In this article, I first expressed the idea of the conditional division of levels of psychological maturity into three stages. So this article can be considered the forerunner of my most "programmatic" articles: "Mature personality", "The illusion of egocentrism", "Development of personality and development of society."
Stages of adaptation to a different culture and stages of personality development
When a person gets into a different cultural environment (of course, we mean only cases of voluntary move / visit, i.e. a person does not initially perceive another cultural environment as hostile), he goes through three stages of adaptation to it.
At the first stage, a person sees first of all the advantages. This stage can be called euphoric. It manifests itself especially clearly in cases of a person's initial sympathy for the culture into which he fell. For example, a person with sympathy and admiration for the Chinese and Chinese culture will see in the Chinese the best human qualities as a manifestation of the norm, while the worst as a manifestation of the exception. When visiting China, the advantages and dignities of everyday life, life and nature will be striking. Cons will not be noticed, and if they are found, they will be skillfully justified. This necessary manipulation of consciousness is necessary to preserve one's own opinion, to preserve self-esteem and to preserve an established picture of the world. Very strong, very weighty arguments are needed in order for a person to reconsider their views in a short time. The picture of the world in the human mind changes slowly and, as a rule, imperceptibly for the person himself. A sharp, quick revision of views is possible only in the event of a powerful shock that rudely brings down the old idealistic ideas.
In the case of a standard tourist visit, usually the first stage, everything is limited. A person receives confirmation of his initial ideas, first of all, because he wants to receive these confirmation. To what extent these ideas will be corrected - whether a person will finally establish himself in them and his ideas will become beliefs or will doubt certain aspects and begin to look for additional information - will depend on the psychological flexibility and maturity of the individual. As a rule, if a person is personally interested in his ideas (for example, if a person identifies himself taking into account certain ideas), then he stays with his opinion even in the absence of positive reinforcement of his ideas and an abundance of negative ones. After all, one and the same phenomenon can be interpreted in positive and negative aspects. Naturalness - rudeness, charm - arrogance, seriousness - constraint, friendliness - sneakiness, smiling - insincerity, good manners - hypocrisy, frugality - stinginess - any of these pairs of words describe almost the same meaning, the difference is mainly in interpretation.
It should be legitimate to talk about the second and third stages of adaptation only in cases of a person moving to a different cultural environment for permanent residence.
The second stage of adaptation is the stage of frustration. This inevitable stage occurs when a person gets used to the new and no longer perceives the advantages of the new environment as something amazing and delightful, when they become commonplace, not striking. At the same time, a person closer and deeper learns a new life, learns not only the facade (that which is perceived immediately), but also the seamy side of life in another culture. Previously, a person could only know speculatively that it exists (and this is not necessary), but now he saw it with his own eyes, felt it on his own skin. This inevitably gives rise to disappointment, complete or partial, depending on how much the first iridescent impression suffered, how many illusions were shattered, how much the former idea and the revealed truth did not coincide.
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During this painful stage, there are two types of psychological defenses. They can be conditionally designated as patriotic and apatriotic.
At the first defense, the emigrant begins to surround himself with things that remind him of his homeland, joins the national diaspora and maintains close relations with it, limits contacts with representatives of the new dominant culture. At times he thinks about returning, closely follows the political life of the abandoned country. Begins to acutely feel the absence of those positive qualities and aspects of life in the abandoned country, which were not previously noticed or which were not given special importance. In many ways, everything happens according to the proverb "we do not store what we have, and when we lose it, we cry." If this process continues on an increasing scale, then a return is almost inevitable. But most likely, the wisdom of another famous proverb will work: "it's good to love at a distance." Contacts with the national diaspora, trips home to friends and relatives,modern communication capabilities allow a person to live in an alien culture quite comfortably, having a number of advantages of a new position, but also without breaking ties with their native culture.
With the second type of protection, the following occurs: a person endows the abandoned home country with a number of shortcomings, against which the discovered and realized disadvantages of the new cultural environment become insignificant. The more difficult it is for a person to adapt, the more significant should be the shortcomings of the former homeland, and over time it becomes, in the perception of the emigrant, a branch of hell on earth. He seeks confirmation of his attitude and, of course, finds them. The attitude towards the abandoned country becomes a conviction, a personally significant indicator of self-identification. It is possible that the phrase “all normal people have left this country” was born in the circle of emigrants with this type of protection against disappointment with the new cultural environment.
As you can see, the first and the second version of psychological defense is based on a comparison of the native and new cultural environment. The first is based on love for the native cultural environment, the second on hatred. You can make the torture of comparing these two types of defense, deciding which one is better, more productive, and conducive to happiness. Love seems to be a much more constructive feeling for a person and others than hatred, so the author's choice is obvious. At the same time, it should be remembered that with a strong manifestation of these defensive reactions (especially of a patriotic sense), adaptation to a new cultural environment suffers and the third stage becomes unattainable.
The third stage is the stage of complete adaptation. A person fully identifies himself with his new environment, feels like a citizen of the country in which he lives. This does not mean that a person breaks all ties with the Motherland and native culture, but his attitude towards them loses both positive and negative idealization. This also applies to the new cultural environment. A person finds his place in society, arranges his personal life, and this occupies him much more than questions of comparing the former and current cultural environment. The stage of complete adaptation can be called the stage of maturity, because psychological maturity is, first of all, the absence of illusions and egocentric tendencies, the absence of pronounced mechanisms of psychological defense (after all, the last needs are primarily for maintaining illusions),taking full responsibility for yourself and your life. A mature person no longer spends time and energy on egocentric self-examination, because a mature person is, first of all, one who has found himself. Full adaptation to a different cultural environment is a state when a person has found his place in it.
