CROSS-CULTURAL ADAPTATION

YOUNG YUN KIM

CONTENTS

Describes the process of crosscultural adaptation Explains the structure of this process

It is based on three assumptions (OpenSystems)

1. Humans have an inherent drive to adapt and grow 2. Adaptation to ones social environment occurs through communication 3. Adaptation is a complex and dynamic process

THE PROCESS OF CROSSCULTURAL ADAPTATION

Culture has a pervasive role in shaping individual behavior

ENCULTURATION: culture gives status and assigns the role of an individual in the life of the community (through socialization process) ACCULTURATION: the process of learning and acquiring the elements of the host culture UNLEARNING/DECULTURATION: losing or putting aside some of the old cultural habits / new responses are adopted in situations that previously would have evoked old ones

The Stress-Adaptation-Growth Dynamic

STRESS: the generic response that occurs whenever the capabilities of the individual are not adequate to the demands of the environment

The Stress-Adaptation-Growth Dynamic

Adaptation: stress is temporary; it leads to adaptation because strangers strive to meet and manage the challenge by acting on and responding to the host environment Growth: the stress-adaptation experiences bring about change and growth internal transformation creative responses to new circumstances a crisis once managed by the strangers presents an opportunity for a strengthening of their coping abilities

The Stress-Adaptation-Growth Dynamic

Overtime the stress-adaptation-growth dynamic plays out NOT in a smooth linear progression, but in a cyclic and continual draw-back-to-leap pattern Dialectic relationship between push and pull, or engagement and disengagement in the psychological movements of strangers

Even those who interact with the natives with the intention of confining themselves to only superficial relationships are likely to become given sufficient time at least adapted to the host culture in spite of themselves

Intercultural Transformation
OUTCOMES OF THE ADAPTATION PROCESS

1. INCREASED FUNCTIONAL FITNESS: synchrony between strangers internal responses and the external demands in the host environment 2. PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH: ability to communicate and the accompanying functional fitness in the host society / psychological well-being 3. INTERCULTURAL IDENTITY: the original cultural identity begins to lose its distinctiveness and rigidity while an expanded and more flexible definition of self emerges

THE STRUCTURE OF CROSSCULTURAL ADAPTATION

PERSONAL COMMUNICATION HOST COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE SOCIAL COMMUNICATION 1. HOST INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION 2. HOST MASS COMMUNICATION 3. ETHNIC INTERPERSONAL AND MASS COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

THE STRUCTURE OF CROSSCULTURAL ADAPTATION

ENVIRONMENT
1. HOST RECEPTIVITY 2. HOST CONFORMITY PRESSURE 3. STRENGTH OF THE STRANGERS ETHNIC GROUP

PREDISPOSITION
1. PREPAREDNESS 2. ETHNICITY 3. PERSONALITY TRAITS a. Openness b. Strength

Host Communication Competence Host Social Communication

CONCLUSION

This theory portrays cross-cultural adaptation as a collaborative effort in which a stranger and a receiving environment are engaged in a joint venture Cross-cultural adaptation is ultimately the gift of the individuals Cross-cultural adaptation is not an extraordinary phenomenon that only exceptional individuals can achieve. Rather, it is simply an incident of the normal human mutability manifesting itself to the work of ordinary people stretching themselves out of the old and familiar