CULTURE SHOCK

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of Study

When the first time somebody decide to stay in one place that definitely strange to him, it
must be the first thing comes into his mind and feeling is happy, confuse, worry, and
optimistic. Why this such can be happening? It is cause of adaptation need a process. This
psychology’s condition definitely was experienced by each of individual which never have
any experience on self placement in the strange environment.

Not only that the social, cultural and behavioral differences become the cause of
uncomfortable feeling existence. For one’s mentality health it is really influenced. Basically
human is a social being and cannot live alone. When this situation happens he will becoming
an introvert and cannot mingle well with his new environment.

This feeling can make someone down and pessimistic with everything that he want to
reach in his new environment. From this case, we can make a conclusion that the social,
cultural and behavioral differences can be the main factor of human error communication and
interaction determine an individual disturbances. This is what we called with Culture Shock.
 CHAPTER II
DISCUSSION

A. Defining Culture Shock

Culture shock is precipitated by the anxiety that result from losing all our
familiar signs and symbols of social intercourse. These signs are cues include the
thousand and one ways in which we orient ourselves to the situations of daily life.1
The definition of culture shock is the trauma you experience when you move
into a culture different from your home culture. 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, or to a move between social environments,
also a simple travel to another type of life.2

The term was first put forward by Kalervo Oberg (1958)3 to state what he
called a disease of office of people who were suddenly transferred into a culture
different from his own, a kind of mental illness that the victim did not realize. This is
due to anxiety because the person loses or does not see again all the signs and
symbols of social interaction that he knows well.

A common experience that members of one culture have upon entering

another is culture shock. Culture shock occurs when people interact with members of
different culture and experience the feeling of a loss control. It occurs when a
person’s expectations do not coincide and indeed conflict with a different cultural
reality. It includes phenomena ranging from mild annoyance to extreme psychological
anxiety. Shock is the reactionpeople experience when they are confronted with the
unknown and the different. People respond to specific stimuli in their environment
and expect others to behave in culturally appropriate ways that frequently differ from
those to which members of the host culture of accustomed to behaving. When
individuals are in a different cultural environment and are confronted with people

1 Umi Pujiyanti And Fatkhunaimah Rhina Zuliani, CROSS CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING : A HANDBOOK TO
UNDERSTAND OTHERS’ CULTURES, (Yogyakarta: CV. Hidayah, 2014), p. 53
2 Umi Pujiyanti And Fatkhunaimah Rhina Zuliani, CROSS CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING : A HANDBOOK TO

UNDERSTAND OTHERS’ CULTURES, (Yogyakarta: CV. Hidayah, 2014), p 103-104

3 DR. K. Oberg, Culture Shock and The problem of Adjustment to the new cultural environments, 2009.
 whom they feel behave unpredictably or inappropriately, they feel a loss of control4.
Because such cross cultural encounters challenge an individual’s subconcious sense a
person, they are a constant threat to one’s sense of well-being and feeling of control.

For example, is a cultural event in which people move from one country to
another. But there are far-reaching cultural differences between these countries and
make people confused to adaptation. This situation is more influenced by differences
in scholarships in France. But in France, they prefer to use their Mother tongue. This
situation will obviously make the Indonesian people experience a Cultural Shock
where he will be numbed with a language he does not normally hear so far and as we
know, that if the French are not used to hearing it would be difficult to understand.

Factors that foster culture shock include the degree of an individual’s sense of
ethnocentrims; tendency to stereotype; low levels of similaruty in beliefs, values,
norms, and attitudes; and misinterpretations of the behaviors and intentions of
members from the other cultural group. Individulas undergoing culture shock
experience a wide range of emotions, including frustation, hostility, unhappiness,
feelings of isolation and loneliness, anxiety, and homesickness. They filter their
cultural experiences in the new environment through a feeling of resenment and
alternate between being angry with others for not understanding them and being filled
with self-pity5.

