Intro to culture

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Understanding Culture and Your Identity Lesson 2

Understanding Culture and Identity

In the previous lesson, you explored the Air Force definition of "culture" as it will be used throughout this course. People tend to take their "culture" for granted, and are generally unaware of the many cultural influences shaping their own background. This lesson is about understanding your culture and its influence on your perception of yourself.

Understanding yourself is the first step towards understanding the cultural background of others.

This lesson contains several topics that we will refer to throughout the course:

cultural schemas identity and roles macro- and micro-cultures Self and Other

You will learn how our schemas impact the way we learn and process new information, how culture shapes our identity and the various roles we play, and you will identify the macro- and micro-cultures in which you participate. We talk about culture shock in this lesson to illustrate all of the other topics above. We also refer to the OODA Loop along the way. There are several exercises for you to practice and apply the new concepts to your own life.

Becoming more aware of how you learn about culture and how you interact with your own culture is a crucial step towards improving your cross-cultural competence.

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Lesson Objectives

It's important to keep Lesson Objectives in mind as you go through the rest of this lesson. All of your exam questions - and hopefully improved life skills - are built around understanding these objectives. While reading through this lesson, keep these goals in mind:

1. Identify characteristics of culture

2. Explain what a schema is and how we use this concept in discussions about culture

3. Recognize the impact of culture on individual beliefs, identity, and roles

4. Given a cross cultural scenario (situation), identify the stage of culture shock being described

Lesson Enhancement

The required reading(s) appear throughout the lesson. For your convenience, they also appear at the beginning of the lesson in case you want to read ahead.

Thinking Like an Anthropologist

Omohundro, John T. 2006. Thinking Like an Anthropologist: A Practical Introduction to Cultural Anthropology. 1st edition. New York: McGraw-Hill.

BEST way to OPEN internal links like this one is by first RIGHT CLICKING the link and SELECTING "Open Link in New Window".

Reading: What Is Culture? The Conceptual Question

Begin this lesson by reading the following 14-page excerpt from an anthropology text by John Omohundro, Thinking Like an Anthropologist.[1]

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In the reading, the author lists several characteristics of culture that reinforce what you learned in Lesson 1 and that you will see repeated throughout the course. Specifically he states that cultures are:

integrated systems products of history changeable and can cause change strengthened by values powerful determinants of behavior largely composed of and transmitted by symbols uniquely complex and variable

Omohundro further categorizes cultures as:

Fluid They can change rapidly, adapt to circumstances, and even display contradicting values. He gave examples of this, one of which was conflicting views across the years on the achievement of Christopher Columbus.

Constructed

People's understandings, whether fact-based or not, can define what people in a culture consider to be reality. Omohundro illustrates this fact with an example of variations in beliefs about the American wilderness, as compared between 17th century European colonists and 19th century American citizens. Same wilderness, different 'realities' or shared understandings.

Mixed

People participate in a number of subcultures, regional cultures, national and international cultures. These all combine in a particular place, at a particular time, to make up the local culture. This creates cultural overlaps and contradictions that we all encounter and learn to make sense of in our lives.

As mentioned above, one of the defining characteristics of a culture is that it forms an integrated system. In the reading Thinking Like an Anthropologist, Omohundro gives the example of the Newfoundlanders' residence and work patterns. However, as he also points out, cultures are integrated only imperfectly, and often contain inconsistencies. An example of this is the Newfoundland men's attitude to the dark: they survive long, cold nights on their trips in the bush, but many are in fact afraid of the dark inside their own homes.

Other inconsistencies in culture can involve values. As the reading states, individuals participate in a number of subcultures, which can overlap, compete, or even contradict one another. An individual could participate in the culture of his extended family, valuing cooperation, affection, and emotional support. If that same person is a professional boxer, however, he will have to subscribe to very different values in the ring. Another example is an individual who is a parent and a member of the NRA. One may argue against allowing teachers the legal ability to carry firearms at schools for the safety and protection of our children. But this conflicts with the central value of the NRA, the right to own and carry firearms.

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Omohundro's article relates directly to your first learning objective, so try your hand at the following knowledge check questions.

Cultural Schemas: How Culture Works in the Brain

Omohundro's article taught us that culture is fluid, constructed, and mixed.[2] But why is that? Why and how do people adapt when they come into contact with new situations, information, or those from other cultures?

