WorldWideScience

Sample records for greater cross-cultural understanding

  1. Cross-Cultural Understanding of Robotics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Peronard, Jean-Paul

    2013-01-01

    This article aims to improve our understanding of how people in a healthcare context adopt robot technology and, in particular, the importance of culture in this process. The adoption of technology can be problematic when transferring technology from one culture to another. Differences in values...... and beliefs about robotics can affect the motivation for as well as the practice of using robotics in healthcare. Therefore, this paper seeks to develop a deeper theoretical understanding of the cultural impact on robotics adoption by using a cross-cultural perspective to explain variation in priorities...... and discuss possible guidelines to help build a strategy for introducing robotics into a culture’s healthcare sector and broaden the current agenda in international technology marketing....

  2. Pengembangan Pembelajaran Kemahiran Berbicara Bahasa Arab Menggunakan Pendekatan Cross Cultural Understanding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cahya Edi Setyawan

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Language and culture are the two components that can not be separated from human communication. As a tool to communicate with one and another, many discussion about the theory between language and culture. The relationship between the language and culture of linguists is the most common concern for those who have included language instruction for foreign language, understanding the language where different cultural complexities are needed in this study were a concern of the Arabic language. Moreover, many scholars emphasize the learning model of Arabic-speaking skills on the basis of theory through cultural understanding. The main aspect you should be interested in learning the Arabic language such as cross cultural knowledge, cross cultural awareness, cross-cultural sensitivity, cross cultural. The theory of Odes developing the intentional skill of speaking Arabic, devolution of educational materials, the development of professional teacher, the development of approaches and the development of the method, and the development of learning assessment. Each component had elements of mutual cultural understanding.

  3. Using Patient Case Video Vignettes to Improve Students’ Understanding of Cross-cultural Communication

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cryder, Brian; Mazan, Jennifer; Quiñones-Boex, Ana; Cyganska, Angelika

    2017-01-01

    Objective. To develop, implement, and assess whether simulated patient case videos improve students’ understanding of and attitudes toward cross-cultural communication in health care. Design. Third-year pharmacy students (N=159) in a health care communications course participated in a one-hour lecture and two-hour workshop on the topic of cross-cultural communication. Three simulated pharmacist-patient case vignettes highlighting cross-cultural communication barriers, the role of active listening, appropriate use of medical interpreters, and useful models to overcome communication barriers were viewed and discussed in groups of 20 students during the workshop. Assessment. A pre-lecture and post-workshop assessed the effect on students’ understanding of and attitudes toward cross-cultural communication. Understanding of cross-cultural communication concepts increased significantly, as did comfort level with providing cross-cultural care. Conclusion. Use of simulated patient case videos in conjunction with an interactive workshop improved pharmacy students' understanding of and comfort level with cross-cultural communication skills and can be useful tools for cultural competency training in the curriculum. PMID:28496276

  4. Using Patient Case Video Vignettes to Improve Students' Understanding of Cross-cultural Communication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arif, Sally; Cryder, Brian; Mazan, Jennifer; Quiñones-Boex, Ana; Cyganska, Angelika

    2017-04-01

    Objective. To develop, implement, and assess whether simulated patient case videos improve students' understanding of and attitudes toward cross-cultural communication in health care. Design. Third-year pharmacy students (N=159) in a health care communications course participated in a one-hour lecture and two-hour workshop on the topic of cross-cultural communication. Three simulated pharmacist-patient case vignettes highlighting cross-cultural communication barriers, the role of active listening, appropriate use of medical interpreters, and useful models to overcome communication barriers were viewed and discussed in groups of 20 students during the workshop. Assessment. A pre-lecture and post-workshop assessed the effect on students' understanding of and attitudes toward cross-cultural communication. Understanding of cross-cultural communication concepts increased significantly, as did comfort level with providing cross-cultural care. Conclusion. Use of simulated patient case videos in conjunction with an interactive workshop improved pharmacy students' understanding of and comfort level with cross-cultural communication skills and can be useful tools for cultural competency training in the curriculum.

  5. Cultural Analysis - towards cross-cultural understanding

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gullestrup, Hans

    The book considers intercultural understanding and co-action, partly by means of general insight into concept of culture and the dimensions which bring about cultural differences, and partly as a methodology to analyse a certain culture - whether one's own or others'. This leads towards an unders......The book considers intercultural understanding and co-action, partly by means of general insight into concept of culture and the dimensions which bring about cultural differences, and partly as a methodology to analyse a certain culture - whether one's own or others'. This leads towards...... a theoretical/abstract proposal for cultural understanding. The second part presents a theoretical/abstract proposal for under-standing intercultural plurality and complexity. The third part provides an empirical model for the analysis of intercultural co-action. Finally, the fourth part present and discusses...

  6. The "Outsider/Insider" Assignment: A Pedagogical Innovation for Teaching Cross-Cultural Understanding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia, Angela Cora

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, I describe an innovative assignment for teaching undergraduate students cross-cultural understanding. The Outsider/Insider assignment simultaneously teaches facts about cultural difference and skills for managing cross-cultural encounters. Briefly, the assignment is to write two short papers, one in which the student describes a…

  7. Introduction : Performing cross-cultural understanding in Pacific tourism

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tonnaer, A.A.C.; Tamisari, F.; Venbrux, H.J.M.

    2010-01-01

    This article is an introduction to the special issue entitled Indigenous Tourism, Performance, and Cross-Cultural Understanding in the Pacific. Based on various examples from the Pacific, we argue for the analysis of the tourist encounter as a single performative act of production and reception that

  8. Fostering Cross-Cultural Understanding Through E-Learning: Russian-American Forum Case-Study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ekaterina V. Talalakina

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract— The importance of cross-cultural understanding is accelerated nowadays by globalization and joint efforts of different countries in the face of global challenges. Countries’ educational systems display attempts to incorporate cross-cultural studies in their curricula across all stages of formal learning. Many higher education institutions offer special courses aimed at promoting cross-cultural studies. One of the tools used to facilitate the process is e-learning. The present article examines the case study of an internet-based collaboration between two higher education institutions – State University Higher School of Economics in Russia and Champlain College in the USA – in fostering cross-cultural understanding. The project is based on the study of individualistic and collectivistic values within the framework of two corresponding courses studied at both institutions. The topicality of the study is determined by the growing importance of the cooperation of two countries on the international affairs arena, on the one hand, and the fundamental differences of the countries’ underlying value system, on the other. In particular, a post-soviet Russia is generally viewed as a developing democracy representing the collectivistic end of the value spectrum, whereas the USA is considered as an extreme case of individualistic value system. The comparison and contrast of the two systems conducted simultaneously by the representatives of both cultures (students of the two universities within a specifically built internet forum comprises the base of the project. The case study covers the project’s objectives, its background, the rationale behind its content choice, the design of the e-learning tool, the profile of the participants of the project, its implementation stages and its outcome. The major findings of the case study deal with the process of building cross-cultural awareness, reinforcing students’ analytical skills and

  9. Language and Cross-Culture Understanding—Through Cross-Culture Study of the Word'Dragon'

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    周玲

    2016-01-01

    This essay contributes to the analysis of the significance of cross-culture understanding in connection with language. It is important and necessary to promote cross-cultural understanding in order to communicate with people from various cultural backgrounds with the development of globalization. This essay also gives the example of the word'dragon'to illustrate that the cross-culture understanding of language will make us communicate with each other more effectively.

  10. Interdisciplinary Area of Research Offers Tool of Cross-Cultural Understanding: Cross-Cultural Student Seminar for Communication Training on Biomedical Engineering

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shigehiro Hashimoto

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Misunderstanding often occurs in a multidisciplinary field of study, because each field has its own background of thinking. Communication training is important for students, who have a potential to develop the multidisciplinary field of study. Because each nation has its own cultural background, communication in an international seminar is not easy, either. A cross-cultural student seminar has been designed for communication training in the multidisciplinary field of study. Students from a variety of back grounds have joined in the seminar. Both equations and figures are effective tools for communication in the field of science. The seminar works well for communication training in the multidisciplinary field of study of biomedical engineering. An interdisciplinary area of research offers the tool of cross-cultural understanding. The present study refers to author's several experiences: the student internship abroad, the cross-cultural student camp, multi PhD theses, various affiliations, and the creation of the interdisciplinary department.

  11. Cross-Cultural Understanding for Global Sustainability: Messages and Meanings from Asian Cultural Landscapes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, R.

    2013-11-01

    Concept of 'multifunctionality' of cultural landscapes is a reflection of imbued meaning and aesthetics inherent there and also human manifestation of this spirit through existence and aliveness by human creation, love and continuance in various cultures and traditions. This sense helps envisioning landscapes that cross urban-rural divides in sustainable and an integrated way - characterised by wholeness and ecospirituality that developed in the cultural history of landscape sustainability. That is how, the idea of 'wholeness' (cosmality) is transformed into 'holiness' (sacrality) ― evolved and represented with sacred ecology and visualised through the cosmic frames of sacredscapes in Asian region that survived there as part of lifeworld. Understanding, feeling, living with, practicing and passing on these inherent meanings and aesthetics provide peace, solace and deeper feelings to human mind which are the ethereal breathe of sustainability. The rethinking should be based on the foundational value ― the reasoning that underlies the ethical sense of deeper understanding of Man-Nature Interrelatedness, the basic philosophy of coexistence ― referred in different cultures in their own ways, like multicultural co-living ('Old-comer') in Korea, harmonious coexistence (tabunka kyosei) in Japan, harmonious society (xiaokang) in China, wahi tapu (sacred places) in Maori's New Zealand, global family (vasudhaiva kutumbakam) in Indian thought, and also African humanism (ubuntu) in South Africa. Think universally, see globally, behave regionally, act locally but insightfully; this is an appeal for shared wisdom for global sustainability in making our cultural landscapes mosaic of happy, peaceful and sustainable places crossing all the borders and transitions, especially interwoven links among Korea, Japan, China, and India.

  12. Integrating cross-cultural psychology research methods into ethnic minority psychology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leong, Frederick T L; Leung, Kwok; Cheung, Fanny M

    2010-10-01

    Multicultural psychology has 2 related but often disconnected streams, namely cross-cultural psychology and racial and ethnic minority psychology (Hall & Maramba, 2001). We propose that advances in both fields will be facilitated if there is greater cross-fertilization, especially in methodological approaches given that proponents in both fields are interested in studying and understanding the role and impact of culture on human behavior. To facilitate this cross-fertilization, we present 3 methodological approaches that would be of value in racial and ethnic minority psychology. First, we present an overview of the importance of and the approaches to evaluating and establishing measurement equivalence. Second, we discuss recent advances in the understanding of conceptual equivalence in light of indigenous approaches, cultural manipulation, and multilevel analysis. Third, we present a combined etic-emic approach to cross-cultural personality research as illustrated by the Cross-Cultural Personality Assessment Inventory developed by Fanny Cheung and her colleagues. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved.

  13. Understanding Muslim patients: cross-cultural dental hygiene care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sirois, M L; Darby, M; Tolle, S

    2013-05-01

    Healthcare providers who understand the basic pillars of Islamic beliefs and common religious practices can apply these concepts, anticipate the needs of the Muslim patient and family, and attract Muslim patients to the practice. Cross cultural knowledge can motivate dental hygienists to adopt culturally acceptable behaviors, strengthen patient-provider relationships and optimize therapeutic outcomes. Trends in Muslim population growth, Islamic history and beliefs, modesty practices, healthcare beliefs, contraception, childbearing, childrearing, pilgrimage, dietary practices, dental care considerations and communication are explained. This paper reviews traditional Muslim beliefs and practices regarding lifestyle, customs, healthcare and religion as derived from the literature and study abroad experiences. Recommendations are offered on how to blend western healthcare with Islamic practices when making introductions, appointments, eye contact, and selecting a practitioner. The significance of fasting and how dental hygiene care can invalidate the fast are also discussed. The ultimate goal is for practitioners to be culturally competent in providing care to Muslim patients, while keeping in mind that beliefs and practices can vary widely within a culture. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

  14. Advancing Our Understanding of Cross-Cultural Issues in Consumer Science and Consumer Psychology

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Herk, H.; Torelli, Carlos J.; van Herk, Hester; Torelli, Carlos J.

    2017-01-01

    Globalization has resulted in a more complex marketplace. Growing multi-culturalism of consumer markets and increased global competition are pushing marketing scholars to better understand cross-cultural issues in consumer science and consumer psychology. The chapters in this book cover the field to

  15. Understanding Cross-Cultural Meaning through Visual Media.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hedberg, John G.; Brown, Ian

    2002-01-01

    Discusses cultural differences in Web site design for cross-cultural contexts and describes a study of Masters Degree students in Hong Kong that investigated their perceptions of Web learning environments that had been designed in Australia and delivered into Hong Kong and China. Considers the appropriateness of western interface design…

  16. Cross-cultural organizational behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gelfand, Michele J; Erez, Miriam; Aycan, Zeynep

    2007-01-01

    This article reviews research on cross-cultural organizational behavior (OB). After a brief review of the history of cross-cultural OB, we review research on work motivation, or the factors that energize, direct, and sustain effort across cultures. We next consider the relationship between the individual and the organization, and review research on culture and organizational commitment, psychological contracts, justice, citizenship behavior, and person-environment fit. Thereafter, we consider how individuals manage their interdependence in organizations, and review research on culture and negotiation and disputing, teams, and leadership, followed by research on managing across borders and expatriation. The review shows that developmentally, cross-cultural research in OB is coming of age. Yet we also highlight critical challenges for future research, including moving beyond values to explain cultural differences, attending to levels of analysis issues, incorporating social and organizational context factors into cross-cultural research, taking indigenous perspectives seriously, and moving beyond intracultural comparisons to understand the dynamics of cross-cultural interfaces.

  17. The Propositional vs. Hermeneutic Models of Cross-Cultural ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    What the authors attempts to address in this paper is a Kantian question: not whether, but how is cross-cultural understanding possible? And specifically, what is a more effective approach for cross-cultural understanding? The answer lies in an analysis of two different models of cross-cultural understanding, that is, ...

  18. CHALLENGES IN CROSS CULTURAL ADVERTISING

    OpenAIRE

    Yuni Retnowati

    2016-01-01

    At first, marketing practitioners and academics consider standardized approaches to marketing and advertising strategies in globalization, and then some studies proved that the standardization of advertising across culture is not valid. Therefore, cross cultural advertising takes local culture into account when conveying messages in advertisements. Cross cultural understanding is very important in order to produce successful localized advertising that would reflect the cultural values and nor...

  19. Social Organization and Leadership in Cross-Cultural Psychology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chemers, Martin M.

    There is little research by social psychologists in the areas of leadership and social organization, especially from a cross-cultural perspective, though such research offers an understanding of both leadership and culture. Existing cross-cultural management studies suffer from a lack of understanding of important social and cross-cultural…

  20. Cross-Cultural Contact in Counseling Training.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diaz-Lazaro, Carlos M.; Cohen, B. Beth

    2001-01-01

    Reports on the importance of cross-cultural contact in the development of multicultural counseling competencies (MCCs). Results reveal that the greater the prior cross-cultural life experience, the higher were students' MCCs measured at the beginning of a multicultural counseling course. MCCs measured at the end of the course were significantly…

  1. Examining Cultural Intelligence and Cross-Cultural Negotiation Effectiveness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Groves, Kevin S.; Feyerherm, Ann; Gu, Minhua

    2015-01-01

    International negotiation failures are often linked to deficiencies in negotiator cross-cultural capabilities, including limited understanding of the cultures engaged in the transaction, an inability to communicate with persons from different cultural backgrounds, and limited behavioral flexibility to adapt to culturally unfamiliar contexts.…

  2. CHALLENGES IN CROSS CULTURAL ADVERTISING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuni Retnowati

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available At first, marketing practitioners and academics consider standardized approaches to marketing and advertising strategies in globalization, and then some studies proved that the standardization of advertising across culture is not valid. Therefore, cross cultural advertising takes local culture into account when conveying messages in advertisements. Cross cultural understanding is very important in order to produce successful localized advertising that would reflect the cultural values and norms of intended audience. Challenge in cross cultural advertising is the problem of communicating to people of diverse cultural background. Cross cultural solutions are applied in areas such as language, communication style, images and cultural values. Cross cultural advertising is simply about using common sense and analyzing how the different elements of an advertising campaign are impacted by culture and modifying them to best speak to the target audience. Other challenges are determining between standardization and adaptation of cultural values content of advertising when facing different people from diverse cultures. In academic side, the challenge is preparing students to design advertisements that communicate effectively to diverse cultures.

  3. ACTIVE LEARNING STRATEGIES IN TEACHING CROSS CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING FOR ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDENTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ikke Dewi Pratama

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Cross Cultural Understanding (CCU is one of required courses in English Language Teaching which aims at connecting language and culture so that language learners can use foreign language appropriately, i.e. appropriate forms of language for appropriate context of situation. However, some obstacles usually occur during the course, for examples: students’ lack of understanding that lead to opinions stating that this is a boring and useless course, and large number of students within a class where lecturer must teach more than 40 students in one class. Considering the importance of CCU course as well as the needs to overcome the problems during this course, this paper proposes some particular teaching strategies to help students in apprehending CCU materials through students’ active participations. Active learning strategies are preferred by means of raising students’ participation and critical thinking so that the class would run more effectively. Other consideration in composing the strategies is to prepare English Education students to be future English language teachers by training their ability in teaching performance as well as connecting language and culture in English Language Teaching (ELT.   Keywords: language, culture, strategies, media, ELT

  4. Career development in cross-cultural environment

    OpenAIRE

    Balčiūnaitienė, Asta; Barvydienė, Violeta; Petkevičiūtė, Nijolė

    2013-01-01

    The aim of this paper is to discuss the peculiarities of career development and cultural competence in crosscultural environment. The idea of career development in a cross-cultural environment is usually linked to personal, communication skills, social and cultural issues. Understanding of the concept of peculiarities of career development and cross-cultural communication competence is of crucial significance in a multicultural environment. The main factors of career development in cross-cult...

  5. Cross-Cultural Collaboration - With Integrity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maryboy, N. C.

    2015-12-01

    Cross-Cultural Collaboration - with Integrity This poster will show the value of cross-cultural collaboration, between scientific institutions and Indigenous ways of knowing, as practiced by the Indigenous Education Institute. Focus is on respect for diverse worldviews, integrity as process, and academic diversity and equity. Today, as never before, traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) is of vital importance as it speaks strongly to the significance of balance to create a healthy environment. Utilizing a lens of contemporary scientific perspective along with a traditional Indigenous perspective illuminates the complementary aspects of both ways of knowing and a greater sense of understanding the earth and sky than would be possible with one perspective alone. The poster will highlight several examples of successful cross-cultural collaborations. *Collaborative partnership with University of Washington, Tacoma, Symposium on Contemporary Native American Issues in Higher Education: Intersectionality of Native Language and Culture in Modern Society (Sharing Our Skies - Looking at the Stars Through Indigenous Eyes and Western Astronomy Lenses) *AST 201, Introduction to Indigenous Astronomy, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northern Arizona University: a course that fulfills the Diversity Requirement for graduation *Native Universe: a National Science Foundation funded project, which honors Indigenous Voice in science museums to deepen our relationship with nature, vital in this time of climate change *MAVEN - Imagine Mars Through Indigenous Eyes: a NASA funded project which provides middle and high school curriculum delivered in science centers and Indigenous schools *Navajo Sky: modules and shows for planetariums, funded by NASA, that juxtapose Navajo and western astronomy concepts and context, highlighting place-based science

  6. Eye contact and Cross-cultural Communication

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    刘西娟

    2009-01-01

    It is commonly agreed by contemporary schohrs that it is important to understand the role of culture and its characteristics and potential impact on individuals engaged in cross-cultural communication.Nonverbal Communication often reveals basic culture traits.Eye contact,as a mediunq to convey emodon.attitudes and intention.phys an undeniably vital role in communication.The concentration of this paper is to discuss the functions of eye contact in communication,different information conveyed by eve contact on the basis of different cultures and the importance of understanding and respecting the rituals of eye contact in cross-culmral communication.

  7. Cultural hegemony? Educators' perspectives on facilitating cross-cultural dialogue.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaidi, Zareen; Verstegen, Daniëlle; Vyas, Rashmi; Hamed, Omayma; Dornan, Tim; Morahan, Page

    2016-01-01

    We live in an age when education is being internationalized. This can confront students with 'cultural hegemony' that can result from the unequal distribution of power and privilege in global society. The name that is given to awareness of social inequality is 'critical consciousness'. Cross-cultural dialogue provides an opportunity for learners to develop critical consciousness to counter cultural hegemony. The purpose of this research was to understand how learners engage with cross-cultural dialogue, so we can help them do so more effectively in the future. The setting for this research was an online discussion in an international health professions educator fellowship program. We introduced scenarios with cultural references to study the reaction of participants to cultural conversation cues. We used an inductive thematic analysis to explore power and hegemony issues. Participants reflected that personally they were more likely to take part in cross-cultural discussions if they recognized the context discussed or had prior exposure to educational settings with cultural diversity. They identified barriers as lack of skills in facilitating cross-cultural discussions and fear of offending others. They suggested deliberately introducing cultural issues throughout the curriculum. Our results indicate that developing critical consciousness and cross-cultural competency will require instructional design to identify longitudinal opportunities to bring up cross-cultural issues, and training facilitators to foster cross-cultural discussions by asking clarifying questions and navigating crucial/sensitive conversations.

  8. Revise and Re-evaluate Cross Cultural Understanding Curriculum at Akademi Bahasa Asing Balikpapan (Foriegn Language Academy of Balikpapan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rachmi Sari Baso

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available The study is about the project to revise and re-evaluate the unit of Cross Cultural Understanding curriculum which is taught in the Akademi Bahasa Asing Ballikpapan. The unit is for fifth semester students. The project aimed to provide students' perspectives of cross cultural differences in the workplace with the materials and knowledge that suitable for workplace demands. The information was gained by distributing questionnaires to 2 teachers and 2 employers of multinational companies in Balikpapan. The investigations for teachers were focused on the content, learning activities and materials of the current curriculum. The investigations for the employers were focused on their perspectives on the cross cultural understanding taught in the higher education. The project used Nicholls' cycle model that will be a useful tool to regularly evaluate curriculum based on the situational analysis. As the result, there were some of materials of American business cultural encounter should be revised to meet the companies demands and additional table manners in cultural perspectives should be included in the curriculum. Therefore, the new curriculum will be applied by these materials as the demands of the workplace.

  9. Cultural hegemony? Educators’ perspectives on facilitating cross-cultural dialogue

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zareen Zaidi

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Background: We live in an age when education is being internationalized. This can confront students with ‘cultural hegemony’ that can result from the unequal distribution of power and privilege in global society. The name that is given to awareness of social inequality is ‘critical consciousness’. Cross-cultural dialogue provides an opportunity for learners to develop critical consciousness to counter cultural hegemony. The purpose of this research was to understand how learners engage with cross-cultural dialogue, so we can help them do so more effectively in the future. Method: The setting for this research was an online discussion in an international health professions educator fellowship program. We introduced scenarios with cultural references to study the reaction of participants to cultural conversation cues. We used an inductive thematic analysis to explore power and hegemony issues. Results: Participants reflected that personally they were more likely to take part in cross-cultural discussions if they recognized the context discussed or had prior exposure to educational settings with cultural diversity. They identified barriers as lack of skills in facilitating cross-cultural discussions and fear of offending others. They suggested deliberately introducing cultural issues throughout the curriculum. Conclusion: Our results indicate that developing critical consciousness and cross-cultural competency will require instructional design to identify longitudinal opportunities to bring up cross-cultural issues, and training facilitators to foster cross-cultural discussions by asking clarifying questions and navigating crucial/sensitive conversations.

  10. Cultural hegemony? Educators’ perspectives on facilitating cross-cultural dialogue

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaidi, Zareen; Verstegen, Daniëlle; Vyas, Rashmi; Hamed, Omayma; Dornan, Tim; Morahan, Page

    2016-01-01

    Background We live in an age when education is being internationalized. This can confront students with ‘cultural hegemony’ that can result from the unequal distribution of power and privilege in global society. The name that is given to awareness of social inequality is ‘critical consciousness’. Cross-cultural dialogue provides an opportunity for learners to develop critical consciousness to counter cultural hegemony. The purpose of this research was to understand how learners engage with cross-cultural dialogue, so we can help them do so more effectively in the future. Method The setting for this research was an online discussion in an international health professions educator fellowship program. We introduced scenarios with cultural references to study the reaction of participants to cultural conversation cues. We used an inductive thematic analysis to explore power and hegemony issues. Results Participants reflected that personally they were more likely to take part in cross-cultural discussions if they recognized the context discussed or had prior exposure to educational settings with cultural diversity. They identified barriers as lack of skills in facilitating cross-cultural discussions and fear of offending others. They suggested deliberately introducing cultural issues throughout the curriculum. Conclusion Our results indicate that developing critical consciousness and cross-cultural competency will require instructional design to identify longitudinal opportunities to bring up cross-cultural issues, and training facilitators to foster cross-cultural discussions by asking clarifying questions and navigating crucial/sensitive conversations. PMID:27890048

  11. The Influence of Cross-Cultural Experiences & Location on Teachers' Perceptions of Cultural Competence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopes-Murphy, Solange A.; Murphy, Christopher G.

    2016-01-01

    The increasing cultural and linguistic diversity in academic settings necessitates greater cultural competence on the part of teachers, and enhancing the cultural competence of teachers requires a greater understanding of both the level of cultural competence among teachers and the experiences that enhance cultural competence. Teacher educators…

  12. A Theoretical Rationale for Cross-Cultural Family Counseling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arciniega, Miguel; Newlon, Betty J.

    1981-01-01

    Proposes seven Adlerian axioms of behavior for the cross-cultural pluralistic counselor working with minority families. Defines cross-cultural family counseling and urges counselors to understand minority cultures and the acculturation process. Discusses counseling techniques. (JAC)

  13. Types of cross-cultural studies in cross-cultural psychology

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van de Vijver, F.J.R.; Lonner, W.J.; Dinnel, D.L.; Hayes, S.A.; Sattler, D.N.

    2003-01-01

    From a methodological perspective cross-cultural studies in psychology differ in three dimensions. First, cross-cultural psychological studies can be exploratory or test specific hypotheses. Second, some cross-cultural studies compare countries or ethnic groups while other cross-cultural studies

  14. Cross-cultural barriers to health care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vidaeff, Alex C; Kerrigan, Anthony J; Monga, Manju

    2015-01-01

    Culturally sensitive health care represents a real ethical and practical need in a Western healthcare system increasingly serving a multiethnic society. This review focuses on cross-cultural barriers to health care and incongruent aspects from a cultural perspective in the provision of health care. To overcome difficulties in culturally dissimilar interactions and eventually remove cross-cultural barriers to health care, a culturally sensitive physician considers his or her own identity, values, and beliefs; recognizes the similarities and differences among cultures; understands what those similarities and differences mean; and is able to bridge the differences to accomplish clear and effective communication.

  15. Cross-cultural advertising

    OpenAIRE

    Пурчельянова, Н. Ю.

    2011-01-01

    The essence of successful advertising is to convince people that a product is meant for them. By purchasing it, they will receive some benefit (lifestyle, status, convenience, etc.). However, when an advertising campaign is taken abroad different values as to what enhances status or gives convenience exist. These differences make the original advertising campaign defunct. It is therefore critical to any cross cultural advertising campaign that an understanding of a particular culture is acqui...