4 Hall, 1959, 1976; Triandis, 1994

5
Brown, 2000: 183
A. Cause of shock culture
Besides language barrier, frustration, anxiety and stress also occur whenever
people can‘t do all the things they are accustomed to doing in their everyday lives.
These can include work, home and leisure related activities that they are either no
longer able to do at all or no longer able to do like they are accustomed to. For
example, sometimes because of differences in transportation services people cannot
move around as freely or as widely as they are accustomed to. Additional issues such
as telecommunication system, things like grocery shopping, gas-station system,
getting to work, and other things can lead to frustration also.
Another source of considerable distress for some people is not being able to
eat the foods they are accustomed to. Anyone who wants to live and work overseas
should be prepared to make considerable changes in their diet and get accustomed to
the local foods and the sometimes limited selection of familiar foods in the stores and
restaurants. They may not have the nice variety of very large and well-stocked
grocery stores they had back home or the many choices of restaurants and fast-food
places.
And lastly is the issue of values. A person can experience considerable stress
and anxiety when they are living in a different culture with different values from their
own. A person may find that some of their own cherished and deeply held values and
assumptions about life may not be equally important to members of their new host
culture. The areas of religion, moral behavior, justice and fair play, racial equality,
work ethic and privacy are areas where there may a great deal of cultural relativism,
and people living and working overseas need to learn to deal with these differences in
a relaxed and nonjudgmental way.
 B. The Symptoms of Shock Culture
Although "culture shock" is generally understood as a temporary shock felt when
confronted by different cultural customs, ways of thinking and behavior patterns, it
actually refers to a psychological state of depression caused by the experience of
successive failures in unfamiliar social situations. Culture shock is temporary, and
everybody goes through it to some extent in the process of cultural adaptation.
General symptoms of culture shock include:
 irritation
 homesickness
 loneliness
 nervousness
 loss of appetite
 sleeplessness
 feeling tired
 extreme pride in one's home culture
 hypersensitivity or excitability
 confusion
 incompetence etc.

The symptom of Culture shock emerge is definitely different for each individual.
Moreover there are some symptom that ussually an individu emerge when experiecing
culture shock, as follows :

 Feeling of sadness, loneliness, melancolies, frustation, anger, worries,

disorientation.
 Over worries about self healthy. The people who comes from the advanced
countries, ussually becoming more sesitive about sanitatin problem in the
new place. Refused to eat and drink in the local food., because afraid of the
disease and over worries about the hegenity of the food and the local civil.
 Pain all over the body. Various allergic emerge. Along with another health
disturbances. Such as diarhea, stomach disorder, headache etc.
 Temperament changes, depresion, weak and brittle, useless feeling.
 Anger, offended easily, remorse, Introvert.
 Always compare the culture of origin, idolize the culture of origin in excess.
  Lost identity, re-questioning the identity of self that had been believed. For
example, before believing that he was a smart person, suddenly now feel the
most foolish, strange, uninteresting etc.
 Trying too hard to absorb everything that is in his new environment (because
anxiety wants to master / understand the environment) which can actually
cause feelings of overwhelm.
 Unable to solve simple problems.
 Loss of confidence.

Briefly, Irwin (2007) mentions that all forms of mental and physical distress
experienced in foreign locations are referred to as symptoms of cultural stuttering.
C. The Stages of Shock Culture and Cultural Adjustment

Culture shock can be described as consisting of at least one of four distinct

phases: honeymoon, negotiation, adjustment, and mastery. During the honeymoon
phase, the differences between the old and new culture are seen in a romantic light.
During the first few weeks, most people are fascinated by the new culture. They
associate with nationals who speak their language, and who are polite to the
foreigners. This period is full of observations and new discoveries. Like most
honeymoon periods, this stage eventually ends.
After some time (usually around three months, depending on the individual),
differences between the old and new culture become apparent and may create anxiety.
This is the mark of the negotiation phase. Excitement may eventually give way to
unpleasant feelings of frustration and anger as one continues to experience
unfavorable events that may be perceived as strange and offensive to one's cultural
attitude. Still, the most important change in the period is communication. People
adjusting to a new culture often feel lonely and homesick because they are not yet
used to the new environment and meet people with whom they are not familiar every
day.
Again, after some time, one grows accustomed to the new culture and
develops routines, marking the adjustment phase. One knows what to expect in most
situations and the host country no longer feels all that new. One becomes concerned
with basic living again and things become more normal. One starts to develop
problem-solving skills for dealing with the culture and begins to accept the culture's
ways with a positive attitude. The culture begins to make sense and negative reactions
and responses to the culture are reduced.
In the mastery stage, assignees are able to participate fully and comfortably in
the host culture. Mastery does not mean total conversion. People often keep many
traits from their earlier culture, such as accents and languages. It is often referred to as
the biculturalism stage.
Stages 1: The Honeymoon
When your student first arrives at college they may experience the honeymoon
phase. They have made it! They have spent the last several years working toward this
goal and it is finally happening! Everything is new and exciting. They are fascinated
by the novelty of their experiences and enthusiastic about the opportunities before
them. The college is likely spreading the red carpet for new students with special
activities and support. Your student feels positive and successful. One problem may
be that they expect that this phase and these feelings will continue.