The response lies in the concept of cultural schemas. A schema is a mental representation of an item, activity, or a concept. Included in a schema are:

• the elements and characteristics that define the concept—a prototypical version of the concept

• ways the elements and characteristics are connected to the item, activity, or concept, and to each other

• ways the elements and characteristics connect that concept to other concepts

For example let's examine a schema for 'Sharing.' The prototypical version or initial definition might stem from your first experience as a small child when you are forced or convinced to share a toy. This first initiation to sharing may have a negative connotation that only consists of giving up something you want.

As you experience sharing again, you will eventually be on the receiving end and will now connect both a negative and a positive characteristic to sharing toys.

As you grow older, the negative and positive aspect of sharing toys conceptually grows to include sharing other things such as food, living space, and the concept of turn-taking. From there, your schema continues to build to even more complex and intangible concepts such as the greater good, mutual benefit, fairness, and the idea of giving now to get later (future reciprocity) to name a few.

Schemas are built from knowledge and experiences we've previously encountered, as shown in the examples above, and they guide our perceptions and behavior. Schemas, very much like culture, are fluid and constructed (built), and help us make sense of new situations and information we come across.

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Since our knowledge and experiences are based in our cultures, schemas are inherently related to culture.

We build schemas throughout our lives to include everything we know and understand about our world. Schemas help us to categorize, understand, and interpret new phenomena we encounter every day.

Challenge Coins

Let's try another example from your own experience, using an exercise related to challenge coins.

How do you know a challenge coin when you see one? What does it look like? How is it related to other coins? What is its value? How do you use it? What challenge coins do you have and how did you get them?

Cultural Log Exercise 2.1: Your Schema for Challenge Coins

Here is this exercise which you can download or print and use to record your responses for future reference.

Remember that schema guides our perceptions and behavior - and defines our reality. This is absolutely critical to successfully understanding yourself, and to successfully interact with, and interpret behaviors in different cultures.

Schema Construction

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When we encounter something new, our minds automatically try to make connections between a schema for a concept we know to a concept we don't know: from coins that we use for money to a round, flat, colorful object displayed prominently or carried in a pocket.

A new employee who began work at the AFCLC several years ago hadn't heard about challenge coins. When she saw them on her colleagues' desks, her cultural schemas brought three thoughts to mind.

Military Coins

these look like important objects, since they occupy an important place on my neighbor's desk

the images and words on them indicate a connection to the Air Force and military service

they are round, flat, somewhat heavy, and fit in the hand, like 50-cent pieces or dollar coins, but larger

Her schemas categorized these objects as "different" since they didn't fit any particular item she had already encountered in her life. However, cultural schemas were activated for the items' worth, their military origin, and for other objects of similar size and shape, especially money. She used her schemas to interpret the objects' meaning even before someone told her what they are. When she asked someone about the objects and heard their description, she added them to her cultural schema for "coins," and created a new schema for "challenge coins." This example demonstrates the ideas of 'fluid' (adaptive) and 'constructed' (increased understanding) as they relate to a personal and cultural schema.

Thus, schemas help you understand and synthesize new information (i.e., to combine with what is already known into a brand new unified element).

Since you can compare and interpret items, decisions, and actions, schemas fit into every stage of the OODA Loop. You will see how this is done later in the lesson.

Can you think of a time when you learned a new concept for something at work? How did your mind process that information? What did you compare it to from your past experience?

Shared Culture = Shared Schemas

Our culture is reflected in our schemas, in all of the mental associations we make. Your schemas include everything your culture has taught you about a concept in addition to everything you have personally experienced related to that concept. Therefore, an exercise like the challenge coin description on the

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previous pages helps you to identify your own cultural perceptions of a topic, which is influenced by your values and beliefs.

As you learned in Lesson 1, culture is shared. That means schemas are also shared among people of the same or similar cultures. Such schemas extend not only to objects and concepts, but to institutions, like schools and hospitals, and to the roles people play in those institutions.

Thus, culture and your cultural schemas help you understand what to do and what to expect in known environments.

For example, when you go to a classroom in the U.S., there are two parts to your schema about the place:

1. Your shared cultural knowledge, built up over the course of your life, and

2. Your unique past experiences.

In a U.S. classroom you probably expect to see places to sit, something to write on, and a person who leads the instruction. As for interacting, you have come to expect a type of education where the instructor leads the flow of discussion in the classroom, students usually have the freedom to speak their minds during the class, but students are taught to be respectful of the instructor and the other students.

