Proneness to culture-stress varies not only from individual to individual, but also from culture to
culture. Different cultures also have different ways of handling cultural dissonance.
For those people who are culturally conditioned to see the world as a ‘global village’, cultural
differences tend to have a much lower significance than for those who see the world getting
‘larger’, i.e. as getting increasingly diverse. Some cultures engage with others with greater initial
caution than others. Interactions between cultures which differ in such ways can lead to quite
considerable tensions. Issues like ‘inadequate respect’ and ‘mistrust’ can sometimes arise quite
quickly; sometimes they only arise only after a period of months or even years. Regardless of the
time period, issues like these can, of course, damage relationships very seriously.