The U-Curve of Cultural Adjustment

Anthropologist Kalervo Oberg (1960) notes that culture shock occurs in stages.

At the first stage, the honeymoon, there is fascination, even enchantment, with the new culture and its people. You finally have your own apartment. You are your own boss. Finally, on your own! When in groups of people who are culturally different, this stage is characterized by cordiality and friendship among these early and superficial relationships. Many tourists remain at this stage because their stay in foreign countries is so brief.

At stage two, the crisis stage, the differences between your culture and the new one create problems. Feelings of frustration and inadequacy come to the fore. This is the stage at which you experience the actual shock of the new culture. In one study of foreign students coming from over 100 different countries and studying in 11 different countries, it was found that 25% of the students experienced depression (Klineberg & Hull, 1979).

During the third period, the recovery, you gain the skills necessary to function effectively. You learn how to shop, you find a local laundry. You learn the language and ways of the new culture. Your feelings of inadequacy subside.

At the final stage, the adjustment, you adjust to and come to enjoy the new culture and the new experiences. You may still experience periodic difficulties and strains, but on the whole, the experience is pleasant.

Another model.

The first step in the process leading to culture shock occurs over the weeks and months prior to departure from the individual's home cul­ture (Figure 1). The excitement of living and working or studying in a new culture leads the prospective traveler to be exuberant with anticipation. Perhaps the individual reads books or other publications about the destination culture and talks to individuals who are espe­cially knowledgeable. High expectations are created, and the traveler builds up an idealized mental picture of what his/her daily life will be like in the new culture.

Finally, the day arrives for travel to the new culture. On arrival, the sojourner begins to discover that the host culture is markedly different from the individual's home culture. The familiar markings of ordinary daily life are suddenly, dramatically, and completely changed. These differences are perceived by the sojourner as odd and as inferior (this is ethnocentrism). The sojourner initially has few friends in the host culture and seeks out other people from his/her passport culture. The individual feels very lonesome for the home culture that he/she was extremely happy to leave only a few weeks previously. The sojourner becomes depressed and may experience such physical symptoms as fatigue, nausea, and headaches. A loss of control and a sense of help­lessness is experienced, in the face of unfamiliar cultural cues.

Eventually, after several weeks or months, the visitor begins to appre­ciate certain elements of the new culture and to form gradually more accurate expectations. Friendships with a growing network of host-culture acquaintances serve as a social cushion, minimizing the shock when differences in customs surface. Relatively less time is spent with compatriots and more with people of the host culture. The sojourner even begins to joke about the initial difficulties in the host culture. Fluency in the local language improves. The host culture is accepted as different but as coherent within itself. The individual may even begin to feel some pride and a sense of accomplishment in adjust­ing to the host culture and in overcoming culture shock. A few sojourn­ers "go native," as they enthusiastically identify with the host culture and think of themselves as having become members of the local society. Peace Corps volunteers who adopt the dress of the vil­lagers or urban poor with whom they work are examples.

As the sojourning period nears its end and the day approaches to return home, the individual feels regret at the forthcoming departure. Yet, expectations build up about the individual's return home, and pos­itive and nostalgic aspects of the home culture are recalled. The sojourner is excited about returning home.

On arrival home, the sojourner is surprised to find that the home cul­ture is not as remembered! These unfulfilled expectations are due to faulty memory to selective recall, and to the fact that the home culture has changed in noticeable ways while the sojourner was gone, even though it was only for several months or a couple of years. The sojourner's old friends are not interested in hearing about the sojourner's experiences in the other culture. The traveler's expecta­tions do not fit reality, and he/she again becomes depressed. This reverse culture shock is caused by the absence of familiar cues in the environment.

Figure 1. The U-Curve of Adjustment. A sojourner typically passes through a series of stages: 1, preparing to travel to another culture; 2, arriving and experiencing culture shock; 3, gradually fitting into the host culture; 4, looking forward to return; and 5, returning home and experiencing reentry shock (or reverse culture shock),

This reentry period may last for several months before the traveler once again feels at home, the individual's feelings of well-being during these five phases, when plotted over time, look U- shaped (or perhaps like a "W").

Reverse culture shock or reacculturation is experienced by about half a million people in the United States each year. Sixty-two percent of Peace Corps volunteers said they found reentry to be difficult, and half of U.S. busi­ness executives said they experienced problems upon repatriation.

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