What happens when even one part of your cultural schemas for classroom education is challenged?

This could be in the setting…

in the style of instruction…

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…or in the language or content of instruction.

What was your mental reaction to the photos? How would you feel if you walked into one of these classrooms? Would you feel mostly at home or out of place? Would you know what to do first or how to act?

Even if you do not know the best course of action at first, your mind is always working to build your understanding through schemas. You can assist in that process by consciously working through the stages of the OODA Loop.

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Walking Through the OODA Loop

Let's go back to the first photo and walk our thought process through the OODA loop.

Now it's your turn to apply OODA to this scenario. Type the correct stage of the OODA loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, or Act) to the corresponding individual thought as you consider the image above.

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Our OODA match-up

How well did you match up with ours? If it was significantly different, try to figure out why we mapped our thoughts where we did.

As you can see, the provided thoughts are related to a typical American schema. The OODA loop is a series of thoughts and questions that do not necessarily form in a perfectly linear loop, but rather go forward and backwards as a situation unfolds and as more information is learned or oriented. By taking in as much relevant information as you can, using the OODA loop can help you keep your cultural schema from being the sole influence on your decision-making and on your behavior.

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Using the OODA loop helps determine the best course of action by helping you to focus on the current environment or culture.

As we consider our own shared cultural schema, we also need to understand the various conflicts that can exist within our individual schema, based on the myriad of cultures we may associate with.

Macro-cultures and Micro-cultures

The Omohundro reading stated that "Culture is expected to be mixed."[3] We all take part in many cultures, whether they are related to…

Geography: national (American), regional (Southern, Gulf Coast), or local (Bronx), etc.

Ethnic heritage and/or language: Latino/Hispanic, Swedish, Chinese American, African, etc.

Organizations and/or activities: Air Force, online gamers, knitters, hospital staff, etc.

Generations: Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y, etc.

The multitude of cultures in our lives brings up several questions:

• How do we know where one culture ends and another one begins?

• How do we describe overlap between cultural values, beliefs, and behaviors?

• What do we mean when we talk about "American culture" and then also mention "Air Force culture"?

We use the terms macro-culture and micro-culture to help solve the issues raised by these questions.

A macro-culture is the most powerful culture of a particular society because large numbers of people ascribe to it. We generally equate it with the culture of a country. In the U.S., "American" macro-culture would be described as predominantly Euro-American and Christian, since those are both the most powerful and most

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numerous groups in our society. A macro-culture will share values and beliefs that form the overall cultural schema that guide the way the members of it think and act, without actually realizing that the culture is responsible.

For example, many Americans are used to curtailing their shopping on Sundays, due to many businesses either staying closed or opening for just a few hours.

This custom stems from the traditional Christian value of honoring Sunday as a day of rest. Whether you are Christian or not, this Christian value very likely impacts your cultural schema if you tend to expect less availability of shopping opportunity on Sundays. This exemplifies how a culture can affect your thinking and behavior whether you agree with its value or not.

A micro-culture is also called a "subculture". It is the culture of a group of people living within a society who share cultural values, beliefs, and behaviors that are different in some ways from the macro-culture or the rest of society. Most Americans share affiliations with numerous micro-cultures.

As with the integrated system of culture we learned about from the Omohundro reading, the micro-cultures you belong to can fit seamlessly with your macro-culture, or they can differ or even conflict. One way to understand how your macro-culture compares to your micro-cultures is to use Peterson's Five Basic Cultural Scales you learned about in Lesson 1. In Lesson 1, you practiced rating different countries on the scale according to the five dimensions of culture identified by his model. Now try comparing the American macro- culture to some of the micro-cultures you belong to according to these five basic dimensions.

1. Choose one of your personal macro or micro-cultures, then assign it to each of Peterson's five basic dimensions.

2. Next, thinking back to Lesson 1, how similar is your chosen micro-culture to the American macro-culture?

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Military members as a micro-culture have a shared schema about military life, customs, traditions, protocol, etc. that is most certainly different from the general macro-culture of America. That shared schema guides us as to what to expect as far as what is right or normal. That doesn't, however, preclude one from 'pushing the envelope' and doing things outside of what is 'normal'!