  16. A Pilot Study: Facilitating Cross-Cultural Understanding with Project-Based Collaborative Learning in an Online Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shadiev, Rustam; Hwang, Wu-Yuin; Huang, Yueh-Min

    2015-01-01

    This study investigated three aspects: how project-based collaborative learning facilitates cross-cultural understanding; how students perceive project-based collaborative learning implementation in a collaborative cyber community (3C) online environment; and what types of communication among students are used. A qualitative case study approach…

  17. Cultural Understanding Through Cross-Cultural Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Briere, Jean-Francois

    1986-01-01

    A college course used an explicit intercultural approach and collective research activities to compare French and American cultures and to examine the reasons for cultural attitudes and culture conflict. Class assignments dealt with contrastive analyses of American and French institutions like advertising, cinema, feminism, etc. (MSE)

  18. Facilitating cultural border crossing in urban secondary science classrooms: A study of inservice teachers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Monteiro, Anna Karina

    Research acknowledges that if students are to be successful science, they must learn to navigate and cross cultural borders that exist between their own cultures and the subculture of science. This dissertation utilized a mixed methods approach to explore how inservice science teachers working in urban schools construct their ideas of and apply the concepts about the culture of science and cultural border crossing as relevant to the teaching and learning of science. The study used the lenses of cultural capital, social constructivism, and cultural congruency in the design and analysis of each of the three phases of data collection. Phase I identified the perspectives of six inservice science teachers on science culture, cultural border crossing, and which border crossing methods, if any, they used during science teaching. Phase II took a dialectical approach as the teachers read about science culture and cultural border crossing during three informal professional learning community meetings. This phase explored how teachers constructed their understanding of cultural border crossing and how the concept applied to the teaching and learning of science. Phase III evaluated how teachers' perspectives changed from Phase I. In addition, classroom observations were used to determine whether teachers' practices in their science classrooms changed from Phase I to Phase III. All three phases collected data through qualitative (i.e., interviews, classroom observations, and surveys) and quantitative (Likert items) means. The findings indicated that teachers found great value in learning about the culture of science and cultural border crossing as it pertained to their teaching methods. This was not only evidenced by their interviews and surveys, but also in the methods they used in their classrooms. Final conclusions included how the use of student capital resources (prior experiences, understandings and knowledge, ideas an interests, and personal beliefs), if supported by

  19. Women and alcohol: cross-cultural perspectives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heath, D B

    1991-01-01

    A review of the worldwide literature about women and alcohol contradicts many stereotypes and raises some new questions, interpretations, and practical implications. Norms, values, attitudes, and expectations may be at least as important as physiological differences between the sexes with respect to patterns of drinking and their outcomes. Women have been drinking as long as men have throughout history, and they drink about as often as men in many cultures; in a few instances, they even seem to drink more, in spite of the fact that the physical impact of a given dose of alcohol is greater for women. In nonindustrial societies, women usually have more easy access to alcoholic beverages; in fact, they often monopolize production and predominate in the distribution system. A cross-cultural perspective shows that too narrow a focus on the social, psychological, and physical problems that excessive drinkers incur has severely hampered the understanding of women's diverse roles with respect to alcohol.

  20. Health Care Professionals' Understandings of Cross-Cultural Interaction in End-of-Life Care: A Focus Group Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Milberg, Anna; Torres, Sandra; Ågård, Pernilla

    2016-01-01

    The academic debate on cross-cultural interaction within the context of end-of-life care takes for granted that this interaction is challenging. However, few empirical studies have actually focused on what health care professionals think about this interaction. This study aimed to explore health care professionals' understandings of cross-cultural interaction during end-of-life care. Sixty end-of-life care professionals were recruited from eleven care units in Sweden to take part in focus group interviews. These interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The health care professionals interviewed talked about cross-cultural interaction in end-of-life care as interaction that brings about uncertainty, stress and frustration even though they had limited experience of this type of interaction. The focus group discussions brought attention to four specific challenges that they expected to meet when they care for patients with migrant backgrounds since they took for granted that they would have an ethno-cultural background that is different to their own. These challenges had to do with communication barriers, 'unusual' emotional and pain expressions, the expectation that these patients' families would be 'different' and the anticipation that these patients and their families lack knowledge. At the core of the challenges in question is the idea that cross-cultural interaction means meeting "the unknown". In addition, the end-of-life care professionals interviewed talked about patients whose backgrounds they did not share in homogenizing terms. It is against this backdrop that they worried about their ability to provide end-of-life care that is individualized enough to meet the needs of these patients. The study suggests that end-of-life care professionals who regard cross-cultural interaction in this manner could face actual challenges when caring for patients whose backgrounds they regard as "the unknown" since they anticipate a variety of challenges

  1. Health Care Professionals’ Understandings of Cross-Cultural Interaction in End-of-Life Care: A Focus Group Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torres, Sandra; Ågård, Pernilla

    2016-01-01

    Objective The academic debate on cross-cultural interaction within the context of end-of-life care takes for granted that this interaction is challenging. However, few empirical studies have actually focused on what health care professionals think about this interaction. This study aimed to explore health care professionals’ understandings of cross-cultural interaction during end-of-life care. Methods Sixty end-of-life care professionals were recruited from eleven care units in Sweden to take part in focus group interviews. These interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results The health care professionals interviewed talked about cross-cultural interaction in end-of-life care as interaction that brings about uncertainty, stress and frustration even though they had limited experience of this type of interaction. The focus group discussions brought attention to four specific challenges that they expected to meet when they care for patients with migrant backgrounds since they took for granted that they would have an ethno-cultural background that is different to their own. These challenges had to do with communication barriers, ‘unusual’ emotional and pain expressions, the expectation that these patients’ families would be ‘different’ and the anticipation that these patients and their families lack knowledge. At the core of the challenges in question is the idea that cross-cultural interaction means meeting “the unknown”. In addition, the end-of-life care professionals interviewed talked about patients whose backgrounds they did not share in homogenizing terms. It is against this backdrop that they worried about their ability to provide end-of-life care that is individualized enough to meet the needs of these patients. Conclusions The study suggests that end-of-life care professionals who regard cross-cultural interaction in this manner could face actual challenges when caring for patients whose backgrounds they regard as

  2. Health Care Professionals' Understandings of Cross-Cultural Interaction in End-of-Life Care: A Focus Group Study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna Milberg

    Full Text Available The academic debate on cross-cultural interaction within the context of end-of-life care takes for granted that this interaction is challenging. However, few empirical studies have actually focused on what health care professionals think about this interaction. This study aimed to explore health care professionals' understandings of cross-cultural interaction during end-of-life care.Sixty end-of-life care professionals were recruited from eleven care units in Sweden to take part in focus group interviews. These interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.The health care professionals interviewed talked about cross-cultural interaction in end-of-life care as interaction that brings about uncertainty, stress and frustration even though they had limited experience of this type of interaction. The focus group discussions brought attention to four specific challenges that they expected to meet when they care for patients with migrant backgrounds since they took for granted that they would have an ethno-cultural background that is different to their own. These challenges had to do with communication barriers, 'unusual' emotional and pain expressions, the expectation that these patients' families would be 'different' and the anticipation that these patients and their families lack knowledge. At the core of the challenges in question is the idea that cross-cultural interaction means meeting "the unknown". In addition, the end-of-life care professionals interviewed talked about patients whose backgrounds they did not share in homogenizing terms. It is against this backdrop that they worried about their ability to provide end-of-life care that is individualized enough to meet the needs of these patients.The study suggests that end-of-life care professionals who regard cross-cultural interaction in this manner could face actual challenges when caring for patients whose backgrounds they regard as "the unknown" since they anticipate a variety

  3. A Comparison of Surgery and Family Medicine Residents' Perceptions of Cross-Cultural Care Training of Cross-Cultural Care Training

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jackson, David S; Lin, Susan Y; Park, Elyse R

    2010-01-01

    The need for physicians formally trained to deliver care to diverse patient populations has been widely advocated. Utilizing a validated tool, Weissman and Betancourt's Cross-Cultural Care Survey, the aim of this current study was to compare surgery and family medicine residents' perceptions of their preparedness and skillfulness to provide high quality cross-cultural care. Past research has documented differences between the two groups' reported impressions of importance and level of instruction received in cross-cultural care. Twenty surgery and 15 family medicine residents participated in the study. Significant differences were found between surgery and family medicine residents on most ratings of the amount of training they received in cross-cultural skills. Specifically, family medicine residents reported having received more training on: 1) determining how patients want to be addressed, 2) taking a social history, 3) assessing their understanding of the cause of illness, 4) negotiating their treatment plan, 5) assessing whether they are mistrustful of the health care system and/or doctor, 6) identifying cultural customs, 7) identifying how patients make decisions within the family, and 8) delivering services through a medical interpreter. One unexpected finding was that surgery residents, who reported not receiving much formal cultural training, reported higher mean scores on perceived skillfulness (i.e. ability) than family medicine residents. The disconnect may be linked to the family medicine residents' training in cultural humility — more knowledge and understanding of cross-cultural care can paradoxically lead to perceptions of being less prepared or skillful in this area. PMID:21225585

  4. A Comparative Study between Chinese and Western Food Culture in Cross-cultural Communication

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    焦体霞

    2014-01-01

    The differences of food culture play an important role in cross-cultural communication. Learn the cultural rooted causes of food culture between Chinese and Western countries, will promote mutual understanding between people and enjoy different feelings different foods brings, enhance cultural exchange, complement and integration.

  5. DOING BUSINESS IN GLOBAL ARENA: AN EXAMINATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE AND CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Subramaniam Sri Ramalu

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available The study examines the relationship between cultural intelligence (CQ and crosscultural adjustment (CCA using a field study of 332 expat iates in Malaysia. The findings of this study reveal that CQ is a vital cross-cultural competency that facilitates expatriates CCA in international assignment. Specifically, the result of this study reveals that greater general adjustment is related to greater motivational and meta-cognitive CQ. The more successful interaction adjustment is associated with greater motivational, metacognitiveand cognitive CQ. Greater work adjustment is related to greater motivational CQ. Motivational component of CQ is the only dimensions of CQ that is significantly related to all three dimensions of CCA. The findings of this study have significant contribution to the body of knowledge in the cross-cultural management field as well aspractical implication to expatriating firms especially in the area of selection and hiring of international candidates.

  6. Can One Undergraduate Course Increase Cross-Cultural Competence?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spitzer, Lois

    2015-01-01

    The majority of students who took this general education undergraduate course in developing cross-cultural understanding at a state college in the northeastern United States reported that their level of cross-cultural competence and global awareness increased by the end of the course. The primary course objective was to help students better…

  7. Cultural hegemony? Educators? perspectives on facilitating cross-cultural dialogue

    OpenAIRE

    Zaidi, Zareen; Verstegen, Dani?lle; Vyas, Rashmi; Hamed, Omayma; Dornan, Tim; Morahan, Page

    2016-01-01

    Background: We live in an age when education is being internationalized. This can confront students with ‘cultural hegemony’ that can result from the unequal distribution of power and privilege in global society. The name that is given to awareness of social inequality is ‘critical consciousness’. Cross-cultural dialogue provides an opportunity for learners to develop critical consciousness to counter cultural hegemony. The purpose of this research was to understand how learners engage with c...

  8. Building Bridges: A Peace Corps Classroom Guide to Cross-Cultural Understanding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aronhime, Raquel; Bennhold-Samaan, Laurette; Coratti, Nancy; Lazar, Cori; Flaccus, Trisha Tumulty; McGinnis, J. Randy; Scammahorn, Emmy; Soderstrom, Robert; Storti, Craig; Williams, Krystal

    2010-01-01

    The lessons presented in this book will: (1) Help students better understand their own culture and how it has shaped them; (2) Help students begin to understand the perspectives of other cultures, leading to increased respect for those who are different from them--in the classroom and worldwide; and (3) Provide an increased awareness of the value…

  9. Exploring issues and strengths of cross-cultural marriage among Korean immigrants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Junhyoung; Park, Se-Hyuk; Kim, May; Kim, Su Yeon

    2017-10-01

    Cross-cultural marriages have continuously increased in the United States. In spite of this increase, further research is needed to address the paucity of literature on cross-cultural marriage, particularly, between immigrants and their indigenous spouses. In this study, we have focused on the cross-cultural marriages between female Korean immigrants who have married Americans, aiming to identify the positive and/or negative aspects of cross-cultural marriage from the Korean women themselves. For this purpose, semi-structured interviews were conducted on a total of 14 participants. Their ages ranged from 45 to 66 years (M D 52.5 years) and the average length of time since their immigration was 25 years. Each interview lasted between 45 and 120 min and, with participants' permission, were recorded and transcribed. Based on the participants' life experiences and personal statements, we divided our findings into two sections: (a) issues and problems of cross-cultural marriages, and (b) strengths of cross-cultural marriages. With regard to the issues and problems of cross-cultural marriages experienced by participants, three major themes were identified: (a) communication barriers, (b) cultural conflicts and misunderstandings, and (c) unclear cultural identities. The strengths of cross-cultural marriages were identified as: (a) development of coping strategies, and (b) improving cultural understanding. It appears that participants developed their own coping strategies and improved their cultural understanding in order to deal with the various stressors associated with cross-cultural marriage.

  10. STUDENT-CENTERED LEARNING AND CROSS CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING IN LEARNING INTODUCTION TO LITERATURE TO IMPROVE THE STUDENTS MORALITY AND MULTICULTURAL VALUES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Siminto Siminto

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Previously the paradigm change was done from the teacher centered to the student centered in teaching learning process. It was expected to be able to encourage the students to be involved in building their knowledge, attitude, and character. Besides that, English learners did not understand about the native culture and morality values to the language that they are learning. Cross cultural understanding knowledge is very useful to improve the students‘ ability in recognizing the dissimilarity culture and live together in the middle of the dissimilarity culture. This research was based on the qualitative research principle. The research type used was qualitative study by using action research design. Subject of this research was the fourth semester students who have programmed Introduction to Literature in English Study Program at Palangkaraya State Islamic Institute in academic year 2014/2015, consisted of two learning group. Based on the research findings, by implementing of student-centered learning and cross cultural understanding, it showed that they can increase: (1 the students‘ readiness, being active, seriousness in analyzing English literature text; (2 the students‘ performance in doing of tasks given to each students to be able to share their understanding about English literature text to the other students; (3 the students‘ learning quality, academic achievement, interest, response in learning of Introduction to Literature related to literature text analysis concept mastering; (4 the students‘ morality and multicultural values. It could be seen from the students‘ study result, literature text analysis result, and the students‘ character.

  11. Community Collaborative Problem Solving--Cross-Cultural Lessons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stevens, Georgia L.; Marin-Hernandez, Agueda

    1999-01-01

    Examples of Midwestern and Honduran community-based collaborative problem solving provide cross-culturally-adaptable suggestions for community coalitions: adapt the process to the culture, recognize structural constraints, understand reciprocity norms, appreciate the validity of avoidance, and remember that communication roadblocks are always…

  12. Chinese engineering students' cross-cultural adaptation in graduate school

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Xinquan

    to cross-cultural challenges allow them to grow as a person and develop a new sense of self and identity, and negotiating cultural differences help them gain a deeper understanding of their own and other cultures. These findings offer insights into understanding the interconnections among international students' academic life, socialization, and cross-cultural adaptation.

  13. Introduction. Back to nurture: cross-cultural research as a paradigm for understanding bio-cultural dynamics of cognitive ageing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luszcz, Mary

    2006-01-01

    One of the earliest and most persistent inquiries in developmental psychology is that of the relative contributions of nature and nurture to human ontogeny. One way of studying this distinction is by doing cross-cultural studies, in which culture provides a powerful way to operationalize the influence of nurture. The purpose is to provide some background to the emergence of the field of cross-cultural gerontological research, as a prelude to the special series of papers on cognitive ageing and culture from the laboratory of Park and Nisbett and their colleagues. A qualitative review of theoretical notions about cross-cultural differences provides an introduction and orientation to papers dealing with aspects of cognitive ageing, including picture naming specificity, source memory, use of categorical information in free recall, and perceptions of stereotypes of older and younger adults. Most of the research on cognitive ageing has focused on Western cultures and has assumed universality in the operation of the cognitive system. If culture makes a difference, a plausible hypothesis might be that, with ageing, any effects of culture on cognitive processes would become more apparent, due to older adults' increased exposure to their culture, and that these might be limited to the pragmatics of intelligence or crystallized abilities. The papers presented demonstrate that for some cognitive processes, i.e., source memory and free recall, cultural invariance, or universality of cognitive ageing, was observed. Further, stereotypes of both cultures shifted with advancing age from positive to increasingly negative views for mental and physical domains. A modest interaction of age and culture was observed in social and emotional domains, where stereotypes were relatively neutral, except for a small positive bias among the young Chinese participants for both older and younger adults. Marked cultural differences were seen in naming specificity and in the use of categories to

  14. Crossing the Atlantic: Integrating Cross-Cultural Experiences into Undergraduate Business Courses Using Virtual Communities Technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luethge, Denise J.; Raska, David; Greer, Bertie M.; O'Connor, Christina

    2016-01-01

    Today's business school academics are tasked with pedagogy that offers students an understanding of the globalization of markets and the cross-cultural communication skills needed in today's business environment. The authors describe how a virtual cross-cultural experience was integrated into an undergraduate business course and used as an…

  15. Cross-Cultural Simulations in Teacher Education: Developing Empathy and Understanding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cruz, Barbara C.; Patterson, Jennifer

    2005-01-01

    Teacher training programs have recognized the importance of preparing future teachers for the unique opportunities and challenges that our multicultural societies and world provide. One method that is useful in sensitizing teachers to issues of diversity is cross-cultural simulations. By using kinesthetic and affective modes of learning,…

  16. Genograms and Family Sculpting: An Aid to Cross-Cultural Understanding in the Training of Psychology Students in South Africa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marchetti-Mercer, Maria C.; Cleaver, Glenda

    2000-01-01

    Describes a specific training method developed in a family therapy course at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, where genograms and family sculpting were used to improve cross-cultural understanding among psychology masters students. Discusses the theoretical implications of the group training process for the training of psychologists in…

  17. On Chinese-English Translation of Tourist Attraction in Cross-cultural Perspective--Taking Qi Culture as An Example

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    张滕龙

    2014-01-01

    Tourist textsfeature vividness and distinctiveness and its translation is a typical cross-cultural activity.By applying cross-cultural consciousness to the tourist material's translation, foreigners can understand the cultural connotation easily. Therefore, cross-cultural consciousness plays an important role in the translation of tourist materials.This thesis, taking Qi culture as an exam-ple, explores some typical tourist attractions from perspectives of historical allusions and legend as well as traditional customs. The analysis of Qi cultural connotation concludes business culture, Pu culture and filial piety culture. So, in order to transmit the cul-tural information to foreign tourists accurately, it is necessary to apply inter-cultural consciousness to the translation of tourist texts.

  18. Cultural competency of health-care providers in a Swiss University Hospital: self-assessed cross-cultural skillfulness in a cross-sectional study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Casillas, Alejandra; Paroz, Sophie; Green, Alexander R; Wolff, Hans; Weber, Orest; Faucherre, Florence; Ninane, Françoise; Bodenmann, Patrick

    2014-01-30

    As the diversity of the European population evolves, measuring providers' skillfulness in cross-cultural care and understanding what contextual factors may influence this is increasingly necessary. Given limited information about differences in cultural competency by provider role, we compared cross-cultural skillfulness between physicians and nurses working at a Swiss university hospital. A survey on cross-cultural care was mailed in November 2010 to front-line providers in Lausanne, Switzerland. This questionnaire included some questions from the previously validated Cross-Cultural Care Survey. We compared physicians' and nurses' mean composite scores and proportion of "3-good/4-very good" responses, for nine perceived skillfulness items (4-point Likert-scale) using the validated tool. We used linear regression to examine how provider role (physician vs. nurse) was associated with composite skillfulness scores, adjusting for demographics (gender, non-French dominant language), workplace (time at institution, work-unit "sensitized" to cultural-care), reported cultural-competence training, and cross-cultural care problem-awareness. Of 885 questionnaires, 368 (41.2%) returned the survey: 124 (33.6%) physicians and 244 (66.4%) nurses, reflecting institutional distribution of providers. Physicians had better mean composite scores for perceived skillfulness than nurses (2.7 vs. 2.5, p cross-cultural training (β = 0.14, p = 0.01) and lack of practical experience caring for diverse populations (β = 0.11, p = 0.04). In stratified analyses among physicians alone, having French as a dominant language (β = -0.34, p cultural competency improvement among providers. These results support the need for cross-cultural skills training with an inter-professional focus on nurses, education that attunes provider awareness to the local issues in cross-cultural care, and increased diversity efforts in the work force, particularly among physicians.

  19. The challenges of cross-cultural research and teaching in family medicine: How can professional networks help?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amanda Caroline Howe

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Modern medical training emphasizes the value of understanding the patient’s ideas, concerns and expectations, and the use of their personal perspective to assist communication, diagnosis, and uptake of all appropriate health and treatment options. This requires doctors to be ‘culturally sensitive’, which “… involves an awareness and acceptance of cultural differences, self-awareness, knowledge of a patient’s culture, and adaptation of skills”. Yet most of us work in one country, and often one community, for much of our professional careers. Those who enter into academic pursuits will similarly be constrained by our own backgrounds and experiences, even though universities and medical schools often attract a multicultural membership. We therefore rely on our professional training and networks to extend our scope and understanding of how cultural issues impact upon our research and its relevance to our discipline and curricula. This article uses a reflexive narrative approach to examine the role and value of international networks through the lens of one individual and one organisation. It explores the extent to which such networks assist cross cultural sensitivity, using examples from its networks, and how these can (and have impacted on greater cross-culturalism in our teaching and research outputs.

  20. Intercultural Communication as Viewed from the Perspective of Cross-cultural Psychology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niikura, Ryoko

    The encounter with foreign nationals in everyday life calls for not only understanding of the other on the level of recognition but also the ability to cope with the whole spectrum of emotional reactions associated with direct experience of other cultures. Viewing the subject from the perspective of cross-cultural psychology, this paper outlines the course of human information processing that restricts cross-cultural personal acceptance and the psychological process involved in contact with other cultures. Building on this basis, it then discusses the significance of understanding other cultures and examines requirements for communication with people who have different cultural backgrounds. A particular focus is the approach to communication with international students in Japanese universities.

  1. Reciprocity, culture and human cooperation: previous insights and a new cross-cultural experiment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gächter, Simon; Herrmann, Benedikt

    2009-03-27

    Understanding the proximate and ultimate sources of human cooperation is a fundamental issue in all behavioural sciences. In this paper, we review the experimental evidence on how people solve cooperation problems. Existing studies show without doubt that direct and indirect reciprocity are important determinants of successful cooperation. We also discuss the insights from a large literature on the role of peer punishment in sustaining cooperation. The experiments demonstrate that many people are 'strong reciprocators' who are willing to cooperate and punish others even if there are no gains from future cooperation or any other reputational gains. We document this in new one-shot experiments, which we conducted in four cities in Russia and Switzerland. Our cross-cultural approach allows us furthermore to investigate how the cultural background influences strong reciprocity. Our results show that culture has a strong influence on positive and in especially strong negative reciprocity. In particular, we find large cross-cultural differences in 'antisocial punishment' of pro-social cooperators. Further cross-cultural research and experiments involving different socio-demographic groups document that the antisocial punishment is much more widespread than previously assumed. Understanding antisocial punishment is an important task for future research because antisocial punishment is a strong inhibitor of cooperation.

  2. Think globally, act locally: understanding sexual harassment from a cross-cultural perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ulusoy, Hatice; Swigart, Valerie; Erdemir, Firdevs

    2011-06-01

    Sexual harassment in medical education has been studied in the Americas, Europe and Asia; however, little is known about sexual harassment in Middle Eastern cultures. Our initial aim was to describe the sexual harassment of female doctors-in-training by male patients and their relatives in Turkey. During our analysis of data, we expanded our objectives to include the formulation of a framework that can provide a theoretical background to enhance medical educators' understanding of sexual harassment across cultures. Questionnaires were provided to female resident doctors. Respondents were asked about their experiences of sexual harassment, about their reactions and about any precautionary measures they had used. Descriptive statistics were generated using SPSS software. Qualitative data were analysed using content analysis. Forty-nine (51.0%) of 96 distributed questionnaires were completed. Thirty-three (67.3%) participants stated that they had been sexually harassed by a patient or patient's relative at some point in their career. 'Gazing at the doctor in a lewd manner', selected by 25 (51.0%) participants, was the most common form of harassment. The methods of coping selected by the highest numbers of respondents involved seeking the discharge of the patient (24.2%), avoiding contact with the patient or relatives (24.2%) and showing rejection (21.2%). Participants' comments about the prevention of sexual harassment revealed a deep sense of need for protection. The interface between quantitative and qualitative findings and a review of the literature supported the development of a value-based, cross-cultural conceptual framework linking the valuing of hierarchy and conservatism with the occurrence of sexual harassment. We relate our findings to issues of patriarchy, power and socio-cultural influences that impact both the perpetrator and the target of sexual harassment. Medical educators are responsible for the control and prevention of sexual harassment of

  3. Cross-cultural comparison of maternal sleep.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mindell, Jodi A; Sadeh, Avi; Kwon, Robert; Goh, Daniel Y T

    2013-11-01

    To characterize cross-cultural sleep patterns and sleep problems in a large sample of mothers of children (ages birth to 6 years) in multiple predominantly Asian and predominantly Caucasian countries. Mothers of 10,085 young children (predominantly Asian countries/regions: China, Hong Kong, India, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand; predominantly Caucasian countries: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States) completed an internet-based expanded version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Mothers in predominantly Asian countries/regions had later bedtimes, decreased number and duration of night wakings, more nighttime sleep, and more total sleep than mothers from predominantly Caucasian countries, P cross-cultural findings of young children. Psychosocial factors were found to be the best predictors of poor sleep, irrespective of culture. Further studies are needed to understand the impact of these findings.

  4. Cultural competency of health-care providers in a Swiss University Hospital: self-assessed cross-cultural skillfulness in a cross-sectional study

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    Background As the diversity of the European population evolves, measuring providers’ skillfulness in cross-cultural care and understanding what contextual factors may influence this is increasingly necessary. Given limited information about differences in cultural competency by provider role, we compared cross-cultural skillfulness between physicians and nurses working at a Swiss university hospital. Methods A survey on cross-cultural care was mailed in November 2010 to front-line providers in Lausanne, Switzerland. This questionnaire included some questions from the previously validated Cross-Cultural Care Survey. We compared physicians’ and nurses’ mean composite scores and proportion of “3-good/4-very good” responses, for nine perceived skillfulness items (4-point Likert-scale) using the validated tool. We used linear regression to examine how provider role (physician vs. nurse) was associated with composite skillfulness scores, adjusting for demographics (gender, non-French dominant language), workplace (time at institution, work-unit “sensitized” to cultural-care), reported cultural-competence training, and cross-cultural care problem-awareness. Results Of 885 questionnaires, 368 (41.2%) returned the survey: 124 (33.6%) physicians and 244 (66.4%) nurses, reflecting institutional distribution of providers. Physicians had better mean composite scores for perceived skillfulness than nurses (2.7 vs. 2.5, p cross-cultural training (β = 0.14, p = 0.01) and lack of practical experience caring for diverse populations (β = 0.11, p = 0.04). In stratified analyses among physicians alone, having French as a dominant language (β = −0.34, p cross-cultural skills training with an inter-professional focus on nurses, education that attunes provider awareness to the local issues in cross-cultural care, and increased diversity efforts in the work force, particularly among physicians. PMID:24479405

  5. Continuing bonds after bereavement:A cross-cultural perspective

    OpenAIRE

    Valentine, Christine A

    2009-01-01

    The ways in which eastern and western cultures grieve for their dead are often contrasted. Eastern cultures are seen to place greater value on traditional ritual and ceremony that, it is argued, serve to create a lasting, and comforting, bond with the deceased. By contrast, western societies are seen to be much more materialist and individualistic. This article takes a cross-cultural look at responses to death and loss in the UK and Japan, both post-industrial societies but with very differen...

