Culture-specific Knowledge Research Articles

The Use of Virtual Worlds for Developing Intercultural Competences: a study in Brazil and Portugal

This study is aimed to identify how Tridimensional Digital Virtual Worlds (3DVW) can be used as an environment for developing intercultural competences. We used Design Research as the research method to create an artifact, an educational method for practical learning through an intercultural virtual exchange in the 3DVW Second Life®. The research participants were masters students from the School of Economics and Management – ISEG, in Portugal, and students from the University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos – UNISINOS, in Brazil. In order to evaluate the process of development of intercultural competences in the 3DVW, we adopted self assessment instruments (applied before and after the virtual exchange), questionnaires, and also the critical incidents technique to select, based on direct observation (video recording), situations and events where it was possible to identify evidences of intercultural competence development. The main results indicate that the 3DVW can be used as an environment for the development of intercultural competence especially due to the affordances of social interaction, content production and knowledge sharing. The students involved in the virtual exchange inside Second Life had to practice a set of attitudes and skills such as communication skills; culture-specific knowledge; understanding others' worldviews; skills to analyze, evaluate, and relate; skills to listen, observe and interpret; respect; openness; tolerance for ambiguity, among other, that are all attributes of intercultural competence.

What steers them to the “wrong” crowd? Genetic influence on adolescents' peer-group sexual attitudes

Sexual socialization refers to how, through social interaction, an individual acquires and internalizes culture-specific knowledge, values and attitudes about sexuality. Little, however, is known about how an individual's genetic characteristics modify this process, or if individuals gravitate towards specific environments according to their genetic characteristics. The aim was to explore whether adolescents' genetic predispositions modify environmental influences on peer-group sexual attitudes. Using a Finnish population-based sample of twins and their siblings (n = 9534), it was found that genetic effects influenced peer-group sexual attitudes in men (52%) and women (46%), thus offering evidence for gene–environment correlation. Men showed less restricted peer-group sexual attitudes than women. Some indications of different genes influencing environmental exposure in men and women were found.

Auditory Processing in High-Functioning Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a pervasive developmental disorder including abnormalities in perceptual processing. We measure perception in a battery of tests across speech (filtering, phoneme categorization, multisensory integration) and music (pitch memory, meter categorization, harmonic priming). We found that compared to controls, the ASD group showed poorer filtering, less audio-visual integration, less specialization for native phonemic and metrical categories, and a higher instance of absolute pitch. No group differences were found in harmonic priming. Our results are discussed in a developmental framework where culture-specific knowledge acquired early compared to late in development is most impaired, perhaps because of early-accelerated brain growth in ASD. These results suggest that early auditory remediation is needed for good communication and social functioning.

Understanding and Challenging Culture Shock

In the last four decades culture shock has become an underlying part of the international travelers’ vocabulary and is now frequently used to describe any physical or emotional discomfort experienced by those adjusting to a new environment. In the works on culture shock we single out three basic causes: (1) the loss of familiar cues, (2) the breakdown of interpersonal communication, (3) an identity crisis. Coping strategies should be actions which could lead to self-control to respond to a situation. One is unable to change another culture, and the purpose of cross-cultural adaptation is not to avoid the people in the host culture, but to increase interaction with the local people. Another effective strategy is to learn something about the new culture before leaving home. It helps to predict reactions to stress. This information may help diminish negative stereotypes and give some confidence. The disposition to judge others in terms of one’s own cultural expectations (ethnocentrism) is diminished if we have some predeparture, culture-specific knowledge. Each of us can develop our own coping strategies. Like the cold, there is no tangible cure, but understanding the system provides us with a sense of control and helps us to work out some new cross-cultural skill.

Active music classes in infancy enhance musical, communicative and social development

Previous studies suggest that musical training in children can positively affect various aspects of development. However, it remains unknown as to how early in development musical experience can have an effect, the nature of any such effects, and whether different types of music experience affect development differently. We found that random assignment to 6 months of active participatory musical experience beginning at 6 months of age accelerates acquisition of culture-specific knowledge of Western tonality in comparison to a similar amount of passive exposure to music. Furthermore, infants assigned to the active musical experience showed superior development of prelinguistic communicative gestures and social behaviour compared to infants assigned to the passive musical experience. These results indicate that (1) infants can engage in meaningful musical training when appropriate pedagogical approaches are used, (2) active musical participation in infancy enhances culture-specific musical acquisition, and (3) active musical participation in infancy impacts social and communication development.

