CHAPTER 12: Acculturation, Culture Shock,

and Intercultural Competence

FLAN 3440

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 Acculturation

• The process of cultural change whereby you

adapt to a new culture by adopting its
values, attitudes, and practices
• When two different cultural groups engage
in continuous contact, one of the two groups
will induce more change than the other

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 Acculturative Stress

• The degree of physical • People face changes in

and psychological – Diet
stress persons – Climate
experience when they – Housing
enter a culture different – Communication
from their own as a – Role prescriptions
result of the adaptation – Media consumption
required to function in – Norms
a new and different – Values
cultural context. – Isolation

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 Model of Acculturation

• The culture influences the individual, and the

individual influences the culture
• Young Kim’s model maintains that
– acculturation is an interaction between the
stranger and the host culture
– the role of communication, the role of the host
environment, and the role of predisposition best
explain the acculturation process

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SOURCE: Based on data from Kim, Y. Y. (1997). Adapting to a New Culture. In L. A. Samovar & R. E. Porter (Eds.),
Intercultural Communication: A Reader (8th ed., pp. 404–417). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

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 Modes of Acculturation

• Assimilation
• Integration
• Separation
• Marginalization
• Cultural transmutation

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 Modes of Acculturation

Levels of acculturation depend on:

• the degree to which the person approaches
or avoids interaction with the host culture
(outgroup contact and relations)
• the degree to which the individual
maintains or relinquishes his/her native
culture's attributes
(ingroup identity and maintenance)

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 SOURCE: Data adapted from Berry, J. W. (1989). Psychology of
Acculturation. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, 37, 201–234.

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 Acculturation in the United States

• The degree of acculturation for micro-

cultural groups within the US is associated
with a variety of social and medical
problems
• To understand maladaptive attitudes and
behaviors among various microcultural
groups, researchers are assessing levels of
acculturation

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 Culture Shock

• The effects associated with the tension and

anxiety of entering a new culture, combined
with the sensations of loss, confusion, and
powerlessness resulting from the forfeiture
of cultural norms and social rituals.

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 Culture Shock

• Culture shock appears to be a psychological

and social process that progresses in stages,
usually lasting as long as a year
• Associated with:
– Sensations of loss
– Confusion
– Powerlessness
from the forfeiture of cultural norms and social
rituals
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Neuliep, Intercultural Communication, 7e. © SAGE Publications, 2018. 12
 Stages of Culture Shock

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Factors that Affect Nature of Culture Shock

Walt Lonner Churchman & Mitrani

• Control Factors • Degree of similarity
• Interpersonal Factors between native and
• Organismic/Biological new culture
Factors • Degree & Quality of
• Intrapersonal Facctors information about new
culture
• Spatial/Temporal
• Host culture’s attitude
Facctors
& policies toward
• Geopolitical Factors immigrants
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 SOURCE: Adapted from Churchman, A., & Mitrani, M. (1997). The Role of the Physical Environment in Culture
Shock. Environment and Behavior, 29, 64–87; Lonner, W. (1986). Foreword. In A. Furnham & S. Bochner (Eds.),
Culture Shock: Psychological Reactions to Unfamiliar Environments (pp. xv–xx). London: Methuen.

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 “W” Curve of Culture Shock

• Contains two of the U curves of the culture

shock model
– Entry to new culture
– Re-entry shock
• Makes communication of cross-cultural
experiences difficult to share

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 “W” Curve of Culture Shock

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 Strategies for Managing Culture Shock

• Be prepared
• Be aware of symptoms
• Everyone experinces culture shock
• Be aware of danger signs

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Success in the Intercultural Context

Five personality dimensions directly linked to

success in long-term intercultural encounters
– Empathy
– open-mindedness
– social initiative
– emotional stability
– flexibility

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Intercultural Communication Competence

• Ability to adapt verbal and nonverbal

messages to the appropriate cultural
context
• Competence as perceived vs. possessed
• Effective behaviors are those that
successfully accomplish communicative
goals

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Model of Intercultural Competence

• Three necessary and interdependent

ingredients of communication competence
– Knowledge component
– Motivation (affective) component
– Behavior (psychomotor) component
• Situational features

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Model of Intercultural Competence

• Knowledge component—at minimum, a

comprehension of values and beliefs.
– Influenced by:
• Cognitive simplicity and rigidity
• Ethnocentrism

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Model of Intercultural Competence

• Affective component—motivation to
interact with those from other cultures.
– Influenced by:
• Intercultural communication apprehension
• Intercultural willingness to communicate

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Model of Intercultural Communication Competence

• Psychomotor component—enactment
(skill) of the knowledge and affective
components.
• Elements:
– Verbal and nonverbal performance
– Role enactment

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Model of Intercultural Communication Competence

• Situational Features—competence varies in

situations and contexts.
– This is dependent upon:
• Environment
• Previous contact
• Status differential
• Third-party interventions

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Integrated Model of Intercultural Competence

• Empathy
• Intercultural experience/training
• Approach tendencies
• Global attitude
• Listening skills

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