Culture Influence

Culture Influences Our Lives

Everyone has a different background that they come from, different places, time periods, and lifestyles. The culture that a person grows up with can greatly influence their interests, interactions and behavior, but it does not directly determine who that individual will be. People adapt and even change their, interests, interactions, and behavior based on the culture that they are surrounded with at the moment.

W. Somerset Maugham, British novelist and playwright, once said, “It is very difficult to know people and I don 't think one can ever really know any but one 's own countrymen. For men and women are not only themselves; they are also the region in which they are born, the city apartment or the farm in which

In a scientific study by Anne-Katrin Neyer and Anne-Wil Harzing they found that, “Our study supports previous findings that suggest that individuals who learn a foreign language might be subconsciously influenced by the culture embedded in that language, and acquire some of its characteristics. The more experienced individuals become in working in a foreign language, the more they are able to understand the nuances of culturally determined behaviour. This leads to an increased awareness of individuals’ cultural differences, which is one of the main characteristics of a strong situation. Individuals who are aware of the culturally determined nuances in language, which reflect a particular culturally determined behaviour expected by the counterpart, are more likely to avoid conflicts by using the appropriate wording and expressions. In this regard, the ability to work in a foreign language helps to turn a weak situation into a strong one for two main reasons: First, experienced individuals know how to handle individual cultural differences. Second, experienced individuals decide to use their language skills to limit the role of culture in the interaction.” In this study, the researchers had employees and employers who were of different cultures. In the study, the employee tended to adapt to the culture of her Puerto Rican boss, even if she did not agree with what he wanted to do. In the Puerto Rican boss’

Influential psychologist and neuroscientist Merlin Donald wrote in his book A Mind So Rare, “The social environment includes many factors that impinge on development, from bonding and competitive stress to the social facilitation of learning. These can affect brain functioning in many ways, but usually they have no direct influence on functional brain architecture. However, symbolizing cultures own a direct path into our brains and affect the way major parts of the executive brain become wired up during development. This is the key idea behind the notion of deep enculturation... This process entails setting up the very complex hierarchies of cognitive demons (automatic programs) that ultimately establish the possibility of new forms of thought. Culture effectively wires up functional subsystems in the brain that would not otherwise exist.” This in no way means that culture is responsible for everything that we do and think. To truly understand culture 's role in shaping us, we must understand that culture is not just the obvious ideas and customs we all live with, but that it too is shaped by various factors. Culture shapes us, but many events mold culture into what it is as well. Culture depends on our advances biologically and