The TCB process supposes that a relationship can be developed to promote the
examination, testing, and exchange of elements of identity in an environment that is
voluntary and mutually rewarding. The negotiation of identity, and with it the
formation of a third culture, takes place longitudinally. TCB requires a sustained,
ongoing, conscious, and mutual effort to survive. The TCB process can lead to the
birthing of a culture that is new in content, insofar as it is the result of protracted
exchange of cultural impressions, their testing, their adoption or rejection, and their
possible transmission to a new generation. As framed, the thrust of TBC is toward
cooperation, inter-understanding, and the amelioration of frictions that occur when
those of different native views first start to interact across difference.