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| Chapter 14: Cultural Variation in Experience, Behavior, and Personality |
Using the material in Chapter 14, write down a series of questions that you would like to ask someone from a different culture who is living here. The more theoretical and philosophical the questions, the better they will be. Take outgroup homogeneity bias for example; a series of questions you might ask are, "Before you came to the United States, what was your stereotype of an American?" "To what degree did you see all Americans as being like that?" "How have your impressions changed?" "I know Americans, including me, see all people from your culture the same. How are we wrong about the people from your culture?"
Next, find someone to interview. In some areas of the country this will be very easy. In other areas it may be more difficult. Here are some tips for students who do not live in a multicultural environment. Almost all college and/or high school campuses have an international program or exchange student programs where you should be able to find someone to interview. If not, go to your International Programs Office (the place where you go if you want to study abroad). Interview the director of that program. One last option is to rethink this assignment in terms of subcultures—if you are young, interview someone elderly; if you are older, interview someone young; if you are female interview someone who is male; etc.
The purpose of this exercise is to practice working with these ideas about culture, and to discover the extent to which some of these notions (e.g., outgroup homogeneity bias, ethnocentrism) might affect your thought processes as you watch the evening news or encounter someone in a class who comes from a different culture than yours.
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