Text B

‘Culture Bumps’, by Carol M. Archer

Certain situations (e.g. arriving late for class) exist in all but a few cultures, and each culture develops particular responses that are labelled ‘polite’ for these situations: for example, North American culture teaches university students who are late for class to enter quietly without knocking and sit down, while Chinese culture teaches university students to knock, offer an explanation, and wait for the teacher’s permission to enter. A culture bump occurs when an individual has expectations of one behaviour and gets something completely different. The unexpected behaviour can be negative or neutral or positive. Unlike culture shock, which extends over a period of time, culture bumps are instantaneous, usually over within minutes or even seconds, though the effect may be long-lasting, and can occur any time one is in contact with members of a different culture.