Is cultural self awareness essential in the development of cultural intelligence?
Cultural self-awareness is essential in the development of cultural intelligence. In the pursuit of cultural intelligence, its is important that we are conscious of our own personal culture in terms of behaviours, rituals and beliefs, and practice the ability of shifting perspective and becoming aware of others. Through becoming aware of personal culture, we can understand that we do not share the same values and behaviours as those around us (Maclachlan. M, 2011). As a result, becoming open minded to other cultures, we can develop cultural intelligence by learning and exploring other ways of life (Christopher-Earley. P & Masakowski. E, 2004). Through the use of readings and personal experience, this thesis will explore the ability to adjust to new cultures, understand dissimilarity of goals between cultures, ability to recognise that differences will be encountered and also the aptitude of how to adapt.
Cultural awareness involves the conscious understanding and knowledge of personal beliefs, rituals and behaviours. As stated by Stephanie Quappe and Giovanna Cantatore (2005) it is only through “… standing back from ourselves…” that we can develop a broader perspective. Through gained knowledge, learnt experiences and routinely behaviour, every individual subconsciously develops a personal culture and in understanding this theory, we become more open to other cultural traits, behaviours and beliefs. Understanding cultural self-awareness and adjusting and respecting other cultures develop cultural intelligence. Cultural intelligence involves applying learn knowledge and experience of particular cultures and being considerate of their beliefs avoiding interrupting with the persuasion of personal beliefs (Brislin. R & Macnab. B, (n.d).
Family was and continues to be the most important and influential aspect of my cultural being. Though positive relationships are extremely influential of my mood, it becomes extremely concerning if they are unstable and delicate. Therefore, through the constant pursue of these values, I have found myself to become ignorant to other individuals and cultures that I do not share these morals with. This perspective is supported by Stephanie Quappe and Giovanna Cantatore (2005) theory that developing empathy and by being open to difference avoids ignorance and promotes understanding and respect. By ensuring that I make a conscious effort to empathise with broken, damaged families I start to adjust to their values and morals and therefore can further understand them. Though I can be ignorant at times, empathy allows me to adjust and respect these aspects of culture.
Moreover, through living in a country town my entire life, sport culture is an extremely prominent source of socialisation and sense of community. However, as a child, teenager and adult that lack competitive drive and have essentially no interest in sport, I had to and continue to adjust to new cultures. Attending and playing netball for our country club was a learned behaviour; I was not exposed to any other way of exerting energy. Though it was assumed by my peers that as a child from a sporting family, a perception of who I should be was prominent. Therefore when I came to the realisation that sport was not a passion, I had to adjust to not participating in sport by supporting and attending these matches instead. This theory practices Spencer Oatey (2012) that although I have sport in my culture, it is in my individual personality and personal traits to have different interests and passions to that of my family and this is a result of my genetic make up and learned behaviours. Though I have found comfort in exploring new cultures such as that of playing music, reading about fashion and simply being a supporter on the sidelines.
Furthermore, to become more culturally intelligent it is important to understand that there will be various differences encountered through exploration. Growing up and still living in a country town, it can be difficult to imagine a larger life outside of a rural area. It is common knowledge in a country town, everybody knows everybody, and through personal experience, this can make in travelling to and living in the city challenging. As a sociable extrovert, lack of eye contact or friendly greetings can be quite confronting for country person in the city. Though the city culture is significantly different to country town culture, it is still difficult for me to comprehend these differences. This supports Brislin. R & Macnab.B (n.d ) philosophy that if respect is not provided to those with any position in society, they may feel disrespected. However, it is essential that I understand that there are significant dissimilarities between city and country people and that these differences are not necessarily negative and should not offend or disgust me.
Additionally, as teenager present in the era of the rise of social media, I have learnt accept the differences of normalities between cultures, particularly based on age. Though there are many negatives that surround social media and its purpose, I believe it has had a positive impact on me as an educated, empathetic and cultured being. Through using media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, I have had the opportunity educate myself of the issues of the world and the ability to watch videos based on the every day life of those in various countries. However, as social media is not a shared childhood activity of the older generation, many despise this mode of education- initially, I found it difficult to convince my grandparents otherwise. However, I have applied Spencer Oateys’ theory that cultures can influence and change other cultures. Not only has my grandparents culture inspired me to read more books and magazines, I have influenced them to use social media to keep them up to date with what their grandchildren are up to and we all may not practice these new norms constantly, but can accept that they exist.
In summary, it is clear that cultural self-awareness is essential in ensuring cultural intelligence is developed. It is essential that I applied the ability to adjust to other cultures that family is not the sole moral and to adjust and to learned behaviours. Additionally, it is obvious that living in a country town, I will encounter differences and beyond my own culture of positive media influences, that I understand that different cultures have different norms. By ensuing that minds are open and to be aware and respect various cultures, we can all become culturally intelligent.
References
Brislin. R & Worthley .R, (n.d), Understanding Behaviours that serve peoples goals, Retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com.ezproxy.cdu.edu.au/doi/pdf/10.1177/1059601105275262
Christopher-Earley. P & Masakowski. E, (2004) Cultural Intelligence, Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2004/10/cultural-intelligence
Maclachlan. M, (2011) ,Cultural Intelligence: a necessity for working effectively across cultures, Retrieved from https://www.communicaid.com/cross-cultural-training/blog/cultural-intelligence-a-necessity-for-working-effectively-across-cultures/
Quappe. S & Cantatore. G, (2005), Retrieved from http://www.culturosity.com/articles/whatisculturalawareness.htm
Spencer- Oatey. H, (2012) What is culture? Retrieved from http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/al/globalpad/openhouse/interculturalskills/global_pad_-_what_is_culture.pdf