27 lines
4.9 KiB
Markdown
27 lines
4.9 KiB
Markdown
# Bennett scale
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- Also known as the **Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS)**
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- Developed by Milton Bennett
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- Describes an individual's various responses to differences in [[Culture]]
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- The scale ranges from ethnocentrism in intercultural communication to ethnorelativism
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- Six part scale, as given below:[^1]
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- **Denial of difference:** Individuals experience their own culture as the only "real" one, while other cultures are either not noticed at all or are understood in an undifferentiated, simplistic manner. people at this position are generally uninterested in cultural difference, but when confronted with difference their seemingly benign acceptance may change to aggressive attempts to avoid or eliminate it. most of the time, this is a result of physical or social isolation, where the person's views are never challenged and are at the center of their reality. members of dominant culture are more likely to have a denial orientation towards cultural diversity.
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- **Defense of difference:** differences are acknowledged, but they are denigrated rather than embraced. rather, one's own culture is experienced as the most "evolved" or best way to live. this position is characterized by dualistic us/them thinking and frequently accompanied by overt negative stereotyping. they will openly belittle the differences among their culture and another, denigrating race, gender or any other indicator of difference. people at this position are more openly threatened by cultural difference and more likely to be acting aggressively against it.
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- **Minimization of difference:** people recognize superficial cultural differences in food, customs, etc. and have somewhat positive view about cultural differences. but they still emphasize human similarity in physical structure, psychological needs, and/or assumed adherence to universal values. people at this position are likely to assume that they are no longer ethnocentric, and they tend to overestimate their tolerance while underestimating the effect (e.g. "privilege") of their own culture. they usually assumes that our own set of fundamental behavioral categories are absolute and universal.
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- **Acceptance of difference:** one's own culture is experienced as one of a number of equally complex worldviews. people at this position appreciate and accept the existence of culturally different ways of organizing human existence, although they do not necessarily like or agree with every way. they can identify how culture affects a wide range of human experience and they have a framework for organizing observations of cultural difference. we recognize people from this stage through their desire to be informed or proactively learn about alien cultures, and not to confirm prejudices.
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- **Adaptation to difference:** individuals are able to expand their own worldviews to accurately understand other cultures and behave in a variety of culturally appropriate ways. in this stage, multicultural participants start to develop intercultural communication skills, change their communication styles, and effectively use empathy or frame of reference shifting, to understand and be understood across cultural boundaries. at this stage, one is able to act properly outside of one's own culture.
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- **Integration of difference:** one’s experience of self is expanded to include the movement in and out of different cultural worldviews. people at this position have a definition of self that is "marginal" (not central) to any particular culture, allowing this individual to shift rather smoothly from one cultural worldview to another. at this point, a will to comprehend and adopt various beliefs and norms begins to emerge, demonstrating a high level of intercultural sensitivity.
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- Multicultural backgrounds, such as multiracial or third culture individuals, not well accounted for
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- Might experience these stages as an integrated aspect of childhood and early-adulthood identity development
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- People of mixed or multiracial background often have to make meaning of their multiple cultural backgrounds in relation to their identity
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- Those backgrounds tend to become integrated into their identity as a part of their development
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- Also might have to interpret additional cultural differences depending on their environment
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- Building ethnorelative communication styles and perspectives is existentially critical for multiracial and mixed people
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- Their identities can, and often do, embody multiple cultural backgrounds simultaneously
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- Accepting those cultures is closely tied to self-concept
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- Awareness of how their cultural backgrounds influence their own identity, behaviors, beliefs, and lived experiences requires adapting to and integrating difference
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## References
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[^1]: Bennett, Milton J. "A Developmental Approach to Training for Intercultural Sensitivity." *_**International Journal of Intercultural Relations**_* 10, no. 2 (January 1986): 179–96. https://doi.org/10.1016/0147-1767(86)90005-2.
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