Macro and micro cultures (Continued)

More often than not, non-specialists tend to equate "a culture" with a country (American culture, Iraqi culture, Italian culture) or with ethnic groups—"Hispanic culture." However, we often forget that there is as much diversity in other countries as we have in our own. For this reason, we use macro-culture and micro-culture to distinguish between broader and more specific cultural groups. We can talk about "a" culture, office culture, Chinese culture, etc., with the knowledge that these are macro- or micro-cultures in the wider societal context.

We use the terms macro and micro to describe the larger or smaller culture in a context. As mentioned earlier, in the context of United States culture, the military culture would be a micro-culture. But if the context is military culture versus Air Force culture, then military culture would be the macro-culture, and Air Force would be a micro-culture of the military culture. Here are some more examples.

MACRO CULTURE MICRO CULTURE

United States U.S. Air Force

U.S. Air Force Aircraft maintenance career field

Aircraft maintenance career field Backshop/flightline/air/ground

In the example above you can see how your similarities and shared values start to become more or less aligned with the culture as it gets more specific. It follows naturally, then, that all of these overlapping and mixed cultural influences have a

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large impact on your identity and various roles you may play.

Before we go on to explore identity and roles, let's answer one more question about culture:

Identity

Consider these four individuals.

1

black female married unemployed mother of two children

2

white female single unemployed

3 black female single works full-time

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4

white female divorced works part-time mother of two children

As you see by the descriptions, the females all have mixed micro-cultural influences. For example, they are influenced by life experience of being female, being a parent, being employed, and being married. They also all have overlapping circumstances with one or more of the other females. Who has more in common?

When you consider the various experience factors adding to these influences above; such as age, education, financial or economic status, etc., it is easy to see how schema can both overlap and contradict the need to accommodate or adapt.

Now, think about yourself and which macro- and micro-cultures you belong to. What values are shared or conflict? How do you accommodate conflicting values or beliefs? Consider how this impacts your cultural schema and helps to create your individual identity and cultural identity.

Cultural Log Exercise 2.2 - Who Are You?

Here is this exercise which you can download or print and use to record your responses for future reference.

The ultimate value of understanding your cultural identity is to realize that it affects what, and how, you automatically observe, orient, and act - it's like a default setting. Your identity is also related to your beliefs and values, and the roles you play in your cultural groups and in society. We'll look at roles next.

Roles

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You play different roles in society, according to your regular interactions with various groups of people or institutions. There are two factors that influence the roles you play: the situation and the people around you.

Nearly everyone in the world shares one kind of role: that of a family member, a parent, child, sister or brother, etc. that is primarily static and unchanging. Other more dynamic, transitional, or temporary roles from your daily life might be a customer, student, NCO, or knowledge operations manager. Your behavior changes in each role you play because different activities and attitudes are expected of you.

Do you speak to your children like you speak to your co- workers? Probably not! Which parts of your identity influence the way you introduce yourself to a new person at work? What if your boss or spouse is watching? How do you introduce yourself to someone you meet at a bar versus at work? To a customer versus someone providing service to you? Your roles in these situations and the people you are with make a difference.

Understanding these parts of your identity is important because it helps you see not only how versatile your roles are, but also how culture influences the way you enact your roles.

Take, for example, parenting roles in different cultures.

Being a mother carries some similar activities world-wide, but also many differences. In India, mothers see it as their responsibility to find suitable marriage partners for their children. In the U.S., most mothers expect their children to choose their own partners. In Sri Lanka, a mother would never scold a child in public, in essence shaming him and scarring him for life; whereas many American mothers won't think twice about correcting their child in public in order to ensure an immediate behavior improvement.

Even within the U.S. there is variation in the ways people enact their parenting roles. Some American parents believe the best education their children can get is that which the parents themselves provide in the form of home-schooling. Other parents are only too happy to hand off their kids to a series of veritable strangers over 12 years of successive classrooms, entrusting those people to lead the children to an acceptable level of civic and educational proficiency. These two parenting groups make up different micro-cultures within the U.S.

REVIEW THE LAST TWO TOPICS

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Your identity includes a fairly stable set of characteristics, roles, and behaviors that you value or that you simply cannot change.

