Reflective Essay: Understanding Cultural Identity & Intelligence

This essay reflects on cultural identity through the lens of cultural intelligence, examining three key aspects: unique individual identity, cultural and social identity, and common human needs and desires. The author explores how personal choices, cultural background, and social interactions shape individual identity, emphasizing the dynamic nature of identity development over time. The essay highlights the importance of cultural intelligence in navigating diverse cultural situations, fostering understanding, and resolving conflicts. It also delves into the six common human needs—certainty, variety, significance, love/connection, growth, and contribution—and their interconnectedness in shaping a well-rounded identity. The author concludes that individuals with high cultural intelligence can effectively adapt to diverse environments, develop strong personal identities, and build meaningful relationships across cultures. Desklib offers this essay as a valuable resource for students studying cultural identity and intelligence, alongside a wealth of other solved assignments and past papers.

Running head: CULTURAL IDENTITY REFLECTIVE ESSAY
Cultural Intelligence
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CULTURAL IDENTITY REFLECTIVE ESSAY
Introduction
The fundamental objective of the essay is to highlight the three identities of cultural
intelligence named, unique individual identity, cultural and social identity and common human
needs or desires. Cultural intelligence is defined as a gift for interacting as well as working
effectively with the people belongs to diverse culture.
Unique individual identity
A unique individual identity is the identity of an individual developed from the course of
life (Woo, Storlie & Baltrinic, 2016). A person himself creates an identity of his own from the
various aspects of his life like the choices made in his life, a color of the skin, the way of
spending time or his beliefs. The personal identity of an individual develops over time and also
evolve after some time that depends on the steps taken by the person (Groves, Feyerherm & Gu,
2015). For example, I am identifying myself as a part of the social worker at the age of 26, but
after seeing myself at the age of 60, I might be a different individual. I may be no longer
interested in doing social work. Similarly, every person changes their identity according to their
life span.
Cultural and social identity
Cultural intelligence is significant in handling the conflicts, set mutual trust and develop
understanding about the diverse cultures (Ott & Michailova, 2018). The identities of social and
culture provide an interdisciplinary tool for analyzing the social and cultural performance of the
individual (Chang, Jetten, Cruwys & Haslam, 2017). A cultural identity explains how ethnicity,
status or religion creates an identity of an individual. A social identity gives a sense of belonging
to the social world (Afridi, Li & Ren, 2015). I was born into an Irish family, and my parents
were practicing Catholic. I used to visit the church when I was a child, but I stopped visiting the
church when I became a teenager. I had a keen interest in music and arts, but my parents asked
me to focus on my study. The social identity influences the behavior and communication of the
person with the other person (Boduszek, Dhingra & Debowska, 2016).
Common human needs and desires
All persons have different areas of life where the need may differ, and each need serves a
crucial part in developing a unique identity (Azam & Rehman, 2018). There are six common

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CULTURAL IDENTITY REFLECTIVE ESSAY
needs of the human such as certainty, variety, significance, love and connection, growth, and
contribution (Gough, 2015). I understood that the needs of certainty refers to my sense of
stability, comfort, security which helped me to save myself from various uncertain conditions. In
other words, the needs of significance enhances my sense of importance so that I can feel proud
of myself after doing some great work. After reviewing this, I have gained knowledge that the
needs of significance are indirectly related to the needs of love and connection. I feel that if
connection and love are present in between the family members, then it can easily influence
individual member’s to give their best in any situation. Moreover, I can say that all human needs
as well as desires are related to one another.
Conclusion
From this view, I can say that an individual with high cultural intelligence could quickly
adapt to diverse cultural situations. The human can develop a unique personal identity with the
different passage of his life. The cultural and social identity reflects the attitudes, interest,
behavior, and interaction of the person with others.

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CULTURAL IDENTITY REFLECTIVE ESSAY
References
Ott, D. L., & Michailova, S. (2018). Cultural intelligence: A review and new research
avenues. International Journal of Management Reviews, 20(1), 99-119.
Groves, K. S., Feyerherm, A., & Gu, M. (2015). Examining cultural intelligence and cross-
cultural negotiation effectiveness. Journal of Management Education, 39(2), 209-243.
Boduszek, D., Dhingra, K., & Debowska, A. (2016). The integrated psychosocial model of
criminal social identity (IPM-CSI). Deviant behavior, 37(9), 1023-1031.
Woo, H., Storlie, C. A., & Baltrinic, E. R. (2016). Perceptions of professional identity
development from counselor educators in leadership positions. Counselor Education and
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Azam, A., & Rehman, S. (2018). Assessing Human Needs Theory: An Approach to Conflict
Resolution. The Nucleus, 55(3), 128-132.
Gough, I. (2015). Climate change and sustainable welfare: the centrality of human
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Afridi, F., Li, S. X., & Ren, Y. (2015). Social identity and inequality: the impact of China's
Hukou system. Journal of Public Economics, 123, 17-29.
Chang, M. X. L., Jetten, J., Cruwys, T., & Haslam, C. (2017). Cultural identity and the
expression of depression: A social identity perspective. Journal of Community & Applied
Social Psychology, 27(1), 16-34.