Abstract:
Many students study abroad with the intention to learn about and understand the behavior and point of view of others. It is important to examine if study abroad programs are actually having this effect on students. This study looks at how studying abroad affects cultural sensitivity in undergraduate students. The study also looks at how visiting either an individualistic or collectivist country influences individualistic and collectivist thinking. I hypothesized that students who had studied abroad would have higher levels of intercultural sensitivity. I also hypothesized that students who visited collectivist countries would have higher collectivist thinking scores and lower individualistic thinking scores. For those who visited individualistic countries, I hypothesized the opposite; they would have higher individualistic thinking scores and lower collectivist thinking scores. This study had 88 students who had either studied abroad or had not studied abroad. They were tested to determine their levels of cultural sensitivity and whether studying abroad is predictive of individualist or collectivist thinking style, based on the type of culture that was visited. The Intercultural Sensitivity Inventory was the test used for this study. This test gave students three scores: one for cultural sensitivity, one for collectivist thinking, and one for individualistic thinking. The participants completed this survey online. Surprisingly, the results did not support my hypotheses. There was no real difference found in the levels of cultural sensitivity between students who had and had not studied abroad.
