples of Irritability and Negativism
• Why don’t they ever hug or touch one another?
• Why do they always hug and touch one another?
• Why don’t they make their street signs easier to read?
Examples of Irritability and Negativism
•
•
•
•
•
If they mean “no” why don’t they say “no”?
Why don’t they just tell me what something costs?
Why can’t anyone stand in line?
Why do they drive so fast?
Forcing a smile with clenched teeth when you don’t
understand what is going on.
• Complaining about your discomfort to sympathetic
people back home, or other inbounds in country
• Withdrawing
If the easiest response to the
Irritability and negativism stage is
to find comfort with other Inbounds
or electronically with friends and family
at home, the student may get stuck going
back and forth from stage one to two,
back and forth
Stages of Culture Shock:
•
Initial enthusiasm and excitement
•
Irritability and negativism
•
•
Gradual adjustment and adaptation
Integration and bi-culturalism
The Inbound Syndrome
An almost universal tendency for Inbound
students, and expatriates of any kind, to
gather together and become very close
when living in a foreign country.
Often this can be to the detriment of their
ability to immerse effectively into the host
culture.
The Inbound Syndrome revised.doc
Rotary Youth Exchange
Typical Culture Shock Cycle
Months
Pre-Departure
1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12
Normal
Level of
Feelings
Adapted from a model by Robert Kohls
Return …...
4
1
3
2
Stages of Culture Shock:
•
•
•
•
Initial enthusiasm and excitement
Irritability and negativism
Gradual adjustment and adaptation
Integration and bi-culturalism
Examples of Gradual Adjustment
and Adaptation
• Learning the language.
• Finding yourself dreaming in the host language.
• Finding yourself unable to precisely explain a concept
you have learned to someone back home using English.
• Insisting people speak to you in the host language
rather than English
• Going to host parents and local Rotarians with problems
rather than people back home.
• Speaking with other Inbounds in the host language
rather than English
• Becoming involved in school or community activities
A language learning game
Enculturation:
The successful adoption of the
behavior patterns and customs
of the surrounding culture.
(also called acculturation,
immersion, assimilation,
adaptation)
Stages of Culture Shock:
•
•
•
•
Initial enthusiasm and excitement
Irritability and negativism
Gradual adjustment and adaptation
Integration and bi-culturalism
Examples of Integration and
Bi-Culturalism
• Not having to translate in your head first.
• Traveling across town by bus, making a purchase, meeting
friends in the host language and no one asks “where are you
from”?
• Engaging in host culture practices without thinking:
- Eating with fingers, or a knife and fork or chop sticks
- Standing close, or distant, in line with host customs and
feeling comfortable.
• Accepting and appreciating fundamentally different cultural
values as just that – different not right or wrong.
• Telling people back home – I’m not ready – you can’t make
me come back!
Rotary Youth Exchange
Culture Shock Cycle
Months
Pre-Departure
1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12
Normal
Level of
Feelings
Adapted from a model by Robert Kohls
Return …...
Most people anticipate
some degree of culture
shock. Very few people
believe they will experience
reverse culture shock.
Reverse Culture Shock
(Re-entry Shock)
The often unexpected and difficult period of
disorientation and readjustment experienced
after returning to one’s own culture after an
extended period of living abroad.
So You Think You're Home Now.doc
Going Home.doc
The Stages of Reverse Culture Shock
are almost the same as those of
Culture Shock
• Initial Euphoria (may be very brief or not
happen at all)
• Irritability and Negativism ( may be very
lengthy)
• Gradual Adaptation
• True Bi-Culturalism
“It is impossible to describe the shock of return. I
recall how I stood for the longest time staring at a
newly painted yellow line on a neatly formed cement
curb. Yellow, yellow line.
I pondered the human industry, the paint, the cement
truck and concrete forms and all the resources that
had gone into that one curb. For what? I could not
quite think of an answer. So that no car would park
there? Are there so many cars that America must be
divided into places with and places without them?
Was it always so, or did they multiply vastly, along
with telephones and new shoes and transistor radios
and cellophane wrapped tomatoes, in our absence?”
The Poisonwood Bible
Culture Shock and Reverse
Culture Shock are not just
unpleasant side effects of
international living.
They are the necessary
ingredients that bring about
quality intercultural education.
Dennis White, Ph.D.
207 S. 4th Ave.
Sturgeon Bay, WI. 54235
Telephone 920-746-1346
Fax 920-746-1347
Email dkwhite@itol.com
For more information,
visit www.yeoresources.org