Roles are sets of behaviors and beliefs based on a setting and the people in the setting. They are often only situational, as in being a customer at the grocery store. While in the store, you are in the role of customer, but you certainly don't count it as part of your identity. Roles may or may not be part of your identity. Using the grocery store example, a manager at the grocery store may play the role of the manager and consider that responsibility and role as a part of her identity.

Role, Identity, and Culture

Think back to your cultural log exercise 2-2 on slide 12 in Lesson 2 and all the different micro- and macro- cultures you belong to. Within each culture, your behaviors and attitudes are guided by the underlying beliefs and values that unite the members of this culture. Each of these cultures is a part of your identity, some more influential than others. Finally, within each of these cultures, you play different roles depending on the situation.

For example, David is an Airman who retired to Denver, Colorado to be near his grandchildren, who live with his daughter, a single mother. He likes the city and has made friends with several other retired men in the neighborhood. They meet weekly to play poker, each week at another person's house.

David spends a lot of time taking care of his grandchildren, picking them up from school every day and watching them in the afternoon while his daughter is at work. Being a grandfather is a large part of his identity: accordingly, he is part of a culture of parenting. The values that define this culture place a high priority on the well-being and proper education of children. His identity as a grandparent is expressed through his kindness and compassion with his grandchildren, and also his firmness when teaching them good manners and ensuring that they do the chores they need to do around the house. These values influence David in his behavior with the children: he tries to be patient, calm, and organized. David plays various roles when watching his grandchildren: protector, teacher, chef, and too often, he feels, a maid! He expresses these roles by keeping an eye on the kids when they are outside, helping them with their homework, preparing an afternoon snack, and, unfortunately, cleaning up after them when they leave.

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After a week of watching his three grandchildren, he looks forward to meeting up with his friends to play poker. The values that define this culture are very different. David and his friends value the camaraderie that they all feel when they are together, but everyone there is also out to win the game. Each player is competitive, and tries to outsmart the others through clever bluffing. David's identity as an accomplished poker player is expressed though a playful, but slightly aggressive attitude, often mysterious and secretive. David plays various roles in these weekly meetings: competitor, friend, occasionally host and chef, and, unfortunately, at times again a maid! He expresses these roles through his attentiveness to the game and skill at bluffing, friendly teasing and joking, preparing the poker table, and buying beer and making snacks for everyone when it is his turn to host. And of course, cleaning up the mess when everyone goes home.

When in Rome...

Just as you have certain role expectations imposed upon you in your home country, you will need to assume the roles expected of you when you are interacting with people from other cultures. These expectations may differ exceedingly from those you grew up with, and can degrade mission accomplishment if you do not fully understand them.

The good news here is that you have already shown yourself to be very culturally adaptable because you can navigate through the day acting appropriately within a role and transitioning between roles as needed. This indicates your cultural awareness.

Check your understanding below.

Next, we'll look at how you define yourself in relationship to others.

Self and Other

"Self" and "Other" are two concepts that social scientists use to explain how we define ourselves as different from other people.

"Other" means simply someone different from oneself. You also might have heard the phrase "us vs. them."

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There are ways to detect who people consider insiders and outsiders to a group

Who do you make jokes about? Who is the "enemy"? How do people talk about the divisions in a city, such as high school rivalries, defined neighborhoods, downtown/suburbs? Is there a particular country you feel is most like the U.S.? Most different? On what do you base your decision?

These types of questions illustrate how people think of themselves in relation to an "Other." Of course, they vary by situation and context. For example, cross-town rivals may fight over turf on the football field, but overseas, they are more alike than different. They become Americans in contrast to their cross-cultural Others.

The following exercise will illustrate the different roles or identities that may be held by a Self versus the perception of various Others.

SCENARIO - Identity and Role:

A U.S. airman is temporarily deployed to a region of South America that has been devastated by a civil war and a series of corrupt leaders. The mission is to build a new school, but unfortunately it has taken much longer than planned due to logistical fiascos. Primary factors slowing the project are the country's poor infrastructure, bureaucratic logjams, and corruption--bribery and theft. Despite these persistent obstacles, the airman has made a great effort to lay as much groundwork as possible, and feels he has gone above reproach in a less-than-desirable environment.

The local nationals have their own views of the situation. Some of the area businessmen have been making record profits and the longer the American military remains in the area, the more money they make.