  6. A Study of Cross-Cultural Interactions in“The Tempest”

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Wang Lei

    2014-01-01

    Cross-cultural analysis is becoming an important way to realize the different cultures. This article is mainly focusing on the colonialism in“The Tempest”. Colonialism is one main aspect of cross-cultural interaction. “The Tempest” is the last play written by William Shakespeare. In his play, he mentioned several characters and some special relationships between them. These can be regarded as the reflection of colonialism which is the most important theme in this play. As we all know, some colonialism can make good influence while some only produce bad influence. In this article, it introduces the negative cross-cultural interaction from several aspects. As a result, we could understand the process of formation of colonialism from these debates.

  7. A Study of Cross-Cultural Interactions in“The Tempest”

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Wang; Lei

    2014-01-01

    Cross-cultural analysis is becoming an important way to realize the different cultures. This article is mainly focusing on the colonialism in "The Tempest". Colonialism is one main aspect of cross-cultural interaction. "The Tempest" is the last play written by William Shakespeare. In his play, he mentioned several characters and some special relationships between them. These can be regarded as the reflection of colonialism which is the most important theme in this play. As we all know, some colonialism can make good influence while some only produce bad influence. In this article, it introduces the negative cross-cultural interaction from several aspects. As a result, we could understand the process of formation of colonialism from these debates.

  8. Facilitating cross-cultural adjustment : the case of North European expatriates in China

    OpenAIRE

    Reegård, Kine

    2011-01-01

    Cross-cultural adjustment is considered crucial for expatriate success. Such adjustment may be enhanced by providing the expatriates with the knowledge and awareness of norms and appropriate behaviours of the host country by means of cross-cultural training. Language training may also facilitate interaction with host nationals, thereby providing the expatriate with insight into the host country’s culture increase their understanding of the new environment. Further, cross-cultural training and...

  9. Internal Medicine Residents' Perceptions of Cross-Cultural Training

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Elyse R; Betancourt, Joseph R; Miller, Elizabeth; Nathan, Michael; MacDonald, Ellie; Ananeh-Firempong, Owusu; Stone, Valerie E

    2006-01-01

    BACKGROUND Physicians increasingly face the challenge of managing clinical encounters with patients from a range of cultural backgrounds. Despite widespread interest in cross-cultural care, little is known about resident physicians' perceptions of what will best enable them to provide quality care to diverse patient populations. OBJECTIVES To assess medicine residents' (1) perceptions of cross-cultural care, (2) barriers to care, and (3) training experiences and recommendations. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS Qualitative individual interviews were conducted with 26 third-year medicine residents at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston (response rate = 87%). Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed. RESULTS Despite significant interest in cross-cultural care, almost all of the residents reported very little training during residency. Most had gained cross-cultural skills through informal learning. A few were skeptical about formal training, and some expressed concern that it is impossible to understand every culture. Challenges to the delivery of cross-cultural care included managing patients with limited English proficiency, who involve family in critical decision making, and who have beliefs about disease that vary from the biomedical model. Residents cited many implications to these barriers, ranging from negatively impacting the patient-physician relationship to compromised care. Training recommendations included making changes to the educational climate and informal and formal training mechanisms. CONCLUSIONS If cross-cultural education is to be successful, it must take into account residents' perspectives and be focused on overcoming residents' cited barriers. It is important to convey that cross-cultural education is a set of skills that can be taught and applied, in a time-efficient manner, rather than requiring an insurmountable knowledge base. PMID:16704391

  10. The World of Cross-Cultural Research: Insights for Gifted Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    VanTassel-Baska, Joyce

    2013-01-01

    As the world becomes smaller in a small field like gifted education, cross-cultural research gives us a unique opportunity to understand top students and academic interventions in a deeper way. In this article, the author describes the importance of cross-cultural research as a way to serve gifted children globally. A description of a…

  11. Cross-cultural dimensions : organisational culture in Philip Morris, Lietuva

    OpenAIRE

    Grundey, Dainora

    2008-01-01

    Business globalization raised the new priorities for cross-cultural management theory and practice. The goal of this article is according to cross-cultural management and organizational culture theories to propose a new model of organizational culture with cross-cultural dimensions. The objectives of the paper are as follows: a) to disclose the essence of cross-cultural management and organizational culture; b) to carry out the empirical research of organizational culture in a selected Lithua...

  12. German cross-cultural psychology

    OpenAIRE

    Trommsdorff, Gisela

    1986-01-01

    The present study deals with German-language cross-cultural research in different fields of psychology which attempts to achieve one Or more goals of cross-cultural psychology. First, methodological problems are discussed, followed by a selective presentation of cross-cultural research in personality, clinical, ethological, developmental, and social psychology. The theoretical and methodological advancement of these studies is investigated with respect to four approaches - universals in cross...

  13. Cross-Cultural Comparisons and Implications for Students with EBD: A Decade of Understanding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chakraborti-Ghosh, Sumita; Mofield, Emily; Orellana, Karee

    2010-01-01

    This paper presents cross-cultural comparisons on definitions, prevalence, and outcomes of students with emotional-behavior disorders (EBD). In addition, the paper addresses the concern of disproportionality and the need for teachers of students with behavior problems to be culturally responsive to perceived inappropriate behaviors. A review of…

  14. Visual illusions and ethnocentrism: exemplars for teaching cross-cultural concepts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keith, Kenneth D

    2012-05-01

    This article discusses the origins of cross-cultural interest in two concepts fundamental to psychology students' views of the world: simple visual illusions and ethnocentrism. Although students encounter these ideas in introductory psychology, textbooks rarely describe the nature or origin of cross-cultural knowledge about them. The article presents a brief account of the history of these concepts and relates them to contemporary notions of psychology and culture. Using visual perception and ethnocentrism as examples, the article suggests the importance of teaching that different people see the world in different ways and the role of that lesson in a future demanding increased cross-cultural understanding.

  15. Counternarrative and antenarrative inquiry in two cross-cultural contexts

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Boje, David M.; Svane, Marita Susanna; Gergerich, Erika

    2016-01-01

    stereotypical representations of race, class, and gender, and offer theory and methodology resources for a more meaningful understanding of homeless life and cultures. The second case explores narrative-counternarrative and antenarrative inquiry into a cross-cultural merger between two companies. Both cases...

  16. A Cross-Cultural Study of How Usability Professionals Experience the Usability of Everyday Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jiang, Y.; Sun, X.; Li, H.

    2009-01-01

    in the study, their understanding of fun systems differs across cultural backgrounds. Also, easy-to-use and useful systems are perceived as being similar or different depending on the usability professional’s cultural background. Most other cross-cultural differences relate to categories of construct......Culture influences many aspects of the design and use of computer systems; understanding better this influence on their own thinking may benefit usability professionals who do cross-cultural usability work. Using Kelly’s notion of personal constructs, we focus on one mediator of culture: how...

  17. Excerpt from Trans-Americanity: Subaltern Modernities, Global Coloniality, and the Cultures of Greater Mexico

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José David Saldívar

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available José David Saldívar’s work, excerpted from Trans-Americanity: Subaltern Modernities, Global Coloniality, and the Cultures of Greater Mexico, focuses on Américo Paredes, whom he refers to as a “proto-Chicano.” Here he discusses Paredes’s columns written from Asia for the United States Army magazine Stars and Stripes and how his experience in Asia between 1945 and 1950 crossed with and informed his evolving viewpoint on US–Mexican borderlands and his “outernationalist” envisioning of a “Greater Mexico.”

  18. Ethics in family violence research: cross-cultural issues.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fontes, L A

    1998-01-01

    This article examines ethical issues in cross-cultural research on family violence. It suggests ways for researchers to increase understanding and avoid abuses of power. Special attention to informed consent, definition of the sample, composition of the research team, research methods, and potential harm and benefit are considered key to designing ethical cross-cultural research. The discussion is illustrated with examples from the literature and from the author's experiences conducting research on sexual abuse in a shanty town in Chile and with Puerto Ricans in the U.S.

  19. Semiology of psychogenic nonepileptic seizures: An international cross-cultural study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asadi-Pooya, Ali A; Valente, Kette; Alessi, Ruda; Tinker, Jennifer

    2017-10-01

    We compared the semiology of psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) between patients from the USA and Brazil. This international cross-cultural comparative study may expand understanding of PNES across the borders. We retrospectively investigated all patients with PNES admitted to one epilepsy center in the USA and one in Brazil. We classified their seizures into four classes: generalized motor, akinetic, focal motor, and subjective symptoms. All patients were interviewed by an epileptologist in both countries and were administered psychological assessment measures, including questions about PNES risk factors. For the statistical analyses, we compared patients from the two nations. Eighty-nine patients (49 from the USA and 40 from Brazil) were studied. Patients from the two countries were not significantly different with regard to sex and age, but patients from Brazil had earlier age at onset (26years vs. 34years; P=0.004) and a significantly greater delay in diagnosis (9.9years vs. 5.6years; P=0.001). Some characteristics of PNES were different between the two groups; patients from the USA had generally more seizure types and more often reported subjective seizures (55% in the USA vs. 10% in Brazil; P=0.0001). Clinical and historical characteristics of the patients were not significantly different. Delay in diagnosis of PNES may represent a major factor in resource-limited countries. Large multicenter cross-cultural studies may reveal subtle but significant cross-cultural differences with respect to the semiological, clinical, and historical aspects of PNES; however, patients with PNES share more similarities than differences. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Cultural Consumption of the Overseas Chinese Garden in the Process of Cross-cultural Communication

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhai, L.

    2015-08-01

    When referring to the tangible cultural heritage, people tend to concern more about the conservation and research of the entity of the tangible heritage than the cross-cultural communication of the cultural heritage which is also one of the most important components of the preservation of the cultural heritage. As an exotic new born of the cultural heritage, the entity born from the cross-cultural communication inherits the properties of the cultural heritage on the one hand, and on the other hand generates diversities as a result of the differences based on social, cultural and environment. And the business model is one of the most important reasons for the production of diversities. There's no doubt that a good form of business model makes great significance to the cross-cultural communication. Therefore, the study of the business model of cultural heritage in the process of cross-cultural communication will not only contributes to the deeper understanding towards the phenomenon of the cultural heritage's cross-cultural communication, but also leads to the introspection to the tangible cultural heritage itself. In this way, a new kind of conservative notion could take form, and the goal of protecting cultural heritage could be achieved. Thus the Chinese Garden is a typical representation of the cultural heritage which makes great sense in the cross-cultural communication. As a kind of tangible cultural heritage, the Chinese gardens are well preserved in different regions in China. While the spirits of the Chinese garden carry forward through the construction of the Chinese gardens abroad during the cross-cultural communication. As a new kind of form of the cross-cultural communication of the cultural heritage, on the one hand, the Chinese gardens overseas built ever since China's Reform and Opening express creatively of the materialist and the spirituality of the traditional Chinese Garden, and on the other hand, those Chinese gardens overseas face all kinds of

  1. Cross-cultural medical education: conceptual approaches and frameworks for evaluation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Betancourt, Joseph R

    2003-06-01

    Given that understanding the sociocultural dimensions underlying a patient's health values, beliefs, and behaviors is critical to a successful clinical encounter, cross-cultural curricula have been incorporated into undergraduate medical education. The goal of these curricula is to prepare students to care for patients from diverse social and cultural backgrounds, and to recognize and appropriately address racial, cultural, and gender biases in health care delivery. Despite progress in the field of cross-cultural medical education, several challenges exist. Foremost among these is the need to develop strategies to evaluate the impact of these curricular interventions. This article provides conceptual approaches for cross-cultural medical education, and describes a framework for student evaluation that focuses on strategies to assess attitudes, knowledge, and skills, and the impact of curricular interventions on health outcomes.

  2. Cross-cultural nursing research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suhonen, Riitta; Saarikoski, Mikko; Leino-Kilpi, Helena

    2009-04-01

    International cross-cultural comparative nursing research is considered important for the advancement of nursing knowledge offering a global perspective for nursing. Although this is recognised in policy statements and quality standards, international comparative studies are rare in database citations. To highlight the need for cross-cultural comparative research in nursing and to share some of the insights gained after conducting three international/cross-cultural comparative studies. These are: an examination of patients' autonomy, privacy and informed consent in nursing interventions BIOMED 1998-2001, the ICProject International Patient Study 2002-2006 and the Ethical Codes in Nursing (ECN) project 2003-2005. There are three critical issues raised here for discussion from the international cross-cultural studies. These are: the planning and formulating of an international study, the conduct of cross-cultural research including the implementation of rigorous data collection and analysis and the reporting and implementing the results. International and cross-cultural nursing research is powerful tool for the improvement of clinical nursing practise, education and management and advancement of knowledge. Such studies should be carried out in order to improve European evidence based health care development in which the patients' perspective plays an important part in the evaluation and benchmarking of services.

  3. Cross-cultural differences in caregiving: The relevance to community care in India

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohan Isaac

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Deinstitutionalization movement in the West brought about community care movement of mentally ill. Because of this, caring for the mentally ill became an important aspect. In resource-rich countries, caregiving is done by trained persons and in resource-poor country (like India, caregiving was done by untrained family members. Cross-cultural factors such as interdependence and greater family involvement in care have contributed for family members′ decision-making in caregiving in India. Nevertheless, cross-cultural similarities in caregiving are more striking than differences. Genuine caregiving of mentally ill will make significant difference to the recipient. In India, majority of the persons with mental illness are cared by family members. Family members lack knowledge about the nature of the illness, have little support and advice by the medical professional, and have difficulties in understanding illness-related behavior. Hence, in India, there is need to develop effective, user-friendly, educational modules in all languages; to increase the knowledge of the carers about the mental illness, and help in decreasing their distress.

  4. Teaching Cross-Cultural Conflict Management Skills.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Victor, David A.

    One of the most important areas for business educators to address in preparing their students to compete effectively in world markets is cross-cultural negotiating and conflict management. To do so, teachers must prepare students to understand the markets into which they enter as managers. The objective is not to learn a great deal about one…

  5. Cross-cultural communication and use of the family meeting in palliative care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharma, Rashmi K; Dy, Sydney M

    2011-09-01

    Terminally-ill patients and their families often report poor communication and limited understanding of the patient's diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment plan; these deficits can be exacerbated by cross-cultural issues. Although family meetings are frequently recommended to facilitate provider-family communication, a more structured, evidence-based approach to their use may improve outcomes. Drawing on research and guidelines from critical care, palliative care, and cross-cultural communication, we propose a framework for conducting family meetings with consideration for cross-cultural issues.

  6. Korean Social Studies Preservice Teachers' Cross-Cultural Learning and Global Perspective Development: Crossing Borders between Korea and the United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Yoonjung; Choi, Minsik

    2012-01-01

    This study investigated the influence of cross-cultural learning experiences on Korean preservice social studies teachers' global perspectives development. Social studies preservice teachers in a large woman's university in Korea participated in a cross-cultural learning course, which focused on critical understanding of globalization and global…

  7. Various aspects of cross-cultural communication

    OpenAIRE

    Tsibulya, N.

    2014-01-01

    The author considers the main cultural dimensions and tendencies in cross-cultural communication studies from the 1950s till the present day. Using one’s own experience in carrying out research of non-verbal and prosodic aspects of cross-cultural interaction, the author suggests a system of exercises useful in teaching and learning cross-cultural communication and aimed at formation and developing cross-cultural competence.

  8. Cross-Cultural Impression Management: A Cultural Knowledge Audit Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spong, Abigail; Kamau, Caroline

    2012-01-01

    Purpose: Many people moving into a new culture for work or study do so without prior cross-cultural training, yet successful cultural adaptation has important ramifications. The purpose of this paper is to focus on cross-cultural impression management as an element of cultural adaptation. Does cultural adaptation begin by paying strong attention…

  9. Cross-cultural Lifelong Learning

    OpenAIRE

    2010-01-01

    Globalisation, internationalisation, multiculturalism, immigration, and growing number of cross-cultural encounters are colorising the everyday life both in Western and Eastern parts of the world. However, in most cases, lifelong learning is normally studied in and around a certain condensed culture or from the dominant Western perspective. Thus it is important to ask how we should rebuild our conceptions of 'culture' or 'learning' in the context of these global cross-cultural trends, or how ...

  10. Cross-Cultural "Distance", "Friction" and "Flow": Exploring the Experiences of Pre-Service Teachers on International Practicum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Uusimaki, Liisa; Swirski, Teresa

    2016-01-01

    The focus of this paper is to illustrate Australian regional pre-service teachers' perceptions of an international practicum: their cross-cultural understanding, notions of privilege and teacher/professional identity development. Findings indicate that there were three overlapping dimensions of cross-cultural understanding for pre-service…

  11. The influence of cross-cultural interviewing on the generation of data ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    cultural interviews and problematised data generation as a vital contributor in cross-cultural data collection. An Interview Process Model was adapted from the Response Process Model of Miller and Cannell, and used to understand how responses ...

  12. CANCER PATIENT’S EXPERIENCE CROSSING THE HEALTH CULTURE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maura G. Felea

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Cognitive anthropology does not predict human behavior, but tries to access principles that rule behavior. Cross-cultural communication is a skill acquired through a learning process, and it can improve doctor-patient relationship and enhance the outcomes of care. The unfulfilled expectations of a patient may influence the patient self-esteem and his perceived role in the society. For some patients living with cancer, it was found as an unforeseen benefit of learning to be closer to God. Based on a narrative communication, we tried to underline cross-cultural differences in cancer patients from different countries with various backgrounds. We described the patient reactions, his way of interpreting the things that happened to him, and his actions regarding adaptive changes in behavior. The originality of the study resides in understanding cross-cultural patterns of cancer patients. The innovative element is the use of qualitative research and its application in health care.

  13. Previous International Experience, Cross-Cultural Training, and Expatriates' Cross-Cultural Adjustment: Effects of Cultural Intelligence and Goal Orientation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koo Moon, Hyoung; Kwon Choi, Byoung; Shik Jung, Jae

    2012-01-01

    Although various antecedents of expatriates' cross-cultural adjustment have been addressed, previous international experience, predeparture cross-cultural training, and cultural intelligence (CQ) have been most frequently examined. However, there are few attempts that explore the effects of these antecedents simultaneously or consider the possible…

  14. Cross-Cultural Leadership

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Inga Minelgaite Snaebjornsson

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Ongoing low participation of women in global leadership calls for more research in this field. In this article, we set out to include gendered expectations toward leader behavior as part of cross-cultural leadership theory. Building on an existing body of research, we focus on propositions about the effects of gendered expectations on the leader, from the followers’ standpoint. The consideration of gendered effects from the follower standpoint is an under-researched area in leadership literature, and it is even more rarely to be found in empirical data. In every culture, there are certain expectations toward leaders of the two genders that influence their behavior. In this article, we will attempt to answer the following question: How does perceived leader behavior and gendered behavior relate to national culture and actual leader behavior? We present a conceptual model that seeks to incorporate gendered expectations into cross-cultural leadership as an answer. Moreover, we provide a conceptual guideline toward operationalization of the model. The model includes the potential of dissonance between male expectations as a dominating leadership role and female leadership. This might serve as an explanation as to why in some cases women are not seen as successful as men when they adopt a masculine leadership style. The article seeks to advance cross-cultural leadership theory by focusing on expected gendered leadership behavior. Our ideas and model could eventually contribute to the advancement of leadership theory, as well as contributing to gender studies, cross-cultural leadership, and business communication.

  15. Cross-cultural differences in categorical memory errors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwartz, Aliza J; Boduroglu, Aysecan; Gutchess, Angela H

    2014-06-01

    Cultural differences occur in the use of categories to aid accurate recall of information. This study investigated whether culture also contributed to false (erroneous) memories, and extended cross-cultural memory research to Turkish culture, which is shaped by Eastern and Western influences. Americans and Turks viewed word pairs, half of which were categorically related and half unrelated. Participants then attempted to recall the second word from the pair in response to the first word cue. Responses were coded as correct, as blanks, or as different types of errors. Americans committed more categorical errors than did Turks, and Turks mistakenly recalled more non-categorically related list words than did Americans. These results support the idea that Americans use categories either to organize information in memory or to support retrieval strategies to a greater extent than Turks and suggest that culture shapes not only accurate recall but also erroneous distortions of memory. © 2014 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

  16. Film Cross-culture Research under the Perspective of Language and Culture

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    罗淞译

    2015-01-01

    Language as an important tool of cultural transmission, it can achieve the cross-culture development of film. With the strength of globalization, film cross-culture communication are increasing, and how to enhance the communication of film through language and culture and let more people enjoy the thought expressed in film is one of the most important content for cross-culture development of mant films. Different cultural backgrounds will produce large diversities in watching a same film, so it is helpful for the cross-culture development of film when making good use of culture and language, on the contrary, it will become a hindrance. This article do research on cross-culture development of film under the perspective of language and culture to find out the existing problems in present cross-culture development of film and put forward effective resolution strategy in order to promote certain reference for the internationalization of China’s film industry.

  17. Assertiveness and tolerance in cross-cultural interaction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pochebut L.G.

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The article is devoted to the theoretical analysis of the concepts of tolerance and assertiveness. Problem of contemporary cross-cultural interaction is the need to shift strategy of tolerance on strategy of assertiveness. Considered the practice of multiculturalism based on the idea of tolerance. Six barriers to cross-cultural communication. Comparison of understanding tolerance in European, Arab, Eastern cultures and in Russia. Boundaries are considered manifestations of tolerance. Developed rules of tolerant behavior. Proposed in scientific analysis and in actual practice, intercultural strategy move to assertiveness. Tolerance is respect for the views of another person, provided that he respects your opinion. Assertiveness is the respect for the rights of another person, provided that it also respects your rights. Describes the ways in assertive behavior: the willingness to cooperate, the openness of conduct, allocation of responsibilities, defend their rights and interests, defining the way forward. Tactics developed in assertive behavior: “interests”, “anti-discrimination”, “achievement”, “standards”, “activity”, “goodwill”.

  18. Cross-Cultural Communication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tannen, Deborah

    A two-part presentation on cross-cultural communication consists of a discussion of cultural differences in interpersonal communication and an article from a Greek English-language publication concerning telephone use skills in a foreign country. Cultural differences in communication are divided into eight types and illustrated: (1) when to talk;…

  19. Cross-cultural variation in symptom perception of hypoglycemia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalra, Sanjay; Balhara, Yatan Pal Singh; Mithal, Ambrish

    2013-01-01

    Background: Cross-cultural differences in attitudes and practices related to diabetes are well-known. Similar differences in symptom reporting of endocrine conditions such as menopause are well documented. Minimal literature is available on the cross-cultural variation in reporting of hypoglycemic symptoms. Aims: This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the symptoms of hypoglycemia encountered by diabetologists who deal with patients from different language groups from various states of North and West India and Nepal. Materials and Methods: Eighty three doctors from six Indian states and Nepal, attending a continuing medical education program were requested to fill a detailed, pre-tested, Likert scale based questionnaire which assessed the frequency and symptoms with which patients presented with hypoglycemia in their clinical practice. Data were analyzed based on geographic location of the diabetologists and language spoken by their patients (Hindi vs. Gujarati). Results: Gujarati-speaking patients tended to report to their doctors, a greater inability to work under pressure and a higher frequency of intense hunger during hypoglycemia. They were less likely to report specific adrenergic (inward trembling), neuroglycopenic (feeling down over nothing), and nocturnal (crumpled bedsheets upon waking up) symptoms. Conclusion: Significant cross-cultural differences related to the symptomatology of hypoglycemia are noted. Indian diabetologists should be aware of the varying presentation of hypoglycemia based on language and ethnic background. PMID:24672191

  20. Cross-cultural difference in OSH

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Starren, A.; Drupsteen, L.

    2014-01-01

    In this article we describe cross-cultural aspects in the context of safety management. When working abroad, cross-cultural differences ask for other competencies to enhance safe behaviour than at home due to cultural and language differences. In this wiki some guidance is given on aspects of

  1. Cross-Cultural Effects of Cannabis Use Disorder: Evidence to Support a Cultural Neuroscience Approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prashad, Shikha; Milligan, Amber L; Cousijn, Janna; Filbey, Francesca M

    2017-06-01

    Cannabis use disorders (CUDs) are prevalent worldwide. Current epidemiological studies underscore differences in behaviors that contribute to cannabis use across cultures that can be leveraged towards prevention and treatment of CUDs. This review proposes a framework for understanding the effects of cross-cultural differences on psychological, neural, and genomic processes underlying CUDs that has the potential to inform global policies and impact global public health. We found that cultural factors may influence (1) the willingness to acknowledge CUD-related symptoms among populations of different countries, and (2) neural responses related to the sense of self, perception, emotion, and attention. These findings leverage the potential effects of culture on neural mechanisms underlying CUDs. As the number of individuals seeking treatment for CUDs increases globally, it is imperative to incorporate cultural considerations to better understand and serve differing populations and develop more targeted treatment strategies and interventions.

  2. Cross-Cultural Leader Development in a University Club: An Autoethnography

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jason Edward Lewis

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available There is a growing body of research on the organization, effectiveness, and strategies of leadership teams. Less research exists on such aspects in cross-cultural teams. Little is known about how team leadership can be used in cross-cultural university clubs and how such settings foster leader development. Within the framework of existing literature, this analytic autoethnography examines how I develop leadership skills in university students cross-culturally through a student choir club by utilizing a team leadership model. This study provides an understanding of how leader development can occur in university clubs in cross-cultural settings through employing a team leadership model. Student club advisors may benefit from knowing the benefits of consciously developing leadership skills with club members and some strategies of how to develop such skills. Students might recognize the advantages of clubs that can help them become better leaders. Current club leaders can see that leadership skills can be developed in all types of clubs, especially within a choir. University administrators can see the practical value of extra-curricular student clubs in developing leaders.

  3. Navigation in Cross-cultural business relationships

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Poul Houman

    2001-01-01

    Cross-cultural business navigation concerns the process of handling the complexity of several interacting cultural spheres of influence......Cross-cultural business navigation concerns the process of handling the complexity of several interacting cultural spheres of influence...

  4. Understanding Legitimate Teacher Authority in a Cross-Cultural Teaching Context: Pre-Service Chinese Language Teachers Undertaking Teaching Practicum in International Schools in Hong Kong

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lai, Chun; Gu, Mingyue; Hu, Jingjing

    2015-01-01

    Legitimate teacher authority is fundamental to effective teaching, but is often a thorny issue that teachers need to grapple with when teaching in cross-cultural teaching contexts. By interviewing 18 pre-service Chinese language teachers on their understanding of legitimate teacher authority throughout teaching practicum at international schools…

  5. Cross-Cultural Effects of Cannabis Use Disorder: Evidence to Support a Cultural Neuroscience Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prashad, Shikha; Milligan, Amber L.; Cousijn, Janna; Filbey, Francesca M.

