Culture Stress during a Crisis
Have you ever been at a movie and the entire audience laughed at the same time at something funny in the movie? Have you ever read a book laughed, shared that part with someone else and they laughed too? What about a meme or a tweet that you have seen and laughed about (knowing that thousands of other people found it to be funny too)?
I've watched movies in South Asia with friends and we were the only ones who laughed at certain parts of the movie. Maybe it was a part of the movie that made a reference to something familiar to us (having grown up with American influence) that was not familiar to the audience. The movie set us up to feel like one thing was about to happen and then suddenly an unexpected thing happened. However, the joke was lost on the majority of the audience because they did not share in the same expectation as those who were familiar with what "should" have happened next. A moment like that gives a glimpse into a deep cultural difference that hints at implicit knowledge. The people who made the movie designed the funny moments in the movie to be funny for those who shared the same implicit knowledge as them. When a joke or funny moment works well it has required someone to have the ability to explicitly understand what is implicitly expected in a target culture and then deliberately do something that will cause a cognitive dissonance that will result in the feeling of humor by those whose implicit knowledge has been used for comedic effect.
When it comes to comedy this toying with expectations and suddenly going in a divergent direction other than what is implicitly expected is designed to be enjoyable. We pay money for the experience. But what is it like if someone lives as an expat in a country that is not their own and everyday moments suddenly go differently than their implicit knowledge anticipates? It leads to culture stress and possibly culture shock.
A few months ago I ran out of the deodorant I prefer and have been using for years (Old Spice--red container, blue gel type--Endurance, Sport type). I went to the store and they did not have the kind I am used to using. I bought something else. When I woke up the next morning and applied the deodorant it felt like I was walking around with a stranger all day long. I did not smell like me. Smell is deeply connected to culture. In the song Stressed Out by 21 Pilots he sings about making a candle that smells like his home but says that probably he would only sell 1 to his brother because they "Have the same nose" (Lyric Find). We have implicit knowledge (deep knowledge) tied to certain smells. When something doesn't smell right it can be hard for us to figure out why we feel a cognitive dissonance; but we do. Or we can suddenly remember something and it is hard to figure out why we have that random memory, but then we realize it is because a certain smell reminded us of a different smell that reminded us of something else that caused us to remember something we had not thought about in ages.
There are certain times when I am out on a run that I smell a flower and it reminds me of the way Thailand smelled to me the first time I visited in 2009. Other mornings I've been on a run and I've smelled something and thought of other countries and places I've been because of what I have smelled. These are associations that are very deep within people. They are not parts of culture we set out to explicitly learn. They would be hard to teach. They are bits of implicit knowledge that are deeply in people as part of their culture. When something that is deeply a part of who a person is is challenged because of being in a place that does not operate according to the implicit knowledge operating at such a deep level it causes culture stress.
I've watched movies in South Asia with friends and we were the only ones who laughed at certain parts of the movie. Maybe it was a part of the movie that made a reference to something familiar to us (having grown up with American influence) that was not familiar to the audience. The movie set us up to feel like one thing was about to happen and then suddenly an unexpected thing happened. However, the joke was lost on the majority of the audience because they did not share in the same expectation as those who were familiar with what "should" have happened next. A moment like that gives a glimpse into a deep cultural difference that hints at implicit knowledge. The people who made the movie designed the funny moments in the movie to be funny for those who shared the same implicit knowledge as them. When a joke or funny moment works well it has required someone to have the ability to explicitly understand what is implicitly expected in a target culture and then deliberately do something that will cause a cognitive dissonance that will result in the feeling of humor by those whose implicit knowledge has been used for comedic effect.
When it comes to comedy this toying with expectations and suddenly going in a divergent direction other than what is implicitly expected is designed to be enjoyable. We pay money for the experience. But what is it like if someone lives as an expat in a country that is not their own and everyday moments suddenly go differently than their implicit knowledge anticipates? It leads to culture stress and possibly culture shock.
A few months ago I ran out of the deodorant I prefer and have been using for years (Old Spice--red container, blue gel type--Endurance, Sport type). I went to the store and they did not have the kind I am used to using. I bought something else. When I woke up the next morning and applied the deodorant it felt like I was walking around with a stranger all day long. I did not smell like me. Smell is deeply connected to culture. In the song Stressed Out by 21 Pilots he sings about making a candle that smells like his home but says that probably he would only sell 1 to his brother because they "Have the same nose" (Lyric Find). We have implicit knowledge (deep knowledge) tied to certain smells. When something doesn't smell right it can be hard for us to figure out why we feel a cognitive dissonance; but we do. Or we can suddenly remember something and it is hard to figure out why we have that random memory, but then we realize it is because a certain smell reminded us of a different smell that reminded us of something else that caused us to remember something we had not thought about in ages.
There are certain times when I am out on a run that I smell a flower and it reminds me of the way Thailand smelled to me the first time I visited in 2009. Other mornings I've been on a run and I've smelled something and thought of other countries and places I've been because of what I have smelled. These are associations that are very deep within people. They are not parts of culture we set out to explicitly learn. They would be hard to teach. They are bits of implicit knowledge that are deeply in people as part of their culture. When something that is deeply a part of who a person is is challenged because of being in a place that does not operate according to the implicit knowledge operating at such a deep level it causes culture stress.
During the pandemic we are adjusting to a new normal. The implicit knowledge that informs my thoughts on how best to respond to the changes that should be made is not the same implicit knowledge that informs those who actually are making policies and giving guidance. It is also not the same as the implicit knowledge of my neighbors and the people around me in the stores. This leads to culture stress. There is a surface knowledge and an explicit knowledge and that is the level of culture that we see at first glance. We have grocery stores, restaurants, coffee shops, and many many many other stores and parts of life that are very similar or nearly the same as stores and parts of life we have had our entire lives. With a well established daily routine and getting things set up to maintain a routine it can be pretty normal to live most "normal" days at that surface level of culture where our implicit knowledge serves us well in functioning to live life.
Now that we have a new normal we are having to adjust explicitly to what that looks like as we go about our day. There is an increase in culture stress because when we respond from our implicit knowledge and live like we normally we would we more often are finding that our implicit knowledge is very different than the implicit knowledge of those around us. Already we have been explicitly adjusting the way we live in this culture and becoming more culturally aware. When an emergency happens (or a crises such as a pandemic) people tend to react more than respond. When a reaction happens the source of that reaction is deep implicit knowledge--not theoretical, surface knowledge that is slowly and explicitly applied. We have lived through some high pressure situations during our time outside of our passport country and we have experienced what it is like to react from our implicit knowledge and we have seen other people react from their implicit knowledge. After the earthquake in South Asia we experienced a prolonged response to crisis where people moved from reactionary action to response. Even in the response there were major cultural differences that came to the surface that showed us more of our own culture and more of the culture around us. I think that is what is happening now in the response to a pandemic.
It is helpful to remember that we respond from our implicit knowledge and those around us respond from their implicit knowledge. It is also good to remember that we can pause and take advantage of an extended high pressure situation to address what our responses reveal about our deep knowledge and to observe the deep knowledge being revealed to us in the culture where we are guests. Many comedians are astute observers of how people reveal their deep unexamined thoughts and they use it to craft their comedy. Why can't we be observers of what is being revealed in ourselves and in those around us so that we can learn to respond explicitly in ways to show love?
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