Stage 2: Initial Culture Shock

Ouch! Things begin to go wrong and it takes your student by surprise. Your
student begins to fatigue and realize how different everything really is. They may
begin to become frustrated and annoyed at the differences and realize how much work
it takes to manage within this new culture.
This is the stage during which you may hear from your unhappy student. It is
the time when many parents receive the “meltdown phone call.” Everything is awful,
your student is homesick, angry, lonely, anxious and overwhelmed. They may want to
come home. They feel that they don’t belong, don’t know how to make friends, don’t
like the food or their living arrangements, can’t manage their classes, and don’t fit in.
During this stage your student may feel less competent and may question their
decision to attend this college – or even to attend college at all. They begin to
question the way everyone does everything or even question their own values and
habits. They may feel helpless. One problem may be that they don’t realize that this
phase will probably pass if they give it time.

Stage 3: Recovery and Adjustment

Things get better. At least they seem to get better. Your student is able to
resolve many of their conflicts and problems, they begin to appreciate the way things
are done in this new environment, they find helpful resources – both internal and
external – and their feelings may become more balanced. Life may not be perfect, and
the still faces some surprises and mixed feelings, but they begin to feel competent in
their ability to function and handle themselves at college. The problem is that this
phase may be somewhat superficial and may change yet again.
 Stage 4: Isolation
It is possible that this phase may take students (and their parents) most by
surprise. Perhaps your student anticipated, consciously or unconsciously, initial
adjustments. They may have expected that they would feel unhappy and homesick at
some point and then things would get better. When they began to make adjustments
during the recovery phase, they thought they had made it. Then something else
happens.
During this phase your student may begin to confront some deeper, more
personal differences between their values, expectations, and lifestyle. They may need
to turn inward more to understand their unhappiness or discomfort. Perhaps classes
aren’t going the way they had hoped. Perhaps their early friendships are less fulfilling
than they had hoped. Perhaps they are finding that their major or area of studies
doesn’t feel right.
Whatever the problems are now, they seem to be more within and have less to
do with the superficial characteristics of the college culture. Your student has internal
work to do.
The problem may be that your student feels that these doubts mean that she
has failed to adapt to the new culture. They don’t have the patience to continue the
adjustment process.

Stage 5: Assimilation and Adaptation

If your student perseveres, they may eventually find that they has truly
accepted their new life at college and they feel integrated into the culture. Finally,
they have a realistic understanding of what is involved in their new life and they have
made some personal changes. Your student can now appreciate both their home
culture and their new college culture. They are now, in effect, bicultural. They have
more maturity and confidence in their abilities and the new person that they have
become.
Adaptation between cultures is influenced by various factors, including
internal factors and external factors. Internal factors are the factors of character (traits)
and skill.6 Character is all the character that shapes the whole personality of a person,
which in everyday language is usually the answer to the question, "what kind of

6
Brislin 1981
 person is he?" Answer: emotional, courageous, responsible, sociable and so on.
People who like to mingle usually will more easily adjust. Skills concern everything
that can be learned about the cultural environment to be entered, such as language,
customs, karma, geography, economic situation, political situation, and so forth.
In addition to these two factors, attitude a person influence on cultural self-
adaptation. What is meant by attitudes here is mental or nerve preparedness that is
developed through experiences that provide direction or influence on how a person
responds to all kinds of objects or situations he faces.7 Examples of attitudes: frankly,
prejudiced good or bad, suspicious, optimistic, pessimistic, skeptical, extreme,
moderate tolerant, and so on. People who are frank and open or prejudiced will be
more successful in adjusting.

