Culture is defined as the values, beliefs, and social behaviour of people in a particular community. As a result, cultural practices form the basis for giving people identity as cultural practices are passed from one generation to the other through socialization process. For instance, I acknowledge that American culture has played a role in determining my views about the world at the current age. Cultural values affect the way people think and judge others, thus rendering some behaviors as acceptable or unacceptable in the community. The family becomes the first socialization aspect as children imitate the actions of elders. My parents played a critical role in ensuring that I developed skills that help me succeed in different situations and also interpret events that I come across in my adulthood. Therefore, I attribute all choices and interpretations of activities I exercise today to the socialization process I went through while young.
Effects of Family Roles and Rules on World View
I occasionally inquire the relevance of information from colleagues on a social interaction before putting it into practice. I believe that my family has played a role in helping me to develop a positivism trait while interacting with others in society. This trait affirms that family is one of the essential institutions that determine the behaviour of children in adulthood. For instance, the roles and rules that govern the functioning of family members affect how people make decisions in life. My parents had strict control that required us to give an account of any decision we choose to pursue in life. Being part of the family, I learned that assumptions were not essential in generating knowledge, and any information has to be accompanied by the evidence before it could be perceived to be valid. According to Wong, Chen, & Wu (2010), family relationships are governed by norms and rules that influence individual’s practices. Therefore, I associate the positivism behaviour with the close supervision and guidelines provided by my parents to ensure that I am in a position to enquire about the source of information before I could absorb it.
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Family and cultural background have contributed to the development of high self-esteem I demonstrate when interacting with people both in school and workplace. I understand that it takes a lot of confidence for a person to stand in front of a large audience and give personal views without fear of criticism. However, the values and rules that parents exercise to govern the activities of their children may lead to the creation of low or high self-esteem in children. Gaines (2014) suggested that supportive families nurture their children to demonstrate aspects such as high self-esteem in a public setting. Family support and the creation of opportunities for children to visit different places and interact with people play a role in building confidence that may help the child in future. The confidence I possess at this age is attributable to the commitment of my parents to ensure that I accompanied them whenever attending meetings and allowing me to introduce myself to the group. If I was deprived this opportunity, I would be categorized as a person with low self-esteem. Whenever I see people with low self-esteem, I conclude that they have grown in a less supportive family. For instance, destructive power and the use of aggressive language in the family setting demonstrate that there is a family dysfunction that contributes to low self-esteem to people.
I understand that people are culturally diverse, and there is a need for developing mechanisms for surviving in different cultural settings. Since I was young, my parents used to educate me on some of the differences between people of the United States and other communities such as Asia and European countries. However, the most crucial part of what my parents informed me is the importance of developing a positive interpersonal relationship to interact with people and avoid making judgments based on cultural differences. Strong interpersonal skills reflect the behaviour of parents and norms that govern the interaction of people in the community (Gaines, 2014). For example, parents have the responsibility for equipping children with social skills, thus demonstrating strong traits that avoid culture conflict. Parents educate children to go through this stage successfully by imposing customs and beliefs that make a person to succeed in culturally diverse regions. I view the world as comprised of people from different cultural backgrounds, thus avoiding issues of culture shock whenever I interact with people from different areas.
Family background has also played an essential role in helping me to understand that all human beings were created equal, and people should not use gender differences, age, and race to support their discriminatory acts. Though the large cultural context may embrace racism and prejudice, the family institution sets a foundation of the strategies that people should apply when interacting with individuals perceived to be of different race or gender. My parents laid equal playing grounds for us, irrespective of whether a boy or girl and used to encourage us to pursue our interests jointly. They believed that every kid had equal opportunity for succeeding and achieving the goal they set in life. The impact of a family in shaping the lives of individuals in the community reflects the norms and rules at the large context level. Every culture has standards that determine the context to which people interact, especially on the way people judge others. According to Wong et al. (2014), society shapes the behaviour of people in social interaction, while individual actions can be used to judge the beliefs and activities of the entire community. Family and community beliefs have shaped how I judge the actions of other people in the streets. For instance, I understand that people come from different backgrounds, thus minimizing ethnocentrism actions. I learned this behaviour as my parents used to take me to different places to interact with people from different cultures and learn their beliefs.
Influence of Culture on Communication
In the United States, the international language is English though there are other common languages such as French, Vietnam, and Spanish. Though I was recruited to use English language at the family level, I saw the importance of learning different styles to survive in the culturally diverse nation. In an attempt to fight against any form of discrimination, I always form groups and friendships with people from different regions such as China and France and feel interested to learn about their ways of life. Culture is created through contact, meaning that verbal and non-verbal communication styles forms the basis for passing cultural traits from one generation to the other. For example, people from different cultural backgrounds have language and symbols that they use to give messages and practices from one group or individual to the next (Falender, Shafranske, & Falicov, 2014). Language is a crucial avenue for preserving cultural traditions and beliefs as it makes it possible for people to inherit practices from elders. Therefore, communication has been helpful to me, especially in situations where I need to form groups either in school or at the workplace. People in the same group have common interests and language to expose their views.