    2017-01-01

    Purpose of review Cannabis use disorders (CUDs) are prevalent worldwide. Current epidemiological studies underscore differences in behaviors that contribute to cannabis use across cultures that can be leveraged towards prevention and treatment of CUDs. This review proposes a framework for understanding the effects of cross-cultural differences on psychological, neural, and genomic processes underlying CUDs that has the potential to inform global policies and impact global public health. Recent findings We found that cultural factors may influence (1) the willingness to acknowledge CUD-related symptoms among populations of different countries, and (2) neural responses related to the sense of self, perception, emotion, and attention. These findings leverage the potential effects of culture on neural mechanisms underlying CUDs. Summary As the number of individuals seeking treatment for CUDs increases globally, it is imperative to incorporate cultural considerations to better understand and serve differing populations and develop more targeted treatment strategies and interventions. PMID:29062679

  6. THE BENEFITS OF SURFING HUMOR ON INTERNET TO INCREASE ENGLISH COMPETENCE AND CROSS CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING OF STUDENTS IN ENGLISH DEPARTMENT OF UNNES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Farah Firgia Lutfi

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Surfing humor on internet has got a lot of negative responses although the doers claim that it is fun. This research is focusing on the humor which is using English as the main language. However, previous researches have confirmed that there are witty and social sides of humor. Those two sides are important foundations to learn English further. The present paper aims to spot beneficial effects of self -humor exposure from Internet towards English competence and cross cultural understanding of students in English Department of Semarang State University. The way to ‗get‘ a humor content is divided into two, humor comprehension and humor perception. Humor comprehension has cognitive benefits that increase English competence. Humor appreciation has sociological benefits to increase cross cultural understanding. Thus, we are comparing English ability and social behavior of students with different intensity of self-humor exposure. Data were collected through interview. Students with high intensity and interest to self-humor exposure showed relatively higher English competence and tolerance to different ideas. The explanation will give broader idea of how learning English through humor brings positive values. Further research about the effects of humor in studying English is needed.

  7. Cross-cultural medical education in the United States: key principles and experiences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Betancourt, Joseph R; Cervantes, Marina C

    2009-09-01

    The field of cross-cultural care focuses on the ability to communicate effectively and provide quality health care to patients from diverse sociocultural backgrounds. In recent years, medical schools in the United States have increasingly recognized the growing importance of incorporating cross-cultural curricula into medical education. Cross-cultural medical education in the United States has emerged for four reasons: (1) the need for providers to have the skills to care for a diverse patient population; (2) the link between effective communication and health outcomes; (3) the presence of racial/ethnic disparities that are, in part, due to poor communication across cultures; and (4) medical school accreditation requirements. There are three major approaches to cross-cultural education: (1) the cultural sensitivity/awareness approach that focuses on attitudes; (2) the multicultural/categorical approach that focuses on knowledge; and (3) the cross-cultural approach that focuses on skills. The patient-based approach to cross-cultural care combines these three concepts into a framework that can be used to care for any patient, anytime, anywhere. Ultimately, if cross-cultural medical education is to evolve, students must believe it is important and understand that the categorical approach can lead to stereotyping; it should be taught using patient cases and highlighting clinical applications; it should be embedded in a longitudinal, developmentally appropriate fashion; and it should be integrated into the larger curriculum whenever possible. At the Harvard Medical School, we have tried to apply all of these lessons to our work, and we have started to develop a strategic integration process where we try to raise awareness, impart knowledge, and teach cross-cultural skills over the 4 years of schooling.

  8. Using Popular Movies in Teaching Cross-Cultural Management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pandey, Satish

    2012-01-01

    Purpose: The present study aims to understand context and dynamics of cognitive learning of students as an outcome of the usage of popular movies as a learning tool in the management classroom and specifically in the context of a course on cross-cultural management issues. Design/methodology/approach: This is an exploratory study based on…

  9. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF CORPORATE CROSS CULTURAL MANAGEMENT IN IT VS NON IT ORGANIZATIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Namrata KAPUR

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The globalization of business which is considered a 'second industrial revolution' is a trend that makes Cross cultural Human Resource management crucial for all organizations. Multicultural workforce congregations and increasing global interactions in business, finance, culture etc. have become today's workplace realities.Cross-cultural differences are the cause of failed negotiations and interactions, resulting in losses to the firms. This study examines the best practices in managing across a culturally diverse and geographically dispersed workforce in IT and non IT organizations and makes comparative evaluation of these practices and strategies. The results of the comparative analysis study will lead to cross fertilization of ideas as the best practices for IT companies can be imbibed by and applied to the non IT companies and vice versa. This study ellucidates that cross-cultural management will give managers on international assignments the cultural understanding essential to accomplish their tasks leading to a committed workforce thereby resulting in better financial performance of the organization.

  10. Cross-Cultural Interpretations of Curricular Contextual Crossings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schlein, Candace; Garii, Barbara

    2011-01-01

    Teachers--who are generally representatives of the cultural mainstream--are expected to use global experiences to become culturally enhanced and to bring these enhancements back to their classrooms. In this article, the authors discuss a cross-cultural exploration of investigations into the experiences of Canadian and U.S. educators with…

  11. CROSS-CULTURAL ISSUES IN HRM

    OpenAIRE

    Bhatti, Anant Preet

    2009-01-01

    With the rapid increase in the globalization of business, workforces are becoming increasingly diverse and multicultural. Managing global workforces has increased pressure on Human Resource managers to recognize and adapt to cultural differences, which when ignored can result in cross-cultural misunderstandings. With the growing significance of developing economies in the global business environment, Human Resource Management is facing increased difficulty in managing cross-border cultural re...

  12. Cross-cultural Context and Politeness

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    朱芬

    2012-01-01

    In social interaction,politeness is a universal phenomenon existing in all languages.However,for social,ethnographic and even historical reasons,politeness strategies in a specific cultural context may vary from one to another.And for most time it is not language itself but different politeness strategies that lead to cross-cultural communicative failure.Knowing about these differences will help to overcome pragmatic failure in cross-cultural communication.

  13. Approaches to understand culture

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rasmussen, Lauge Baungaard; Rauner, Felix

    1996-01-01

    Different approaches to understand the concept ofculture are presented and evaluated. The author'sconcept of culture is defined. Different aspectsof the concept are discussed.......Different approaches to understand the concept ofculture are presented and evaluated. The author'sconcept of culture is defined. Different aspectsof the concept are discussed....

  14. Cross-cultural study: experience, understanding of menopause, and related therapies in Australian and Laotian women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sayakhot, Padaphet; Vincent, Amanda; Teede, Helena

    2012-12-01

    The aim of this study was to investigate and compare symptom experiences, beliefs, attitudes, and understanding of menopause and menopausal therapies in Australian and Laotian women. This was a cross-cultural, questionnaire-based study involving 108 women (56 Australian women and 52 Laotian women aged 40-65 y) attending outpatient clinics in Australia and Laos. Descriptive statistics and univariate analysis were conducted using Student's t test or Mann-Whitney U test, where appropriate. Psychological symptoms, depression, vasomotor symptoms, and sexual dysfunction were significantly higher in Australian women compared with Laotian women (P menopause as aging (57%), whereas most Laotian women reported not knowing what menopause meant to them (81%). Australian women's fears about menopause included weight gain (43%), aging (41%), and breast cancer (38%), whereas Laotian women reported not knowing about potential menopausal problems (85%). Exercise (55%), education and awareness (46%), and improving lifestyle (41%) were reported by Australian women as being effective in alleviating menopausal symptoms, with only 21% reporting not knowing what was effective compared with 83% of Laotian women. Many women reported not knowing the risks/benefits of hormonal therapies (50% of Australian women and 87% of Laotian women) and herbal therapies (79% of Australian women and 92% of Laotian women). General practitioners were the most common source of menopause information for both Australians (73%) and Laotians (67%). Sociocultural factors influence women's perception of menopause. Psychological symptoms, sexual dysfunction, and vasomotor symptoms are more commonly reported by Australian women than by Laotian women. Women have a limited understanding of the risks/benefits of menopausal therapies, and culturally appropriate education is needed.

  15. A comparison of surgery and family medicine residents' perceptions of cross-cultural care training.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chun, Maria B J; Jackson, David S; Lin, Susan Y; Park, Elyse R

    2010-12-01

    The need for physicians formally trained to deliver care to diverse patient populations has been widely advocated. Utilizing a validated tool, Weissman and Betancourt's Cross-Cultural Care Survey, the aim of this current study was to compare surgery and family medicine residents' perceptions of their preparedness and skillfulness to provide high quality cross-cultural care. Past research has documented differences between the two groups' reported impressions of importance and level of instruction received in cross-cultural care. Twenty surgery and 15 family medicine residents participated in the study. Significant differences were found between surgery and family medicine residents on most ratings of the amount of training they received in cross-cultural skills. Specifically, family medicine residents reported having received more training on: 1) determining how patients want to be addressed, 2) taking a social history, 3) assessing their understanding of the cause of illness, 4) negotiating their treatment plan, 5) assessing whether they are mistrustful of the health care system and÷or doctor, 6) identifying cultural customs, 7) identifying how patients make decisions within the family, and 8) delivering services through a medical interpreter. One unexpected finding was that surgery residents, who reported not receiving much formal cultural training, reported higher mean scores on perceived skillfulness (i.e. ability) than family medicine residents. The disconnect may be linked to the family medicine residents' training in cultural humility - more knowledge and understanding of cross-cultural care can paradoxically lead to perceptions of being less prepared or skillful in this area. Hawaii Medical Journal Copyright 2010.

  16. Communicating in Collectivistic Culture: Relationship between Interdependent Self-Construal and Cooperative Communication in Cross-Cultural Communication Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hoo Pin Lick Soo

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This concept paper proposes that when companies have expanded their business and operation throughout the Asian countries, the success or failure of a company abroad depends on how effectively its business negotiators can apply their cross-cultural communication skills in a new cultural environment. At the forefront of this change is interdependent self-construal, which stands as communication medium on interaction goals (international business negotiation outcome in collectivistic culture. The international trade may bring about a lot in terms of cross-cultural communication and international business negotiation, but adopting cooperative communication in the international business negotiations will create more integrative agreements between the international business negotiators. Many scholars believe that if both parties have similarities in communication styles, it will lead to positive interaction (cooperative communication that contributes to cooperation and influences the interaction goals (negotiation outcome. This paper offers critical insight into the theoretical link between interdependent selfconstrual and interaction goals. The proposed cross-cultural communication model uses interdependent self-construal and cooperative communication to understand when collectivistic business negotiators develop relationships that promotes positive interaction goals (negotiation outcome.

  17. Transforming Cultural Competence into Cross-cultural Efficacy in Women's Health Education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nunez, Ana E.

    2000-01-01

    Discusses the importance of changing cross cultural competence to cross cultural efficacy in the context of addressing health care needs, including those of women. Explores why cross cultural education needs to expand the objectives of women's health education to go beyond traditional values and emphasizes the importance of training for real-world…

  18. Cross-Cultural Psychology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Triandis, Harry C.; Brislin, Richard W.

    Cross-Cultural psychology refers to the collective efforts of researchers who work among people who live in different societies, with different languages and different forms of government. There are a number of benefits to the study of human behavior which can be accrued by carrying out research in various cultures, largely concerned with better…

  19. Templates for Cross-Cultural and Culturally Specific Usability Testing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Clemmensen, Torkil

    2011-01-01

    The cultural diversity of users of technology challenges our methods for usability testing. This article suggests templates for cross-culturally and culturally specific usability testing, based on studies of usability testing in companies in Mumbai, Beijing, and Copenhagen. Study 1 was a cross...... tests. The result was the construction of templates for usability testing. The culturally specific templates were in Mumbai “user-centered evaluation,” Copenhagen “client-centered evaluation,” and Beijing “evaluator-centered evaluation.” The findings are compared with related research...

  20. Cross-Cultural Research and Qualitative Inquiry

    OpenAIRE

    Liamputtong, Pranee

    2010-01-01

    Cross-cultural research has become important in this postmodern world where many people have been made, and are still, marginalised and vulnerable by others in more powerful positions like colonial researchers. In this paper, I contend that qualitative research is particularly appropriate for cross-cultural research because it allows us to find answers which are more relevant to the research participants. Cross-cultural qualitative research must be situated within some theoretical frameworks....

  1. Cross-Cultural Validation of the Patient Perception of Integrated Care Survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tietschert, Maike V; Angeli, Federica; van Raak, Arno J A; Ruwaard, Dirk; Singer, Sara J

    2017-07-20

    To test the cross-cultural validity of the U.S. Patient Perception of Integrated Care (PPIC) Survey in a Dutch sample using a standardized procedure. Primary data collected from patients of five primary care centers in the south of the Netherlands, through survey research from 2014 to 2015. Cross-sectional data collected from patients who saw multiple health care providers during 6 months preceding data collection. The PPIC survey includes 59 questions that measure patient perceived care integration across providers, settings, and time. Data analysis followed a standardized procedure guiding data preparation, psychometric analysis, and included invariance testing with the U.S. dataset. Latent scale structures of the Dutch and U.S. survey were highly comparable. Factor "Integration with specialist" had lower reliability scores and noninvariance. For the remaining factors, internal consistency and invariance estimates were strong. The standardized cross-cultural validation procedure produced strong support for comparable psychometric characteristics of the Dutch and U.S. surveys. Future research should examine the usability of the proposed procedure for contexts with greater cultural differences. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

  2. [Cross-cultural adaptation of the Quality of Life Index Spinal Cord Injury - Version III].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reis, Priscila Alencar Mendes; Carvalho, Zuila Maria de Figueiredo; Tirado Darder, Juan José; Oriá, Mônica Oliveira Batista; Studart, Rita Mônica Borges; Maniva, Samia Jardelle Costa de Freitas

    2015-06-01

    To translate and culturally adapt to Portuguese the Ferrans and Powers Quality of Life Index Spinal Cord Injury - Version III and characterize the sample in relation to sociodemographic and clinical aspects. A methodological study with view to cross-cultural adaptation, following the particular steps of this method: initial translation, translation synthesis, back-translation (translation back to the original language), review by a committee of judges and pretest of the final version. The pretest was carried out with 30 patients with spinal cord injury. An index of 74 items divided into two parts (satisfaction/importance) was obtained. The criteria of semantic equivalence were evaluated as very adequate translation, higher than 87%, and vocabulary and were grammar higher than 86%. Idiomatic equivalence was higher than 74%, experimental greater than 78% and conceptual was greater than 70%. After cross-cultural adaptation, the instrument proved semantic, idiomatic, experimental and conceptual adequacy, in addition to helping the evaluation of the quality of life of people with spinal cord injury.

  3. Discourse Issues in Cross-Cultural Pragmatics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boxer, Diana

    2002-01-01

    Focuses on recent research in cross-cultural pragmatics as distinct from interlanguage pragmatics. The essential difference between the two lies in the perspective from which each views cross-cultural communication. (Author/VWL)

  4. The influence of cultural differences between China and Western countries on cross-cultural communication

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    次仁德吉

    2017-01-01

    Cross-cultural communication refers to the communication between peoples of different cultural backgrounds. To solve and avoid the cultural conflicts and blocks, it is high time to enhance the actual skills of cross-cultural communication. This paper gives a comparative analysis of the concrete representations of differences between Chinese and western culture in cross-cultural communication. And it gives some communication principles on the cross-cultural communication.

  5. Curriculum Integration and Cross-Cultural Psychology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldstein, Susan B.

    While many undergraduate disciplines are revising curricula to address issues of diversity more effectively, it is commonly assumed that courses in cross-cultural psychology are less in need of revision due to their inherent multi-cultural focus. The field of cross-cultural psychology, however, is not immune to Eurocentric and androcentric biases.…

  6. Cross-cultural adjustment to the United States: The role of contextualized extraversion change

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mengqiao eLiu

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Personality traits can predict how well sojourners and expatriates adjust to new cultures, but the adjustment process remains largely unexamined. Based on recent findings that reveal personality traits predict as well as respond to life events and experiences, this research focuses on within-person change in contextualized extraversion and its predictive validity for cross-cultural adjustment in international students who newly arrived in U.S. colleges. We proposed that the initial level as well as the rate of change in school extraversion (i.e., contextualized extraversion that reflects behavioral tendency in school settings will predict cross-cultural adjustment, withdrawal cognitions, and school satisfaction. Latent growth modeling of three-wave longitudinal surveys of 215 new international students (54% female, Mage = 24 years revealed that the initial level of school extraversion significantly predicted cross-cultural adjustment, (lower withdrawal cognitions, and satisfaction, while the rate of change (increase in school extraversion predicted cross-cultural adjustment and (lower withdrawal cognitions. We further modeled global extraversion and cross-cultural motivation as antecedents and explored within-person change in school extraversion as a proximal factor that affects adjustment outcomes. The findings highlight the malleability of contextualized personality, and more importantly, the importance of understanding within-person change in contextualized personality in a cross-cultural adjustment context. The study points to more research that explicate the process of personality change in other contexts.

  7. Cross-cultural adjustment to the United States: the role of contextualized extraversion change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Mengqiao; Huang, Jason L

    2015-01-01

    Personality traits can predict how well-sojourners and expatriates adjust to new cultures, but the adjustment process remains largely unexamined. Based on recent findings that reveal personality traits predict as well as respond to life events and experiences, this research focuses on within-person change in contextualized extraversion and its predictive validity for cross-cultural adjustment in international students who newly arrived in US colleges. We proposed that the initial level as well as the rate of change in school extraversion (i.e., contextualized extraversion that reflects behavioral tendency in school settings) will predict cross-cultural adjustment, withdrawal cognitions, and school satisfaction. Latent growth modeling of three-wave longitudinal surveys of 215 new international students (54% female, M age = 24 years) revealed that the initial level of school extraversion significantly predicted cross-cultural adjustment, (lower) withdrawal cognitions, and satisfaction, while the rate of change (increase) in school extraversion predicted cross-cultural adjustment and (lower) withdrawal cognitions. We further modeled global extraversion and cross-cultural motivation as antecedents and explored within-person change in school extraversion as a proximal factor that affects adjustment outcomes. The findings highlight the malleability of contextualized personality, and more importantly, the importance of understanding within-person change in contextualized personality in a cross-cultural adjustment context. The study points to more research that explicate the process of personality change in other contexts.

  8. Cross-cultural adjustment to the United States: the role of contextualized extraversion change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Mengqiao; Huang, Jason L.

    2015-01-01

    Personality traits can predict how well-sojourners and expatriates adjust to new cultures, but the adjustment process remains largely unexamined. Based on recent findings that reveal personality traits predict as well as respond to life events and experiences, this research focuses on within-person change in contextualized extraversion and its predictive validity for cross-cultural adjustment in international students who newly arrived in US colleges. We proposed that the initial level as well as the rate of change in school extraversion (i.e., contextualized extraversion that reflects behavioral tendency in school settings) will predict cross-cultural adjustment, withdrawal cognitions, and school satisfaction. Latent growth modeling of three-wave longitudinal surveys of 215 new international students (54% female, Mage = 24 years) revealed that the initial level of school extraversion significantly predicted cross-cultural adjustment, (lower) withdrawal cognitions, and satisfaction, while the rate of change (increase) in school extraversion predicted cross-cultural adjustment and (lower) withdrawal cognitions. We further modeled global extraversion and cross-cultural motivation as antecedents and explored within-person change in school extraversion as a proximal factor that affects adjustment outcomes. The findings highlight the malleability of contextualized personality, and more importantly, the importance of understanding within-person change in contextualized personality in a cross-cultural adjustment context. The study points to more research that explicate the process of personality change in other contexts. PMID:26579033

  9. CULTURE CROSSING IN THE SCHOOL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    María Padrós

    2009-11-01

    Full Text Available The educational centres are a multicultural reality that comprises the coexistenceof different cultural minorities, languages, religions, lifestyles and social codes.The critical pedagogy presents ways of living and learning in this culture crossing overcomingboth the ethnocentric model of racism (assimilation to the culture understood as“superior” as well as the relativist model (with emphasis on the difference and denyingequality, aiming for the idea of equality of differences. In the article are presented waysof crossing cultures and historical backgrounds from a critical, supportive and transformationalapproach among languages, religions and believes. It is stated that the consensusis possible in the framework of the plurality of identities and cultural patterns, andthat egalitarian dialog between cultures in the school promotes not only individualtransformations but also changes in the social relationships.

  10. The effect of culture in forming e-loyalty intentions: A cross-cultural analysis between Argentina and Spain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Belanche Gracia

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available In order to increase their markets, many companies are starting e-commerce internationalization processes that involve dealing with cultural differences among countries. Although most firms start internationalization strategies to similar countries, previous research has mainly focused on understanding expansion to countries with a great cultural distance. This study analyzes the relevance of culture in the formation of e-loyalty intentions in Argentina and Spain, two countries with slight cultural differences. Specifically, culture is proposed as a moderator of e-service quality and satisfaction effects on e-loyalty intentions. Results confirm that the influence of e-service quality on e-loyalty intentions is greater for Argentinian consumers (a little more individualistic, masculine, and less pragmatic culture compared to Spain. Besides, a greater influence of satisfaction on e-loyalty is found for Spanish consumers (a more pragmatic, collectivistic, and feminine culture compared to Argentina. The introduction of socio-demographic control variables, i.e. gender, age and education level, support the moderation effect of culture. According to these results, marketers should note that e-loyalty formation process differs across cultures, even between similar cultures. Further implications for international marketing strategies are widely discussed.

  11. Towards a Cross-Cultural Understanding of Ageing and Learning by Senior Adults in Hong Kong and Australia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tam, Maureen

    2017-01-01

    Ageing and learning are value-laden concepts that are culturally relevant. Culture plays an important role in influencing what people think, resulting in different views and understandings by people from diverse cultural backgrounds. In the literature, there have been research and discussions relating culture with ageing and culture with learning…

  12. A method for additive bias correction in cross-cultural surveys

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Scholderer, Joachim; Grunert, Klaus G.; Brunsø, Karen

    2001-01-01

    additive bias from cross-cultural data. The procedure involves four steps: (1) embed a potentially biased item in a factor-analytic measurement model, (2) test for the existence of additive bias between populations, (3) use the factor-analytic model to estimate the magnitude of the bias, and (4) replace......Measurement bias in cross-cultural surveys can seriously threaten the validity of hypothesis tests. Direct comparisons of means depend on the assumption that differences in observed variables reflect differences in the underlying constructs, and not an additive bias that may be caused by cultural...... differences in the understanding of item wording or response category labels. However, experience suggests that additive bias can be found more often than not. Based on the concept of partial measurement invariance (Byrne, Shavelson and Muthén, 1989), the present paper develops a procedure for eliminating...

  13. Cross-cultural research: challenge and competence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, Mary Jo

    2012-07-01

    Increasing globalization, population diversity and health disparities among non-dominant cultures necessitate cross-cultural research. Research with other cultures is fraught with challenges that must be addressed by the competent cross-cultural researcher. Areas for consideration include choice of research foci, ethical concerns, cultural adaptation of research measurements and interventions, participant recruitment and retention, strategies for data collection and analysis, dissemination of findings and perspectives of time. Approaches to dealing with these challenges are addressed, with an emphasis on community-based participatory research. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

  14. A Cross-Cultural Perspective on Challenges Facing Comparative Cancer Survivorship Research

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Syse, A.; Syse, A.; Geller, B.

    2011-01-01

    Cancer survivorship research includes the study of physical, psychosocial, and economic consequences of cancer diagnosis and treatment among pediatric and adult cancer survivors. Historically, the majority of cancer survivorship studies were from the United States, but survivorship issues are increasingly being addressed in other developed countries. Cross-cultural studies remain, however, scarce. The degree to which knowledge attained may or may not be transferred across cultures, countries, or regions is not known. Some important challenges for comparative research are therefore discussed in a cross-cultural perspective. Several substantive and methodological challenges that complicate the execution of cross-cultural cancer survivorship research are presented with examples and discussed to facilitate comparative research efforts in the establishment of new survivorship cohorts and in the planning and implementation of survivorship studies. Comparative research is one key to understanding the nature of cancer survivorship, distinguishing modifiable from non modifiable factors at individual, hospital, societal, and system levels and may thus guide appropriate interventions. Lastly, suggested future courses of action within the field of comparative cancer survivorship research are provided.

  15. The Cross-Cultural Knowledge Sharing Challenge

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Persson, John Stouby

    2013-01-01

    Cross-cultural offshoring in software development challenges effective knowledge sharing. While research has suggested temporarily co-locating participants to address this challenge, few studies are available on what knowledge sharing practices emerge over time when co-locating cross-cultural sof...

  16. Cross-cultural Communication as a Way of Achievement of Cross-cultural Communicative Competence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olga A. Andreyeva

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available In this article authors made an attempt to consider a question of cross-cultural communication as a way of achievement of cross-cultural communicative competence. In the process of Kazakhstan entry into the world community in several plans at once – economic, social and cultural – the need for the highly qualified specialists who know foreign language at the productive level, i.e. capable to conduct communication in foreign language and who have linguocultural knowledge increases. For achievement of this purpose it is necessary to consider features of students’ training which are determined by the needs of society for the improvement of their education quality, and dynamism of social phenomena demands from the future specialists constant increment of knowledge.

  17. Interpersonal Influence in Cross-Cultural Interactions

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    Berry, J. W., Poortinga, Y. H., Segall, M. H., & Dasen, P. R. (2002). Cross - cultural psychology : Research and applications (Second Edition). Cambridge...Annual Review of Psychology , 51, 93–120. Matsumoto , D. (1996). Culture and psychology . Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole. Oyserman, D., Coon, H. M...interpreters. Infantry, Spring, 22–27. Shiraev, E., & Levy, D. (2004). Cross - cultural psychology : Critical thinking and contemporary applications. Boston

  18. Children's perception of parental attitudes: Russia-Kyrgyzstan cross-cultural study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tikhomirova Tatiana

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The article presents the results of a cross-cultural analysis of the perception of parental attitude by children and adolescents. We focused on the indicators of maternal and paternal attitude such as Acceptance, Positive Involvement, Rejection and Hostile Detachment. The Russian sample includes 501 primary school students aged 6.8 to 11.7 years (49.9% boys and 438 adolescents aged 10.8 to 16.8 years (47.1% boys. The Kyrgyz sample includes 510 primary school students aged from 6.6 to 11.8 years (48.5% boys and 513 adolescents aged 10.3 to 16.8 years (46.3% boys. Regardless of the macro environment, schoolchildren perceive the attitude of both parents to a greater extent as emotionally accepting and to a lesser extent as rejecting. At the same time, it is shown that cross-cultural differences in the perception of maternal attitude are manifested only in younger schoolchildren: Kyrgyz children assess maternal attitude as more emotionally accepting with positive involvement and less rejecting. Cross-cultural differences in the perception of paternal attitudes are manifested both in younger schoolchildren and in adolescents: Kyrgyz children assess paternal attitude more positively than Russian peers. The results are interpreted in the context of specific socio-economic conditions.

