It seems appropriate at this stage to restate the approach we have taken in organising the material in this book. The theoretical aim is to describe and account for the responses of individuals to novel cultural environments, the core assumption being that culture contact is inherently stressful. And running in tandem with this is a practical strand that looks at how contact-induced stress and skills deficits can be managed and reduced. To use an analogy from medicine, the theoretical analysis aims at achieving an understanding of stress and diagnosing its sources, whereas the practical coverage describes the range of therapeutic interventions available and their effectiveness in dealing with the problem.
The other major feature of this book is that it takes the classic topics of general psychology and explicitly extends them to analysing the culture contact phenomenon. In other words, it is our deliberate intention to treat the subject matter as a special instance of general psychological processes, using constructs that have wide currency in the theoretical literature and substantial empirical support. Cross-cultural psychology is not a substantive area in its own right, but a method or an approach that has special relevance in particular domains (Bochner, Brislin and Lonner, 1975; Lonner, 1997).
Virtually from its inception, psychology has found it useful to distinguish the ABCs (Affect, Behaviour and Cognitions) of human interactions, and we have followed this approach in our treatment of culture contact. We have also paid heed to a second classificatory scheme that characterises modern psychology;
that is, the distinction between the individual versus the group as the unit of analysis. These themes underlie much of the general discussion in this book and provide the organisational framework for the chapters in Part II on the major theoretical approaches to culture shock. Chapter 3 describes the culture learning perspective; Chapter 4 deals with stress and coping models, and Chapter 5 discusses social identification theories. The acculturation framework presented in the preceding chapter accommodates all of these theoretical approaches. While it depicts stress and skills deficits as core features of intercultural contact and cross- cultural transition, it also recognises the significance of identity and its influences on acculturation outcomes.
In the following chapters we elaborate the ABCs of ‘culture shock’. Chapter 3 concentrates on behaviour. It describes the culture learning approach to intercultural contact, highlighting the social skills required for effective interactions with members of new and unfamiliar cultures. Based on the premise that social interactions are mutually organised and skilled performances, the culture learning approach assumes that behavioural competence is fundamentally dependent upon mastering the intricacies of intercultural communication.
Although meetings between culturally disparate persons are, in principle, no different from other social encounters, they are often handicapped by an absence of information about communication conventions. Consequently, the chapter provides material about cross-cultural differences in both verbal and non-verbal forms of communication, including the discussion of topics such as conflict resolution, forms of address, eye contact, gestures, and proxemics. The chapter also considers a range of factors that are more broadly associated with effective culture learning and predict sociocultural adaptation.
Chapter 4 emphasises affect. It assumes a stress and coping approach to cross- cultural transition and highlights emotional aspects of sojourner and immigrant adjustment, particularly psychological well-being and satisfaction. Based on the premise that life changes are inherently stressful, the stress and coping model considers resources and deficits in the adjustment process. Issues arising specifically from intercultural contact (e.g. acculturation strategies or relationships with host nationals) are examined along with generic factors (e.g.
social support) that have been shown to enhance or impede psychological adjustment. This approach also includes explicit reference to the experience and appraisal of stress as well as the coping strategies used to manage difficulties associated with intercultural contact and change.
Chapter 5 focuses on cognitions. Social identification theories form the basis of this theoretical approach and are complemented by the inclusion of key constructs from social psychology. Based on the assumption that identity is a fundamental issue for the cross-cultural traveller, social identification theories consider the measurement of and changes in cultural identity. And since self- definition is greatly affected by group membership, this leads to questions about how ethnic identity is maintained or changed, how in-groups and out-groups are defined and perceived, and how self-esteem is affected by acculturative pressures. Subsets of cognitive theory such as social perception and attribution are also invoked to explain some of the recurring findings on intergroup contact
—in particular stereotyping, the in-group bias, and prejudice.
How do these broad and unifying frameworks compare and contrast with the seven theoretical explanations of culture shock offered by Furnham and Bochner in 1986? There, selective migration; grief, bereavement and loss; locus of control; expectations; negative life events; social support; value differences; and social skills were examined. These earlier ‘explanations’ varied in conceptual content, the extent of their theoretical development and the amount of related empirical research. While these perspectives still exert some influence on theory
and research on sojourners, immigrants, tourists and refugees, with the exception of the social skills model, which is discussed in the following chapter, none offers a comprehensive theoretical formulation for explaining or predicting culture shock.
Culture learning, stress and coping, and social identification theories represent broad and comprehensive conceptual frameworks for the study of intercultural contact and cross-cultural adjustment. It is easy to recognise that most of the earlier ‘explanations’ can be readily incorporated into the more contemporary, systematic approaches. This is particularly true for the stress and coping model.
Life changes, including personal loss, represent a core component of the stress and coping approach to cross-cultural transition and adaptation. Other factors may act as assets or liabilities in the coping process. Personality traits, such as locus of control, as well as situational factors, such as social support, exert both direct and moderating influences on cross-cultural adjustment. Expectations are likewise relevant to the stress and coping model; research described in Chapter 4 indicates that larger discrepancies between expectations and experiences in a new culture are frequently associated with greater psychological adjustment problems.
Empirical research has additionally demonstrated that the reasons for migration and the characteristics of the migrating group affect coping and adjustive outcomes. That some ethnocultural groups adapt better than others is in line with the earlier theories of selective migration.
The culture learning approach also draws on some of these basic explanations, particularly acknowledging the significance of expectations and values in intercultural interactions. Accurate expectations may facilitate the development of culture-specific skills, promote more satisfying and effective intercultural encounters, and lead to successful sociocultural adaptation. Value differences, however, are indicative of cultural distance and are likely to be associated with more sociocultural difficulties. These themes are explored in Chapter 3 and further elaborated in Chapter 11 which applies culture learning theory to the selection and training of international students, business people and volunteers.
Theory and research on values also have a place in the cognitive-based social identification theories. First, as evaluative beliefs, values in themselves are cognitive constructs. Second, they are intimately tied to self-definition and cultural identity, and they are significantly affected by intercultural contact.
Value change, for example, has attracted considerable attention in models and measurements of acculturation. Third, values are linked to perceptions of out- group members. A fundamental principle in social psychology is that we like others who are like ourselves. Consequently, shared values may be seen to promote positive perceptions of out-group members. This applies not only to cross-cultural travellers’ views of host nationals, but also to host nationals’
perceptions of immigrants, tourists, sojourners and refugees. These themes are discussed in Chapter 5.
We believe that the distinction of affective, behavioural, and cognitive approaches to ‘culture shock’ is a theoretically sound, comprehensive, yet
parsimonious, way to represent conceptual developments in the field over the last 15 years. These approaches draw on theoretical formulations in general psychology and may be systematically applied to the study of intercultural contact and change. As will be seen in following chapters, the ABCs of culture shock provide a solid conceptual base for the empirical research on tourists, immigrants, refugees and sojourners that is described in Part III of this volume.