Answer Questions
- How does defensiveness at the loss of a frame of reference trigger culture shock? What does the author say happens when people encounter something different?
Whenever people encounter something new, chances are that they will experience an emotional and psychological experience which is often brought about by a sudden change in environment or situation. This wave of shock causes people to behave differently from their usual self and, therefore, a person feeling helpless, withdraws from the environment or shows irritability and fear.2. Describe an experience where you have encountered culture shock and/or describe what you think someone should do to overcome culture/transition shock.
A good example of an experience where I have seen culture shock at play is when one of my friends Fatma first arrived in the United States. She came face to face with a different culture from what she was used to back home in the Middle East. She came face to face with women and girls who according to her were ‘walking half naked’ in the streets. But after sometime she got used to it because this is what was considered normal and okay in the United States. In order to overcome this, she began to appreciate people as they were. By associating so much with some of us who found this not strange, she began to understand that this is how people lived in this other side of the world. Within no time she got used to the dress code and everything seemed alright.
3. How do the six steps for achieving empathy help someone become less ethnocentric?
In order for people to become less ethnocentric, they have to master the art of accommodating and accepting others. There are six steps that can help achieve empathy in order for a person to become less ethnocentric. These steps will help by making a person more accepting of different worldviews that are not theirs, therefore, making them more accommodating. They will choose not to look at their differences but on the rich and diverse cultural beliefs.4. Give an example from current events (last 6 months) where a group of people was thinking more about themselves and not about the other and how they felt and discuss how this led to a conflict. (Use news media and give the resource where you found the story).
In the recent past, there was news all over the internet about a New Mexico wedding photographer who refused to shoot a gay commitment ceremony in Arizona. This is a good example of how his beliefs stood in the way for him to conduct the photo shoot. His colleagues and he, have a clear bias and discrimination against gay and lesbian groups. This conflict of interest led to the photographers being taken to court to answer to charges of discriminating against this group.
Work Cited
Whitaker, C. Matthew. Arizona’s Shameful ‘Right to Discriminate Bill. Web, 22nd, February 2014. Retrieved on 3rd March 2014 http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/22/opinion/whitaker arizona-law/