Empowering Culturally Diverse Students within a Collaborative Learning Community: A Student Perspective

Psychologists are typically obliged to learn about the cultures of their minority clients and students before working with them, refining their specific cultural knowledge and deepening their understanding of the influence of cultural factors on their clients and students through direct interaction. Likewise, professors of psychology can utilize these principles to empower minority students by (a) modeling cultural openness, (b) acknowledging students' rich cultural knowledge and experiences, (c) tailoring assignments to minority students' culturally influenced learning needs, and (d) seizing teachable moments. Empowering minority students in such a collaborative learning environment allows the burden of incorporating cultural views to shift from minority students to the larger classroom community, in which cultural dynamics may be safely explored, respected, and valued.

Core components in the care of immigrants with psychoses: A Delphi survey of patients, families, and health-care staff

The aim of the present study was to identify core components in the care of immigrants with psychosis in Sweden. Experts (n=43) from different perspectives (immigrants, families, and health-care staff) were assembled and used to score the importance of statements regarding components in the care for a person with psychosis in three questionnaire rounds. After each round, the opinions were consolidated and compared to identify whether consensus was reached. Consensus was reached about the importance of being treated on equal terms, regardless of country of birth. Staff interest and respect, shown in different ways of understanding, was valued. Consensus could not be reached on approximately half of the statements, of which four tended to be ranked towards unimportant. Those included that staff should have specific cultural knowledge or that the patient should be allowed to decide whether to be cared for by male or female staff. Nor was it regarded as important to identify a person's religious or ethnic background. The results illustrate the importance of fundamental psychiatric nursing, which should enable nurses to identify and meet the basic needs of all patients, regardless of country of origin. Areas for which consensus was not reached illustrate a future challenge for health-care staff to identify situations when cultural clashes could appear. Staff should have strategies to accomplish cultural negotiations to build an effective treatment alliance with the patient, as well as the family, to meet individual needs.

Development of auditory‐specific brain rhythm in infants

Human infants rapidly develop their auditory perceptual abilities and acquire culture-specific knowledge in speech and music in the second 6 months of life. In the adult brain, neural rhythm around 10 Hz in the temporal lobes is thought to reflect sound analysis and subsequent cognitive processes such as memory and attention. To study when and how such rhythm emerges in infancy, we examined electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings in infants 4 and 12 months of age during sound stimulation and silence. In the 4-month-olds, the amplitudes of narrowly tuned 4-Hz brain rhythm, recorded from bilateral temporal electrodes, were modulated by sound stimuli. In the 12-month-olds, the sound-induced modulation occurred at faster 6-Hz rhythm at temporofrontal locations. The brain rhythms in the older infants consisted of more complex components, as even evident in individual data. These findings suggest that auditory-specific rhythmic neural activity, which is already established before 6 months of age, involves more speed-efficient long-range neural networks by the age of 12 months when long-term memory for native phoneme representation and for musical rhythmic features is formed. We suggest that maturation of distinct rhythmic components occurs in parallel, and that sensory-specific functions bound to particular thalamo-cortical networks are transferred to newly developed higher-order networks step by step until adult hierarchical neural oscillatory mechanisms are achieved across the whole brain.

Mental Health Literacy in Hmong and Cambodian Elderly Refugees: A Barrier to Understanding, Recognizing, and Responding to Depression

This study aims to explore mental health literacy, specifically focusing on depression, among Southeast Asian (SEA) elderly refugees residing in the Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Three focus groups were held with nine mental health professionals who work with SEA elders. Jorm's mental health literacy framework guided the study theoretically. For data analysis, grounded theory was employed by utilizing MAX QDA2. Four themes emerged from the analysis: 1) lack of knowledge about specific mental disorders, 2) culture-specific knowledge and beliefs on the causes of depression, 3) lack of awareness about professional help, and 4) cultural attitudes toward seeking mental health services. The findings indicated that cultural beliefs of SEA elders impact their ability to understand, recognize, and respond to depression. Barriers to treatment were identified and recommendations were made to reduce mental health disparity in this elderly population.

Re-examining Bernstein: From peer-group ways of speaking to ‘Schriftsprache’ – a study of Turkish-German ‘Hauptschule’ students in Mannheim

This paper begins by looking at responses to Bernstein in Germany in the 1970s that criticized his notions of class difference in sociolinguistic codes. As part of a re-examination of Bernstein's ideas, the paper goes on to look at the current communicative situation in German education where urban schools have many second-generation immigrant students. As part of a long-term research project on communicative styles of young Turkish immigrants in Mannheim (see Keim, Sprachliche Varianz und sprachliche Virtuosität von türkischstämmigen ‘Ghetto’-Jugendlichen in Mannheim, Narr, 2007), I explore the uses of German as a school language or ‘Schriftsprache’, in which culture-specific knowledge of genres used in formal and institutional situations are taught. I find that urban adolescents have a wide stylistic repertoire that contains ethnolectal forms, bi- or multilingual mixings, switchings and crossings as well as forms of ‘schooled language’. Elements of this repertoire are used differentially in oral and written narratives. In this paper I will focus on the use of linguistic and communicative resources in written material from different social contexts (formal vs. informal), reconstruct the discursive or social functions of linguistic choices, and compare the discursive procedures used in oral and written texts.

