Section D

Cultural Attitudes towards Time

According to anthropologist Irving Hallowell, there is no evidence that humans have an inborn sense of time. A person’s temporal concepts are probably determined largely by culture. One study showed that infants, after a few days of listening to speech around them, will move their heads and limbs in rhythm with the speech they hear. As children develop, they adapt more fully to their temporal culture. This temporal culture influences language, music, poetry and dance. It also affects relationships. We tend to get along well with people who share our sense of time.

One particular cultural attitude towards time is found in polychronic cultures. Some Mediterranean and southwest Asian Cultures are usually placed in this category. Such cultures emphasise relationships among people, flexible timing of appointments, and the careful completion of processes rather than strict schedules. Polychronic people seldom feel that time is being wasted. They tend to consider each activity valuable on its own, not just as part of a larger process.

Polychronic people tend to have many projects going on at the same time, and they may shift frequently from one task to another. They change plans often. For polychronic people, work time is not clearly separable from personal time, so business meetings are considered a form. of socialising.

Monochronic cultures, on the other hand, are oriented towards tasks and schedules. Cultures usually considered monochromic can be found in northern Europe, North America, and some parts of eastern Asia. Monochronic people feel that time is tangible and inflexible and that " time is money. " They do one thing at a time and concentrate on each thing. Time and job commitments are very important to them and they tend to follow plans rigidly. Also, monochromic people clearly separate their work and personal time, and they place a high value on privacy.

As you might expect, people from polychronic and monochromic cultures often misunderstand each other because of their different senses of time. For example, because a monochromic culture is highly compartmentalized, monochromic people tend to sequence conversations as well as tasks. They would not, for instance, interrupt a phone call in order to greet another person who just came into the room In contrast, polychronic people are comfortable with having multiple conversations at the same time. They would consider it rude not to greet someone who entered during a phone conversation.

Complete the summary below by choosing for each blank no more than three words from the passage.

Cultures may have either a【71】______or a monochromic conception of time. Cultures with a polychromic view of time follow a【72】______timetable. People from polychronic cultures tend to work on several【73】______at the same time. On the other hand, people in【74】______perceive events and tasks as being more compartmentalized. In this culture, jobs and even conversations should follow a certain【75】______. Everything in these cultures seems inflexible, and has its own place and time.

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