Running head: Cultural Shock

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Raquel Munoz
March 28, 2015
HD 300
C. Franklin
Research Paper
Cultural Shock

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"Introduction"

For this research paper I have decided to do "Culture Shock". I am very interested in this
particular topic because I went through culture shock as a little girl. Once, at age 6 years old and a
second time at 13 years old. As I find more research on this topic, I want to be able to get information
on how this affects a child's and or adults self esteem.
This topic interests me the most because I went through culture shock. I was born here in Santa
Monica, around 7 months old my parents decided to move to Mexico. There were no preschools in
Mexico, I went to kindergarten and 1st grade. I was comfortable and loved the ranch where I was
growing up. I didn't know any other place but the small little ranch that I lived in. One day, my father
decided to move back to California to give a better future to my brother, sister, and I. I was devastated.
When we moved back, we moved into my uncles house where my parents, my two siblings, and I
shared a room until my parents got stable and found jobs. I remember my first day of school I didn't
want to stay. I was crying, hugging my father's leg and begging him not to leave me. He grabbed me
from my arms and told me I had to stay. He then walked away. I had a very hard time adjusting. I didn't
know the language therefore I had a hard time making friends and being able to communicate my needs
at school. I remember being sad, lonely and an outcast.
When I was 13 years old, again I had another culture shock. We lived in Northridge when the
1994 Northridge earthquake hit. After that incident, I had a nervous breakdown and I was having
difficulty adjusting to all the aftershocks. I couldn't eat nor sleep. The earthquake affected me
tremendously. So my father once again decided to send me and my sister to Mexico with my grandma
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to care for us until I got better. When I started school in Mexico, once again I had difficulty adjusting to
their teaching methods. I couldn't speak fluently and write correctly like the other students did. I felt
dumb because I looked completely Mexican yet spoke slang Spanish and couldn't understand the
teacher's way of teaching. I didn't have any friends and most of the time in school, I found myself
spending my lunch and recess talking to the professors about the assignments in class. I had a lot of
resentment towards my father for leaving my sister and I in Mexico. I felt unwanted lonely and out of
place once again.
Other people might be interested in this topic because people don't see how drastic changes can
affect someone's self- esteem and in the long run, how this may impact a person's life. Sometimes, we
as humans ignored this situations when thinking of a better future. As for my father, he never meant
harm, he just figure that I would adjust with time. Not really knowing the stress and impact that I went
through growing up. For this reason, I think that throughout my childhood life, I was never outspoken.
I always stayed quiet, and I was very shy around people and family. Reflecting on my past, I think that
I possibly had low self esteem but I was too young to really know what self- esteem was. I had a hard
time connecting with peers. I felt incompetent.

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Literature Review

Culture Shock is the personal disorientation a person may feel when experiencing an unfamiliar
way of life due to immigration or a visit to a new country, a move between social environments, or
simply travel to another type of life (Wikipedia). This does not mean it affects all people the same way
it does to others or the same way if it reoccurs. When adjusting to a new environment a person might
go through a process of emotional feelings, psychological, behavior, cognitive, or physiological impact.
There are different theorists that have develop different theories about what people go through
when experiencing cultural shock. As I read- The Five Stages of Cultural Shock, Critical Incidents
Around the World- the following theorist Paul Pedersen (1995) developed five stages. The following
stages are simplified: The first stage: "Honeymooners Stage", is when a person first arrives to a new
country and experiences curiosity and adventure of a tourist. This person is excited to see a different
setting other than the one back home. The second stage: "Disintegration Stage", this stage involves the
person to feel overwhelm with the new country and have a sense of personal differential ties or
difficulties when encountering new things that this person might not be used to. Feeling "helplessness".
The third stage: "Reintegration Stage", involves new cues and an increased ability to function in the
new country. During this stage, the person might go through personal emotions and develop anger and
resentment towards the new culture. Blaming the new culture for the difficulties this person is
encountering. The four stage: "The Autonomy Stage", this involves the person to have the ability to see
the bad and the good from the culture this person left behind in his country and the new culture that this
person lives in. The fifth and last stage: "Interdependence Stage", meaning, this person has accepted
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and adjusted. This person has become comfortable to the new and old culture. "Weather culture contact
has a positive or a negative effect will depend on many factors. Culture shock may constructively be
viewed as a specialized form of learning and educational growth. In this way, learning another culture
emphasizes the potentially positive consequences of culture contact" (Pedersen. 1995 p.9). By this, I
think that some people experience culture shock more different than others. Depending who they come
in contact with and how well they have adjusted as well as other people adjusting to them and making
them feel welcome.
Culture Shock USA (1991), Wanning quoted, "Our American qualities for better or worse, have
made the country what it is today. Certain values may seem questionable to you, but if you grasp what
makes Americans tick, your stay here whether long or short- will be far more interesting and your
culture shock shorter lasting" ( Wanning. 1991 p.8). I believe this is true because if a person comes to
the country for the need (ex. economy) and comes with mindset of already having negativity, towards
the country, then that person will experience a culture shock longer and will have a harder time to
adjust and get stable, rather than coming with an open mind and see possibilities and what the country
has to offer. Esther Wanning has four stages of culture shock. First stage, "The Honeymoon", like Paul
Pedersen stage, interested in the customs and everything and everyone is charming. Second stage, "All
at Sea", you wonder why are you here and question yourself. Everything seems dull and boring.
Depression or anxiety kicks in and you feel like you lost a part of your identity. You're extremely
homesick. Third stage, "Adjusting", being able to explore and be open minded to possibilities. Last and
fourth stage, "Acceptance" accepting other people and feeling at home. Being optimistic about the
future in the new country. This stage is when the person is close to a year living in the new country.

