Why do we experience culture shock when moving to a new
environment? I believe that the way that we create mental maps may provide some
of the answer.
There are many theories regarding culture, but the one most
familiar to me is Peter Adler’s five stage theory. According to this theory,
the first stage is that of a tourist, where everything is new and exciting, but
the person is still rooted in their home culture and experience. The next stage
of culture shock involves feeling overwhelmed by the new culture and
environment, and often a feeling of inadequacy. In the following next stage,
the person can navigate the new environment more effectively. However, it is
common to feel anger and resentment during this stage. The second to last stage
includes increased navigational competency, and the ability to see both good
and bad in the new environment. The final stage is when the person is equally
as functional in the new environment as the old. Many people believe that the
final stage can never be reached.
Me and some classmates completed a scavenger hunt shortly after arriving in Thailand. We went all over the city, used public transportation, and tried lots of food. This was our program's way of helping us build effective mental maps.
So what do mental models have to do with culture shock? I
believe that much of the feelings of discomfort, resentment, anger, and being
overwhelmed come from grappling with mental models that are insufficient to
inform someone how to act in unfamiliar circumstances and new environments. The
longer that person is in a new place, the more they incorporate new information
into their mental models, or create new mental models if the information can’t
be incorporated into a preexisting model. As these model become more functional
as time passes, negative feeling begin to subside and it easier to experience
more positive feelings.
A time in Thailand when one of my mental maps failed- I didn't realize that the oven used Celsius and overcooked all the cinnamon rolls.
There are two times I remember experiencing culture shock in
my life. The first was when I moved to Thailand and lived there for six months.
The second was when I moved to rural northern Michigan for a year. Interesting,
I experience more culture shock living in the rural town in Michigan than I
ever did in Thailand, even though I am a Michigan native. I think there are a
few reasons for this. Before moving to Thailand, I prefamiliarized myself with
lots of aspects of Thai culture. While I still needed to adapt my models upon
my arrival, my familiarity with Thai culture made these adaptations relatively
easy. I did not prefamiliarize myself with the culture in the Michigan town I
moved to, because the thought never crossed my mind that I would need to. Yet
upon there, I realized that many of my preexisiting mental maps did not provide
me with information on how to navigate small town life. It also took me a long
to create new mental maps, probably because I wasn’t anticipating having to do
so.
After I couldn't find any jobs using my degree, I adapted to country life and took a job farming.
Have any of you experienced culture shock? How do you think
it relates to mental maps?
I think this is a great example of how mental models are constructed! Knowing what DAF is, I now realize that the physical and mental exhaustion I have felt while living and traveling abroad makes total sense because of the amount of energy expended using directed attention to develop mental models of a new surrounding. I used to give myself such a hard time for feeling so fatigued but now I realize that my brain really was working on overdrive. One thing I was thinking about after our lecture today that I think relates to your post is the difference between how easily we are able to develop mental models when we task-oriented vs. leisure-oriented and how this relates to attention restoration. As an example - while abroad in Chile, I was there studying for a semester and was required to produce academic work related to a culture I was still familiarizing myself with in a foreign language. It was only towards the end of my time there that I felt like I was at the 4th stage of Adler's 5 stages. Mostly I was stuck feeling frustrated and overwhelmed but the fact that I was using directed attention to build a mental model of the culture while also using directed attention to produce academic work of quality left me with serious DAF. I was constantly stumbling over my words in Spanish even though I had taken it for 7 years. On the flip side, while traveling in Peru with my partner two and a half years ago, I felt energized and ready to explore everything and was impressed with how easily I was able to communicate with Peruvians to get us from point A to point B even though I had not spoken Spanish is nearly 5 years. It is as though the second trip was attention restoration in and of itself. All that being said, I wonder if culture shock can actually be seen as part of how we use directed attention in developing mental models and the context in which the models are being created (leisure vs. work).
ReplyDeleteI experienced the cultural shock twice; the first when I moved from Saudi Arabia to Boston, and second when I moved to Ann Arbor. The first experience was more exiting and more difficult, and based on what I learned from this course, I think that moving to a completely new culture involved more involuntary fascination at the first stage. After that, the exiting things started to become normal and the challenge of creating the mental map appeared. This challenge was less severe when I moved to Ann Arbor because I already had some familiarity with some aspects of the American culture.
ReplyDeleteWhile I was reading the blog, I was trying to apply what I learned about mental maps on the “reverse cultural shock” which usually occurs when a person returns to live in the home country after a long time of living abroad. I guess that although he/she had a mental model of the culture and the place, things might have had changed while he/she was a way, and therefore there is a need to develop the previous mental map.
This article and the comments linking culture shock, mental models, and DAF together are very intriguing. I find that as I get older and my life is more complicated, stressful, and tiring, I am more interested in traveling to places that are natural or rural such as a national park or wine country. When I was younger, I was much more interested in traveling to cities, nightlife and experiencing culture. I can think of a few reasons for this change in travel preference. First, being directed attention fatigued I am more likely to seek out restorative experiences in nature. Second, when experiencing big cities for the first time it is very exciting and new and I was more likely to have experienced involuntary fascination. Now, after living in big cities and traveling extensively, I am more likely to feel at home in cities and there is less novelty about the experience to capture my attention. However, even with familiarity in cities there are more distractions and drains on one's attention so it is still a drain on one's directed attention. Is there a coincidence that Central Park and the High Line are the most popular tourist destinations in New York City? I think not.
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