Culture Shock of an American in Europe

Culture shock is the term applied to the trauma of bewilderment, and anxiety which is, at times experienced by individuals who, voluntarily or involuntarily, find themselves isolated in an alien culture, or, as a consequence of war, find an alien culture imposed on them (Storti, 1989). The more common symptoms of culture shock are apathy, and withdrawal. More severe cases of culture shock may be characterized by behavioral disorders, such as obsessional hand washing, and, in the most extreme cases, overt xenophobia may be manifested by the affected individual.

An extreme example of culture shock may be illustrated by the case of an early day explorer from a western culture, who is informed by the host that the dinner being consumed is an old lady to whom the explorer had talked with the previous day (Berger, 1987). A less extreme example of culture shock could be the feelings experienced by a firstyear college student 1

2whose takenforgranted beliefs about religion and society are challenged by intellectual probings for deeper understandings (Berger, 1987). A third example of culture shock may be the feelings of indignation experienced by an American woman visiting a rural village in Mexico,

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ssible by the combined effects of perception, evaluation, and expression (Shock, 1985). The social process of interpersonal communication involves three sets of determinantssensory, environmental, and psychological. With respect to culture shock, environmental and psychological determinants are the most crucial. Environmental determinants are the people and the social systems with which an individual is associated, while psychological determinants are the ways in which an individual's experiences affects her or his knowledge, skills, and methods of adptation (Eisdorfer, & Wilkie, 1977). 6 A person is an individual behavioral system (Fawcett, 1989), which, in turn, is a component of a larger social group behavioral system. For individuals and for social groups, the external environment includes all forces (objects, events, and situations) which are capable of impinging on either the individual or the social group. For individuals, the internal environment involves the psychological and physical characteristics of the individual which permit and facilitate reaction and adjustment to external forces. Behavioral system balance within a social group is a manifestation of successful adjustments and adaptat
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Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)

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