Cutural Adaptation

and Integration
 Cultural Adaptation
Definition: A process by which individuals learn the rules and customs of
new cultural contexts.

Interpretive Approach:
Social Science Approach:
- It focuses on in-depth descriptions of
- It focuses on the individual in the adaptation process, the adaptation process, often employing
individual characteristics and background of the migrant,
and the individual outcomes of adaptation. a phenomenological approach.

- It tends to see the adaptation experience in terms of stable - It explores the essential structures of
categories like phases and variables like age, gender, and so lived experience through careful and
on, that affect adaptation, an interpretive approach
emphasizes the complex and continuous nature of cultural systematic analysis of interview data and
adaptation participant observation.
 ANXIETY and UNCERTAINTY Management
Model

Communication theorist William Gudykunst (1995, 1998, 2005) stresses that the primary
characteristic of relationships in intercultural adaptation is ambiguity. The goal of effective
intercultural communication can be reached by reducing anxiety and seeking information, a
process known as uncertainty reduction.

This model assumes that to communicate

KINDS OF UNCERTAINTY effectively we will gather information to
help us reduce uncertainty and anxiety.

predictive uncertainty A sense of

uncertainty that stems from the inability to
predict what someone will say or do.
In any interaction, it is important not only to predict
how someone will behave but also to explain why the
person behaves in a particular way. How do we do
explanatory uncertainty In the this? Usually, we have prior knowledge about
process of cultural adaptation, uncertainty someone, or we gather more information about the
that stems from the inability to explain person.
why people behave as they do.
 ANXIETY and UNCERTAINTY
Management Model

The theory predicts that the most effective

communicators (those who are best able to manage
anxiety and predict and explain others’ behaviors):

The situation in which communication (1) have a solid self-concept and self-esteem,
occurs is important in this model.
(2) have flexible attitudes (a tolerance for ambiguity,
The most conducive environments are empathy) and behaviors, and
informal, with support from and equal
representation of different groups. (3) are complex and flexible in their categorization of
others (e.g., able to identify similarities and
This model requires that people be open to differences and avoid stereotypes).
new information and recognize alternative
ways to interpret information.
 The TRANSITION Model
Culture shock and adaptation have been viewed as a normal part of human experience, as a
subcategory of transition shock. Janet Bennett (1998), a communication scholar, suggests
that culture shock and adaptation are just like any other “adult transition.”

Cultural adaptation depends in part on the individual. Each person has a preferred way of
dealing with new situations. Psychologists have found that most individuals prefer either a
“flight” or a “fight” approach to unfamiliar situations.

flight approach A
fight approach A trial- Flexapproach. Use a
strategy to cope with a new
and-error approach to coping combination of productive “fight” or
situation, being hesitant or
with a new situation. “flight” behaviors. The idea is to “go
withdrawn from the new
with the flow” while keeping in mind the
environment.
contextual elements.

Individual preference is a result of family, social, and cultural influences. For example, some parents encourage their children
to be assertive, and others encourage their children to wait and watch in new situations. Society may encourage individuals
toward one preference or the other.
 The INTEGRATIVE Model

Young Yun Kim (2001, 2005)suggests that adaptation is a process of stress, adjustment, and
growth. As individuals experience the stress of not fitting in with the environment, the
natural response is to seek to adjust. This process of adjustment represents a psychic
breakdown of previously held attitudes and behaviors—ones that worked in original
cultural contexts.

Adaptation occurs through communication. That is, the migrant communicates with individuals in the new
environment and gradually develops new ways of thinking and behaving. In the process, the migrant achieves a new
level of functioning and acquires an intercultural identity.

Migrants who communicate frequently in their new culture adapt better but also experience
more culture shock.

When feelings of helplessness and inadequacy arise during the cultural adaptation, social support from friends
can play an important role in helping the newcomer reduce stress, clarify uncertainty, and increase a sense
of identity and self-esteem (Adelman, 1988).
 psychological health The state of being emotionally
comfortable in a cultural context.
OUTCOMES
of Cultural functional fitness The ability to function in daily
life in many different contexts.
Adaptation
intercultural identity Identity based on two or
more cultural frames of reference.
 An approach that explores the essential
structures of lived experience through careful
and systematic analysis of interview data and
participant observation.

It emphasizes the complex and continuous

nature of cultural adaptation.

Three (3) interpretive models:

(1) the U-curve model
(2) W-curve model
(3) Phenomenological model
 U-curve theory A theory of cultural adaptation positing
that migrants go through fairly predictable phases—
excitement/ anticipation, shock/disorientation,
adjustment—in adapting to a new cultural situation.

Three (3) PHASES

Anticipation: The first phase is the anticipation or excitement phase. When a migrant first enters a new cultural
context, he or she may be excited to be in the new situation and only a little apprehensive.

Culture Shock: The second phase, culture shock, happens to almost every- one in intercultural transitions.
Individuals face many challenges of transition in new cultural contexts. Culture shock is a relatively short-term
feeling of disorientation, of discomfort due to the unfamiliarity of surroundings and the lack of familiar cues in
the environment.

Adjustment: The third phase in Lysgaard’s model is adjustment, in which migrants learn the rules and customs of
the new cultural context.
 W-curve theory A theory of cultural adaptation
that suggests that soujourners experience another
U curve upon returning home.

When migrants return home to their original cultural contexts, the same process of adaptation
occurs and may again involve culture, or reentry, shock depicted by the W-curve model (Gullahorn &
Gullahorn, 1963). Sometimes this adaptation is even more difficult because it is so unexpected.
Coming home, we might think, should be easy.

Other terms for the process of readapting to one’s home culture include: reverse culture shock,
reentry shock, and repatriation.
 A research approach that seeks in-
depth explanations of human
experiences.

Three (3) PHASES:

(1) Taking things for GRANTED. Migrants realize that their assumptions are
wrong and need to be altered.
(2) Making sense of new patterns through communication experience.
(3) Coming to understand new information. As migrants begin to make sense of
their experiences and interactions in new cultural contexts, they come to
understand them in a more holistic way. This enables them to fit the new
information into a pattern of cultural understanding.