Cultural Exposure, Transformation of Self
Societies and environments act as waves: sometimes the waves are gentle, slowly pushing the next one along, while others are larger and more aggressive, causing preceding waves to make greater splashes.
I am teaching in a high school (Instituto) here in Spain where I work with twelve different classes. Some of the classes are quiet, others loud, and some a mixture of the two. I have watched the flow of the class go from absolute silence to chaos in a matter of seconds. As soon as one student becomes comfortable within the environment and starts to talk, the other ones happily follow because it is in their nature to talk. Now, this is nothing new, but it has made me consider the formation of norms within societies because as humans we are so easily and unknowingly influenced by the environments we are most familiar with. The classroom, a microcosm of Spain, perfectly illustrates the patterns in the larger society: people observe, react, and imitate.
As children we develop through what Piaget calls the process of equilibration, which is the change children undergo in order to adapt to new knowledge and avoid conflict. We acquire this new knowledge through assimilation or accommodation. Assimilation occurs when we observe sensory impressions and add them to existing schemes, while accommodation is when new environmental impressions cannot fit into existing schemes meaning we must reconstruct our knowledge. As we grow older and certain knowledge is consistently reinforced, it becomes solidified as absolute truth. Since it is human nature to keep a balance within oneself, we develop habits, norms, and beliefs about the world that become difficult to change. As adults, assimilation is more often the mode we take when new, conflicting impressions are observed. Rather than reconstructing our prior knowledge, we often reject conflicting knowledge as false. On the contrary, younger minds are more open because their foundation is still being built.
While we can preach acceptance and equality to children, experience and interaction is the most effective mode when it comes to engraining these values. Stereotypes about certain groups are so often reproduced within society that beliefs are unknowingly enforced. As mentioned before, children acquire knowledge by taking in sensory impressions from their surroundings. If children observe people from each gender, race and sexual orientation being treated as equals, they will think of this as a societal norm.
In each place I have been, I have noticed very evident norms for societies. In Finland the people are known to be very quiet, independent, and small talk is avoided. The opposite can be said about Cameroon and Spain, where people are very friendly and spend a lot of time together. While these are broad generalizations, I think it shows how easily human beings are conditioned to fit into their society in order to maintain an equilibrium.
Oftentimes we don’t realize our personal norms and habits until they are taken away. This is why I believe travel and interaction with multiple cultures is the best form of attack in order to open our minds and become more adaptable. I have found that the more time I spend abroad, the easier it is for me to accept new norms, while at the same time accepting me for me. Through objective observation I see certain habits of others and experience the habits for myself. I am then able to analyze my own tendencies and decide what works best for me within any given environment. Once I realized the whole world didn’t expect the exact same things from me -only small parts of society- it became easier to just be myself. The harder the situations are that I face, the easier things seem in the future and the more malleable I become. When I learned how to immerse myself in different ways of life, everything seemed perfect. My life in Cameroon was great, my life in Finland was great, my life in Spain is great, and I will always love my life back home. In times of weakness or hardship, I definitely crave pieces of my long-held norms because they quickly bring me to a place of absolute comfort. But, I also find new pieces of comfort in each place I go.