There is a teacher who regularly checks the status of the new school every couple of days, and is becoming impatient. She knows there are logjams and other issues, but these are everyday realities in this country, and she is disgusted by the unwillingness or inability of the 'strong' Americans to successfully overcome petty annoyances to keep to the schedule.

The local farmer whose land is being temporarily used by the Americans as a base camp during the construction is also frustrated with the long delays. Although he was paid for the use of his land, the

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operation was expected to be completed before planting season, and now, that is not the case. He cannot get out of the arrangement now, and he doesn't have any recourse to get a larger payment.

Roll over each image below to see how the airman and the various locals view the airman's role/identity.

Airman ROLE/ IDENTITY =

RESCUER

Airman's ROLE / IDENTITY =

CONSUMER

Airman's IDENTITY =

LIAR or INCOMPETENT

Airman's IDENTITY =

OCCUPIER

How the Airman's Role/Identity is viewed

If your rollover feature does not work, scroll below.

An important takeaway from this scenario is to remember that whatever you think your identity or role is, Others may not see it that way! This is useful to remember when trying to relate to those who have different life experiences, circumstances, or cultural schema than what you are used to. Also, thinking in terms of Self and Other is universal to all people.

Another critical fact to remember about the Self and Other concept is that we sometimes define ourselves in relation to an Other. Talking about your identity often means stating what you are not, as much as what you are.

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Stereotyping

Your concepts of self and other can be a source of pride (as with a sports team, or your nationality), but they can also cause you to adopt practices that interfere with cross-cultural competence. Stereotyping is one of these practices. It's probably a term you're familiar with, but it means to assume unjustifiably that "all people or things with a particular characteristic are the same."[5] In other words, a common stereotype is that because a person is Canadian (the characteristic), he or she drinks a lot of beer and loves hockey (the generalization).

Watch the following 1-minute commercial, "I Am a Canadian!" It deals with stereotypes and national pride.

The person in the commercial (named "Joe" apparently) changes his tone from the beginning to the end of the ad.

At first, Joe defines himself as Canadian based on what Canadians are not, and challenges common stereotypes about his fellow citizens. By the end of the clip, he defines more and more proudly what distinguishes Canadians from other people, or what Canadians are.

Watch the video again and then respond to the following questions:

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Mission Focus: Why This Matters

What do schemas, macro- and micro-cultures, identity, roles, stereotyping, and Self and Other, have to do with cross-cultural competence?

Schemas are the mental concepts or building blocks we use to learn new things and adapt to new cultural concepts and environments. Airmen certainly have to do these activities, so understanding schemas can make learning about culture a more conscious process.

Moreover, expanding your cultural schemas will allow you to recognize what you share with Others and what the major differences are between you. Schemas guide how we perceive things, how we react and behave, and are necessary for functioning effectively in our everyday lives, but they also lead us to make assumptions.

In a cross-cultural environment, those assumptions could be dead wrong. Using the OODA loop helps us identify and potentially overcome those assumptions.

To really understand this, take some time to think about things you take for granted and how it might play out somewhere that does NOT share American values or ideas of common sense.

Consider these typical North American values shown above.

Again, thinking through these topics consciously, rather than unconsciously letting them influence our lives, will give you an

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Macro- and micro-cultures, identity, roles, and Self and Other help us define ourselves and others according to practices, values, beliefs, and situations.

advantage when learning about another culture. You'll also be reminded that micro-cultures exist in every country, which means that people are not all the same.

Stereotyping occurs when we make assumptions about people or cultures according to a commonly held belief (often unfair or untrue) about some trait(s) or characteristic they have.

In other words, our schemas lead us to make assumptions about people based on some information, but that information is not necessarily applicable to every person.

We must expand and enrich our schemas when we find ourselves using stereotypes.

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The culture-general knowledge included in these concepts helps when you encounter other cultures. More than anything, you'll be able to identify behaviors and beliefs that are counterproductive to mission success, both in others and in yourself.

Finally, all of this knowledge can help you lessen the effects of culture shock. Check your knowledge below, then go to the next page to find out how.

Culture Shock

Culture shock is a popular term for the experience of a person's adjustment to living in another culture. Although the word shock generally implies a sudden, quick jolt, ultimately culture shock concerns change. It can be a recurring or long-term experience depending on the person and the environment.