From experience, formal and informal rules are essential in determining the success of people operating in a standardized-setting. Consequently, I believe it is vital to ensure that I always adhere to regulations that make people survive and achieve set goals in an organization. Before establishing rules, consent from each of the family members is a crucial aspect for determining the importance of commitment and ensuring that people are in a position to succeed in every activity they pursue. Whenever a new member joins the group, it becomes essential to go through a socialization process to learn the language and norms of the group. Growing up in a family and society where adults encourage youths to adhere to rules for formal meetings has helped me to cope with both formal and informal requirements. In most cases, people used to relaxed rules show difficulties in dealing with legal regulations in a meeting.
I believe that no particular culture is superior to the other because something that is perceived to be right in one community may be wrong in another society. In the modern world, globalization has increased the rate at which people from different cultures interact and share ideas. Organizations, schools, and social functions are characterized by the presence of people from different backgrounds, thus calling for a need for people to develop strategies for accommodating people from different origins (Wong, Chen, & Wu, 2010). The family has played a critical role in shaping how I judge neighbours, thus forming the basis for surviving in a diversified society without making wrong judgments for behaviour that people demonstrate in society. For example, I see lovers who show affection in public as normal behaviour. Occasionally, friends from different communities usually criticize lovers who express love in public settings. These differences show the different roles that families played in shaping views on relationships.
Influence of Culture on Emotions
Whenever I measure success in a particular goal, I always consider personal contribution as an essential aspect of measuring success. In situations where the outcome of a project is a result of teamwork, I still believe the effort I have devoted to achieving the goal to determine emotional reactions. The rules and norms set at family level have played an essential role in determining the types of behaviour and actions I demonstrate whenever reacting to an issue that I in the family or community level. Influences in individual emotional experiences lead to wide cultural variations in knowledge, thus providing a basis for explaining the reasons behind eager and happiness. In some communities, social harmony is critical in determining success in an organization rather than focusing on collectivism. This trait is common in many Asian cultures, where people attach their achievements to a particular group (Falender, Shafranske, & Falicov, 2014). However, I was brought up in the United States, where people feel happy for achievements made from personal efforts. Cultural training at family and society level has equipped me with traits such as demonstrating eager, fear, and disgusting in the presence of other people and when living alone in a room. The cultural values in the United States neither emphasize social cohesion or individualism, making it possible to show different reactions to different situations in life events.
Though I am an anti-racist, sometimes I judge emotional reactions depending on the gender of the affected person. This perception is based on the fact that cultures and family backgrounds determine the consequences of particular emotions such as gender and class, making it easy for people to judge people based on emotional reactions (Mesquita, Boiger, & De Leersnyder, 2016). In the United States, men and women differ in the manner in which they regulate their emotions, a behaviour attributable to norms and expectations based on gender norms. For instance, showing negative emotions through crying by men is subject to criticism in the United States. Shedding tears is recognized as a path through which women reveal their deep emotions to the public. This cultural notion has a significant impact on the ways I express feelings, whether in public or private areas.
Before interpreting any emotional expression, I see it as a critical approach to study the meaning of some reactions to the cultural context of the person affected. In everyday life, people come across activities that trigger mixed feelings. However, emotions are not universal, indicating that people can give a wrong interpretation for facial expressions by other people (Wong, Chen, & Wu, 2010). People from different cultures depend on clues that are applicable in interpreting a symbol in the society. In effect, there should be ways for understanding that people from different cultures can explain the action in the same context differently. Though emotions are not universal, I have realized that seven different facial expressions can be used to refer to a similar emotional expression across different cultures. In effect, I am always in a position to interpret circumstances where people show facial expression, demonstrating happiness, sadness, or worry. Successful interpretation of this behaviour shows that I successfully went through society and family norms that determine the understanding of different symbolic language in a community.
Conclusion
Culture is an essential tool for determining how people from different backgrounds view and interprets activities across the globe. The family setting is recognized as the first social institution where people learn behaviours that they demonstrate at an older age. For example, language, emotions, and perceptions of people from different cultures depend on the rules and norms that govern the lives of individuals in adulthood. For instance, each of the family members has a role that he or she plays to sustain the institution. As a result, the behavior that people in different regions usually demonstrate reflects actions in the family setting. Personally, culture at both family and societal level has shaped how I interpret emotional feelings and actions as I interact with other people in the community.
References
Falender, C. A., Shafranske, E. P., & Falicov, C. J. (2014). Reflective practice: Culture in self and other.
Gaines Jr, S. O. (2014). Culture, ethnicity, and personal relationship processes. Routledge.
Mesquita, B., Boiger, M., & De Leersnyder, J. (2016). The cultural construction of emotions. Current Opinion in Psychology, 8, 31-36.
Wong, M. M., Chen, S. X., & Wu, W. C. (2010). How family matters in shaping offspring worldviews: Personal and interpersonal antecedents of children's social axioms. Journal of Psychology in Chinese Societies, 11(1), 73.
