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Certain phrases one commonly hears among Americans capture their devotion to individualism."Do you own thing?" "I did it my way.""you'll have to decide that for yourself?" "You made you bed,now lie in it." "if you don't look out for yourself, no one else will." "Look out for munber one."
Closely associated with the value they place on individualism, is the importance American's assign to privacy.Americans assume that people need some time to themselves or some time alone to think about things or to recover their spent psychological energy.Americans have great difficulty understanding foreigners who always want to be with another person who dislike being alone.
If the parents can afford it, each child will have his or her own bedroom.Having one's own bedroom even as an infant,fixes in a person the notion that she is entitled to a place of her own where she can be by herself, and keep her possessions.She will have her clothes,her toys, her books,and so on .These things will be hers,no one else's.
Americans assume that people will have their private thoughts that might never be shared with anyone.Doctors,lawyers,psychologists and others have rules governing confidentiality that are intended to prevent information about their clients' personal situations from being known to others .
American's attitudes about privacy can be hard for foreigners to understand. American's houses,yards and even their offices canseem open and inviting.Yet, in the minds of Americans,there are boundaries that other people are simply not supposed to cross.When those boundaries are crossed,an American's body will visibly stiffen and his manner will be cool and aloof.
