3. Cultural Awareness and Cultural Differences

Realizing one's own identity in communicaton is a path towards becoming aware of one's own culture.
Cultural awarness is the prerequisite of trying to understand other people's cultures. To be aware
of one's own culture means to be able to realize that every culture can perceive the world
differently.

Follow the instructions. We will discuss your findings in class.

Do the source # 1 to find out whether your perceptions of objects differ from, or are the same as
the options given. Read the next source to find out which principles guide your perceptions. The
source 3 gives you views and definitions of cultural awareness. It also points out that becoming
aware of one's own culture means realizing differences between one's own culture and cultures of
others. In the source 4, study how ethnocentrism affects perceptions of strangers and what cultural
differences we tend to observe first when encountering strangers.