  19. Culture, cross-role consistency, and adjustment: testing trait and cultural psychology perspectives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Church, A Timothy; Anderson-Harumi, Cheryl A; del Prado, Alicia M; Curtis, Guy J; Tanaka-Matsumi, Junko; Valdez Medina, José L; Mastor, Khairul A; White, Fiona A; Miramontes, Lilia A; Katigbak, Marcia S

    2008-09-01

    Trait and cultural psychology perspectives on cross-role consistency and its relation to adjustment were examined in 2 individualistic cultures, the United States (N=231) and Australia (N=195), and 4 collectivistic cultures, Mexico (N=199), the Philippines (N=195), Malaysia (N=217), and Japan (N=180). Cross-role consistency in trait ratings was evident in all cultures, supporting trait perspectives. Cultural comparisons of mean consistency provided support for cultural psychology perspectives as applied to East Asian cultures (i.e., Japan) but not collectivistic cultures more generally. Some but not all of the hypothesized predictors of consistency were supported across cultures. Cross-role consistency predicted aspects of adjustment in all cultures, but prediction was most reliable in the U.S. sample and weakest in the Japanese sample. Alternative constructs proposed by cultural psychologists--personality coherence, social appraisal, and relationship harmony--predicted adjustment in all cultures but were not, as hypothesized, better predictors of adjustment in collectivistic cultures than in individualistic cultures.

  20. Cross-Cultural Understanding Through Youth Sports: Bridging the Tolerance Gap Through Youth Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Craig M. Ross

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available The USPORT-Kyrgyzstan project was an ambitious initiative of public diplomacy, sports diplomacy, cross-cultural exchange, in-country grassroots projects, and international cooperation. The project consisted of three phrases which included youth recreational sport programming, youth leadership and development training, and youth tolerance training. Overall, it proved to be an extremely effective form of intervention that provided youth in this region of the Middle East with many positive and constructive youth sports and leadership development opportunities.

  1. Human dignity in religion-embedded cross-cultural nursing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheraghi, Mohammad A; Manookian, Arpi; Nasrabadi, Alireza N

    2014-12-01

    Although human dignity is an unconditional value of every human being, it can be shattered by extrinsic factors. It is necessary to discover the authentic meaning of patients' dignity preservation from different religious perspectives to provide professional cross-cultural care in a diverse setting. This article identifies common experiences of Iranian Muslim and Armenian Christian patients regarding dignified care at the bedside. This is a qualitative study of participants' experiences of dignified care elicited by individual in-depth semi-structured interviews. A purposeful sample of 10 participants (five Iranian Muslims and five Iranian Armenians) from various private and governmental hospital settings was chosen. This study was approved by the ethics committee of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All the participants were provided with information about the purpose and the nature of the study, the voluntary condition of their participation in this study, and the anonymous reporting of recorded interviews. The common experiences of Christian and Muslim patients regarding dignity preservation emerged as "exigency of respecting human nobility" and "providing person-centered care." It is essential to recognize the humanness and individuality of each patient to preserve and promote human dignity in diverse cross-cultural settings. The findings support and expand current understanding about the objective and subjective nature of dignity preservation in cross-cultural nursing. © The Author(s) 2014.

  2. Prediction and Cross-Situational Consistency of Daily Behavior across Cultures: Testing Trait and Cultural Psychology Perspectives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Church, A. Timothy; Katigbak, Marcia S.; Reyes, Jose Alberto S.; Salanga, Maria Guadalupe C.; Miramontes, Lilia A.; Adams, Nerissa B.

    2008-01-01

    Trait and cultural psychology perspectives on the cross-situational consistency of behavior, and the predictive validity of traits, were tested in a daily process study in the United States (N = 68), an individualistic culture, and the Philippines (N = 80), a collectivistic culture. Participants completed the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1992) and a measure of self-monitoring, then reported their daily behaviors and associated situational contexts for approximately 30 days. Consistent with trait perspectives, the Big Five traits predicted daily behaviors in both cultures, and relative (interindividual) consistency was observed across many, although not all, situational contexts. The frequency of various Big Five behaviors varied across relevant situational contexts in both cultures and, consistent with cultural psychology perspectives, there was a tendency for Filipinos to exhibit greater situational variability than Americans. Self-monitoring showed some ability to account for individual differences in situational variability in the American sample, but not the Filipino sample. PMID:22146866

  3. Culture, Cross-Role Consistency, and Adjustment: Testing Trait and Cultural Psychology Perspectives

    OpenAIRE

    Church, A. Timothy; Anderson-Harumi, Cheryl A.; del Prado, Alicia M.; Curtis, Guy J.; Tanaka-Matsumi, Junko; Valdez Medina, José L.; Mastor, Khairul A.; White, Fiona A.; Miramontes, Lilia A.; Katigbak, Marcia S.

    2008-01-01

    Trait and cultural psychology perspectives on cross-role consistency and its relation to adjustment were examined in two individualistic cultures, the United States (N = 231) and Australia (N = 195), and four collectivistic cultures, Mexico (N = 199), Philippines (N = 195), Malaysia (N = 217), and Japan (N = 180). Cross-role consistency in trait ratings was evident in all cultures, supporting trait perspectives. Cultural comparisons of mean consistency provided support for cultural psychology...

  4. Cross-cultural adaptation of the Quality of Life Index Spinal Cord Injury - Version III

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Priscila Alencar Mendes Reis

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE To translate and culturally adapt to Portuguese the Ferrans and Powers Quality of Life Index Spinal Cord Injury - Version III and characterize the sample in relation to sociodemographic and clinical aspects. METHOD A methodological study with view to cross-cultural adaptation, following the particular steps of this method: initial translation, translation synthesis, back-translation (translation back to the original language, review by a committee of judges and pretest of the final version. The pretest was carried out with 30 patients with spinal cord injury. RESULTS An index of 74 items divided into two parts (satisfaction/importance was obtained. The criteria of semantic equivalence were evaluated as very adequate translation, higher than 87%, and vocabulary and were grammar higher than 86%. Idiomatic equivalence was higher than 74%, experimental greater than 78% and conceptual was greater than 70%. CONCLUSION After cross-cultural adaptation, the instrument proved semantic, idiomatic, experimental and conceptual adequacy, in addition to helping the evaluation of the quality of life of people with spinal cord injury.

  5. Cross-cultural differences in risk perceptions of disasters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gierlach, Elaine; Belsher, Bradley E; Beutler, Larry E

    2010-10-01

    Public risk perceptions of mass disasters carry considerable influences, both psychologically and economically, despite their oft-times imprecise nature. Prior research has identified the presence of an optimistic bias that affects risk perception, but there is a dearth of literature examining how these perceptions differ among cultures-particularly with regard to mass disasters. The present study explores differences among Japanese, Argentinean, and North American mental health workers in their rates of the optimistic bias in risk perceptions as contrasted between natural disasters and terrorist events. The results indicate a significant difference among cultures in levels of perceived risk that do not correspond to actual exposure rates. Japanese groups had the highest risk perceptions for both types of hazards and North Americans and Argentineans had the lowest risk perceptions for terrorism. Additionally, participants across all cultures rated risk to self as lower than risk to others (optimistic bias) across all disaster types. These findings suggest that cultural factors may have a greater influence on risk perception than social exposure, and that the belief that one is more immune to disasters compared to others may be a cross-cultural phenomenon. © 2010 Society for Risk Analysis.

  6. Cross-Cultural Psychology Newsletter. Volume 7, Number 2.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dawson, John, Ed.

    The Cross-Cultural Psychology Newsletter, an official publication of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology, reports on recent publications and research in cross-cultural psychology. Notes on international conferences in the field are followed by annotations of new publications. In addition, recent research projects are…

  7. The Importance of Understanding Cultural Awareness for Managers in the Hospitality Industry (in Indonesia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hera Oktadiana

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Cultural awareness is a basic knowledge that each individuality must has. In hotel industry, there are positive advantages that could be reached if a manager could appreciate a cultural, value, attitude differences of each person. This paper adjusts how important the understanding of cultural diversity and pragmatic implementation from several cross cultural communication theory, especially for managers in hotel industry. This paper also describes examples of cultural attitude and habits from some countries that could be refferences in workforce diversity. 

  8. Academic Globalization: Cultureactive to Ice- the Cross-Cultural, Crossdisciplinary and Cross-Epistemological Transformation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marta Szabo White

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Commensurate with the concept of Academic Globalization, coupled with the foray of Globalization, this paper underscores the cross-cultural, cross-disciplinary and cross-epistemological transformation from the first-generation Cultureactive to the second-generation InterCultural Edge [ICE]. The former is embedded in the experiential works of cross-cultural consultant. Richard Lewis and the latter is grounded in established theoretical frameworks. Both serve to underscore the impact of the Globalization Phenomenon, as manifested in and enabled by the acceleration of academic and practitioner cross-cultural activities. The contribution of this paper is the celebration of the longawaited arrival of ICE [InterCultural Edge]. While previous research streams have underscored global similarities and differences among cultures, a previous paper [19] established that cross-professional rather than cross-cultural differences are more paramount. Employing Cultureactive and the LMR framework, it was noted that business versus non-business predisposition had a more direct impact on one's individual cultural profile than did nationality. Regardless of culture, persons involved in business are characterized primarily by linear-active modes of communication, and persons involved in non-business activities typically employ more multiactive/hybrid and less linear modes of communication. The pivotal question is this: Now that we have a new and improved tool, are we in a better position to assess and predict leadership, negotiating styles, individual behaviors, etc., which are central to academic globalization and preparing global business leaders?

  9. Expatriation and Cross Cultural Training

    OpenAIRE

    Kangas, Laura

    2012-01-01

    The aim of this research was to find out how expatriation and cross cultural training are implemented in practice. This thesis studied the challenges expatriates face during and after their assignments. In this thesis the effectiveness of cross cultural training is studied and improvements considered. This thesis explains the reasons, challenges, assignments and roles of expatriates as well as how expatriates are trained. It also deals with different staffing approaches and the difference be...

  10. Difference or disorder? Cultural issues in understanding neurodevelopmental disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Norbury, Courtenay Frazier; Sparks, Alison

    2013-01-01

    Developmental disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder and specific language impairment, are biologically based disorders that currently rely on behaviorally defined criteria for diagnosis and treatment. Specific behaviors that are included in diagnostic frameworks and the point at which individual differences in behavior constitute abnormality are largely arbitrary decisions. Such decisions are therefore likely to be strongly influenced by cultural values and expectations. This is evident in the dramatically different prevalence rates of autism spectrum disorder across countries and across different ethnic groups within the same country. In this article, we critically evaluate the understanding of developmental disorders from a cultural perspective. We specifically consider the challenges of applying diagnostic methods across cultural contexts, the influence of cultural values and expectations on the identification and treatment of children with suspected disorders, and how cross-cultural studies can help to refine cognitive theories of disorder that have been derived exclusively from Western North American and European investigations. Our review synthesizes clinical, cultural, and theoretical work in this area, highlighting potential universals of disorder and concluding with recommendations for future research and practice.

  11. Leisure and health in cross-cultural settings: Evidences from China ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    In Okinawa, SES has no impact on health. The findings in Japan study suggest a major revision of SGTLE and FSCT that health is not related to SES. All three studies contribute to our understanding of the relationship between leisure lifestyle and health cross-culturally. Keywords: Leisure lifestyle, health, China, Korea, ...

  12. Cross-cultural Comparison of Learning in Human Hunting : Implications for Life History Evolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacDonald, Katharine

    2007-12-01

    This paper is a cross-cultural examination of the development of hunting skills and the implications for the debate on the role of learning in the evolution of human life history patterns. While life history theory has proven to be a powerful tool for understanding the evolution of the human life course, other schools, such as cultural transmission and social learning theory, also provide theoretical insights. These disparate theories are reviewed, and alternative and exclusive predictions are identified. This study of cross-cultural regularities in how children learn hunting skills, based on the ethnographic literature on traditional hunters, complements existing empirical work and highlights future areas for investigation.

  13. Import/Export: Trafficking in Cross-Cultural Shakespearean Spaces

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Desmet Christy

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available This essay examines the phenomenon of cross-cultural Shakespearean “traffic” as an import/export “business” by analyzing the usefulness of the concept cross-cultural through a series of theoretical binaries: Global vs. Local Shakespeares, Glocal and Intercultural Shakespeare; and the very definition of space and place within the Shakespearean lexicon. The essay argues that theoretically, the opposition of global and local Shakespeares has a tendency to collapse, and both glocal and intercultural Shakespeares are the object of serious critique. However, the project of cross-cultural Shakespeare is sustained by the dialectic between memorialization and forgetting that attends all attempts to record these cross-cultural experiences. The meaning of cross-cultural Shakespeare lies in the interpreter’s agency.

  14. Impact of nurses' cross-cultural competence on nursing intellectual capital from a social cognitive theory perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Hsien-Cheng

    2016-05-01

    To understand the relationships among certain key factors such as organizational climate, self-efficacy and outcome expectation on registered nurses, with regard to the development of registered nurses' cross-cultural competence. The focus is specifically on the use of a social cognitive framework for nurses for providing intercultural nursing care to international patients. This study also aims to examine the relationship between nurses' cross-cultural competence and nursing intellectual capital. Given the influence of globalization on healthcare services, healthcare providers need to have enough cross-cultural competence to effectively care for patients from different cultures. Thus, the development of cross-cultural competence in nursing care has become an important issue. A quantitative method and a cross-sectional design were employed in this study. Data were collected from 309 RN working in 16 healthcare institutions in Taiwan from May to August 2013. Structural equation modelling, in combination with the smart partial least squares method, was used to measure the relationships in the research model. The results show that outcome expectation has a stronger impact on nurses' cross-cultural competence than self-efficacy. In addition, it was found that the cross-cultural competence of nurses has a positive impact on nursing intellectual capital. Nursing supervisors should promote a higher level of outcome expectation on nurses to enhance the improvement of their cross-cultural competence. Raising the cross-cultural competence of nurses will aid in the accumulation of nursing intellectual capital. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  15. Cultural Understanding: Spanish Level 1.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scott, Reid

    The teacher's attention is focused on selected elements of Spanish culture which may be taught integrally with instructional materials found in the first-year Spanish texts "Entender y Hablar", "La Familia Fernandez", and "A-LM Spanish, Level One". Items are cross-referenced for 42 cultural concepts ranging from nicknames to streets, roads, and…

  16. Developing Culturally Competent Health Knowledge: Issues of Data Analysis of Cross-Cultural, Cross-Language Qualitative Research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jenny Hsin-Chun Tsai

    2004-12-01

    Full Text Available There is a growing awareness and interest in the development of culturally competent health knowledge. Drawing on experience using a qualitative approach to elicit information from Mandarin- or Cantonese-speaking participants for a colorectal cancer prevention study, the authors describe lessons learned through the analysis process. These lessons include benefits and drawbacks of the use of coders from the studied culture group, challenges posed by using translated data for analysis, and suitable analytic approaches and research methods for cross-cultural, cross-language qualitative research. The authors also discuss the implications of these lessons for the development of culturally competent health knowledge.

  17. Viewpoint: Cultural competence and the African American experience with health care: The case for specific content in cross-cultural education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eiser, Arnold R; Ellis, Glenn

    2007-02-01

    Achieving cultural competence in the care of a patient who is a member of an ethnic or racial minority is a multifaceted project involving specific cultural knowledge as well as more general skills and attitude adjustments to advance cross-cultural communication in the clinical encounter. Using the important example of the African American patient, the authors examine relevant historical and cultural information as it relates to providing culturally competent health care. The authors identify key influences, including the legacy of slavery, Jim Crow discrimination, the Tuskegee syphilis study, religion's interaction with health care, the use of home remedies, distrust, racial concordance and discordance, and health literacy. The authors propose that the awareness of specific information pertaining to ethnicity and race enhances cross-cultural communication and ways to improve the cultural competence of physicians and other health care providers by providing a historical and social context for illness in another culture. Cultural education, modular in nature, can be geared to the specific populations served by groups of physicians and provider organizations. Educational methods should include both information about relevant social group history as well as some experiential component to emotively communicate particular cultural needs. The authors describe particular techniques that help bridge the cross-cultural clinical communication gaps that are created by patients' mistrust, lack of cultural understanding, differing paradigms for illness, and health illiteracy.

  18. Primary care resident perceived preparedness to deliver cross-cultural care: an examination of training and specialty differences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greer, Joseph A; Park, Elyse R; Green, Alexander R; Betancourt, Joseph R; Weissman, Joel S

    2007-08-01

    Previous research has shown that resident physicians report differences in training across primary care specialties, although limited data exist on education in delivering cross-cultural care. The goals of this study were to identify factors that relate to primary care residents' perceived preparedness to provide cross-cultural care and to explore the extent to which these perceptions vary across primary care specialties. Cross-sectional, national mail survey of resident physicians in their last year of training. Eleven hundred fifty primary care residents specializing in family medicine (27%), internal medicine (23%), pediatrics (26%), and obstetrics/gynecology (OB/GYN) (24%). Male residents as well as those who reported having graduated from U.S. medical schools, access to role models, and a greater cross-cultural case mix during residency felt more prepared to deliver cross-cultural care. Adjusting for these demographic and clinical factors, family practice residents were significantly more likely to feel prepared to deliver cross-cultural care compared to internal medicine, pediatric, and OB/GYN residents. Yet, when the quantity of instruction residents reported receiving to deliver cross-cultural care was added as a predictor, specialty differences became nonsignificant, suggesting that training opportunities better account for the variability in perceived preparedness than specialty. Across primary care specialties, residents reported different perceptions of preparedness to deliver cross-cultural care. However, this variation was more strongly related to training factors, such as the amount of instruction physicians received to deliver such care, rather than specialty affiliation. These findings underscore the importance of formal education to enhance residents' preparedness to provide cross-cultural care.

  19. Face cognition in humans: Psychophysiological, developmental, and cross-cultural aspects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chernorizov A. M.

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Investigators are finding increasing evidence for cross-cultural specificity in face cognition along with individual characteristics. The functions on which face cognition is based not only are types of general cognitive functions (perception, memory but are elements of specific mental processes. Face perception, memorization, correct recognition of faces, and understanding the information that faces provide are essential skills for humans as a social species and can be considered as facets of social (cultural intelligence. Face cognition is a difficult, multifaceted set of processes. The systems and processes involved in perceiving and recognizing faces are captured by several models focusing on the pertinent functions or including the presumably underlying neuroanatomical substrates. Thus, the study of face-cognition mechanisms is a cross-disciplinary topic. In Russia, Germany, and China there are plans to organize an interdisciplinary crosscultural study of face cognition. The first step of this scientific interaction is conducting psychological and psychophysiological studies of face cognition in multinational Russia within the frame of a grant supported by the Russian Science Foundation and devoted to “cross-cultural tolerance”. For that reason and in the presence of the huge diversity of data concerning face cognition, we suggest for discussion, specifically within the psychological scientific community, three aspects of face cognition: (1 psychophysiological (quantitative data, (2 developmental (qualitative data from developmental psychology, and (3 cross-cultural (qualitative data from cross-cultural studies. These three aspects reflect the different levels of investigations and constitute a comprehensive, multilateral approach to the problem. Unfortunately, as a rule, neuropsychological and psychological investigations are carried out independently of each other. However, for the purposes of our overview here, we assume that the

  20. Cross-Cultural Research on the Creativity of Elementary School Students in Korea and Australia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kyunghwa, Lee; Hyejin, Yang

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to understand cultural differences and similarities in children's creative characteristics in Korea and Australia. In this cross-cultural research, the Integrative Creativity Test (K-ICT, [13]) with identified validity and reliability for measuring elementary school students' creative ability and creative personality,…

  1. A procedure for eliminating additive bias from cross-cultural survey data

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Scholderer, Joachim; Grunert, Klaus G.; Brunsø, Karen

    2005-01-01

    additive bias from cross-cultural data. The procedure involves four steps: (1) embed a potentially biased item in a factor-analytic measurement model, (2) test for the existence of additive bias between populations, (3) use the factor-analytic model to estimate the magnitude of the bias, and (4) replace......Measurement bias in cross-cultural surveys can seriously threaten the validity of hypothesis tests. Direct comparisons of means depend on the assumption that differences in observed variables reflect differences in the underlying constructs, and not an additive bias that may be caused by cultural...... differences in the understanding of item wording or response category labels. However, experience suggests that additive bias can be found more often than not. Based on the concept of partial measurement invariance (Byrne, Shavelson and Muthén 1989), the present paper develops a procedure for eliminating...

  2. Energy cultures. A framework for understanding energy behaviours

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stephenson, Janet [Centre for the Study of Food, Agriculture and Environment, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin (New Zealand); Barton, Barry [School of Law, University of Waikato (New Zealand); Carrington, Gerry [Department of Physics, University of Otago (New Zealand); Gnoth, Daniel; Lawson, Rob [Department of Marketing, University of Otago (New Zealand); Thorsnes, Paul [Department of Economics, University of Otago (New Zealand)

    2010-10-15

    Achieving a 'step-change' in energy efficiency behaviours will require enhanced knowledge of behavioural drivers, and translation of this knowledge into successful intervention programmes. The 'Energy Cultures' conceptual framework aims to assist in understanding the factors that influence energy consumption behaviour, and to help identify opportunities for behaviour change. Building on a history of attempts to offer multi-disciplinary integrating models of energy behaviour, we take a culture-based approach to behaviour, while drawing also from lifestyles and systems thinking. The framework provides a structure for addressing the problem of multiple interpretations of 'behaviour' by suggesting that it is influenced by the interactions between cognitive norms, energy practices and material culture. The Energy Cultures framework is discussed in the context of a New Zealand case study, which demonstrates its development and application. It has already provided a basis for cross-disciplinary collaboration, and for multi-disciplinary research design, and has provided insights into behavioural change in a case study community. As the conceptual basis of a 3-year research project, the framework has further potential to identify clusters of 'energy cultures' - similar patterns of norms, practices and/or material culture - to enable the crafting of targeted actions to achieve behaviour change. (author)

  3. Energy cultures: A framework for understanding energy behaviours

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stephenson, Janet, E-mail: janet.stephenson@otago.ac.n [Centre for the Study of Food, Agriculture and Environment, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin (New Zealand); Barton, Barry [School of Law, University of Waikato (New Zealand); Carrington, Gerry [Department of Physics, University of Otago (New Zealand); Gnoth, Daniel; Lawson, Rob [Department of Marketing, University of Otago (New Zealand); Thorsnes, Paul [Department of Economics, University of Otago (New Zealand)

    2010-10-15

    Achieving a 'step-change' in energy efficiency behaviours will require enhanced knowledge of behavioural drivers, and translation of this knowledge into successful intervention programmes. The 'Energy Cultures' conceptual framework aims to assist in understanding the factors that influence energy consumption behaviour, and to help identify opportunities for behaviour change. Building on a history of attempts to offer multi-disciplinary integrating models of energy behaviour, we take a culture-based approach to behaviour, while drawing also from lifestyles and systems thinking. The framework provides a structure for addressing the problem of multiple interpretations of 'behaviour' by suggesting that it is influenced by the interactions between cognitive norms, energy practices and material culture. The Energy Cultures framework is discussed in the context of a New Zealand case study, which demonstrates its development and application. It has already provided a basis for cross-disciplinary collaboration, and for multi-disciplinary research design, and has provided insights into behavioural change in a case study community. As the conceptual basis of a 3-year research project, the framework has further potential to identify clusters of 'energy cultures' - similar patterns of norms, practices and/or material culture - to enable the crafting of targeted actions to achieve behaviour change.

  4. Energy cultures: A framework for understanding energy behaviours

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stephenson, Janet; Barton, Barry; Carrington, Gerry; Gnoth, Daniel; Lawson, Rob; Thorsnes, Paul

    2010-01-01

    Achieving a 'step-change' in energy efficiency behaviours will require enhanced knowledge of behavioural drivers, and translation of this knowledge into successful intervention programmes. The 'Energy Cultures' conceptual framework aims to assist in understanding the factors that influence energy consumption behaviour, and to help identify opportunities for behaviour change. Building on a history of attempts to offer multi-disciplinary integrating models of energy behaviour, we take a culture-based approach to behaviour, while drawing also from lifestyles and systems thinking. The framework provides a structure for addressing the problem of multiple interpretations of 'behaviour' by suggesting that it is influenced by the interactions between cognitive norms, energy practices and material culture. The Energy Cultures framework is discussed in the context of a New Zealand case study, which demonstrates its development and application. It has already provided a basis for cross-disciplinary collaboration, and for multi-disciplinary research design, and has provided insights into behavioural change in a case study community. As the conceptual basis of a 3-year research project, the framework has further potential to identify clusters of 'energy cultures' - similar patterns of norms, practices and/or material culture - to enable the crafting of targeted actions to achieve behaviour change.

  5. Cross-Cultural Communication in Oncology: Challenges and Training Interests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weber, Orest; Sulstarova, Brikela; Singy, Pascal

    2016-01-01

    To survey oncology nurses and oncologists about difficulties in taking care of culturally and linguistically diverse patients and about interests in cross-cultural training.
. Descriptive, cross-sectional.
. Web-based survey.
. 108 oncology nurses and 44 oncologists. 
. 31-item questionnaire derived from preexisting surveys in the United States and Switzerland.
. Self-rated difficulties in taking care of culturally and linguistically diverse patients and self-rated interests in cross-cultural training.
. All respondents reported communication difficulties in encounters with culturally and linguistically diverse patients. Respondents considered the absence of written materials in other languages, absence of a shared common language with patients, and sensitive subjects (e.g., end of life, sexuality) to be particularly problematic. Respondents also expressed a high level of interest in all aspects of cross-cultural training (task-oriented skills, background knowledge, reflexivity, and attitudes). Nurses perceived several difficulties related to care of migrants as more problematic than physicians did and were more interested in all aspects of cross-cultural training. 
. The need for cross-cultural training is high among oncology clinicians, particularly among nurses.
. The results reported in the current study may help nurses in decision-making positions and educators in introducing elements of cross-cultural education into oncology curricula for nurses. Cross-cultural training should be offered to oncology nurses.

  6. A study on relationship between cultural intelligence and cross-cultural adjustment in tour management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mahdi Karroubi

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of cultural intelligence (CQ and emotional intelligence (EI on a tour leader’s adjustment in a different cultural environment. Data were collected from 330 outgoing tour leaders in Tehran, Iran. The construct validity was confirmed by using confirmatory factor analysis. The data were analyzed using correlation analysis and path analysis to test the effect of CQ on cross-cultural adjustment, and the moderating effect of EI on the relationship between CQ and cross-cultural adjustment. The results showed that CQ had a positive effect on cross-cultural adjustment. In addition, we found that CQ had a positive effect on EI. The findings of the research showed that emotional intelligence in not significantly the mediator variable. Emotional intelligence has a positive and significant effect on cross-cultural adjustment. The findings of this study contribute to the body of knowledge in the field of CQ and cross-cultural research, and it provides practical implications for individuals seeking to improve their cross-cultural effectiveness, enhancing their cultural intelligence and emotional intelligence, specifically in tourism industry.