The Construction of South-Asian-American Womanhood

SUMMARY This article explores the ways in which South-Asian womanhood is socially constructed in the context of gendered racism in the U.S. mainstream society and gender-role expectations within the various South-Asian-American communities. These conceptions create a double bind for South-Asian-American women in which cultural loyalty and gender empowerment are placed in diametric opposition to each other. The framework of feminist multicultural counseling competence is used to discuss ways in which therapists can become more self-aware, acquire culture-specific knowledge, and develop culturally congruent interventions that incorporate the impact of gendered cultural dynamics in the lives of South-Asian-American women.

Viewpoint: Cultural Competence and the African American Experience with Health Care: The Case for Specific Content in Cross-Cultural Education

Achieving cultural competence in the care of a patient who is a member of an ethnic or racial minority is a multifaceted project involving specific cultural knowledge as well as more general skills and attitude adjustments to advance cross-cultural communication in the clinical encounter. Using the important example of the African American patient, the authors examine relevant historical and cultural information as it relates to providing culturally competent health care. The authors identify key influences, including the legacy of slavery, Jim Crow discrimination, the Tuskegee syphilis study, religion's interaction with health care, the use of home remedies, distrust, racial concordance and discordance, and health literacy. The authors propose that the awareness of specific information pertaining to ethnicity and race enhances cross-cultural communication and ways to improve the cultural competence of physicians and other health care providers by providing a historical and social context for illness in another culture. Cultural education, modular in nature, can be geared to the specific populations served by groups of physicians and provider organizations. Educational methods should include both information about relevant social group history as well as some experiential component to emotively communicate particular cultural needs. The authors describe particular techniques that help bridge the cross-cultural clinical communication gaps that are created by patients' mistrust, lack of cultural understanding, differing paradigms for illness, and health illiteracy.

Understanding visuals in HIV/AIDS education in South Africa: differences between literate and low-literate audiences

This article reports on a research project aimed at determining the scope and nature of differences in picture comprehension between literate and low-literate audiences in the context of HIV and AIDS. Structured interviews were held with 30 low-literate and 24 literate adult speakers of African languages. The responses were coded and analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Consistent with previous research, we found that purely analogical visuals pose relatively few interpretation problems across the literacy spectrum. Literate and low-literate respondents recognised human beings and familiar analogous objects equally successfully. The interpretation of abstract items was problematic for respondents at both literacy levels, but relatively more so for low-literate respondents. Purely symbolic or conventional abstract elements, such as speech and thought balloons, and purely mathematical symbols are difficult for low-literate individuals since they do not have any analogical residue that will trigger relevant meaning aspects of the visual. Metaphors are difficult when they require culture-specific knowledge. The results strongly suggest that designers should exploit the expressive power of the human body in constructing (abstract) meaning. All humans have comparable experiences with associated basic actions and bodily expressions. Therefore, facial expressions and body postures and positions are powerful in transferring complex messages. We advise that pictorial metaphors, art styles that distort objects, complex pictures with partially symbolic content, as well as abstract symbols borrowed from written language should be omitted where possible.

Levels of Death Anxiety: A Comparison of American and Lithuanian Health and Social Service Personnel

Globalization, coupled with increased attention to issues surrounding death, highlights the need to explore cultural influences on the social, personal, and psychological consequences of death. This study compared the responses of 82 American and 119 Lithuanian health and social service personnel on seven subscales of the Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale. Lithuanian participants were more likely to express fear of the dying process and fear of the unknown and were less likely to fear the dead than were Americans. The findings suggest that different historical and environmental experiences with death may influence anxiety about various dimensions of death. Cultural differences in the dimensions of death anxiety among health and social service providers in the two nations suggest the importance of differential training based on specific cultural knowledge to improve the quality of care.

SPROGLIG RELATIVISME: Hvordan og hvornår kommer den til udtryk i ontogenesen?