External factors that affect the intercultural adaptation are:

1. The large differences between the culture of tempt origin with the
environment of the culture it enters.
2. The work he does, ie whether the work he does can be tolerated with his
educational background or previous work.
3. The atmosphere of the environment where he works. An open environment
atmosphere will make it easier for someone to adjust when compared to a
closed environment.

7
Alport
D. Coping Shock Culture

Culture shock can be prevented by striving to become more culturally

relativistic and flexible in thinking and behavior, by developing a real enthusiasm for
learning about the host culture and by forming real intercultural relationships.
Successful cross-cultural communications is a fairly straightforward proposition.
With the correct attitude, a few good cultural informants, a few cross-cultural
communications concepts and some time spent as a participant-observer, a person will
quite naturally develop a repertoire of intercultural interaction skills. And, when a
person begins to move further along the continuum of crosscultural understanding and
interaction, they will more quickly put down ego-identity roots in the new host culture
and feel more at ease with themselves and their surroundings. They will become
happier and productive at work, at home or while moving about within the society at
large. They will no longer be negatively affected by disconfirmed expectancies.
They will understand more and be understood more by others. In short, they will
have become bicultural individuals.

E. Reactions On Cultural Stable

Reactions to cultural stigma vary from one individual to another, and may
arise at different times. Reactions that may occur, among others:

An antagonist / hostile to the new environment.

1. The sense of loss of direction.

2. A sense of rejection.
3. Gastric and headache disorders.
4. Homesick / longs at home / old neighborhood.
5. Longing for friends and family.
6. Feel lost status and influence.
7. Withdraw.
8. Think of people in host culture as insensitive.
F. Examples Of Culture Shock

Based on observations about cultural stuttering in everyday life, we find

several examples of cultural stuttering in dress in everyday life.

1. Style of student Indonesia and western.

2. Dress style while jogging.
3. Style dressed the artists of the capital.

G. Effects Created by Cultural Shock

 It causes anxiety
 Early stress triggers
 May cause physical illness
 Increased feelings of irritation and frustration
 Decreased appetite or the opposite
 Fear of physical contact with another person
 Lack of sleep or the opposite
 Feelings of pain are not clear why
 A blank eye gaze
 Feelings of helplessness and want to continue to depend on the people of his
country
 Easy to get angry.
 CHAPTER III
CLOSING

Summary

Cultural shock is the state of anxiety experienced by a person in order to adapt it in a

new environment where the cultural values are not in accordance with the cultural values he
has for a long time. This cultural stuttering experience is actually considered a natural thing
that many experienced by individuals who are in a new environment (Guanipa, 1998).
However, the level of disturbance experienced by the individual may vary from one person to
another, depending on several factors that exist within the individual.

Culture shock generally moves through five different phases: honeymoon, initial
culture shock, recovery and adjustment, isolation, assimilation and adaptation. While
individuals experience these stages differently and the impact and order of each stage varies
widely, they do provide a guideline of how we adapt and cope with new cultures.

Suggestion

Along with the issue of globalization in both education and in the workforce, which
requires individuals to interact with different cultures, the issue of cultural stuttering seems to
need to be viewed more seriously than ever before. Otherwise, it is feared that the disturbance
experienced by cultural stuttering can be a threat to the mental health of many people in the
world who are increasingly doing cross cultural activities.

Efforts to overcome cultural stuttering should not only be individualized individually but
also need to be handled professionally and seriously by agencies or institutions involved in
intercultural exchanges.
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Adler, P. 1975. The Transitional Experience: An Alternative View of Culture Shock. Journal
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Mulyana, Deddy. 2008. Communication Studies An Introduction to the Revised Edition .

Indonesia: Rosda.

Mulyana, Deddy. Intercultural Communication.Child Communicating with Different People

Culture . Indonesia: Samovar.

Ahira, Anne. 2012. Concussion of Culture . www.anneahira.com

DR. K. Oberg, Culture Shock and The problem of Adjustment to the new cultural
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