Skip to main content

Table 2 Culture shock

From: Personal travel blogs as texts for studying intercultural interactions: a pilot test case study of an American sojourner’s blogs from Zimbabwe

Coding categories

Number of instances

A sense of loss of common cues that tell a person how to behave and how to communicate appropriately.

1

Loss of ability to accurately make sense of situations and environments due to cultural differences. Sense of disorientation.

5

Losing the power of easy communication.

1

Feeling deprived of things a person is used to like friends, family, possessions, food, drink, ways of living, etc.

3

A sense of confusion about role expectations (for self and for others)

0

Feeling helpless and/or not able to cope normally in different situations.

5

Feeling surprised, anxious, worried, or stressed by situations encountered in the host culture.

5

Questioning identity (personal and cultural)

1

Feeling homesick.

1

Feeling bored.

0

Withdrawal

1

Negative stereotyping of host culture and people

2