Social Engineering Blogs

An Aggregator for Blogs About Social Engineering and Related Fields

Cultural Adaptation & Global Dexterity

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Cross-Cultural Adaptation has become a hot topic in this global business world.  From the Internet, Skype and overseas travel,  it is important to be able to adapt and communicate with a variety of varying cultures.

Andy Molinsky, who is an associate professor at Brandeis University’s International Business School and author, has broached the topic of global dexterity.

Forbes  comments on Molinsky’s topic and how important it is to not only be able to work in a global economy but be able to work well in a culturally infused workforce.

“People doing  work in today’s global economy must be capable of moving smoothly and seamlessly across cultures. That’s true for simple cases of etiquette, like learning how and when to bow or shake hands, but it’s especially critical when performing core professional tasks such as giving or receiving performance feedback, pitching an idea to your boss, getting heard at a meeting, networking, or motivating others. These are situations that make or break your ability to be an effective global manager and leader.”

So how does one try to adapt to a different culture?  The key is to Really learn the culture really well.  This means more than just reading a book or two on the people/country you are working with.

One of the most challenging aspects of varying cultures is the differences between that culture and your own. That is the behaviors you need to learn are different from what your used to and might even require that you act in a way that conflicts with your intuition.

An example, from the article:   A Korean employee in the US having to learn how to deliver constructive feedback to an American boss, when in Korea, you would never interact with a boss in that manner.

Molinsky points out that it’s not just knowledge that’s important its the ability to take what you know and put it into action.

Humintell has a Great Cultural Adaptation Tool that improves a person’s global skill set and teaches them how to interact more effectively with people from different cultures and achieve their goals !

Purchase IntelliCulture and interact more effectively with people from different cultures to achieve your goals

Hand Gestures

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A simple wave of the hand can boost a child’s performance in mathematics.

A new study published in Child Development found that students perform better when instructors teach with hand gestures—something that teachers in the United States do less commonly than teachers in other parts of the world.

National Geographic reported on this study that suggests being able to learn material vibrantly first and foremost comes from a vibrant and active teacher.

Lead researchers, psychologists Kimberly Fenn (University of Michigan) and Susan Wagner Cook (University of Iowa) tested over 100 elementary students to see if hand gestures can have an impact on a young students ability to learn math.

Half of the students watched videos in which instructors waved their hands under each side of the equation while explaining that both sides should be equal. The other half watched speech-only videos in which the teachers used words but no gestures to convey the same information.

In a test given immediately afterward, students who observed the gestures performed better.  A second test, 24 hours later, also showed that the gestured-to students had an edge over the other group.

An interesting fact is that a 2008 study found that American teachers were less likely than those in Hong Kong and Japan to use gestures in explaining analogies,

Why are hand gestures effective in learning ?

Previous studies have also found that hand gestures improve students’ learning ability, but very little is known about why.

Fenn purports that students with a gesturing instructor don’t just remember the concepts, they also remember the teacher’s movements: “When you watch someone perform an [action], it actually stimulates areas of the brain that you would use to perform that action.”

The Infamous Face Cover

Take a look at this past blog that Humintell posted about face covering and sports.  There are some interesting insights into this phenomenon.

The infamous “face cover”:  What does it mean?

We often see athletes and individuals in high stress, emotional situations do what Dr. Matsumoto calls a “face cover”.

But why exactly do people cover their face in emotional and stressful times?

Some individuals believe that the face cover is only a part of social communication, but Dr. Matsumoto believes that it is not. He believes that individuals often cover their face to conceal their emotions and that it is an immediate reaction that most people cannot control.

Dr. Matsumoto also suggests that covering one’s face could also have some evolutionary basis, rooted in not letting enemies see your emotions because it could potentially be a danger to your well-being. Nonetheless, this gesture is immediate and unconscious.

Keep your eye out for this behavior and you’ll surprisingly see it fairly frequently (you may even catch yourself doing it!)

Dr. Matsumoto discussed emotions in sports at the Happiness Conference in Sydney, Australia:

Click here to view the embedded video.