Culture shock
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Culture shock is a term used to describe the anxiety and feelings (of surprise, disorientation, confusion, etc.) felt by an individual caused by coming into contact with an entirely different environment, such as a different country. It often relates to the inability to assimilate the new culture, causing difficulty in knowing what is appropriate and what is not. Often this is combined with strong disgust (moral or aesthetical) about certain aspects of the foreign culture.
Culture shock has its own common symptoms, in four stages. The first is the honeymoon stage, which lasts a few weeks. In this stage, people percieve everything around them as great. The next stage is shock, described above. After that, there is negotiation, wherein people work to resolve the differences in culture. Finally, acceptance. With acceptance, people realize that there are both good and bad things about the culture, and they can work with it.
The term was introduced for the first time in 1954 by Kalvero Oberg
See also
External links
- Culture shock definition on San Diego University (http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/CGuanipa/cultshok.htm)
- Culture shock term credited to Oberg (http://oregonstate.edu/dept/anthropology/fragments/2001/kalervo_award.htm)Template:Psych-stub