BaFa’ BaFa’ is a simulation experience allowing participants to explore ideas of culture, creating feelings similar to those experienced by individuals embarking on intercultural communications (Shirts, 2008). The simulation ran for 2 hours; half are Alphas and half Betas, each with differing culture norms. Surprisingly, individuals became very immersed in their simulated culture; with students remarking “thank god I’m back, they’re weird” after returning to their assigned culture, which is consistent with previous research (Jarrell, Alpers Brown & Wotring, 2008).
Hall (1966) noted Europeans enjoy personal space whereas Americans don’t. In Alpha culture, limited personal space was normal as arm-touching is welcoming; this made Betas very uncomfortable. When individuals are unfamiliar with expected social rules and customs they’re often negatively prejudice strangers (Berry, Poortinga, Breugelmans, Chasiotis & Sam, 2011). This explains why Betas offended Alphas, they couldn’t alter their behaviour because they simply didn’t realise. Each culture has speech codes; specific rules and meanings within that culture (Philipsen, 1997). Betas speech code was orientated to a specific goal of trading in a reward focused society, but Alphas found it very rude and intimidating.
BaFa’ BaFa’ is an excellent resource to teach compassion and understanding to different cultures, yet it’s not widely used within general populations. Discrimination is often seen in acculturation strategies and adaptation to new cultures (Berry et al., 2011), which many immigrants from other countries face. Implementing this into schools and workplaces nationwide would see a substantial impact on their wellbeing and slash the £127bn spent on discrimination in the UK workplace alone (Brady, 2018).
References:
Berry, J. W., Poortinga, Y. H., Breugelmans, S. M., Chasiotis, A., & Sam, D. (2011). Cross-cultural psychology: Theory and applications (3rd Ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Brady, D. (2018). Workplace discrimination costs UK £127bn a year, says report | Public Finance. Retrieved from https://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2018/03/workplace-discrimination-costs-uk-ps127bn-year-says-report
Hall, E. T. (1966) The Hidden Dimension.New York: Doubleday.
Jarrell, K., Alpers, R. R., Brown, G., & Wotring, R. (2008). Using BaFa’ BaFa’ in evaluating cultural competence of nursing students. Teaching and Learning in Nursing, 3(4),141-142. Doi: 10.1016j.teln.2008.08.001
Phillipsen, G. (1997). A theory of speech codes. In G. Phillipsen and T. L. Albrecht (eds.), Developing communication theories.Albany: State University of New York Press
Shirts, R. (2008). BAFA’ BAFA’, new updated version. Del Mar, CA: Simulation Training Systems
Reflections on Culture in Psychology 