Final answer:
Culture shock is a state of disorientation and anxiety experienced when a person is immersed in an unfamiliar culture. It involves struggling with new norms and expectations, leading to a process of adjustment and adaptation over time.
Step-by-step explanation:
A state of disorientation and anxiety about not knowing how to behave in an unfamiliar culture is called culture shock. This phenomenon occurs when individuals are exposed to a culture vastly different from their own, leading to stress and uncertainty due to new social norms, languages, foods, and behaviors. Anthropologist Kalervo Oberg first used the term "culture shock" to describe the series of emotional stages that people go through when adjusting to a new cultural environment.
Culture shock can manifest in various ways, such as a traveler from Chicago finding the silence of rural Montana unnerving, or an exchange student from China getting frustrated by the American classroom dynamic. Over time and with increased cultural understanding, individuals typically overcome culture shock and learn to navigate the new environment more effectively. This adjustment process involves adapting to expected personality traits and behaviors, sometimes leading to the challenging experience of having to reconceptualize one's identity, as reported by international students from different cultural backgrounds.