Going Abroad 2014. Waldemar A. Pfoertsch

American or some other nationality. When confronted by people who eat, dress, communicate and generally act in unfamiliar ways, travelers have difficulties understanding differences and are not aware of influences from their own values and behaviors.

      According to Copeland and Griggs, “cultures are not right or wrong, better or worse, just different”. Cultures are shaped by their own logic, which makes it hard for foreigners to understand and make sense of it. Anthropologists explain this phenomenon to have developed from the different climates, terrains or resources that peoples had to adapt to in the past. Just like animals, “mankind evolved diverse solutions to life’s problems”.

      1.3 Development of culture

      Two important factors that influence the way a culture develops are geography and history. The following examples demonstrate what impact history had on the United States of America and on Germany.

      In America, the pioneer spirit permeates its culture. The philosophy of starting out with nothing and then being able to achieve anything in life, if one just works hard enough, is very typically American. Children grow up with a strong sense of pride for their country, being taught that America is a unique and special place, and that they are lucky to be growing up in such a great nation. Up until recently, each school day started out with a recitation of the “pledge of allegiance” and the national anthem is played at the beginning of every sports event. In the attitudes and ways of doing business, Americans are guided by this strong sense of patriotism.

      On the other hand, Germans of the current generation never learned to be proud of their country. Although National Socialism and World War II are history, consequences can still be felt. Very few Germans exhibit national pride, and hanging a national flag out of their window, something very common in America, is rarely done. In contrast to American pride, Germans are very careful about what they say or do concerning nationalism. It is no surprise that in business and in private life, the average German does not tend to take big risks in general, preferring security and predictability.

      1.4 Problems in culture

      1.4.1 Cross-cultural misperception

      Every national group sees the world in a different way. Perception is a process by which each individual selects, organizes, and evaluates stimuli from the external environment to provide meaningful experiences for him or herself. Perceptual patterns are neither innate nor absolute. They are selective, learned, culturally determined, consistent, and inaccurate. Perception is selective because there are too many stimuli in the environment for you to observe at one time. Therefore you screen out the overload and allow only selected information through your perceptual screen to your conscious mind. Perceptual patterns are learned; we are not born with a certain way to see the world, but our experience teaches us how to perceive the world.

      Perception is also culturally determined because one’s cultural background influences the way of seeing the world in a certain way; and perception tends to remain constant. Once you see something in a particular way, you continue to see it that way. Your interests, values, and culture act as filters and lead you to distort, block and even create what you choose to see and hear. You perceive what you expect to perceive according to what you have been trained to see, according to your cultural map. For example, read the following sentence:

      “Finished files are the result of years of scientific study combined with the experience of years.”

      If asked to count the number of F’s in the sentence, most non-native speakers see all six F’s whereas many native speakers only see three of them. They do not see the F’s in the word of because it is not an important word in understanding the sentence. Usually we selectively see those words that are important according to our cultural conditioning (in this case, our linguistic conditioning).

      1.4.2 Cross-cultural misinterpretation

      Interpretation happens when an individual gives meaning to observations and their relationships; it is the process of making sense out of perceptions. Interpretation organizes your experience to guide your behavior. Your experience helps you to make assumptions about the things you see so you will not have to rediscover meanings each time you encounter similar situations. For example, you make assumptions about how doors work, based on your experience of entering and leaving rooms; that is why you do not have to relearn each time how and that you have to open a door. Consistent patterns of interpretation like the one mentioned help you to act appropriately and quickly every single day.

      Since there are more stimuli coming down on you than you can keep distinct, you only perceive those images that may be meaningful. As said before, you group perceived images into familiar categories that help you to simplify your environment and become the basis for your interpretations. For example, when a driver approaches an intersection, he or she might not see what is happening on the sidewalk, but will definitely notice whether the traffic light is red or green (selective perception). If the light is red, he or she automatically places it in the category of all red traffic signs (categorization) and will stop like prior times (behavior based on interpretation).

      Categorization helps you to distinguish what is important in your environment and to behave accordingly; it becomes ineffective when we place people and things in the wrong group. Cross-cultural miss-categorization happens when someone uses his home country categories to make sense of foreign situations. For example, a Korean businessman entered a client’s office in Stockholm and encountered a woman behind the desk. Assuming that she was a secretary, he announced that he wanted to see Mr. Silferbrand. The woman responded by saying that the secretary would be happy to help him. The Korean became confused. In assuming that most women are secretaries rather than managers, he had misinterpreted the situation and acted inappropriately. His category makes sense because most women in Korean offices are secretaries but it proved counterproductive since this particular Swedish woman was not a secretary.

      Stereotyping involves a form of categorization that organizes your experience and guides your behavior toward ethnic and national groups. Stereotypes never describe individual behavior; rather they describe the behavioral norm for members of a particular group. For example the stereotype of German businessmen is to be very punctual, busy and ambitious. Stereotypes, like other forms of categories, can be helpful or harmful depending on how one uses them. Effective stereotyping allows people to understand and act appropriately in new situations. But you should always keep in mind that stereotypes describe a group norm and not the characteristics of a specific individual, that they only describe a group and do not evaluate it and that you can and should modify them, based on further observation and experience with the present people and situations.

      The problem with stereotyping is that it often leads to prejudice, a pre-judging of people you actually do not even know. In contrast to stereotypes, prejudices are based on emotions and easily translate into feelings of uneasiness and fear.

      Even more dangerous than stereotyping and prejudice, certain groups of people feel that they are superior to others. In this state, others are seen as having positions below one’s own and that gives rise to making judgments about what is right and wrong according to one’s own values. This is called ethnocentrism. This attitude inevitably leads to conflicts with people from other countries, as they will probably think the same about their own culture.

      1.4.2.1 Sources of misinterpretation

      Misinterpretation can be caused by inaccurate perceptions of a person or situation that arise when what actually exists is not seen. It can be caused by inaccurate interpretation of what is seen; that is, by using my meanings to make sense out of reality. For example if a German (businessman) greets his American partner with “Mister” although they have seen each other already, the American categorizes the German as a businessman and interprets his formal behavior to mean that he does not like the American or is uninterested in developing a closer relationship because North Americans maintain formal behavior after the first few meetings only when they dislike or distrust the associates so treated. Culture strongly influences, and in many cases determines, your interpretations. Both the categories and the meanings