In this regard, I want to draw parallels between these stages of adaptation with the stages of personality development. If we roughen and generalize as much as possible, then human life can be divided into three stages: childhood, adolescence (transitional) and maturity. Of course, adaptation to life in society in general and adaptation to a different culture are incommensurable in scale of the phenomenon, but they have much in common in their general principles.
Childhood can be compared to the first, euphoric stage of adaptation. For a child, an adult is an unconditional authority, a role model, a defender, and the world around is the world of adults. The world for a child (if you do not take the examples of dysfunctional families) is, first of all, an interesting, rather benevolent, bright place. On average, people often identify childhood as the happiest time of their lives. In childhood, a person has not yet felt disconnected from the world, people and himself. He makes many bright, fascinating discoveries, and his faith is not poisoned by doubt. The child has magical thinking and the fear of death (conscious or unconscious) has not yet touched the soul. The child feels that the whole world lies in front of him and is only waiting for him to grow up to take it as the most interesting, the best toy that will never get bored.
The world around for a person is, first of all, the world of people, i.e. society. Nature / climate also plays an important role. Getting into a different society - the climate, and even having an initially positive attitude, a person to some extent recreates the conditions of childhood, conditions when the world is still unknown, interesting and benevolent. The euphoria of the first stage can be justified precisely by this - virtual immersion in childhood. Of course, a person does not become a child again, does not lose his professional skills, but in a different cultural environment his emotional perception of the world approaches that of a child. Those sensations that constitute the sensations of childhood are imprinted in a person forever, imprinted in those layers of the psyche that were formed at that time at the dawn of life. In a different cultural environment, at the initial stage of adaptation, an associative array appears,which, as it were, raises these layers to the surface. In the conditions of a tourist visit, a person is often fully supported, in conditions where he does not need to take care of food and other needs, which further strengthens the associative array leading back to childhood.
In this regard, I cannot but point out the undeveloped sense of danger of children, their increased victimization. There are a lot of accidents due to negligence and recklessness in tourist travel. It can be assumed that this is not least due to the fact that a number of tourists, having fallen into the "euphoria of childhood", lose their caution and do things that they would never have done in their homeland. The child needs supervision.
Adolescence is in many ways an age of frustration and cynicism. In adolescence, all previous dogmas and authorities are criticized and rethought. The authority of adults is called into question, everything in life becomes clear and banal, the world is no longer gentle and safe, now there is death in it. The bright colors of childhood fade and crumble when a person becomes not a mother's-father's continuation, but a separate person who must find herself and her place in society. There are many new responsibilities and new responsibilities, the era of full provision is already ending.
The main difference between the world of a teenager and the world of a child is that it is uncomfortable. So for an emigrant, the world of another country becomes uncomfortable and something must be done, something must be done in order to live tolerably well in it again. Someone begins to knock out benefits - and how this offended, full of pretensions and egocentrism position of the emigrant resembles the position of a teenager who, through manipulations, pulls various benefits and indulgences from parents!
This is an example of a person with non-constructive behavior who resists learning and adapting to the conditions of society, developing himself and his professional skills, and becoming a person and a professional. A mature person is an accomplished person. More precisely, this is the one who has experience of solvency, bringing to the end his goals, which he independently set for himself. A person who is able to fully adapt to another culture must be mature (or become mature in the course of adaptation). A person in the third stage of adaptation does not perceive the new culture either through pink or black glasses, his attitude to the surrounding reality is calm and emotionally neutral enough. It is far from cynicism, but there is no frankly idealistic sentiment in it, but rather a calm benevolence. Such a person no longer contrasts the old and new cultural environment. Likewise, a mature person is no longer concerned with the question of "who is to blame for the fact that I am unhappy", does not look for an "object of service" and the promised land. If mature, successful people move to other countries, it is usually for the sole purpose of developing their professional activities.
Finally, a few words about why it is often emotionally difficult to come back home after a tourist visit to another country. Some people, returning from such a trip, fall into a depressed state of mind and see the disadvantages in the environment first of all, they find compatriots inferior in a number of human and professional qualities to foreigners, residents of the visited country. The author has repeatedly heard statements that the return to the homeland was like a “return to Mordor”, “went from heaven to hell” and so on. Is there not in these statements a hidden resentment towards the world for the lost joy of being, which was in childhood? After all, if you compare a journey to a different cultural environment with a symbolic return to childhood, then returning to your homeland should be compared with a sudden return to the uncomfortable, gray world of a teenager. Does a mature person experience something similar, with grievances, disappointment, and dissatisfaction lived through and left behind? A person who is in his place and who has, what to do and what to live? I’m sure not. Maturity does not seek a return to childhood euphoria. In this regard, the very presence of a "depressive return" may indicate the presence of unresolved problems in a person, internal dissatisfaction with his life, that it is time for a person to change something in his life and finally get out of the gray band of immaturity. In this regard, the very presence of a "depressive return" may indicate the presence of unresolved problems in a person, internal dissatisfaction with his life, that it is time for a person to change something in his life and finally get out of the gray band of immaturity. In this regard, the very presence of a "depressive return" may indicate the presence of unresolved problems in a person, internal dissatisfaction with his life, that it is time for a person to change something in his life and finally get out of the gray band of immaturity.
B. Medinsky
