Some researchers feel that this the key to successful cross-cultural adaptation, and recommend that new culture learners consider themselves as social maladepts who need to develop a new set of basic social skills. At the end of every twelve measures the two briefly coincide, but in-between all is out of kilter. When learning how to drive on the left hand side of the road, I found that the most difficult maneuver for me was making a right-hand turn across traffic. I found myself wanting to try to drive behind people crossing my lane instead of in front of me. It was months before I felt comfortable with this one simple act, let alone the hundreds of social rituals and acts we perform daily.
All humans face the tension of wanting to connect while needing independence.
We have an inbuilt desire for both, but the need for independence shows up far more powerfully in individualistic cultures. The difference between individualism and collectivism is perhaps the most single significant variation in cultural patterns. What I Meant . Definitions of familiar concepts such as privacy, time, ownership, and friendship all are dependent on the culture's orientation in the individualistic or collectivistic direction. In my first driving experience on the left side of the road, I was a curious mixture of connection and independence.