The DMIS continuum extends from ethnocentrisim, the experience of one's own culture as "central to reality," to ethnorelativism, the experience of one's own and other cultures as "relative to context." Developmental movement is one-way, permanent, and applicable to anything defined as cultural difference, although there may be "retreats" from some positions. More or less familiarity with particular cultures does not change one's level of sensitivity, although it affects the breadth of competence one can enact.