We sometimes react negatively to the challenges of living abroad because many things have changed: our schemas don't work, our understanding of our roles doesn't fit, our identity is challenged, the Other isn't so different or is too different, stereotypes turn out false, and we find ourselves and the Others being misunderstood to the point of hostility, passive avoidance, or mission failure.

Think of the airman in our previous example trying to build a school. If you were that Airman and realized how the Others viewed you, would you experience culture shock? Would you relate to them differently?

Some people are more receptive than others when finding themselves in an unfamiliar cultural environment.

Factors affecting your receptivity include:

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previous experience abroad knowledge of the target area or the language a high level of motivation to learn about the culture

However, in the absence of any of these factors, using culture-general concepts to your advantage and working through the OODA Loop can help make your adjustment shorter and easier.

Experts recognize several stages of culture shock, but vary on how many and what to call them. There is also no standard timeline associated with any stage, and not everyone will experience all stages, or at least, not experience them to the same degrees. Here are four of the most common and how to use the OODA Loop to lessen their effects:

STAGE DESCRIPTION ADVICE

Honeymoon Stage

At first, many differences between the home and host cultures are seen as positive, unique, or interesting and people are excited about the change.

Use the opportunity of feeling good about the cultural change to do a lot of Observing and Orienting in the new culture, asking questions, and meeting people, if possible.

Frustration Stage

At some point, people become increasingly negative, and everything different about the host culture starts to feel overwhelming, seems to cause problems, and homesickness sets in. At some point, they may even choose to withdraw themselves as much as possible from interacting with others. Since the job of your schema is to make sense of things, this is a stage where it may be simply over- challenged and people can sometimes feel inadequate or stupid. In some cases, your very identity can come under fire when people in another culture have no regard for your military rank or status, or for females, your gender. Military people actually have a bit of an advantage here because they can often fall back to their 'slice of America' in their military bases. This provides a degree of cultural familiarity and a break from the onslaught of new behaviors, foods, cultural rules, language barriers, etc.

Since people usually feel alone and isolated during this stage, it's a good time to focus on Orienting and reflecting on your actions. When Orienting, identify a trusted local person to help you understand things, try to find some positive aspects to the host culture, and keep a routine every day. When reflecting, remember to consider your own cultural schema and how it may be coloring your view. Reflect on your actions, what you know, what you've learned, the cultural differences you've identified, and people's reactions to you. Stay in contact with colleagues and people at home. Don't despair! This stage will end.

Adjustment Stage Usually after a period of time, people become accustomed to the host culture and feel less negative about living and working abroad. They figure out how basic life activities work and develop their own routines. Their schema is humming away and incorporating new knowledge on top of old knowledge, understanding more and more of the new environment, negotiating strategies to adapt to differences, and mentally processing connections, contradictions, and comparisons between that and their home culture.

Again, use the OODA Loop to reflect on your own adjustment as well as on the host culture. How have some of your Decisions affected your adjustment? What are local people's Decisions concerning how they interact with you? Separate your feelings from your observations and try to 'think like a scientist,' following things to their natural conclusion rather than

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trying to make them fit how you think they should be.

Acceptance Stage

Finally, people may reach the point of understanding the host culture to the point that it doesn't make them angry or surprise them, they can understand others' motivations and actions, may even think some things are better than in their home culture, and can get their jobs done seamlessly. Whereas the Adjustment Stage is more of a processing function (adapting and learning), the Acceptance Stage is more of an operating function, understanding and maybe even adopting some new practices. People will usually cycle through the Frustration, Adjustment and Acceptance stages many times.

Keep working through the Loop to see how your assessment of the host culture has changed and to keep your focus on making better decisions and taking more effective actions over time.

TOOL – Preparing for an Overseas Assignment or Deployment

This data gathering tool can be used either before you deploy or after you arrive at your duty station. Find an Airman who has been assigned to the country where you are going and ask these questions about his or her experiences:

In what ways did you behave differently with local people or cultural Others on deployment?

Did you feel like an outsider? In what ways?

What kinds of behavior were expected from you in public? Were these vastly different from the way you behave among Americans?

What types of people were you frequently with?

Did you observe them behaving differently in a military context?

Can you name an incident where you felt that you had behaved incorrectly? What happened and why? How did you correct or make up for the incident?

Did your experience abroad change you in terms of the way you work with people?

What advice would you give to an Airman about to deploy to the region?

