Ethnocentrism

Ethnocentrism is the principle of using one's own culture as a means or standard by which to evaluate another group or individual. This leads to the view that cultures other than one's own are abnormal. Some examples of ethnocentrism are talking about British drivers driving "on the wrong side" of the road. Why not just say "opposite side" or even "left hand side"? Another example is reading Hebrew. Instead of saying that reading hebrew is from "left to right" or "the opposite direction" we say "backwards." One time I personally was being ethnocentric was when I was eating at a chinese restaurant. I was looking through the menu and came across dog. Yes dog as in the furry, cute, little animals that Americans have as pets. I uncontrollably screamed out "DOG?" not realizing everyone was looking at me. The disgust on my face probably offended the owners of the restaurant because of my carelessness in accepting their culture. Ethnocentrism leads people to make false assumptions about cultural differences. People are ethnocentric when they use their cultural norms to make generalizations about other peoples' cultures and customs. Such generalizations can be way off base and cause people to misjudge other people. Ethnocentrism can lead to cultural misinterpretation and it often distorts communication between human beings.