The paper is a theoretical and empirical contribution to the debate regarding the principle
 of language relativity in relation to ontogenesis. In the first part of the paper it is argued
 that the division between universal knowledge and culture-specific knowledge which is
 present in the new discipline of cognitive science is based on a false dichotomy. This
 has led to the ignorance of the complementary contributions that anthropology and
 developmental psychology may offer for the investigation of different human knowledge
 systems. The status quo regarding recent empirical evidence that demonstrates how
 language effects cognition is then presented and discussed in terms of ecological validity.
 The second part of the paper presents results from a recent cross-cultural and crosslinguistic
 study that demonstrates the early effect of language on cognition. The study
 investigates Danish (Scandinavian) and Zapotec (Mexican indigenous) infants’ spatial
 cognition with respect to whether this is influenced by the specific linguistic structure of
 each of the two languages. The results show that the two groups of children performed
 in different, language-specific ways to the presented spatial task. Danish children
 expressed a preference for imitating the behaviour of placing one object inside a another
 object, whereas the Zapotec children were equally apt to place the respective objects in
 an occlusive relationship. The results are discussed with regard to whether they give
 support to the Whorfian hypothesis or to the notion of cultural relativity, as reflected in
 the work of Vygotsky.

Cross-cultural similarities and differences in North Americans’ geographic location judgments

We examined some potential causes of bias in geographic location estimates by comparing location estimates of North American cities made by Canadian, U.S., and Mexican university students. All three groups placed most Mexican cities near the equator, which implies that all three groups were influenced by shared beliefs about the locations of geographical regions relative to global reference points. However, the groups divided North America into different regions and differed in the relative accuracy of the estimates within them, which implies that there was an influence of culture-specific knowledge. The data support a category-based system of plausible reasoning, in which biases in judgments are multiply determined, and underscore the utility of the estimation paradigm as a tool in cross-cultural cognitive research.

Cultural issues in palliative care

To review the common issues at the end of life across cultures and the measures that can be taken to dress these issues. Published articles and textbook chapters. Culture plays a critical role in how patients, families, and health care providers view the end of life. Cultural competence in end-of-life care includes knowledge and experience and working in cross-cultural situations. Increased culture-specific knowledge will provide nurses with a basis for beginning exploration of individual or family beliefs.

Filial Responsibility Among Mexican American College Students: A Pilot Investigation and Comparison

As the number of Mexican American elders increases, their care becomes pressing. We sampled filial responsibility expectations of Mexican American college students to expand culture specific knowledge and found physical proximity to elders an important expectation. However, although some respondents adhere closely to the traditional Mexican value of familism, others may be adopting more individualistic attitudes. Filial responsibility norms may be changing as the México and United States cultures interact at the Texas border.

Accent on Taste: An Applied Approach to Multicultural Competency

“Multicultural competency is not a luxury or a specialty, but a requirement for every registered dietitian,” according to the American Dietetic Association.1 Practitioners who primarily treat clients with type 2 diabetes are familiar with the challenges of intercultural counseling. The prevalence of type 2 diabetes among African Americans, Asians/Pacific Islanders, Latinos, and American Indians/Alaska Natives is disproportionately high; it is 1.5–2 times greater than in the white population of the United States, with even higher rates in some subgroups.2 Similar trends are seen internationally, with prevalence rates in Russia and Japan exceeding those in the United States. The countries with the highest number of people with type 2 diabetes are India (35.5 million) and China (23.8 million).3 Today, diabetes specialists most likely work with at least some clients with backgrounds different from their own. In the near future, even more client-practitioner relationships may be intercultural. Type 2 diabetes is increasing worldwide, as is the need for multicultural competency. We have identified three key proficiencies in multicultural competency. First, there is an attitude of acceptance. This includes respect for cultural differences, a tolerance for the ambiguities inherent in intercultural communication, and patience for the additional time and effort necessary for effective counseling. Second, there is culture-specific knowledge of clients' diets and traditional health beliefs and practices. This includes information on typical foods and meal patterns, special-occasion customs, food avoidances/additions necessary to well-being, common botanical remedies, and acculturation norms. Finally, intercultural counseling skills are necessary. These include verbal and nonverbal communication abilities and practical approaches to diet modification. Discussion of these three complex proficiencies is beyond the scope of a single article, and other resources addressing them are available.4 In this overview, we instead address hands-on practice, with the assumption that diabetes specialists are familiar with the three …

The relevance of culture-specific conceptualisation for organisational management: a cross-cultural study on the difference between German and Swedish organisational concepts

The article deals with the question how culture-specific ways of conceptualising (thinking) play a role in organisational and management theory from the perspective of cognitive linguistics. Not only does this paper question the widespread idea that the language of science and economics is universally the same and that communication across cultural borders can be managed just by means of a lingua franca. This paper also shows by comparison of central verbal and non-verbal image-schemata in Swedish and German organisational theory how non-propositional image schemata are used in the above mentioned cultures. It is shown how cognitive linguistics (namely metaphorological analysis) can give insights into culture-specific knowledge. This is examplified through the kind of fundamental differences in the ways in which German and Swedish management deals with questions concerning hierarchies, leadership behavior, the ways of organising work processes, and the role of the individual in the organisational whole. It is argued that through culture-specific, non-propositional basic image schemata, interculturally relevant knowledge can be obtained for multicultural management.