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Note that these questions request culture-specific information. However, they are culture-general because they can be asked about any cultural environment.

What questions would you add that relate specifically to the way you do your job, or to being an Airman in that culture?

One Airman recently said he wanted to know what the host country's military rank structure meant: does a Master Sergeant have similar responsibilities and control as in the USAF?

SCENARIO - Culture Shock

SrA Winston recently deployed to a small, eastern European country. He was sent to provide training on a Logistics software program along with helping the European airmen set up a supply management chain that will help with future ongoing coordination with the USAF.

The country has a proud tradition of wine-making, and the Eastern Europeans always have wine with their lunch. When SrA Winston first arrived, he was shocked at this, and started to refuse to drink wine at lunch. His MSgt supervisor, however, pulled him aside and explained the 'side' mission of establishing good relations, the pride these people have in their wine, and suggested that if it did not violate his personal values, SrA Winston should feel free to have a glass of wine when lunching with his European co-workers. "Just keep it to one glass!" he was advised.

Although SrA Winston did have a glass of wine that day, he tends to avoid going to lunch with the Europeans most days, so he can avoid drinking wine for lunch and avoid causing any offense by declining the beverage. He also makes sure (privately) he watches everyone's job performance just a little more closely after they return from lunch!

Try your hand at identifying the stages of culture shock.

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Lesson Summary

The title of this lesson is Understanding Culture and Your Identity, but could just as effectively be titled Understanding Yourself.

People are generally unaware of the many cultural influences that shape their thinking process, their view of 'reality,' and their perceptions of other people, activities, and objects. Understanding yourself, how you learn, and how you interact within your own culture is a crucial step towards improving your cross-cultural experience.

As you progressed through the lesson, you were exposed to information that will increase your ability to meet the Lesson Objectives stated at the beginning.

1. Identify characteristics of culture.

2. Explain what a schema is and how we use this concept in discussions about culture.

3. Recognize the impact of culture on individual beliefs, identity and roles.

4. Given a cross-culture scenario (situation), identify the stage of culture shock being described.

The reading by Omohundro gave us examples of Fluid, Mixed, and Constructed aspects of cultures which all basically boil down to the fact that cultures are very dynamic. Although there are shared understandings among people in a culture, those understandings evolve over time and generations

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based on multiple influences. We hit on the idea of shared understandings again when we described micro and macro cultures, and filled in the table to describe the many micro and macro cultures to which you belong. The impact of these many cultural influences and concepts on our identities and roles cannot be overstated.

As you studied cultural schemas, you became aware of what a schema is, and its role in how our brains understand, interpret and categorize information. We reviewed examples of schema construction that included the concept of sharing and of challenge coins.

Although we rely heavily on our schemas to successfully navigate our daily lives, schemas are based on known information and experiences. Because your cultural schema defines your reality and guides perceptions and behavior, it can lead to assumptions that could be useless in a foreign culture.

This is why taking time to think about how you think and learn (your schema) and how your own culture impacts how you think, observe, and perceive (cultural schema) is a good practice for building cross-cultural competence.

A useful tool for overcoming the limits of your cultural schema is the OODA loop. By ensuring you focus on the current environment or situation, the OODA loop can help to ensure you include all relevant information in your decision- making.

Click on the graphic below to reinforce your mental image of this important process tool.

Culture shock was the final topic of discussion. Including culture shock in this lesson helped explain the changes and frustration you feel when you go to another culture through the concepts of schemas, identity, and roles. Hopefully, with better knowledge about the mental processes that underlie culture and identity, you will find that seemingly negative cross-cultural encounters don't have to remain negative, and can soon be improved to your advantage. The OODA Loop framework is one way to think through these concepts and enhance your growing cross-cultural competence.

The skills you gain in Understanding Culture and Your Identity lay the groundwork for our next lesson, Understanding Others.

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References

Lesson 2 Endnotes

[1] Omohundro, John T. 2006. Thinking Like an Anthropologist: A Practical Introduction to Cultural Anthropology. 1st edition. New York: McGraw-Hill. Pp. 1, 35-47.

[2] ibid., p. 41-42.

[3] ibid., p. 42.

[4] Exercise adapted from Omohundro 2006, pp. 51-52.

[5] Merriam Webster Dictionary. 2011. "Stereotype". Available online at: http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/stereotype%5B2%5D.