Effects of the Culture Assimilator on Cross-Cultural Understanding and Attitudes of College Students

This study investigated the effects of the culture assimilator as a teaching
technique in cross-cultural education. It specifically focused on exploring the
effectiveness of the Japanese Culture Assimilator on the cross-cultural understanding
and attitudes of American college students. The sample for this study
was 41 college students, who were randomly assigned to treatment and control
groups. The treatment group was asked to read a self-learning package of the
Japanese Culture Assimilator outside of class. The control group received no
treatment The average length of the treatment was 60.9 minutes. Assessment
was conducted using five dependent variables: performance on 15 critical
incidents, analysis of one critical incident, the Inventory of Cross-Cultural
Sensitivity, the Attitude Toward Other Culture Scale, and the Social Distance
Scale. The t-test (p < .05) was used for comparisons between the treatment and
the control groups. The results of the study show no positive effects on
subjects' cross-cultural sensitivity or on their attitudes towards Japanese
culture. However, reading the culture assimilator did result in an increase in
their cross-cultural understanding, an added sophistication in cross-cultural
thinking related to the two specific cultures involved, and a greater acceptance
of the Japanese people.