  7. Cross-cultural care encounters in paediatric care: minority ethnic parents' experiences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tavallali, Azar Gashasb; Jirwe, Maria; Kabir, Zarina Nahar

    2017-03-01

    Because of worldwide migration, the healthcare staff in general as well as in paedi"atric care specifically is challenged increasingly by people from various ethnic backgrounds. The challenge is related to providing culturally competent care and effectively communicating with people from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds who have different health beliefs, practices, values and languages. This also applies to the Swedish society and to Swedish paediatric care. The purpose of this study was to describe the expectations and experiences of cross-cultural care encounters among minority ethnic parents in Swedish paediatric care. A qualitative design was used in the study. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews between October 2011 and March 2012. The sample consisted of 12 parents of minority ethnic backgrounds who had their child in a ward at a children's hospital in the Stockholm County Council. The interviews were analysed using manifest content analysis. The Regional Ethical Review Committee approved the study (Ref: Nr: 2011/927-31/5). The analysis of the interviews led to three categories: fundamentals in nursing, cultural sensitivity and understanding, and influencing conditions. Generic knowledge and skills of nurses outweighed the need for the nurses to have culture-specific knowledge of their patients or relatives in cross-cultural care encounters. Language skills and the availability of bilingual nurses in a multi-ethnic society can facilitate communication and increase parents' satisfaction in cross-cultural care encounters. © 2016 Nordic College of Caring Science.

  8. Criteria of selection of basic linguacultural units within the context of cross-cultural communication

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Khalupo Olga Ivanovna

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The article considers the problems associated with the analysis and selection of basic linguacultural units that are necessary for a more effective cross-cultural communication. To make the process of dialogue between different cultures and languages more appropriate and productive, it is necessary to possess certain knowledge, skills, which are acquired by man in the process of learning. Important in our opinion in this area are the mastery means which will prepare the person to communicate in a different communicative space. Such means, in our opinion, are the basic linguacultural units, which are considered as carriers of information and expression of cultural identity. They inform choice contributes to a worldview, understanding linguacultural picture of the world community. The basis of selection of linguistic units on the following criteria: the information content, functionality, sufficiency, cultural identity, realism, pivotal importance to the basic sense, social and cultural significance. Application of the proposed criteria allowing more appropriate to make the selection of the material and linguacultural integral components of the scope of cross-cultural interaction, which are characterized by their relevant material necessary for an adequate understanding of the processes occurring in different communicative space.

  9. Beyond the 'new cross-cultural psychiatry': cultural biology, discursive psychology and the ironies of globalization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirmayer, Laurence J

    2006-03-01

    The 'new cross-cultural psychiatry' heralded by Kleinman in 1977 promised a revitalized tradition that gave due respect to cultural difference and did not export psychiatric theories that were themselves culture bound. In the ensuing years, the view of culture within anthropology has continued to change, along with our understanding of the relationship of biological processes to cultural diversity, and the global political economic contexts in which mental health care is delivered. This article considers the implications of these new notions of culture, biology and the context of practice for theory in cultural psychiatry. The future of cultural psychiatry lies in advancing a broad perspective that: (a) is inherently multidisciplinary (involving psychiatric epidemiology, medical anthropology and sociology, cognitive science and social psychology), breaking down the nature/culture dichotomy with an integrative view of culture as a core feature of human biology, while remaining alert to cultural constructions of biological theory; (b) attends to psychological processes but understands these as not exclusively located within the individual but as including discursive processes that are fundamentally social; and (c) critically examines the interaction of both local and global systems of knowledge and power. Globalization has brought with it many ironies for cultural psychiatry: Transnational migrations have resulted in cultural hybridization at the same time as ethnicity has become more salient; the call for evidence-based medicine has been used to limit the impact of cultural research; and cultural psychiatry itself has been co-opted by pharmaceutical companies to inform marketing campaigns to promote conventional treatments for new populations. Cultural psychiatry must address these ironies to develop the self-critical awareness and flexibility needed to deliver humane care in shifting contexts.

  10. Individualism and the extended-self: cross-cultural differences in the valuation of authentic objects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gjersoe, Nathalia L; Newman, George E; Chituc, Vladimir; Hood, Bruce

    2014-01-01

    The current studies examine how valuation of authentic items varies as a function of culture. We find that U.S. respondents value authentic items associated with individual persons (a sweater or an artwork) more than Indian respondents, but that both cultures value authentic objects not associated with persons (a dinosaur bone or a moon rock) equally. These differences cannot be attributed to more general cultural differences in the value assigned to authenticity. Rather, the results support the hypothesis that individualistic cultures place a greater value on objects associated with unique persons and in so doing, offer the first evidence for how valuation of certain authentic items may vary cross-culturally.

  11. Culture, executive function, and social understanding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lewis, Charlie; Koyasu, Masuo; Oh, Seungmi; Ogawa, Ayako; Short, Benjamin; Huang, Zhao

    2009-01-01

    Much of the evidence from the West has shown links between children's developing self-control (executive function), their social experiences, and their social understanding (Carpendale & Lewis, 2006, chapters 5 and 6), across a range of cultures including China. This chapter describes four studies conducted in three Oriental cultures, suggesting that the relationships among social interaction, executive function, and social understanding are different in these cultures, implying that social and executive skills are underpinned by key cultural processes.

  12. Mental health literacy: a cross-cultural approach to knowledge and beliefs about depression, schizophrenia and generalized anxiety disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Altweck, Laura; Marshall, Tara C; Ferenczi, Nelli; Lefringhausen, Katharina

    2015-01-01

    Many families worldwide have at least one member with a behavioral or mental disorder, and yet the majority of the public fails to correctly recognize symptoms of mental illness. Previous research has found that Mental Health Literacy (MHL)-the knowledge and positive beliefs about mental disorders-tends to be higher in European and North American cultures, compared to Asian and African cultures. Nonetheless quantitative research examining the variables that explain this cultural difference remains limited. The purpose of our study was fourfold: (a) to validate measures of MHL cross-culturally, (b) to examine the MHL model quantitatively, (c) to investigate cultural differences in the MHL model, and (d) to examine collectivism as a predictor of MHL. We validated measures of MHL in European American and Indian samples. The results lend strong quantitative support to the MHL model. Recognition of symptoms of mental illness was a central variable: greater recognition predicted greater endorsement of social causes of mental illness and endorsement of professional help-seeking as well as lesser endorsement of lay help-seeking. The MHL model also showed an overwhelming cultural difference; namely, lay help-seeking beliefs played a central role in the Indian sample, and a negligible role in the European American sample. Further, collectivism was positively associated with causal beliefs of mental illness in the European American sample, and with lay help-seeking beliefs in the Indian sample. These findings demonstrate the importance of understanding cultural differences in beliefs about mental illness, particularly in relation to help-seeking beliefs.

  13. Mental health literacy: a cross-cultural approach to knowledge and beliefs about depression, schizophrenia and generalized anxiety disorder

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laura eAltweck

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Many families worldwide have at least one member with a behavioral or mental disorder, and yet the majority of the public fails to correctly recognize symptoms of mental illness. Previous research has found that Mental Health Literacy (MHL – the knowledge and positive beliefs about mental disorders – tends to be higher in Asian and African cultures, compared to European and North American cultures. Nonetheless quantitative research examining the variables that explain this cultural difference remains limited. The purpose of our study was fourfold: a to validate measures of MHL cross-culturally, b to examine the MHL model quantitatively, c to investigate cultural differences in the MHL model, and d to examine collectivism as a predictor of MHL. We validated measures of MHL in European American and Indian samples. The results lend strong quantitative support to the MHL model. Recognition of symptoms of mental illness was a central variable: greater recognition predicted greater endorsement of social causes of mental illness and endorsement of professional help-seeking as well as lesser endorsement of lay help-seeking. The MHL model also showed an overwhelming cultural difference; namely, lay help-seeking beliefs played a central role in the Indian sample, and a negligible role in the European American sample. Further, collectivism was positively associated with causal beliefs of mental illness in the European American sample, and with lay help-seeking beliefs in the Indian sample. These findings demonstrate the importance of understanding cultural differences in beliefs about mental illness, particularly in relation to help-seeking beliefs.

  14. Mental health literacy: a cross-cultural approach to knowledge and beliefs about depression, schizophrenia and generalized anxiety disorder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Altweck, Laura; Marshall, Tara C.; Ferenczi, Nelli; Lefringhausen, Katharina

    2015-01-01

    Many families worldwide have at least one member with a behavioral or mental disorder, and yet the majority of the public fails to correctly recognize symptoms of mental illness. Previous research has found that Mental Health Literacy (MHL)—the knowledge and positive beliefs about mental disorders—tends to be higher in European and North American cultures, compared to Asian and African cultures. Nonetheless quantitative research examining the variables that explain this cultural difference remains limited. The purpose of our study was fourfold: (a) to validate measures of MHL cross-culturally, (b) to examine the MHL model quantitatively, (c) to investigate cultural differences in the MHL model, and (d) to examine collectivism as a predictor of MHL. We validated measures of MHL in European American and Indian samples. The results lend strong quantitative support to the MHL model. Recognition of symptoms of mental illness was a central variable: greater recognition predicted greater endorsement of social causes of mental illness and endorsement of professional help-seeking as well as lesser endorsement of lay help-seeking. The MHL model also showed an overwhelming cultural difference; namely, lay help-seeking beliefs played a central role in the Indian sample, and a negligible role in the European American sample. Further, collectivism was positively associated with causal beliefs of mental illness in the European American sample, and with lay help-seeking beliefs in the Indian sample. These findings demonstrate the importance of understanding cultural differences in beliefs about mental illness, particularly in relation to help-seeking beliefs. PMID:26441699

  15. Academic Globalization: Universality of Cross-Cultural And Cross-Disciplinary LMR Perspectives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marta Szabo White

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available The contribution of this paper suggests that previous research underscoring cross-cultural differences may be misleading, when in fact it is cross-professional rather than cross-cultural differences that should be emphasized. Employing the LMR framework, this paper concludes that business or non-business predisposition has a more direct impact on one's individual cultural profile than does nationality. Regardless of culture, persons involved in business are characterized primarily by linear-active modes of communication, and persons not involved in business typically employ less linear and more multi-active/hybrid modes of communication. The linkages among individual characteristics, communication styles, work behaviors, and the extent to which the LMR constructs can facilitate and predict leadership, negotiating styles, individual behaviors, etc. are central to academic globalization and preparing global business leaders.

  16. A Cross Cultural Model for FlexibleMotivation in Management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gratiela Dana BOCA

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available The importance of world business has created a demand for managers sophisticated in global management skills and working with people from other countries. Organizational behavior from different countries and cultures compares organizational behavior across countries and cultures and seeks to understand how to improve the interaction of co workers, manager’s executives, client’s suppliers and alliance partners from around the world. The economic world shows us that all the elements that we consider static have a pulsation around an equilibrium position. The present study concerning the organization’s culture the motivational factors of the employees an outlet in this field. The flexibility in a global economy is an important element on which people can communicate and the manager can exercise his leading task thus is an imperfect world that imposed the necessity of adaptation to a cross cultural model.

  17. Indonesian Students’ Cross-Cultural Adaptation in Busan, Korea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Deddy Mulyana

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available This study aims to explore the cross-cultural adaptation of Indonesian students in Busan, South Korea. It uses a qualitative approach based on the U-curve (a four-stage model of cross-cultural adjustment consisting of the phases of honeymoon, crisis, recovery and adjustment. It involves in-depth interviews with 10 Indonesian students in Busan. The study found that the U-Curve model of cross-cultural adaptation is still useful. In the context of the informants’ experiences, it is characterized by the main barriers that include differences in language and values of friendship, cross-cultural stereotypes and prejudices that led to discrimination. The study also identified culture shock faced by some of the informants as well as their coping strategies.

  18. Indonesian Students’ Cross-Cultural Adaptation in Busan, Korea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Deddy Mulyana

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This study aims to explore the cross-cultural adaptation of Indonesian students in Busan, South Korea. It uses a qualitative approach based on the U-curve (a four-stage model of cross-cultural adjustment consisting of the phases of honeymoon, crisis, recovery and adjustment. It involves in-depth interviews with 10 Indonesian students in Busan. The study found that the U-Curve model of cross-cultural adaptation is still useful. In the context of the informants’ experiences, it is characterized by the main barriers that include differences in language and values of friendship, cross-cultural stereotypes and prejudices that led to discrimination. The study also identified culture shock faced by some of the informants as well as their coping strategies.

  19. CROSS-CULTURAL EXPERIMENTS AS AN ADAPTATION STRATEGY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    И И Подойницына

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The article considers methodological and empirical aspects of cross-cultural communica-tions under the economic and cultural globalization that determined the free movement of labor migrants around the world though this process is accompanied by certain difficulties. The authors believe that even a theoretically prepared person that knows about the influence of cultural differences on the organizational management in different countries will experience a cultural shock when working abroad. The cultural shock is a discomfort, frustration and even depression caused by getting into an unfamiliar environment. At the applied level, the authors analyze the so-called ‘cross-cultural experiments’ - attempts of an individual (a working specialist of a certain nation to test one’s strength, skills, and professional competencies in a foreign company. The authors’ sociological study of a cultural benchmarking type consisted of two stages. At the first stage, foreigners working in the capital of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia were inter-viewed; at the second stage, the Russians working abroad, mainly in the USA, were interviewed. The migra-tion flows from China have recently intensified in Yakutia, but the overwhelming majority of labor migrants are still from West and Central Asia, mainly from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia. The foreigners working in Yakutia and Russians working abroad experience same difficulties of adaptation in a new col-lective. Friends, relatives, members of the ethnic community, but not specially trained cross-cultural coaches and mentors, help them with adaptation. Such a personnel technology as selection, recruitment and headhunt-ing works reasonably well, while other HR technologies of cross-cultural management (motivation, feedback, etc. are still lagging behind. The authors insist on introducing courses on cross-cultural adaptation in interna-tional groups both in Russia and abroad together with a system of the so

  20. Primary Care Resident Perceived Preparedness to Deliver Cross-cultural Care: An Examination of Training and Specialty Differences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Elyse R.; Green, Alexander R.; Betancourt, Joseph R.; Weissman, Joel S.

    2007-01-01

    Objective Previous research has shown that resident physicians report differences in training across primary care specialties, although limited data exist on education in delivering cross-cultural care. The goals of this study were to identify factors that relate to primary care residents’ perceived preparedness to provide cross-cultural care and to explore the extent to which these perceptions vary across primary care specialties. Design Cross-sectional, national mail survey of resident physicians in their last year of training. Participants Eleven hundred fifty primary care residents specializing in family medicine (27%), internal medicine (23%), pediatrics (26%), and obstetrics/gynecology (OB/GYN) (24%). Results Male residents as well as those who reported having graduated from U.S. medical schools, access to role models, and a greater cross-cultural case mix during residency felt more prepared to deliver cross-cultural care. Adjusting for these demographic and clinical factors, family practice residents were significantly more likely to feel prepared to deliver cross-cultural care compared to internal medicine, pediatric, and OB/GYN residents. Yet, when the quantity of instruction residents reported receiving to deliver cross-cultural care was added as a predictor, specialty differences became nonsignificant, suggesting that training opportunities better account for the variability in perceived preparedness than specialty. Conclusions Across primary care specialties, residents reported different perceptions of preparedness to deliver cross-cultural care. However, this variation was more strongly related to training factors, such as the amount of instruction physicians received to deliver such care, rather than specialty affiliation. These findings underscore the importance of formal education to enhance residents’ preparedness to provide cross-cultural care. PMID:17516107

  1. In Search of Cultural Diversity: Recent Literature in Cross-Cultural and Ethnic Minority Psychology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hall, Gordon C. Nagayama; Maramba, Gloria Gia

    2001-01-01

    Identifies where most work on cross-cultural and ethnic minority psychology is being published and the authors. Very little overlap was found between literature in cross-cultural and ethnic minority psychology. Top scholars in cross-cultural psychology are men of European ancestry, while in ethnic minority psychology, scholars are ethnic…

  2. Dissociation From a Cross-Cultural Perspective: Implications of Studies in Brazil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maraldi, Everton de Oliveira; Krippner, Stanley; Barros, Maria Cristina Monteiro; Cunha, Alexandre

    2017-07-01

    A major issue in the study of dissociation concerns the cross-cultural validity of definitions and measurements used to identify and classify dissociative disorders. There is also extensive debate on the etiological factors underlying dissociative experiences. Cross-cultural research is essential to elucidate these issues, particularly regarding evidence obtained from countries in which the study of dissociation is still in its infancy. The aim of this article was to discuss Brazilian research on the topic of dissociation, highlighting its contributions for the understanding of dissociative experiences in nonclinical populations and for the validity and relevance of dissociative disorders in the contexts of psychiatry, psychology, and psychotherapy. We also consider the ways in which dissociative experiences are assimilated by Brazilian culture and religious expressions, and the implications of Brazilian studies for the sociocultural investigation of dissociation. We conclude by addressing the limitations of these studies and potential areas for future research.

  3. Cross-cultural opening in German outpatient mental healthcare service: an exploratory study of structural and procedural aspects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mösko, Mike-Oliver; Gil-Martinez, Fernanda; Schulz, Holger

    2013-01-01

    Mental healthcare services need to be sensitive towards the cultural needs of patients. Cross-cultural opening is an organizational process to fulfil these needs. This study aims to provide representative structural and procedural data regarding the use of German outpatient mental healthcare services by allochthonous patients, the diversity of psychotherapists in outpatient mental healthcare service, the cross-cultural encounters of therapists and the cross-cultural sensitivity of psychotherapists working in this healthcare area. Of all public outpatient psychotherapists in Hamburg, 81% (n = 485) participated in this survey. Regarding the distribution of the population in this metropolis, allochthonous therapists were underrepresented. Unlike the overall distribution of foreign inhabitants, the largest groups of immigrant therapists came from England, German-speaking countries and other countries within the European Union. The proportion of allochthonous patients in outpatient mental healthcare service was almost half of the proportion of the allochthonous in the general population. Psychotherapists with a migration background regarded themselves as having a higher level of cross-cultural sensitivity than their native colleagues, especially those who have had fewer cross-cultural encounters. Overall, psychotherapists named different challenges in providing cross-cultural treatment. For the German outpatient mental healthcare service to be more accessible to immigrants and their descendants, a greater number of bilingual psychotherapists must gain access to the mental healthcare service, and more advanced cross-cultural sensitivity training and supervision should be provided. German outpatient psychotherapists are culturally and linguistically diverse. Nevertheless, psychotherapists with a migration background are underrepresented in outpatient mental healthcare services. Patients with a migration background are also underrepresented in the German outpatient mental

  4. International Business Students’ Cross-Cultural Competence Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Natalie S. Mikhaylov

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available This study explores the role of educational programs in promoting students’ cross-cultural competence (CCC development in international business education. Using constructivist grounded theory methodology (GTM, a comparative analysis of four extensive case studies was conducted within four schools, all of which offer international management education in English for local and international students. This study examines institutional contributions to an environment that supports students’ CCC development. A typology model consisting of four educational approaches to students’ CCC development is presented based on student experiences. The study provides recommendations regarding the steps that higher educational institutions (HEIs can take to promote educational environments that support cross-cultural exchange, cultural knowledge creation, and individual and organizational cross-cultural competence development.

  5. On English Teaching and Cross-cultural Communication

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    王琪

    2016-01-01

    Since last century, because of reforming and opening policy, many people, especially young people go abroad to get a better job or get further education and so on. Besides, many foreigners are curious about our country. Consequently, people come to realize that if we known little about cross-cultural communication, there will be many conflicts. Some experts suggest that today's English teaching should emphasize intercultural communication. Learners ought to know not only grammar or words, but should learn cultural knowledge. If not, they will meet many difficulties while they communicate with foreigners. Therefore, it is important to introduce this kind of knowledge while teaching. This paper mainly talks about cross-cultural communication in foreign language teaching in China. In the first part, we talk about the importance of learn cross-culture and discuss the relationship between language teaching and cultural teaching. Next part is talk about the problems of culture teaching nowadays. According to these problems, we explore some culture teaching methods to improve culture teaching. The aim of this paper is to emphasize the importance of culture teaching during foreign language teaching. Culture teaching is necessary for all of us, it can make it possible for learners to prevent miscommunication from occurring in intercultural communications.

  6. Identifying Critical Cross-Cultural School Psychology Competencies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rogers, Margaret R.; Lopez, Emilia C.

    2002-01-01

    Study sought to identify critical cross-cultural competencies for school psychologists. To identify the competencies, an extensive literature search about cross-cultural school psychology competencies was conducted, as well as a questionnaire to ask expert panelists. The 102 competencies identified cover 14 major domains of professional activities…

  7. Cultural Orientations Framework (COF) Assessment Questionnaire in Cross-Cultural Coaching: A Cross-Validation with Wave Focus Styles

    OpenAIRE

    Rojon, C; McDowall, A

    2010-01-01

    This paper outlines a cross-validation of the Cultural Orientations Framework assessment questionnaire\\ud (COF, Rosinski, 2007; a new tool designed for cross-cultural coaching) with the Saville Consulting\\ud Wave Focus Styles questionnaire (Saville Consulting, 2006; an existing validated measure of\\ud occupational personality), using data from UK and German participants (N = 222). The convergent and\\ud divergent validity of the questionnaire was adequate. Contrary to previous findings which u...

  8. Revising and Updating the Inventory of Cross-Cultural Sensitivity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahon, Jennifer A.; Cushner, Kenneth

    2014-01-01

    The following article outlines research conducted to examine cross-cultural sensitivity in a sample of 949 incoming university students in the USA. The study was conducted during the process of updating an existing measure of cross-cultural sensitivity known as the Inventory of Cross-Cultural Sensitivity (ICCS), and to examine the various levels…

  9. Evaluation of psychometric properties of the German Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture and its potential for cross-cultural comparisons: a cross-sectional study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gambashidze, Nikoloz; Hammer, Antje; Brösterhaus, Mareen; Manser, Tanja

    2017-11-09

    To study the psychometric characteristics of German version of the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture and to compare its dimensionality to other language versions in order to understand the instrument's potential for cross-national studies. Cross-sectional multicentre study to establish psychometric properties of German version of the survey instrument. 73 units from 37 departments of two German university hospitals. Clinical personnel (n=995 responses, response rate 39.6%). Psychometric properties (eg, model fit, internal consistency, construct validity) of the instrument and comparison of dimensionality across different language translations. The instrument demonstrated acceptable to good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha 0.64-0.88). Confirmatory factor analysis of the original 12-factor model resulted in marginally satisfactory model fit (root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA)=0.05; standardised root mean residual (SRMR)=0.05; comparative fit index (CFI)=0.90; goodness of fit index (GFI)=0.88; Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI)=0.88). Exploratory factor analysis resulted in an alternative eight-factor model with good model fit (RMSEA=0.05; SRMR=0.05; CFI=0.95; GFI=0.91; TLI=0.94) and good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha 0.73-0.87) and construct validity. Analysis of the dimensionality compared with models from 10 other language versions revealed eight dimensions with relatively stable composition and appearance across different versions and four dimensions requiring further improvement. The German version of Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties for use in German hospitals. However, our comparison of instrument dimensionality across different language versions indicates limitations concerning cross-national studies. Results of this study can be considered in interpreting findings across national contexts, in further refinement of the instrument for cross-national studies and in better

  10. Alienation: A Cross-Cultural Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tomeh, Aida K.

    1974-01-01

    This study examines alienation in two different cultural groups. Students from Middle Eastern or transitional societies expressed greater feelings of alienation than American students. In the case of students in both cultures from professional backgrounds the results were reversed. The results of the study are discussed in terms of cultural…

  11. A Cross-Cultural Study of CKCM Efficacy in an Undergraduate Chemistry Classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Çalik, Muammer; Cobern, William W.

    2017-01-01

    The aim of this study was to cross-culturally investigate the instructional efficacy of the Common Knowledge Construction Model (CKCM) with college students learning about "factors affecting solubility" focusing on students' conceptual understanding, attitudes and scientific habits of mind. Even though the CKCM is a decade old, there has…

  12. Cross-cultural Human-Machine-Systems: selected aspects of a cross-cultural system engineering; Interkulturelle Mensch-Maschine-Systeme: ausgewaehlte Aspekte einer interkulturellen Systemgestaltung

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Roese, K. [Technische Univ. Kaiserslautern (Germany). AG Nutzergerechte Produktentwicklung

    2006-07-01

    Cross-cultural Human-Machine-Systems are one key factor for success in the global market era. Nowadays the machine producer have to offer their products worldwide. With the export to other nations they have to consider on the user behaviour in these other cultures. The analysis of cross-cultural user requirements and their integration into the product development process is a real chance to cape with these challenge. This paper describe two aspects of cross-cultural user aspects. It gives an impression of the complex and sometimes unknown cultural influencing factors and their impact on Human-Machine-System-Engineering. (orig.)

  13. Cross Cultural Conflicts in Not Without my Daughter

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Setyoningsih Setyoningsih

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available This study aims to identify and analyze the cultural conflicts between the main characters in the novel Not Without my Daughter (NW. The analysis was carried out through the following process. The first procedure related to problems of classification i.e. cross cultural conflicts. The next phase of data analysis related to the colletion data of cross cultural conflicts in NW. The last phase is presentation the result of the analysis that had been conducted in this research. Having analyzed the data, the researcher concludes  that cultural conflicts occured in NW because of  stereotype, prejudice, and ethnocentrism. Cultural conflicts can be prevented if we increase our awareness of our own attitudes and learn to be sensitive to cross-cultural differences. However, if we develop intercultural sensitivity, it does not mean that we need to lose our cultural identities-but rather that we recognize cultural influences within ourselves and within others.

  14. A Cross-Cultural Exercise: Expat in the Marketplace

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oddou, Gary R.

    2005-01-01

    With the increasing importance of the global marketplace, students need to be more effectively prepared to manage themselves in the context of different cultures. This article explains an effective cross-cultural exercise that is simple to set up yet effective in its simulation of a cross-cultural interaction. Debriefing notes are included to help…

  15. A cross-cultural, multilevel study of inquiry-based instruction effects on conceptual understanding and motivation in physics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Negishi, Meiko

    Student achievement and motivation to learn physics is highly valued in many industrialized countries including the United States and Japan. Science education curricula in these countries emphasize the importance and encourage classroom teachers to use an inquiry approach. This dissertation investigated high school students' motivational orientations and their understanding of physics concepts in a context of inquiry-based instruction. The goals were to explore the patterns of instructional effects on motivation and learning in each country and to examine cultural differences and similarities. Participants consisted of 108 students (55 females, 53 males) and 9 physics teachers in the United States and 616 students (203 females and 413 males) and 11 physics teachers in Japan. Students were administered (a) Force Concept Inventory measuring physics conceptual understanding and (b) Attitudes about Science Questionnaire measuring student motivational orientations. Teachers were given a survey regarding their use of inquiry teaching practices and background information. Additionally, three teachers in each country were interviewed and observed in their classrooms. For the data analysis, two-level hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) methods were used to examine individual student differences (i.e., learning, motivation, and gender) within each classroom (i.e., inquiry-based teaching, teaching experience, and class size) in the U.S. and Japan, separately. Descriptive statistical analyses were also conducted. The results indicated that there was a cultural similarity in that current teaching practices had minimal influence on conceptual understanding as well as motivation of high school students between the U.S. and Japan. In contrast, cultural differences were observed in classroom structures and instructional approaches. Furthermore, this study revealed gender inequity in Japanese students' conceptual understanding and self-efficacy. Limitations of the study, as well as

  16. Cross-culture Communications in Tourism under Conditions of Globalisation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aldoshyna Mariia V.

