Essay Example on Culture and Worldview

First journal

The aspect of culture is very important because it is associated with the structures that build up societies. The world of today is highly complicated especially when it comes to addressing factors of multiculturalism. Culture is very central in understanding human behavior and social structures developed as norms followed by people belonging to the same cultural background. Exploring aspects of culture is, therefore, very important for better understanding the society. Metaphors are very important in establishing stronger perceptions about different subject matters. The iceberg metaphor is very effective in understanding underlying aspects that make up cultural perspectives. The metaphor is associated with the view of culture as an iceberg. The main characteristic of an ice berg is that the top part that is not submerged is usually small despite a vast submerged and strongly rooted bottom section. The bottom part of the iceberg is the one that is usually hidden, and the smaller part is the one that is visible at the top. For an incoming ship, an iceberg can be overlooked but may create great risks. Many cultures are deeply rooted and better understood by the insiders while the outsiders cannot understand the essence of their beliefs and practices. The superficial appearance of culture makes it seem easy to understand but to understand a specific culture requires more time to get to learn the hidden part of the iceberg. The tip of the iceberg is used to refer to the culture and the cultural practices that are evident and easily seen. On the other hand, the other aspects of culture are hidden and it is only the community members within that culture that understands the importance of the hidden aspects of culture. This metaphor relates to culture in the sense that the difficult and complex aspects are usually hidden (Cultural metaphor, 2017).

The world is now characterized by the interaction of people from different cultures. These differences sometimes create conflicts, and peaceful coexistence depends on the ability of people to accommodate one another. There exist types of behavior that influence peoples perceptions, and they include, personal, cultural and universal. They are factors that help shape peoples perception. In a world of today with different interacting cultures, these aspects of perspectives have to be accommodating to ensure peaceful coexistence (The Iceberg Metaphor, 2017).

A personal, cultural metaphor is based on the salad bowl which represents the society as a bowl of salad whereby different vegetables represent different cultures all mixed and work to provide nutritional value to the person consuming them. It is very representative of the multi-cultured society (Salad bowl concept, 2003).

Culture plays a significant role in shaping behavior through discrimination or reaction to the present culture an aspect formed by preconceived biases. Cultural behavior can either be learned behavior or generalizations of abstractions and ideas. Learned behavior is acquired through extra-genetically interactions which must be taught. On the other hand, there is overt and covert behavior which also play a significant role in the development of culture. Overt behavior is the behavior that is manifested through individual actions whereas covert is hidden and not physically manifested. From a cultural perspective behavior can also be respondent or operative behavior. In operative behavior individuals are conditioned by the environment to behave in a certain way. On the other hand, respondent behavior is caused by individual response to cultural stimuli.

Second Journal

From what we studied I conclude that I am a cultural learner because I can accept different culture and like to learn more about that not that but also I feel so curious about the other countries, languages, clothes and food. Since my childhood I like to try new things and discover them. Culture influences the manner in which I acquire and give ideas to other people. The socialization of culture with the people in the community guides the learning styles that I have been adopting. Culture is categorized based on the regions in which a given group of individuals are found. This provides two broad categories of Western and Eastern culture. I am influenced by the Western culture in which I noted a significant difference on the based on the perception. Western culture is more receptive than our community not all of them but the most, western culture have the passion and curiosity about other culture thats why I am influenced by them. For example, thats right that I have been thriving under the Eastern culture but that doesnt mean that I see my culture and my community is the best and right I will consider myself weak if I think that way. However, I realize I learn what I could not be able to, in the independent existence. It has enabled me to learn by sharing ideas with other individuals.

Intercultural intelligence enables me to interact freely with people from various part of the world. It does not limit me on who to associate with even up to the global context. For instance, I have a right attitude towards the culture of those around me therefore interaction and learning from them is straightforward. Increasing my ICI requires that I accurately improve my competence in accessing the intercultural setting around me. I can adapt to the new ways of learning among the people I interact with (Peterson, 2004).

Third Journal

A worldview comprises of a belief that somebody holds towards ontology, explanation, values, and epistemology. The three worldviews that were discussed in class include fear vs. power, shame vs. honor and guilt vs. innocence. Honor vs shame worldview teach children to make choices that are honorable to the circumstances in which they find themselves in. It is driven by such relationship interactions as communication, business dealings and interpersonal interaction whose effects can be felt in the participants honor-shame status. Meanwhile, the fear vs power worldview is where children are raised while assessing where they belong in the pecking order of each circumstance they find themselves in and adjust their behaviors accordingly. They learn to associate themselves with the right people to acquire power as they grow up. In the gilt vs innocent, the worldview pouts more emphasis on deductive reasoning, good questions, processes, cause and effect. Issues can only be black or white. It is also characterized by written contracts as well as direct and blunt communications.

Worldviews play several valuable roles in the lives of human beings. They serve as essential framework and foundation upon which our actions and thoughts are anchored. Additionally, our worldviews play significant roles in influencing the manner in which we interpret our experiences as well as responding to them. It is not uncommon to find people living in the same neighborhoods that share similar experiences possessing different conclusions that might even be radical from each other. The only explanation to this is that these people have different worldviews. Moreover, worldview shapes the religious perspective of individuals. For instance, people can share a similar religion and yet have different dedication and beliefs towards the course of the religion. For instance, the radical Muslims believes in violence to spread Islam while there are Muslims preaching peace with the aim of spreading their religion.

Based on the class assessment, after answering all the questions I found out that my dominant worldview was Guilt and Innocence as per the assessment we did. I like to follow the rules in everything and avoid wrong actions which could result in negative consequences and implications. For instance, because of fear of guilt and the need to show innocence I have to be kind to all the people in my life. I tend to respond to criticism and negativity with positive responses with the aim of appealing to my innocence and the fear of guilt that results after hurting other people.

References

Cultural metaphor. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-iceberg-metaphor

Salad bowl concept. (2003). Retrieved from http://www.proteacher.org/a/56972_salad+bowl+concept.html

The Iceberg Metaphor. (2017). Retrieved from http://www.culture-at-work.com/iceberg.html

Cultural metaphor. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-iceberg-metaphor

Salad bowl concept. (2003). Retrieved from http://www.proteacher.org/a/56972_salad+bowl+concept.html

The Iceberg Metaphor. (2017). Retrieved from http://www.culture-at-work.com/iceberg.html