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In reading, The Psychology of Culture Shock (2001), the book aims to review the current state
of knowledge about determinants, effects of culture contact, the expressions people make when
referring to interpersonal interactions between people from different cultural or ethnic backgrounds. In
1960 when Kalervo Oberg (anthropologist), first introduce the meaning "Culture Shock" it appeared to
be a negative word. It was aim to draw attention to the fact that such interactions can be, and usually
are difficult, awkward, and stressful. However, this book has treated the meaning by people's responses
to unfamiliar cultural environments as an active process of dealing with change. The book has also
introduce a model of cultural shock that distinguishes three components of the process: The ABC
model- Affect, Behaviour, and Cognitions, that is how people feel, behave, think and perceive when
exposed to second- cultural influences. Affect elaborates the stress and coping perspectives on
intercultural contact and emphasizes the significance of life events and changes. Behavior emphasizes
that effective intercultural interactions are often hampered by people that are unaware. Cognitions
emphasizes on how one views oneself in terms of social and cultural identity. It also perceives an
individual to make judgments about other people's ethnic and cultural background. People stereotype in
many different ways that they don't even know or catch that they are stereotyping. "The stress that
many culture people experience is largely due to their lacking the social and behavioral skills of the
new society. This creates barriers to effective communication and sows the seeds for a vicious circle of
misunderstanding, friction, and hostility" (Colleen Ward, Stephen Buchner, Adrian Furnham 2001
p.69). I completely agree with this quote. By this, I feel that people lacking the language makes them
feel less than others and affects their self esteem.
The last book that I found very interesting about culture shock was "The Art Of Crossing
Cultures"(Storti, 1990). "Most disturbing of all about trying to establish yourself in a new environment
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is not knowing anyone. Little in life is more unsettling than change, facing the unknown; and one of the
few factors that can mitigate the feelings of insecurity which change provokes is the support of close
friends and love ones, of those who stand by you- who do not change even as everything else around
you seems to" (Storti. 1990 p.7). Many people including my parents, when crossing to the United
States faced the unknown but what kept my parents going were other relatives giving them the support
they needed to continue. Before anyone can adapt to a foreign culture, they must first have to survive
the move and be open to changes. Home: is where they are no longer foreigners (and where no one else
is either), where they don't have to think before they speak or act, and where they needn't ever worry
again about having to adjust. Home: where it's easy" (Storti 1990 p.99). Some what I don't agree with
this theory because a foreigner might not have a cultural shock and adjust quite well to the new
country. In conclusion, the process of coming to know another culture allows people to gradually
become themselves again. People need to come with an open mind set of all the possibilities they will
encounter either good or bad.

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"Methodology"

The general focus of my research paper is "Cultural Shock". Throughout these past few weeks, I
have decided to concentrate on certain topics within this larger scope. Questions and matters I intend to
discuss are how do people get culture shock and how they overcome it. On a more personal note, I will
gather data from different age groups and different nationalities to find out if at one point they all have
something in commend. By this, I will be able to understand that it doesn't matter where people come
from nor the age when experiencing cultural shock. To better understand different cultures, Ill ask the
people the following questions:
1) Where are they coming from and why did they move?
2) Who else moved with them and how old were they?
3) What was hard about the change?
4) Was there anyone/ anything that helped with the change?
5) How long did it take to adjust to the new environment?
6) How did they feel about the change and what were their thoughts?