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available The article is devoted to the study of cross-cultural specific features of interaction within social and business communication in the international tourism. The goal of the article is analysis of the cross-cultural environment of Ukraine in the context of the world globalisation for efficient interaction in the sphere of international management and marketing. The article shows a necessity of a study of influence of national cultural features upon business activity of tourist enterprises with consideration of their international and cross-cultural nature of activity. The article identifies functions of culture and presents basic classifications of the world cultures by Geert Hofstede, Fons Trompenaars and Edward Twitchell Hall Jr. It considers specific features of activity of tourist enterprises in the spheres of cross-cultural management and marketing, formulates problems of manifestation of cultural differences in these spheres. It offers main advertising strategies in the international communication policy, which help enterprises to promote their tourist products to international markets more efficiently.

  17. Resident cross-cultural training, satisfaction, and preparedness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frintner, Mary Pat; Mendoza, Fernando S; Dreyer, Benard P; Cull, William L; Laraque, Danielle

    2013-01-01

    To describe the diversity of pediatric residents and examine relationships of cross-cultural training experiences with training satisfaction, perceived preparedness for providing culturally effective care, and attitudes surrounding care for underserved populations. A cross-sectional survey was conducted of a national random sample of graduating pediatric residents and an additional sample of minority residents. Using weighted analysis, we used multivariate regression to test for differences in satisfaction, preparedness, and attitudes between residents with more and less cross-cultural experiences during residency, controlling for residents' characteristics and experiences before training. The survey response rate was 57%. Eleven percent were Hispanic, 61% white, 21% Asian, 9% African American, 9% other racial/ethnic groups; 34% grew up in a bi- or multilingual family. Ninety-three percent of residents were satisfied with their residency training, 81% with the instruction they received on health and health care disparities, and 54% on global health issues. Ninety-six percent of residents felt they were prepared to care for patients from diverse backgrounds, but fewer felt prepared to care for families with beliefs at odds with Western medicine (49%) and families who receive alternative or complementary care (37%). Residents with more cross-cultural experiences during residency reported being better prepared than those with less experience to care for families with limited English proficiency (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.11; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.40-3.17), new immigrants (aOR 1.91; 95% CI 1.32-2.75), and with religious beliefs that might affect clinical care (aOR 1.62; 95% CI 1.13-2.32). Pediatric residents begin their training with diverse cross-cultural backgrounds and experiences. Residency experiences in cross-cultural care contribute to feelings of preparedness to care for diverse US children. Copyright © 2013 Academic Pediatric Association. Published

  18. Cross-Cultural Knowledge Management

    CERN Document Server

    Giudice, Manlio Del; Peruta, Maria Rosaria Della

    2012-01-01

    Cross-cultural knowledge management, an elusive yet consequential phenomenon, is becoming an increasingly essential factor in organizational practice and policy in the era of globalization. In order to overcome culturally shaped blind spots in conducting research in different settings, this volume highlights how the structuring of roles, interests, and power among different organizational elements, such as teams, departments, and management hierarchies (each comprised of members from different intellectual and professional backgrounds), generates various paradoxes and tensions that bring into

  19. Cross cultural usability testing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Clemmensen, Torkil; Goyal, Shivam

    2005-01-01

    In this paper, we present the results of a pilot study in Denmark of cross cultural effects on Think Aloud usability testing. We provide an overview of previous research on cross cultural usability evaluation with a special focus on the relationship between the evaluator and the test user....... This relation was studied in an experiment with usability testing of a localized clipart application in which eight participants from Denmark and India formed pairs of evaluator-test user. The test users were asked to think aloud and the evaluators' role were to facilitate the test users thinking aloud...... and hereby identify usability problems with the clipart application. Data on the evaluators' and test users' behaviour were recorded and analyzed by coding and summarizing statistics on these behavioural events. The results show that Think Aloud Usability Test of a localized application is most effectively...

  20. Face cognition in humans: Psychophysiological, developmental, and cross-cultural aspects

    OpenAIRE

    Chernorizov A. M.; Zhong-qing J.; Petrakova A. V.; Zinchenko Yu. P.

    2016-01-01

    Investigators are finding increasing evidence for cross-cultural specificity in face cognition along with individual characteristics. The functions on which face cognition is based not only are types of general cognitive functions (perception, memory) but are elements of specific mental processes. Face perception, memorization, correct recognition of faces, and understanding the information that faces provide are essential skills for humans as a social species and can be considered as facets ...

  1. Consumer perception of balsamic vinegar: A cross-cultural study between Korea and Italy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torri, Luisa; Jeon, Seon-Young; Piochi, Maria; Morini, Gabriella; Kim, Kwang-Ok

    2017-01-01

    Understanding cross-cultural differences in food perception is a key issue of food research in order to understand consumer behaviour in different countries. The objective of this study was to explore potential cultural differences of balsamic vinegar perception between Korean and Italian consumers using the sorted napping method. Nine balsamic vinegars different in terms of ingredients, aging time, and origin were evaluated by Korean (n=50) and Italian (n=49) consumers using sorted napping. Familiarity and food matching were also examined. Descriptive analysis was performed to verify the attitude of the consumers in product description. The results obtained from two groups of consumers in Korea and Italy revealed a higher description attitude of the Italians (higher number of total elicited attributes, of attributes in common with the trained panel, of attributes shared with the vocabulary reported in literature, of significant specific positive product-attribute associations). Italian subjects generated various descriptors associated with the European gastronomic culture (aromatic herbs, fortified wine, dried figs, Indian fig, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese), whereas Korean consumers used more terms related to the Asian food culture (red ginseng, Chinese medicine, Japanese apricot, teriyaki sauce, persimmon vinegar, balloon flower roots). Moreover, cultural differences of food matching were also observed: the Italians would pair the balsamic vinegars mainly with vegetables, fruits and cheese, while Koreans would combine the balsamic vinegars preferably with bread, vegetables and meat. In conclusion, familiarity resulted the main factors for cross-cultural differentiation. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  2. Cross-cultural understandings of festival food-related activities for older women in Chiang Mai, Thailand, Eastern Kentucky, USA and Auckland, New Zealand.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wright-St Clair, Valerie A; Pierce, Doris; Bunrayong, Wannipa; Rattakorn, Phuanjai; Vittayakorn, Soisuda; Shordike, Anne; Hocking, Clare

    2013-06-01

    This cross-country, cross-cultural study explored the meaning of older women's food-related activities for the annual festivals of Songkran (Thai New Year) in Chiang Mai, Thailand; and Christmas in Richmond, Kentucky, USA; and Auckland, New Zealand. A derived etic method was used. The community-dwelling participants were 33 Thai women, aged 60 and older, and 16 New Zealand and 23 eastern Kentucky women, aged 65 and older. This article focuses on the final cross-cultural analysis of the data. Emic, or within-country, findings are presented, followed by the derived etic, or cross-cultural, interpretations for two themes of meaning; older women's 'protecting what matters' and 'leading the way'. Applying derived etic methods helped reveal how, despite the highly different food-related practices, preparing and sharing celebratory foods at Songkran or Christmas held related meanings for older women in Thailand, Kentucky USA, and New Zealand.

  3. Understanding Jerusalem and its Cross-Cultural Dilemmas in Guy Delisle’s Jerusalem: Chronicles From the Holy City

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gavrilă Ana-Maria

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Guy Delisle’s Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City (2011 is a nonfictional graphic novel which narrates the experiences during a year that the Canadian artist and his family spent living far from home, in the occasionally dangerous and perilous city of the ancient Middle East. Part humorous memoir filled with “the logistics of everyday life,” part an inquisitive and sharp-eyed travelogue, Jerusalem is interspersed with enthralling lessons on the history of the region, together with vignettes of brief strips of Delisle’s encounters with expatriates and locals, with Jewish, Muslim, and Christian communities in and around the city, with Bedouins, Israeli and Palestinians. Since the comic strip is considered amongst the privileged genres able to disseminate stereotypes, Jerusalem tackles cultural as well as physical barriers, delimiting between domestic and foreign space, while revealing the historical context of the Israeli-Palestinian present conflict. Using this idea as a point of departure, I employ an imagological method of interpretation to address cross-cultural confusions in analysing the cartoonist’s travelogue as discourse of representation and ways of understanding cultural transmission, paying attention to the genre’s convention, where Delisle’s drawing style fits nicely the narrative techniques employed. Through an imagological perspective, I will also pay attention to the interaction between cultures and the dynamics between the images which characterise the Other (the nationalities represented or the spected and those which characterise - not without a sense of irony - his own identity (self-portraits or auto-images. I shall take into account throughout my analysis that the source of this graphic memoir is inevitably a subjective one: even though Delisle professes an unbiased mind-set from the very beginning, the comic is at times coloured by his secular views. Delisle’s book is a dark, yet gentle comedy, and his

  4. Soldiers Working Internationally: Impacts of Masculinity, Military Culture, and Operational Stress on Cross-Cultural Adaptation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keats, Patrice A.

    2010-01-01

    This paper explores the ramifications of masculinized military culture and operational stress on cross-cultural adaptation. The author examines how characteristics of military culture may obstruct effective cross-cultural adaptation by promoting a hypermasculinity that tends to oppose effective management of trauma, and thereby suppresses skills…

  5. What is in a name?: The development of cross-cultural differences in referential intuitions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Jincai; Liu, Longgen; Chalmers, Elizabeth; Snedeker, Jesse

    2018-02-01

    Past work has shown systematic differences between Easterners' and Westerners' intuitions about the reference of proper names. Understanding when these differences emerge in development will help us understand their origins. In the present study, we investigate the referential intuitions of English- and Chinese-speaking children and adults in the U.S. and China. Using a truth-value judgment task modeled on Kripke's classic Gödel case, we find that the cross-cultural differences are already in place at age seven. Thus, these differences cannot be attributed to later education or enculturation. Instead, they must stem from differences that are present in early childhood. We consider alternate theories of reference that are compatible with these findings and discuss the possibility that the cross-cultural differences reflect differences in perspective-taking strategies. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Domain specific innovativeness and frugal behavior: a cross-cultural investigation of their impact on consumer’s behavioral intention in smartphone purchase

    OpenAIRE

    Du, Feng

    2016-01-01

    The globally growth of smartphone sales seems inevitable, and it opens new challenges and opportunities for businesses. Understanding consumer behavior in smartphone purchase in a cross cultural context is important for both marketers and consumers. For the development of this research, a theoretical model was proposed and tested in order to understand the impact of consumer’s innovativeness and frugal behavior on smartphone purchase intention in a cross-cultural context. To this end, it was ...

  7. Cross-Cultural Mentoring: A Pathway to Making Excellence Inclusive

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crutcher, Betty Neal

    2014-01-01

    Cross-cultural mentoring involves an ongoing, intentional, and mutually enriching relationship with someone of a different race, gender, ethnicity, religion, cultural background, socioeconomic background, sexual orientation, or nationality. Generally more experienced, the cross-cultural mentor guides the intellectual and personal development of…

  8. Religion, Ethnicity and Geography: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Demand for Education in Ghana

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Blunch, Niels-Hugo

    2003-01-01

    Most cross-cultural research of demand behavior is focused at cross-country studies. For Sub-Saharan Africa, however, the fact that the borders were more or less arbitrarily drawn by the colonial powers suggests that demand behavior - including the demand for education - in this context are more...... affected by within country factors such as ethnicity, geographical location and religion. On this premise, we analyze the demand for education in Ghana from a cross-cultural perspective. A substantial share of Ghanaian youth and young adults has never attended school. As education is an important vehicle...... for economic development this is (or should be) a point of concern to both the national government and international development organizations. On this background, this study analyzes the demand for education in Ghana to try to understand the main factors underlying this. The focus is on cross...

  9. Why developmental psychology is incomplete without comparative and cross-cultural perspectives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nielsen, Mark; Haun, Daniel

    2016-01-01

    As a discipline, developmental psychology has a long history of relying on animal models and data collected among distinct cultural groups to enrich and inform theories of the ways social and cognitive processes unfold through the lifespan. However, approaches that draw together developmental, cross-cultural and comparative perspectives remain rare. The need for such an approach is reflected in the papers by Heyes (2015 Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 371, 20150069. (doi:10.1098/rstb.2015.0069)), Schmelz & Call (2015 Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 371, 20150067. (doi:10.1098/rstb.2015.0067)) and Keller (2015 Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 371, 20150070. (doi:10.1098/rstb.2015.0070)) in this theme issue. Here, we incorporate these papers into a review of recent research endeavours covering a range of core aspects of social cognition, including social learning, cooperation and collaboration, prosociality, and theory of mind. In so doing, we aim to highlight how input from comparative and cross-cultural empiricism has altered our perspectives of human development and, in particular, led to a deeper understanding of the evolution of the human cultural mind. PMID:26644590

  10. Why developmental psychology is incomplete without comparative and cross-cultural perspectives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nielsen, Mark; Haun, Daniel

    2016-01-19

    As a discipline, developmental psychology has a long history of relying on animal models and data collected among distinct cultural groups to enrich and inform theories of the ways social and cognitive processes unfold through the lifespan. However, approaches that draw together developmental, cross-cultural and comparative perspectives remain rare. The need for such an approach is reflected in the papers by Heyes (2015 Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 371, 20150069. (doi:10.1098/rstb.2015.0069)), Schmelz & Call (2015 Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 371, 20150067. (doi:10.1098/rstb.2015.0067)) and Keller (2015 Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 371, 20150070. (doi:10.1098/rstb.2015.0070)) in this theme issue. Here, we incorporate these papers into a review of recent research endeavours covering a range of core aspects of social cognition, including social learning, cooperation and collaboration, prosociality, and theory of mind. In so doing, we aim to highlight how input from comparative and cross-cultural empiricism has altered our perspectives of human development and, in particular, led to a deeper understanding of the evolution of the human cultural mind. © 2015 The Author(s).

  11. Interculturalism and Physical Cultural Diversity in the Greater Toronto Area

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuka Nakamura

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The Greater Toronto Area (GTA is one of the most multicultural communities in the world. Frequently, this description is based on ethnic, linguistic, and culinary diversity. Physical cultural diversity, such as different sports, martial arts, forms of dance, exercise systems, and other physical games and activities, remains ignored and understudied. Based on a living database of the GTA’s physical cultural diversity, this study identifies the trajectories of the lifecycle of activities that have been introduced into the GTA’s physical culture by immigrants. These pathways differ based on whether the activity is offered in a separate setting, where individuals may be participating with other immigrants of the same ethnocultural group, or mixed settings, where people are participating with people from outside of their ethnocultural group. We argue that the diversity and the lifecycle trajectories of physical cultural forms in the GTA serve as evidence of interculturalism and the contribution by immigrants to the social and cultural life of Canada.

  12. Greater learnability is not sufficient to produce cultural universals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rafferty, Anna N; Griffiths, Thomas L; Ettlinger, Marc

    2013-10-01

    Looking across human societies reveals regularities in the languages that people speak and the concepts that they use. One explanation that has been proposed for these "cultural universals" is differences in the ease with which people learn particular languages and concepts. A difference in learnability means that languages and concepts possessing a particular property are more likely to be accurately transmitted from one generation of learners to the next. Intuitively, this difference could allow languages and concepts that are more learnable to become more prevalent after multiple generations of cultural transmission. If this is the case, the prevalence of languages and concepts with particular properties can be explained simply by demonstrating empirically that they are more learnable. We evaluate this argument using mathematical analysis and behavioral experiments. Specifically, we provide two counter-examples that show how greater learnability need not result in a property becoming prevalent. First, more learnable languages and concepts can nonetheless be less likely to be produced spontaneously as a result of transmission failures. We simulated cultural transmission in the laboratory to show that this can occur for memory of distinctive items: these items are more likely to be remembered, but not generated spontaneously once they have been forgotten. Second, when there are many languages or concepts that lack the more learnable property, sheer numbers can swamp the benefit produced by greater learnability. We demonstrate this using a second series of experiments involving artificial language learning. Both of these counter-examples show that simply finding a learnability bias experimentally is not sufficient to explain why a particular property is prevalent in the languages or concepts used in human societies: explanations for cultural universals based on cultural transmission need to consider the full set of hypotheses a learner could entertain and all of

  13. Crossing the cultural divide: issues in translation, mistrust, and cocreation of meaning in cross-cultural therapeutic assessment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosenberg, Audrey; Almeida, Angelica; Macdonald, Heather

    2012-01-01

    This article examines cross-cultural therapeutic assessment in a community mental health clinic. The first case describes the work between a Caucasian assessor and a Mexican American family. The authors explore the metaphorical and literal translation of the findings from English to Spanish and the parallel process of translation of the self, experienced by both assessor and client. The second case describes the work between a Caucasian assessor and an African American adolescent. We describe the inherent challenge between the Eurocentric "task" orientation of the evaluation and the Afrocentric "relationship" orientation. We suggest that bridging the gap between cultures and overcoming cultural mistrust lay in the building of the assessor-client relationship. Fischer's concepts of rapport and intimacy are emphasized and expanded on as we emphasize the importance of cocreated meaning in cross-cultural assessment work.

  14. Cross-cultural integration affects attitudes towards people with HIV/AIDS in Australia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hosseinzadeh, Hassan; Dadich, Ann

    2016-04-01

    The stigma associated with HIV/AIDS represents a significant issue. It can hinder help-seeking behaviours, fracture relationships, conceal prevalence rates and curtail public health initiatives to reduce HIV/AIDS. Culture is known to shape this stigma - it influences how individuals and the communities they represent understand the causes of HIV/AIDS, how it can and should be treated, and how people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) should be regarded. Following recent increases in both HIV/AIDS and cross-cultural migration, this study determines the effect of cross-cultural integration on the tendency to stigmatise PLWHA. This was achieved by surveying adults who are at the nexus of two dissimilar cultures - adults from the Australian-Iranian community (n=236). While the Iranian culture is largely collectivistic, the Australian culture is largely individualistic. Survey results indicated the respondents represented a collectivistic (44.1%), transitional (33.5%) or an individualistic (22.4%) culture. Those within the collectivistic culture held the most stigmatising views about PLWHA, supporting coercive policies and reporting they would avoid PLWHA. Those within the individualistic culture held the most positive attitudes. Furthermore, regression analysis indicated that movement from a collectivistic to an individualistic culture significantly reduced stigmatising attitudes towards PLWHA. This study is the first to demonstrate the benefits afforded by an individualist culture, particularly for PLWHA. The article concludes with a discussion on the implications associated with these findings, particularly for researchers and practitioners within the health promotion field.

  15. Cultural Change: The How and the Why.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Varnum, Michael E W; Grossmann, Igor

    2017-11-01

    More than half a century of cross-cultural research has demonstrated group-level differences in psychological and behavioral phenomena, from values to attention to neural responses. However, cultures are not static, with several specific changes documented for cultural products, practices, and values. How and why do societies change? Here we juxtapose theory and insights from cultural evolution and social ecology. Evolutionary approaches enable an understanding of the how of cultural change, suggesting transmission mechanisms by which the contents of culture may change. Ecological approaches provide insights into the why of cultural change: They identify specific environmental pressures, which evoke shifts in psychology and thereby enable greater precision in predictions of specific cultural changes based on changes in ecological conditions. Complementary insights from the ecological and cultural evolutionary approaches can jointly clarify the process by which cultures change. We end by discussing the relevance of cultural change research for the contemporary societal shifts and by highlighting several critical challenges and future directions for the emerging field of cross-temporal research on culture and psychology.

  16. Cross-cultural differences in the neural correlates of specific and general recognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paige, Laura E; Ksander, John C; Johndro, Hunter A; Gutchess, Angela H

    2017-06-01

    Research suggests that culture influences how people perceive the world, which extends to memory specificity, or how much perceptual detail is remembered. The present study investigated cross-cultural differences (Americans vs East Asians) at the time of encoding in the neural correlates of specific versus general memory formation. Participants encoded photos of everyday items in the scanner and 48 h later completed a surprise recognition test. The recognition test consisted of same (i.e., previously seen in scanner), similar (i.e., same name, different features), or new photos (i.e., items not previously seen in scanner). For Americans compared to East Asians, we predicted greater activation in the hippocampus and right fusiform for specific memory at recognition, as these regions were implicated previously in encoding perceptual details. Results revealed that East Asians activated the left fusiform and left hippocampus more than Americans for specific versus general memory. Follow-up analyses ruled out alternative explanations of retrieval difficulty and familiarity for this pattern of cross-cultural differences at encoding. Results overall suggest that culture should be considered as another individual difference that affects memory specificity and modulates neural regions underlying these processes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Culture and Literacy: Frameworks for Understanding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Westby, Carol E.

    1995-01-01

    This article presents a framework for understanding cultural variations in beliefs, values, and communication styles and considers the role of culture in relation to children's response to formal education and literacy. Major dimensions of cultural variability discussed include individualism/collectivism and high-context/low-context. (Author/DB)

  18. Cross-Cultural Detection of Depression from Nonverbal Behaviour

    OpenAIRE

    Alghowinem, Sharifa; Goecke, Roland; Cohn, Jeffrey F.; Wagner, Michael; Parker, Gordon; Breakspear, Michael

    2015-01-01

    Millions of people worldwide suffer from depression. Do commonalities exist in their nonverbal behavior that would enable cross-culturally viable screening and assessment of severity? We investigated the generalisability of an approach to detect depression severity cross-culturally using video-recorded clinical interviews from Australia, the USA and Germany. The material varied in type of interview, subtypes of depression and inclusion healthy control subjects, cultural background, and record...

  19. Civil Procedure in Cross-cultural Dialogue: Eurasia Context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stefaan Voet

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Reviewed book: Civil Procedure in Cross-cultural Dialogue: Eurasia Context: IAPL World Conference on Civil Procedure, September 18–21, 2012, Moscow, Russia (Dmitry Maleshin, ed. (Statut 2012, available at (accessed March 9, 2014 [hereinafter Civil Procedure in Cross-cultural Dialogue: Eurasia Context].

  20. Cross-cultural Communication and ELT in China

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    ChengTongchun

    2004-01-01

    Culture plays a significant role in teaching and learning a language. The acquisition of cultural knowledge is an indispensable part of language learning. This paper discusses the importance and necessity of cross-cultural communication in the language teaching, and focuses on three parts:

  1. Half a century of cross-cultural psychology: A grateful coda.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lonner, Walter J

    2015-11-01

    This article provides brief commentaries on culture-oriented research in psychology and a synopsis of the author's 50-year involvement in cross-cultural psychology. Overviews of several areas with which he is more familiar are given. These include his career-long stewardship of the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, of which he is founding and special issues editor, continuous involvement with the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology, ongoing interest in the search for psychological universals, studying the influence of cultures on personality, values, and other psychological dimensions, monitoring the inclusion of culture in introductory psychology texts, contributions to cross-cultural counseling, and sustained involvement with the Online Readings in Psychology and Culture since its inception. Also included are comments on both the ever-expanding research on culture's influence on behavior and thought by a growing network of scholars who have different, yet complementary, agendas and research methods. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  2. Teaching Cross-Cultural Psychology: Providing the Missing Link.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cushner, Kenneth H.

    1987-01-01

    This article describes the development and evaluation of materials designed to facilitate the teaching of cross-cultural psychology to students who are internationally and interculturally naive. The materials consist of 100 cross-cultural incidents contained in 18 essays. Two incidents are described and evaluative evidence is presented.…

  3. Teaching and Learning Culture with AETs : What Cross-cultural Pragmatics can Tell Us

    OpenAIRE

    Fukazawa, Seiji

    1997-01-01

    This article aims to discuss the feasibility of applying the findings from cross-cultural pragmatic studies to the teaching of culture in team teaching. Referring to some studies on cross-cultural speech act realizations such as refusals and apologies, first, the present study examines whether the English textbooks used in junior/senior high schools in Japan appropriately illustrate examples of authentic pragmatic interactions. Secondly, it shows two excerpts of classroom discourse between a ...

  4. Cross-cultural communication: Tools for working with families and children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ladha, Tehseen; Zubairi, Mohammad; Hunter, Andrea; Audcent, Tobey; Johnstone, Julie

    2018-02-01

    The ability to communicate effectively with patients and families is paramount for good patient care. This practice point reviews the importance of communicating effectively in cross-cultural encounters. The concept of cultural competence is introduced, along with the LEARN (Listen, Explain, Acknowledge, Recommend, Negotiate) model for cross-cultural communication. Three vignettes, one each in Indigenous, global, and newcomer child health, are used to illustrate challenges in cross-cultural communication and effective application of the LEARN model. Practical tips are provided for communicating across cultures.

  5. Cross-cultural management at the enterprises of the capital of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I I Podoynitsyna

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The article outlines the key interpretation of the cross-cultural management as a special type of control at the intersection of cultures, which is becoming more and more widespread and recognized due to the development of globalization, on the one hand, and to the increase of migration processes and the formation of complex patterns of interaction between national business models in foreign economic activity and in specific countries and regions - on the other hand. The authors conducted a small exploratory study in service companies in the capital of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia to evaluate with the methods of observation and interviews whether these enterprises apply principles of cross-cultural management and realize its importance and necessity; and to understand the extent to which the cross-cultural management affects the behavior of employees. The authors interviewed the migrant workers from far abroad for personnel management in their countries a priori differs significantly from Russian traditions of organizational management. The research focused on such aspects of migrants’ employment as the ways of finding a job at the local enterprises, and migrants’ communication with colleagues at the horizontal and vertical levels. The authors conclude that there is still no cross-cultural management in the city; however, there are some first steps towards symbiosis and cooperation of national cultures at the level of management decision-making in the Yakut organizations.

  6. Cultural values and cross-cultural video consumption on YouTube

    Science.gov (United States)

    Macy, Michael

    2017-01-01

    Video-sharing social media like YouTube provide access to diverse cultural products from all over the world, making it possible to test theories that the Web facilitates global cultural convergence. Drawing on a daily listing of YouTube’s most popular videos across 58 countries, we investigate the consumption of popular videos in countries that differ in cultural values, language, gross domestic product, and Internet penetration rate. Although online social media facilitate global access to cultural products, we find this technological capability does not result in universal cultural convergence. Instead, consumption of popular videos in culturally different countries appears to be constrained by cultural values. Cross-cultural convergence is more advanced in cosmopolitan countries with cultural values that favor individualism and power inequality. PMID:28531228

  7. Cultural values and cross-cultural video consumption on YouTube.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Minsu; Park, Jaram; Baek, Young Min; Macy, Michael

    2017-01-01

    Video-sharing social media like YouTube provide access to diverse cultural products from all over the world, making it possible to test theories that the Web facilitates global cultural convergence. Drawing on a daily listing of YouTube's most popular videos across 58 countries, we investigate the consumption of popular videos in countries that differ in cultural values, language, gross domestic product, and Internet penetration rate. Although online social media facilitate global access to cultural products, we find this technological capability does not result in universal cultural convergence. Instead, consumption of popular videos in culturally different countries appears to be constrained by cultural values. Cross-cultural convergence is more advanced in cosmopolitan countries with cultural values that favor individualism and power inequality.

  8. Cultural values and cross-cultural video consumption on YouTube.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Minsu Park

    Full Text Available Video-sharing social media like YouTube provide access to diverse cultural products from all over the world, making it possible to test theories that the Web facilitates global cultural convergence. Drawing on a daily listing of YouTube's most popular videos across 58 countries, we investigate the consumption of popular videos in countries that differ in cultural values, language, gross domestic product, and Internet penetration rate. Although online social media facilitate global access to cultural products, we find this technological capability does not result in universal cultural convergence. Instead, consumption of popular videos in culturally different countries appears to be constrained by cultural values. Cross-cultural convergence is more advanced in cosmopolitan countries with cultural values that favor individualism and power inequality.

  9. Introductory essay: new horizons in cross cultural management

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zhu, Y.; Ulijn, J.M.

