Are You an Individualist or Collectivist?
I'm teaching a graduate course in Cultural Pluralism this semester. The class is a diverse group of students from different regions of the country and always it's a challenge to facilitate this class and the contents of the course. The purpose of the course is really to expose students to the health, education, communication differences, and speech/language/hearing disorders of individuals from culturally and linguistically diverse populations. But before we begin to the meat of the course, I always present a video by Dr. Richard Brislin from the University of Hawaii. The video is part of a program developed at the University of Arizona's National Center for Neurogenic Communication Disorders. Dr. Brislin discusses those personal traits of individuals who are successful in moving into another culture. This could be an American going into Latin America or Asia. Or it could be a speech language pathologist who is becoming bilingual and wanting to work with individuals from another culture.
Some characteristics or traits of those individuals who are successful and work in another culture include the following:
- Able to work cooperatively with others. The person must show respect and an appreciation for other cultures. Other cultures appreciate people who will learn their language. Through developing friendships, the friend may become a cultural informant who can help to understand the cultural norms.
- Open-mindedness: This requires the person to put aside the tendency to judge and instead seek out more information. Finding out more about those "Odd or different" practices and trying to understand the peoples' way of thinking will expand your understanding of the new culture.
- Flexibility: This refers to one's behavior. There may be ceremonies that are appropriate in your culture that you may pick and chose, but you know which ones, but in another culture it may be inappropriate to not attend the one you mistakenly chose.
- Professional skills and knowledge useful to the host. It's good to have knowledge that the host culture can use within that culture. This allows them to learn from you.
- Sense of humor. This has been found to be an excellent trait to have. You must be able to laugh at your own mistakes.
- Activities and interests that serve different purposes. In another culture there may be people who have the same interests and would like to learn these and learn about the American culture.
- Know when you need to know more. Knowledge is culturally relevant.
Dr. Brislin described two types of cultures and of course there is a continuum of these concepts in that populations may fall anywhere on this continuum. Societies can be described as either Individualistic or Collectivistic. The Individualism society emphasizes the individual, personal goals and achievements. In Collectivism, the group is important and group goals look after the needs of the entire group. Collectivism is found in Native American, African American, and Hispanic cultures. For more information, please read Battle, 1998. Brislin does give some suggestions to persons who are either individualistic or collectivistic when they are interacting with the other culture.
For example, the Individualist who is moving into a collectivists culture. The following are recommended.
- Pay attention to groups people join. Groups are important. The group they belong defines who they are and either gives you status or none at all.
- Attitudes toward authority are important. There is more respect for authority, so pay attention to this.
- People have many functions in groups. Bislin reported that in Collectivistic cultures there are lower suicide rates than in collectivistic societies because people are never alone.
- Vertical relationships are very important. The person who is higher has importance. This means that the person who is lower will have a harder time to win in any discussion. Equality is not there.
- Relationships are long term. If we have a good relationship it must continue into the future. So people don't drop out of other peoples lives.
- Use of first names is slower to develop. Titles are used.
- Gift giving is very important. These solidify relationships and it may feel uncomfortable at first, but you'll get use to it.
- Feeling of privacy is not as strong.
For the individual who is from a Collectivistic Society moving into an Individualistis society the following is what you need to know.
- Gender and age carry less weight. Accomplishments are more important. So we make resumes. Not who we know, but what we know is appreciated.
- Individualists value being distinguished, important, and competent.
- Individualists are attached to nuclear families. But the tie to extended families, is less strong than in a collectivistic society. For example, it is acceptable to miss work to attend a funeral of extended family in Collectivistic groups.
- Signatures mean a great deal. This means a lot but in a collectivistic society, the guarantee or agreement is based on your bond.
- Individualists are more comfortable with equal status relationships. We feel close to the boss and are comfortable expressing disagreements. The distance is not so far.
- Individualists are more likely to do something alone, such as go to a movie, or have dinner alone. Collectivists will likely go in a group.
- Individualists are less prepared to enjoy working in groups where the rewards are divided. Individual contributions have to be recognized.
I thought this information was interesting and something that I always observe in my classrooms and in clinic from student preferences. Even as an educator at the university level, we need to be sensitive to student differences in learning and social interactions. More than ever, all of us should be sensitive to the persons who we provide assessment and intervention programs.
Reference:
- Battle, D. (Ed.) (1998). Communication disorders in Multicultural Populations. Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann. Triandis, H., Brislin, R., Hui, Ch.H. Cross-cultural Training Across the the Individualism-Collectivism Divide," International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 1988, 12, 269-289.
