Collectivism vs. Individualism

1.) In a collectivist culture, what personality traits are likely to be considered ideal? What about in an individualistic culture?

Individualist: motivation, individuality
Collectivist: loyalty, being humble

2.) In what type of culture might elders or people who have professional distinction receive more respect and less challenge from people lower on their culture's/group's hierarchy? Explain your answer.

I think this represents an individualistic society, since the individual with the most experience and knowledge is praised more and given more attention than an individual who has accomplished less. The latter is seen as inferior and not as worthy of compliment due to their lack of experience. This is valuing an individual person more than it is a group, indicating that it's more individualistic than collectivist.

3.) Create a specific problem a teacher may encounter when he/she moves from teaching in a collectivist culture to an individualist culture or vice versa. Explain the specific values/influences/obligations/desires caused by the clash.

If a teacher comes from a collectivist culture to an individualistic one, there would be an internal conflict, since she wouldn't feel comfortable fitting into the individualistic mold of congratulating individual students. She would be much more accustomed to feeling the group's contributions should be celebrated. The sense of loyalty to the group isn't present in individualistic cultures, since individualistic cultures value a single person's work. This could be resolved by the teacher assigning group projects in order to replicate a sense of group unity or by being taught more about an individualistic culture.

4.) What is an acquaintance? Does the word have a positive, negative, or neutral connotation? Explain.

It's someone who you know by name and talk to on occasion, but don't know very well. I feel as though it's neutral, since you get along well and don't have much of an issue with each other, but you don't know each other well enough to make judgments as to whether or not you like or dislike each other.