1. Why is culture an adaptive mechanism?
Culture is considered an adaptive mechanism because it provides behavior patterns, strategies, and techniques aimed at helping people adapt in a particular environment. The goal of each living thing is survival. While plants and animals adapt to their environment genetically, for humans the most important adaptive mechanism is culture. In Madagascar, for example, trees have adjusted to the drier climate by losing extra leaves during the dry winter to limit evaporation. Humans, on the other hand, cannot adapt their bodies to very cold or very hot climates, and need cultural knowledge and technology in order to survive in the place their live. While the polar bear, in its evolutionary process, was able to adapt genetically to the Arctic climate, (by growing a thick fur and a layer of fat under it) our ancestors adapted to cold climates because of their hunter-gatherer culture. Plains Indians, for example, hunted primarily the American wild buffalo and used it for food, tools, clothing, and shelter. Their survival depended primarily on the buffalo. The buffalo was not only an animal to hunt, but a cultural symbol revered and protected by Pains Indians. The buffalo culture, handed down from generation to generation, was the Plains Indians’ adaptive strategy to the environment in which they lived. When the buffalo became and endangered species, Plains Indians were forced to change their whole scheme of life. And their culture changed with them. Culture for our species has been (and still is) a complex, questionable, and yet rewarding mechanism learned, shared and modified accordingly to our needs, consciously or unconsciously.
2. Why is culture learned?
Culture is, as d...
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...s and are given to dinner guests as “hospitality tokens.” It is unpolite and rude to ask for juicy ,delicious fish meat when you have the eyes of the fish (and the eyes of all the people in the restaurant ) staring at you in ( and at) …your soup!
Cultural knowledge (what you know about a particular country) and cultural awareness (the ability to be aware of your culture and others) are essential skills in understanding a different culture. It is essential to explore another culture as an observer, as an anthropologist on his/her first research job. In Miami I spend a chunk of each day inside unfamiliar stores –Target, Walmart, Marshall—looking at people, clothes, labels, and items; to learn rather than to judge. In those stores I experienced for the first time another culture as an observer, transcending cultural boundaries and embracing diversity.
Cultural intelligence is the capability that could give insights on how to cope with multi-cultural situations and how to engage properly in intercultural interactions. It is the individual’s ability to interact effectively in culturally diverse situations (Brislin, Worthley & Macnab, 2006). We could consider the cultural intelligence as constantly improving concept; something we can develop over time and it is not only changes through experience, but also through knowledge as well, which includes communication with other
Cultural awareness is an individual’s ability to identify the differences in values, beliefs and norms, that may result from people’s diverse origins and backgrounds (Quappe & Cantatore, 2013). This is important since it allows an individual to build successful workplace and personal relationships with people from varied backgrounds (Quappe & Cantatore, 2013).
Becoming aware of a culture supersedes the individual emotions you may experience in trying to understand how a group of people have become, through their own experience, different from the identity that you have attained from your own culture. “Cultural awareness is one being aware of their personal attitudes, beliefs, biases, and behaviors that may influence the type of care they are able to render in an environment.” (Mopraize)
What is culture? Culture is such a complex concept that it is not defined by one simple thing. When studying the culture of a particular group of people we look at their beliefs, fashion, art, music and even food. By simply trying food from a particular culture we can learn much about its history and even geography. Recently I had the opportunity to try authentic Peruvian cuisine. Not only did I get to try new food and get to learn about a new culture, I also got to be able to compare it to my own Colombian culture.
Learning about yourself, learning your own historical roots. Learning about different cultures, seeking different insights of the culture. We get rich by having experiences with cultures and traveling getting to know different cultures (Clay, 2010, pg. 24). This is one thing no one can take from you.
Paleolithic age presents the era when key human adaptations evolved in response to a variety of environmental changes experienced at the time. This period of human evolution coincided with change within the surrounding of man. Such included cooling, drying and unpredictable climatic patterns over the time. This increased amount of variability in environmental conditions raised the level of uncertainty and instability in their respective terms of survival, necessitated the man to adopt new habits to increase adaptability to the new and changing surroundings. The evolved structures and behaviors led to specialization to enable coping with changing and unpredictable conditions.
Cultural proficiency is seeing the difference and responding effectively in a variety of environments. Learning about organizational and individual culture, in which one can effectively interact in a variety of cultural environments (p. 3). In simple terms in which educators are not only able to effectively work with diverse populations, but also believe that diversity adds positive value to the educational enterprise (Landa, 2011, p. 12).
The distinctive culture is not a man made object, tools, or other tangible cultural elements but how the members of the group interpret, use, and perceive them. It is still fresh in my memory the shock I got when I came to this country. This country has a unique superficial culture, I could not imagine. The way people treat each other, especially in conversations when they meet you, they may ask you: "How are you doing?" for that incidence be aware that they do not really want to know how you are, and if you make the mistake of actually giving them a detailed account of yourself, they will deliberately avoid you for weeks. In addition, you are required to immediately embrace all new knowledge with the standard response "Nice to meet you." ...