Once I gather this information, I will be relating these stories to what triggered "Cultural Shock", the
effects and how they overcame that period in their life.
My research paper will be based on a compilation of books, interviews, and surveys. This
research will also be very informative and will leave the readers a sense of connection if they also
experience culture shock at one point in their life.

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Results

When I gathered the information, I was able to relate the stories to what triggered "Cultural
Shock", how self-esteem affect them, and how they overcame that period in their life.
When ask, Why they moved to the United States?, I concluded that all 4 interviewers came for a better
living. Even though they all came from different places. Three of the interviewers were under age, two
being 3 years old, and the other being 16 years old when coming to California, it was the best thing to
do according to their parents at that time. They came unwillingly. The fourth person did come on her
own will as an adult when she was 50 years old.
The hardest factor for all the interviewers was adapting to the new environment. It was very
difficult for them to adjust to the culture, climate, food, races, different faces around them, and most
importantly the language. They felt like they didn't belong in the new state even though they all had
family already stable. When interviewing the two ladies that were three years old when crossing to
California, they pause and took a deep breath. They felt like their childhood was taken away. As in
Mexico they were free to play in the outdoors, free of harm and once they came here they were stuck
indoors having to care for their other siblings and living in a small crowded apartment. From being in
the top honor roll to not wanting to go to school because of the language barrier. And from wanting to
go to another state to missing the family and culture, having the sense of belongingness.
As the interviewers were very opened to expressing their thoughts but sad when having to
reflect on issues they had to encountered, they had a big smile when I ask, "What helped them with
their change?", they all responded overall "family" was the biggest support from having phone calls
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with their love ones across the country or family that was already in the state as well as social
gatherings and once they got to knew the environment around them. Some took longer to adjust than
others, ranging from 2 to 5 years.
When speaking to them about reflecting on that experience, they all mention that at that
moment they felt sad, lonely and outcast. Missing their home town made them feel depress and have
low self- esteem. They all now say that it was the best thing to do since now they have adjusted and
feel that they are now part of society.

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Discussion
When I was interviewing the four ladies, I was making connections with the book, Culture
Shock USA (1991). I completely agree that one self has to make the best out of it in order for their
culture shock to be shorter and have acceptance with their new environment so they will not feel out of
place and don't experience low self- esteem. During that moment, they didnt realize that they had low
self- esteem until now that the interviewers where reflecting on their experiences and what they went
through trying to feel accepted in the new culture.
It doesnt matter where you come from nor how old you are when experiencing a
cultural shock. Some people leave their home country for a better life, education or family. Some leave
because they have to and some leave because they want to. Regardless the circumstances, people at one
point still experience culture shock. The only difference is that some people take longer than others to
overcome/ adjust that phase in their life. Since they were not aware that they were experiencing low
self- esteem just like my- self, it made it even harder to adjust. Through time, being around family, and
getting to know and get familiar with the city, made them feel more comfortable and once they
adjusted, they were able to say This is my home.
From doing this research, it made me reflect on my childhood and how that phase in my life
really affect me just like it did to my interviewers. I noticed that we had a lot in common when they
were expressing their loneness and how they felt a sense of being unwanted. It did take me longer to
adjust according to Pedersen's "Five Stages of Cultural Shock" (1995). Through time I was trying to fit
in at school and making the best out of it, here in California and in Mexico. Once I was able to
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communicate at school and most importantly make friends, that's when I felt I was being acknowledge
and finally feeling happy with my new environment. My best recommendation when experiencing
cultural shock, is to be open and seek family members for help so you don't feel lonely and know that
family will always be there to help and guide you along your path. At least in my case, that was my
experienced.
My research was based on a compilation of books, interviews, and surveys. This research was
also very informative as it left the readers a sense of connection if they also experience culture shock at
one point in their life.

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Bibliography

Book- Pedersen, P. (1995). The five stages of culture shock critical incidents around the world.
Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.
Book- Storti, C. (1990). Art of crossing cultures. Yarmouth, Me.: Intercultural Press.
Book- Wanning, E. (1991). Culture Shock USA. Tarrytown, NY: Marshall Cavendish Editions.
Book- Ward, C., & Bochner, S. (2001). The psychology of culture shock (2nd ed.). Hove [England:
Routledge.
Website- Definition on Culture Shock. (n.d.). Retrieved March 22, 2015, from
http://www.wikipedia.org/

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