One aspect of learning culture is to challenge your own prejudices. All peoples are naturally ethnocentric, that is, they believe that their own ideas are superior to those of others. They think, "I'm right and my way makes most sense." This translates into:

1. My race is superior.
2. Books in my language are better.
3. Experts from my race know most.
4. Education in my country is the ideal.
5. My country's diet is healthiest.
6. Houses in my country are designed better.
7. Advice from expatriate advisors from my country or race is more objective than advice from nationals.
8. Traditional local knowledge is backward or worthless.
9. Concepts of beauty from my country are best (local ideas are ugly).
10. Our ideas of marriage, family and personal rights are better.
11. We have better ideas on who should be respected and who should be respectful.

Ethnocentricity can create some bizarre phenomena in cultural adjustment. Persons can come to believe that:

• "If these people are poorer than me, then they must be dirty or stupid."

• "If these people are poorer than me, their culture must have no valuable education traditions."
• "You can't buy anything here; I have to get someone to send everything to me from home."
• "If they made it here, it can't be good quality."

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