WEEKEND MUSINGS

CONSIDERING SOME BASIC TERMS

These need to be sourced; (found in an earlier era of notes)....albeit, I think they're interesting definitions to remind us what we're talking about when we wade into diversity topics, or personal discussions with those both similar and quite different from ourselves.

Do you have some similar and/or different terms? How could you use them as cultural discovery tools?

1. BELIEF= A conviction that something is true or exists. Some are central to a culture or subcultural group, and some are more peripheral. Our central belief systems are fixed in our early childhood (consider turbulent vs. nourishing environments), and are very hard to change. Beliefs may be consciously or unconsciously internalized, and in conflict when people are exposed to wider and wider environments, i.e., home to school to work to relationships to......
2. VALUES= These are also embedded in us, and have a "shouldness" about them. They express desired states of what's permitted or forbidden, as in taboos. We may be unaware of their presence until we encounter difference in cognitive, affective and behavioral realms as we interact with others, personally or professionally.
3. ATTITUDES = These are composites of beliefs and an evaluation of them. We have attitudes about specific objects, people, groups or ideas. Our attitudes reflect our values and express our approach or avoidance. These are held dynamically, are variable, and subject to influences as we communicate with the world. Significant emotional events could change long-held attitudes. (This could be educational, or devastating for individuals and groups. Consider real world events, media influences, education levels, generational influences, work implications, etc.)
4. ASSUMPTIONS= These lie outside our normal awareness. They're a special type of belief or value that requires no proof within one's own culture. Kluckhohn's value orientations are a useful comparison to understand and work into discussions, or for self-reflection. (Ask for reference.)

Thanks very much for caring to comment, recommend a website or blog, to share with everyone along these lines!