I remember going over topics such as ingroup and outgroup in psychology class last year, but we talked about it by looking into one society. Through Figuring Foreigners Out, I thought the most intriguing culture differences was the concept of individualism and collectivism. it was interesting to see those comparisons between countries. The reading mentioned that in an individualist culture, people identify with self and their own needs have to be satisfied before the group. They are independent and value personal freedom. They tend to distance themselves emotionally from others. Groups are not essential to their identity. An example country is the United States. In a collectivist culture, people identify with their membership of their group. The success of the group makes sure that the individual is well, so each member has to care for each other. They value the harmony of the group and although they do not distance themselves from other members, the individuals will tend to emotionally distance themselves from those who are not in their same group. An example country is South Korea. The reading does make sure to say that no culture will only have individualist or collectivist but that most individuals will lean toward the side of the majority of their culture.
Other differences with two end poles were the monochronic and polychronic, the internal and external, and the indirect and direct communication spectrums. For all of these, I believe that I go back and forth depending on who I am with and what kind of situation I am in. I was born in South Korea and my family celebrates Korean culture. Nevertheless, I grew up in the United States, so I was exposed to two entirely different culture types. I believe that this is probably the reason why I swing from one side to another so easily.
There was also the difference of nonverbal communication between countries. The countries can have behaviors that have the same meaning, have behaviors that have different meaning, and many cases where a behavior in one culture has no particular meaning in another culture. This actually reminded me of an example my mom gave me years ago which was the use of eye contact. In America, teachers want students to make eye contact to show respect when speaking. She said that if a student made eye contact with the teacher while the teacher was disciplining them, it could be seen as disrespect instead.
The Hofstede Dimensions of Culture finds primary dimensions to differentiate cultures. The dimensions are power distance index, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance index, long-term orientation, and indulgence. For each category, the culture can have a high or low status. The dimensions are measured on a scale of 0 – 100. There are even maps that show how countries differ from one another in each dimension,
I think that the readings did a good job on not trying to generalize too much. My native culture and target culture are the same, but I compared my native culture with the culture I was surrounded by when growing up. The U.S. and Korea are pretty much on the opposite sides of each dimension. This definitely affects my perspective of the world, but because I know and relate to both cultures, I am able to understand the viewpoints of both sides and I usually can go between these points.
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