It is important to come to the mindset of learning of the different cultures, and hold onto the humanity of treating others how one would want to be
From the frozen tundra of the arctic north to the arid deserts of sub-Saharan Africa – humans not only survive, but even thrive in some of the most extreme and remote environments on the planet. This is a testament to the remarkable capacity for adaptation possessed by our species. Each habitat places different stressors on human populations, and they must adapt in order to mitigate them. That is, adaptation is the process by which man and other organisms become better suited to their environments. These adaptations include not only physical changes like the larger lung capacities observed in high altitude natives but also cultural and behavioral adjustments such as traditional Inuit clothing styles, which very effectively retain heat but discourage deadly hyperthermia-inducing sweat in Arctic climates. Indeed, it seems this later mechanism of adaptation is often much more responsible for allowing humans to populate such a wide variety of habitats, spanning all seven continents, rather than biological mechanisms. Of course, not all adaptations are entirely beneficial, and in fact may be maladaptive, particularly behavior adaptations and highly specialized physical adaptations in periods of environmental change. Because people rely heavily on social learning, maladaptaptive behaviors such as sedentarization and over-eating – both contributing to obesity – are easily transmitted from person to person and culture to culture, as seen in the Inuit’s adoption of American cultural elements.
As companies grow and put heavier weight on the importance of globalization, the need for companies to partake in cultural learning becomes more and more vital. With the various cultures worldwide, companies will find it highly beneficial to not only learn what makes the people within these cultures tick, but more importantly, apply it to their business strategies. In order to successfully manage, merge, or trade with other countries, one must understand how cultures differ from each other and what steps they need to take to be successful when conducting business with these cultures. The use of cultural anthropologists has proven beneficial for companies like Google, Intel, and Microsoft in implementing their business
Cultural Competency is “the process by which individuals and systems respond respond respectfully and effectively to people of all cultures languages, classes, races, ethnic backgrounds, religions, and other diversity factors…” (Sue 24). In order to be culturally competent there are many factors that you must be knowledgeable about and practice in everyday interactions. Some of which include “understanding culture and its function in human behavior and society, ...have a knowledge base of their clients cultures and be able to demonstrate competence…, and obtain education about and seek to understand the nature of social diversity and oppression” (NASW 1999). I will have to know how to understand, interact with, and find the best possible solution for those who are both in my culture and those who come from many other cultures along with socio-economic backgrounds. As I was reading the introduction to Chapter two in our assigned textbooks I could not help but relate with what the content in the book started out at. Saying that all social workers must understand the perspectives of all people gets really overwhelming, especially when starting your path learning about social work. I felt like no person could be completely culturally competent because of the fact that you had to display being accepting and understanding and actually mean it.
Cultural sensitivity occurs when people recognize and are aware that each country or various ethnic groups of people have their own set of experiences, beliefs, values, and language that affect their perceptions toward life. Addressing Cultural sensitivity permits people to comprehend that there are differences between cultures. Furthermore, having awareness in the differences between cultures permits a culturally competent person to communicate effectively with others that are outside of one’s realm. Some of the differences of Cultural sensitivity can be discovered while traveling outside of the country, such as through Cross-cultural sensitivity experiences. Likewise, a culture has its own norms and beliefs to how one should dress; how one should greet others, such as by referring to a significant individual by his or her first name or surname (comprehending which name should be stated first in foreign names); and/or what foods are permitted to eat or forbidden to eat or understanding what may offend a person (e.g. not accepting a home cooked meal). There are norms, taboos, cultural cues, and cultural etiquette standards that are significant to learning about one’s culture before exploring another country or while working with people who are from your country but who are part of another racial group. It takes time and patience to build a high level of Cultural sensitivity. Educating oneself with a culture’s psychology and its norms is significant toward achieving an increasing awareness toward Cultural sensitivity.
Without evolution, and the constant ever changing environment, the complexity of living organisms would not be as it is. Evolution is defined as a process that results in heritable changes in a population spread over many generations (8).Scientists believe in the theory of evolution. This belief is based on scientific evidence that corroborates the theory of evolution. In Figure 1 the pictures of the skulls depict the sequence of the evolution of Homo-sapiens. As the figure shows, man has evolved from our common ancestor that is shared by homo-sapiens. The change of diet of homo-sapiens over time has thought to contribute to the change in jaw structure and overall skull shape.
The word 'culture' is often described in terms of concrete ideas or social artifacts. Gary R. Weaver describes some common conceptions such as "good taste," "art or music," or "something that people in exotic foreign lands had."1 However, culture in the context of international assignments relates to how people perceive the world and the influence this perception has on their actions. It is culture on the interpersonal level. Different cultures can perceive the same thing differently, which leads to miscommunication and misunderstanding when one crosses into another culture not their own.