    2005-01-01

    In this special issue, we present a research forum on current issues in cross cultural management in New Zealand, Australia and the Asian-Pacific Region. Our theme is new horizons in cross cultural management, which is reflected in both topic and approach. Our topics are related to the Asia Pacific

  10. Cross-Cultural Training and Workplace Performance. Support Document

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bean, Robert

    2008-01-01

    This document was produced by the author(s) based on their research for the report "Cross- Cultural Training and Workplace Performance" (ED503402). It contains the following materials related to the report: (1) Primary approach letters; (2) Tests for statistical significance; (3) Survey of current cross-cultural training practice; (4)…

  11. Mutual Relevance of Mainstream and Cross-Cultural Psychology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, Lee Anna

    1987-01-01

    Asserts that mainstream and cross-cultural psychology address many of the same basic issues and that cross-cultural studies may be a direct and logical extension of the search for causes of variation in human psychology and psychopathology. Discusses differences in theoretical orientation and methodological approach and barriers to communication…

  12. The Cultural Exchange, A Cross-Cultural and Interdisciplinary Multicultural Education Curriculum for Grades 4-8. Probe Cards [and] Probe Booklets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nethery, Mary; And Others

    These student probe cards for grades 4-8 provide a variety of values-oriented activities to help students explore, understand, and appreciate culturally diverse values. Activities are matched to one of seven objectives and are cross-referenced to the subject areas of social science, mathematics, fine arts, drama, physical education, language arts,…

  13. Cross-Cultural Competence of Specialists Engaged in International Business, Economic Relationships and Management: Content and Structure (With a view to business challenges

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nataliya Aleksandrova

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this writing is to analyze the current trends in doing business nationally and globally, understand approaches to managing cross-cultural teams and identify professional requirements for graduates seeking benefitial and successful careers in international business, economic relationships and management. Analyzing relevant articles the author points out that today’s business environment is notably sustainability-driven and aimed at maintaining the conditions that allow it to flourish over time. Thus organizations’ leaders and managers are and will be aimed at building enduring business institutions. This leads us to the following assumptions: striving to improve businesses multinational companies are increasingly aimed at maintaining a competitive edge through close relatiponships and overwhelming collaboration with their extended networks of suppliers, customers and business partners. Under special consideration are issues of the content and structure of cross-cultural competence, because its acquiring enables economists and managers to achieve success in managing cross- cultural teams, establishing and cementing long-lasting business and economic relationships overseas. Current topics in pursuit are diverse and multifaceted. It is assumed that supporting discussion is involved from the works of P. Levice, G. Hofstede, F. Trompenarce, E. Holl, F. Klakhone, F. Strodeback, Michael H. Mescon, Michael Albert, Franklin Khedouri, Peter Druker, Chandra Vennaspoosa who dedicated their academic studies to understanding and evaluating practical essence and significance of cross-cultural competence for developing business globally. Not only does the study aim at identifying the content of cross-cultural competence, but also it is supposed to discovere its key components with a view to current business and management trends worldwide. The objective here is to thoroughly look through recent publications dedicated to the development of

  14. African Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology and Sport Facilitation ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    African Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology and Sport Facilitation: Advanced Search. Journal Home > African Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology and Sport Facilitation: Advanced Search. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

  15. Negative Cultural Transfer in Cross-Cultural Communication for Inter-national Business

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    夏秋颖

    2015-01-01

    With the depth development of economic globalization,the multi-culture conflict,communication and integration are strengthened.Meanwhile,series of problems about cross-cultural communication for international business have happened.One of the core problem is negative cultural transfer.This paper gives the analysis about its causes and effects.At last,the way to solve it have been found.

  16. Understanding ethnopharmacolgy: implications for cultural relativism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davidhizar, Ruth; Giger, Joyce Newman

    2008-07-01

    It is commonly accepted that people differ culturally. In the Giger and Davidhizar Transcultural Assessment Model, cultural differences are evident in communication, spatial relationships and needs, social organizations (church, family, kinships, and clubs), time orientation, the ability or desire to control the environment, and biological variations (Giger & Davidhizar, 2008). While many individuals appreciate that there are differences between cultures, what is less well recognized is that people also vary according to biological variations depending on their racial and ethnic group. In the last 15 years, information about biological variations has rapidly expanded and that knowledge is essential in order to understand and provide care to individuals from another culture or another racial and ethnic group. Attention to biological variations related to race and ethnicity, the last component of the Giger and Davidhizar Transcultural Nursing Assessment Model, is a critical phenomenon that needs to be assessed in order to develop and implement a culturally sensitive plan of care in an effort to understand ethnopharmacolgy.

  17. Cultural influences on children's understanding of the human body and the concept of life.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Panagiotaki, Georgia; Nobes, Gavin

    2014-09-01

    This study aimed to identify the age by which children begin to demonstrate a biological understanding of the human body and the idea that the purpose of body functioning is to maintain life. The study also explored the influence of education, culturally specific experiences and religion on knowledge acquisition in this domain. Children aged between 4 and 7 years from three different cultural backgrounds (White British, British Muslim, and Pakistani Muslim) were interviewed about the human body and its functioning. At least half of the 4- to 5-year-olds in each cultural group, and almost all 6- to 7-year-olds, referred to the maintenance of life when explaining organs' functions and so were classified as 'life theorizers'. Pakistani Muslim children gave fewer biological responses to questions about organs' functions and the purpose of eating and breathing, but referred to life more than their British counterparts. Irrespective of cultural group, older children understood organ location and function better than younger children. These findings support Jaakkola and Slaughter's (2002, Br. J. Dev. Psychol., 20, 325) view that children's understanding of the body as a 'life machine' emerges around the ages of 4-5 years. They also suggest that, despite many similarities in children's ideas cross-culturally, different educational input and culturally specific experiences influence aspects of their biological understanding. © 2014 The British Psychological Society.

  18. Singing and Cultural Understanding: A Music Education Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ilari, Beatriz; Chen-Hafteck, Lily; Crawford, Lisa

    2013-01-01

    This article explores the relationship between singing and cultural understanding. Singing emerges in infancy and develops through processes of enculturation and socialization. When we sing songs from diverse cultures, we are granted with opportunities to learn about the cultures of others, and gain a better understanding of our own. Thus, singing…

  19. Methodology for understanding Indian culture

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sinha, Jai; Kumar, Rajesh

    2004-01-01

    Methods of understanding cultures, including Indian culture, are embedded in a broad spectrum of sociocultural approaches to human behavior in general. The approaches examined in this paper reflect evolving perspectives on Indian culture, ranging from the starkly ethnocentric to the largely...... eclectic and integrative. Most of the methods herin discussed were developed in the West and were subsequently taken up with or without adaptations to fit the Indian context. The paper begins by briefly reviewing the intrinsic concept of culture. It then adopts a historical view of the different ways...... and means by which scholars have construed the particular facets of Indian culture, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of each. The final section concludes with some proposals about the best ways of understnding the complexity that constitutes the Indian cultural reality....

  20. Exploring Integrated Marketing Communications, Brand Awareness, and Brand Image in Hospitality Marketing: A Cross-Cultural Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maja Šerić

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess customer perceptions of integration of marketing communications, brand awareness, and brand image in hospitality. Moreover, cross-cultural differences are considered when evaluating all the concepts, since national culture can have a considerable impact on customer behavior. Design/Methodology/Approach – After a literature review of the examined concepts, the results of an empirical study are presented and discussed. The empirical investigation was carried out by approaching 475 guests of upscale Croatian hotels. The SPSS software was employed for data analysis. Findings and implications – The results indicate that hotel guests assessed integrated marketing communications fairly highly. Brand image also reached relatively high scores, while the level of awareness of the brand was more moderate. Significant differences in perceptions among three delimited groups according to their national culture were found. The findings suggest that hotel managers should increase brand awareness and consider cross-cultural differences when implementing their business strategies. Limitations – A greater number of hotel guests according to their national culture should be approached to obtain more representative subsamples. Originality – The contribution of this work lies in examining three key marketing variables from the consumer point of view and under a cross-cultural approach. In particular, there has been little empirical evidence on IMC perceptions from the consumer perspective and hardly any considering the cultural background of the respondents. The contribution is also made to the hotel environment, as the variables were examined from the cross-cultural perspective, an issue that was completely neglected in the literature on hospitality marketing to date.

  1. Understanding the nuclear controversy: An application of cultural theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Graaff, Shashi van de

    2016-01-01

    The need for a secure and sustainable energy future has become firmly entrenched on the global political agenda. Governments worldwide are seeking solutions that will ensure security of their energy supplies, while reducing carbon emissions in the fight against climate change. Advocates of nuclear power have reframed the technology as the most reliable, cost-effective and immediate solution to both of these policy problems, and predicted the emergence of a 'nuclear renaissance’. However, there is little evidence to date that suggests a nuclear renaissance has actually taken place. Public opinion polling demonstrates that many remain unconvinced of the need for nuclear power. This paper uses Cultural Theory as a heuristic to understand why the arguments for a nuclear renaissance have been largely unsuccessful. It argues that the failure of nuclear advocates to engage with a wider cross-section of world-views has prevented the controversy surrounding nuclear power from being resolved, and the nuclear renaissance from becoming a reality. In doing so, this paper builds upon a growing recognition of the contribution that social science research can make to understanding public acceptance of energy policy choices. - Highlights: • There is little evidence of a nuclear renaissance taking place in Western Europe or North America. • Public opinion on nuclear power continues to be deeply divided. • Pro-nuclear arguments are dominated by a particular cultural rationality. • A broader range of cultural perspectives needs to be recognised for the nuclear debate to progress.

  2. Cross-cultural comparison of need importance and need satisfaction during adolescence: Turkey and the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hortaçsu, N

    1997-09-01

    Turkish and U.S. adolescents' views concerning the importance of different needs and instrumentality of relationships with mothers, fathers, siblings, and same-sex friends for need satisfaction were examined and compared. Questionnaires covered needs related to crucial issues of adolescence, namely, relatedness and autonomy/individuation. Participants were 12- to 17-year-old boys and girls from intact families. Cross-cultural differences in ascribed importance of needs related to some aspects of relatedness and autonomy/individuation emerged. Cross-cultural similarities in ascribed importance of needs related to feelings of basic acceptance and need for self-understanding/development also emerged. Turkish adolescents perceived mothers as more instrumental for need satisfaction than did U.S. adolescents. Gender differences in importance ascribed to different needs also emerged. Cross-cultural differences were consistent with differences in predominant values and model family dynamics of the respective countries.

  3. Cross-cultural variation of speech-accompanying gesture : a review

    OpenAIRE

    Kita, Sotaro

    2009-01-01

    This article reviews the literature on cross-cultural variation of gestures. Four factors governing the variation were identified. The first factor is the culture-specific convention for form-meaning associations. This factor is involved in well-known cross-cultural differences in emblem gestures (e.g., the OK-sign), as well as pointing gestures. The second factor is culture-specific spatial cognition. Representational gestures (i.e., iconic and deictic gestures) that express spatial contents...

  4. A Comparison of Surgery and Family Medicine Residents' Perceptions of Cross-Cultural Care Training of Cross-Cultural Care Training

    OpenAIRE

    Chun, Maria BJ; Jackson, David S; Lin, Susan Y; Park, Elyse R

    2010-01-01

    The need for physicians formally trained to deliver care to diverse patient populations has been widely advocated. Utilizing a validated tool, Weissman and Betancourt's Cross-Cultural Care Survey, the aim of this current study was to compare surgery and family medicine residents' perceptions of their preparedness and skillfulness to provide high quality cross-cultural care. Past research has documented differences between the two groups' reported impressions of importance and level of instruc...

  5. Cultural Psychology of Differences and EMS; a New Theoretical Framework for Understanding and Reconstructing Culture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamamoto, Toshiya

    2017-09-01

    In this paper I introduce the outlines of our new type of theoretical framework named 'Cultural psychology of Differences' for understanding cultural others and dialogically reconstructing interactions among cultural others. In order to understand cultural others, it is necessary for us to reconstruct a new concept which enables us to analyze dynamic generation processes of culture. We propose the concept of Expanded Mediational Structure, EMS, as an elementary unit for understanding human social interactions. EMS is composed of subjects who interacts each other using objects of some kind as mediators, and a normative mediator, NM, which mediates their interactions. It is necessary to generate, share and adjust a NM to keep social interactions stable, and culture will appear when interaction malfunction is attributed to a gaps of NMs. The concept of EMS helps us to understand how culture is functionally substantialized in the plane of collective (or communal) intersubjectivity and how cultural conflicts develop and intensify. Focusing on the generation process of culture through interactions provides us with another option to understand cultural others through dialogical interactions with them.

  6. A Cross-Cultural Approach to Understanding Entrepreneurial Intention

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moriano, Juan A.; Gorgievski, Marjan; Laguna, Mariola; Stephan, Ute; Zarafshani, Kiumars

    2012-01-01

    The current research aims to shed light on the role of culture in the formation of career intentions. It draws on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB; Ajzen), which has been widely employed to predict intentions, including entrepreneurial career intentions, but past research has almost exclusively been conducted in "Western" countries.…

  7. The Role of Culture Theory in Cross-Cultural Training: A Multimethod Study of Culture-Specific, Culture-General, and Culture Theory-Based Assimilators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhawuk, Dharm P. S.

    1998-01-01

    In a multimethod evaluation of cross-cultural training tools involving 102 exchange students at a midwestern university, a theory-based individualism and collectivism assimilator tool had significant advantages over culture-specific and culture-general assimilators and a control condition. Results support theory-based culture assimilators. (SLD)

  8. The Drama in Cross-Cultural Marriage

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    As cultures from the sub-region of (Nigeria and then Africa), a continent which falls under those ... information networks and cross-cultural currents”. (IMF 101). ... that, globalisation is not about the 'integration of' but the 'opening up' of all ... growth and development, all parties concerned aspire to the same heights, view from ...

  9. Communication in cross-cultural consultations in primary care in Europe: the case for improvement. The rationale for the RESTORE FP 7 project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van den Muijsenbergh, Maria; van Weel-Baumgarten, Evelyn; Burns, Nicola; O'Donnell, Catherine; Mair, Frances; Spiegel, Wolfgang; Lionis, Christos; Dowrick, Chris; O'Reilly-de Brún, Mary; de Brun, Tomas; MacFarlane, Anne

    2014-04-01

    The purpose of this paper is to substantiate the importance of research about barriers and levers to the implementation of supports for cross-cultural communication in primary care settings in Europe. After an overview of migrant health issues, with the focus on communication in cross-cultural consultations in primary care and the importance of language barriers, we highlight the fact that there are serious problems in routine practice that persist over time and across different European settings. Language and cultural barriers hamper communication in consultations between doctors and migrants, with a range of negative effects including poorer compliance and a greater propensity to access emergency services. It is well established that there is a need for skilled interpreters and for professionals who are culturally competent to address this problem. A range of professional guidelines and training initiatives exist that support the communication in cross-cultural consultations in primary care. However, these are commonly not implemented in daily practice. It is as yet unknown why professionals do not accept or implement these guidelines and interventions, or under what circumstances they would do so. A new study involving six European countries, RESTORE (REsearch into implementation STrategies to support patients of different ORigins and language background in a variety of European primary care settings), aims to address these gaps in knowledge. It uses a unique combination of a contemporary social theory, normalisation process theory (NPT) and participatory learning and action (PLA) research. This should enhance understanding of the levers and barriers to implementation, as well as providing stakeholders, with the opportunity to generate creative solutions to problems experienced with the implementation of such interventions.

  10. Cross-Cultural Differences in Children's Choices, Categorizations, and Evaluations of Truths and Lies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fu, Genyue; Xu, Fen; Cameron, Catherine Ann; Leyman, Gail; Lee, Kang

    2007-01-01

    This study examined cross-cultural differences and similarities in children's moral understanding of individual- or collective-oriented lies and truths. Seven-, 9-, and 11-year-old Canadian and Chinese children were read stories about story characters facing moral dilemmas about whether to lie or tell the truth to help a group but harm an…

  11. Intersubjective Culture: The Role of Intersubjective Perceptions in Cross-Cultural Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiu, Chi-Yue; Gelfand, Michele J; Yamagishi, Toshio; Shteynberg, Garriy; Wan, Ching

    2010-07-01

    Intersubjective perceptions refer to shared perceptions of the psychological characteristics that are widespread within a culture. In this article, we propose the intersubjective approach as a new approach to understanding the role that culture plays in human behavior. In this approach, intersubjective perceptions, which are distinct from personal values and beliefs, mediate the effect of the ecology on individuals' responses and adaptations. We review evidence that attests to the validity and utility of the intersubjective approach in explicating culture's influence on human behaviors and discuss the implications of this approach for understanding the interaction between the individual, ecology, and culture; the nature of cultural competence; management of multicultural identities; cultural change; and measurement of culture. © The Author(s) 2010.

  12. A cross-cultural study on emotion expression and the learning of social norms

    OpenAIRE

    Shlomo eHareli; Konstantinos eKafetsios; Ursula eHess

    2015-01-01

    When we do not know how to correctly behave in a new context, the emotions that people familiar with the context show in response to the behaviors of others, can help us understand what to do or not to do. The present study examined cross-cultural differences in how group emotional expressions (anger, sadness, neutral) can be used to deduce a norm violation in four cultures (Germany, Israel, Greece, and the US), which differ in terms of decoding rules for negative emotions. As expected, in al...

  13. Cross-Cultural Variation in Political Leadership Styles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paramova, Petia; Blumberg, Herbert

    2017-01-01

    Guided by gaps in the literature with regard to the study of politicians the aim of the research is to explore cross-cultural differences in political leaders’ style. It compares the MLQ (Avolio & Bass, 2004) scores of elected political leaders (N = 140) in Bulgaria and the UK. The statistical exploration of the data relied on multivariate analyses of covariance. The findings of comparisons across the two groups reveal that compared to British political leaders, Bulgarian leaders were more likely to frequently use both transactional and passive/avoidant behaviours. The study tests Bass’s (1997) strong assertion about the universality of transformational leadership. It contributes to the leadership literature by providing directly measured data relating to the behaviours of political leaders. Such information on the characteristics of politicians could allow for more directional hypotheses in subsequent research, exploring the contextual influences within transformational leadership theory. The outcomes might also aid applied fields. Knowledge gained of culturally different leaders could be welcomed by multicultural political and economic unions, wherein understanding and allowances might aid communication. PMID:29358986

  14. Cross-Cultural Variation in Political Leadership Styles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paramova, Petia; Blumberg, Herbert

    2017-11-01

    Guided by gaps in the literature with regard to the study of politicians the aim of the research is to explore cross-cultural differences in political leaders' style. It compares the MLQ (Avolio & Bass, 2004) scores of elected political leaders (N = 140) in Bulgaria and the UK. The statistical exploration of the data relied on multivariate analyses of covariance. The findings of comparisons across the two groups reveal that compared to British political leaders, Bulgarian leaders were more likely to frequently use both transactional and passive/avoidant behaviours. The study tests Bass's (1997) strong assertion about the universality of transformational leadership. It contributes to the leadership literature by providing directly measured data relating to the behaviours of political leaders. Such information on the characteristics of politicians could allow for more directional hypotheses in subsequent research, exploring the contextual influences within transformational leadership theory. The outcomes might also aid applied fields. Knowledge gained of culturally different leaders could be welcomed by multicultural political and economic unions, wherein understanding and allowances might aid communication.

  15. Cross-Cultural Variation in Political Leadership Styles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Petia Paramova

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Guided by gaps in the literature with regard to the study of politicians the aim of the research is to explore cross-cultural differences in political leaders’ style. It compares the MLQ (Avolio & Bass, 2004 scores of elected political leaders (N = 140 in Bulgaria and the UK. The statistical exploration of the data relied on multivariate analyses of covariance. The findings of comparisons across the two groups reveal that compared to British political leaders, Bulgarian leaders were more likely to frequently use both transactional and passive/avoidant behaviours. The study tests Bass’s (1997 strong assertion about the universality of transformational leadership. It contributes to the leadership literature by providing directly measured data relating to the behaviours of political leaders. Such information on the characteristics of politicians could allow for more directional hypotheses in subsequent research, exploring the contextual influences within transformational leadership theory. The outcomes might also aid applied fields. Knowledge gained of culturally different leaders could be welcomed by multicultural political and economic unions, wherein understanding and allowances might aid communication.

  16. Translating Answers to Open-Ended Survey Questions in Cross-Cultural Research: A Case Study on the Interplay between Translation, Coding, and Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Behr, Dorothée

    2015-01-01

    Open-ended probing questions in cross-cultural surveys help uncover equivalence problems in cross-cultural survey research. For languages that a project team does not understand, probe answers need to be translated into a common project language. This article presents a case study on translating open-ended, that is, narrative answers. It describes…

  17. The transmission and stability of cultural life scripts: a cross-cultural study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Janssen, Steve M J; Haque, Shamsul

    2018-01-01

    Cultural life scripts are shared knowledge about the timing of important life events. In the present study, we examined whether cultural life scripts are transmitted through traditions and whether there are additional ways through which they can be attained by asking Australian and Malaysian participants which information sources they had used to generate the life script of their culture. Participants hardly reported that they had used cultural and religious traditions. They more often reported that they had used their own experiences and experiences of relatives and friends. They also reported the use of comments of relatives and friends and the use of newspapers, books, movies and television programmes. Furthermore, we examined the stability of life scripts and similarities and differences across cultures. We found that life scripts are stable cognitive structures and that there are, besides cross-cultural differences in the content, small cross-cultural differences in the valence and distribution of life script events, with the Australian life script containing more positive events and more events expected to occur before the age of 16.

  18. A Cross-Cultural Study of Role Perceptions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Triandis, Harry C.; And Others

    Survey responses from 1,620 subjects in the United States, Greece, India, Peru, and Taiwan provide information on cross-cultural role perceptions. Study data reveal (1) the principal factors accounting for the variance in role perception in each culture, (2) those factors that are the same in all cultures, (3) the equivalent factor scores that…

  19. Simulating the Effects of Cross-Generational Cultural Transmission on Language Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gong, Tao; Shuai, Lan

    Language evolves in a socio-cultural environment. Apart from biological evolution and individual learning, cultural transmission also casts important influence on many aspects of language evolution. In this paper, based on the lexicon-syntax coevolution model, we extend the acquisition framework in our previous work to examine the roles of three forms of cultural transmission spanning the offspring, parent, and grandparent generations in language change. These transmissions are: those between the parent and offspring generations (PO), those within the offspring generation (OO), and those between the grandparent and offspring generations (GO). The simulation results of the considered model and relevant analyses illustrate not only the necessity of PO and OO transmissions for language change, thus echoing our previous findings, but also the importance of GO transmission, a form of cross-generational cultural transmission, on preserving the mutual understandability of the communal language across generations of individuals.

  20. Translation and Culture:Translation as a Cross-cultural Mediation

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    叶谋锦

    2013-01-01

    Translation is a complex activity which involves language competence as well as proficiency in multiculturalism. From the perspective of multiculturalism, translation resembles recreation of source text by grasping essential meanings to produce a sub-tle target text which can be clearly perceived by target readers. Ignoring cultural issues can present serious mistranslations in the field of advertising translation. This paper aims to explore the significance of connotation confined by the framework of culture and point out that verbal translation is a dangerous inclination by illustrating three business examples. This paper argues that cross-cultural mediation plays an important role in translation.

  1. Cross-cultural comparisons of bullying among university students : perspectives from Argentina, Estonia, Finland and the United States

    OpenAIRE

    Pörhölä, Maili; Cvancara, Kristen; Kaal, Esta; Tampere, Kaja; Torres, Beatriz

    2015-01-01

    The chapter compares bullying experiences among university students between four countries and aims to provide an understanding of the cultural features which might affect these experiences. We start by providing a summary of the results from a cross-cultural survey conducted among undergraduate students in Argentina, Estonia, Finland and the United States. We continue discussing the ways in which the current cultural, political, historical and economic status and challenges in...

  2. Stigma and Exclusion in Cross-Cultural Contexts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Annie Elizabeth Pohlman

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Discriminatory and marginalising discourses affect the cultural and social realities of people in all human societies. Across time and place, these discourses manifest in numerous tangible and intangible ways, creating stigma and forms of exclusion by means particular to their cultural, historical, political and social contexts. These discourses also manifest in varying degrees of harm; from verbal abuse and behavioural forms of exclusion, to physical abuse and neglect, and exclusionary practices at institutional, legal and regulatory levels. Such forms of stigma cause direct physical and mental harm and other forms of persecution. The papers in this special issue arise from a one-day symposium held at the University of Queensland in February 2013. The symposium, ‘Stigma and Exclusion in Cross-Cultural Contexts’, brought together researchers and community-based practitioners from across Australia and overseas to explore marginalization, discriminatory discourses and stigma in a wide range of historical and cross-cultural settings. By critically engaging with experiences of social, political and cultural exclusion and marginalisation in different contexts, we aimed to elucidate how discourses of stigma are created, contested and negotiated in cross-cultural settings. We also aimed to explore stigmatisation in its lived realities: as discourses of exclusion; as the fleshy reality of discrimination in social worlds; as part of the life narratives of individuals and groups; and as discourses of agency and counter-discourses in responding to stigma.

  3. Hypoglycemia perception: Cross-cultural differences in Punjabi and Hindi speaking postmenopausal women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhutani, Jaikrit; Kalra, Sanjay; Bhutani, Sukriti; Kalra, Bharti

    2013-10-01

    The cross cultural differences in perception of menopausal symptoms are well known and these differences in perception of hypoglycemic symptoms in Russian-speaking and Caucasian postmenopausal women have been reported. This study assessed cross - linguistic and cross - cultural differences in symptomatology of self reported hypoglycemia, between Punjabi and Hindi speaking diabetic post menopausal women. Thirty Punjabi speaking and 20 Hindi speaking diabetic postmenopausal women aged over 50 years, were recruited for this study. Each subject was asked, what happens to you when you have low sugar? in the language of her choice, and spontaneous answers were recorded verbatim. The data so obtained was analyzed by paper and pen method to obtain an understanding of the frequency of self reporting of various symptoms and then analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science ver.19.0. Symptoms of hollowness, cold sweats and headache correlated significantly (P Punjabi speaking cohort were bilingual. Some symptoms of hypoglycemia may have been missed or over-reported by participants. Diabetes care professionals should be aware that persons with diabetes from varying linguistic backgrounds may report symptoms of hypoglycemia differently.

  4. Fostering Corporate Entrepreneurship: Cross-Cultural Comparisons of the Importance of Individualism Versus Collectivism

    OpenAIRE

    Michael H Morris; Duane L Davis; Jeffrey W Allen

    1994-01-01

    This study reports on results of a cross-cultural, empirical investigation designed to assess the impact of individualism/collectivism upon organizational entrepreneurship. The findings indicate individualism/collectivism is an important factor in understanding entrepreneurial behavior in the firm. Implications of these findings are discussed.© 1994 JIBS. Journal of International Business Studies (1994) 25, 65–89

  5. Importance of Cross-Cultural Counseling in Rehabilitation Counseling Curricula.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Watson, Albert L.

    1988-01-01

    Ninety-one members of the National Council on Rehabilitation Education were surveyed concerning the level of importance placed on cross-cultural content in rehabilitation counselor education curricula. Respondents rated 27 of 32 cross-cultural educational offerings as important, and identified seven additional offerings. Respondents' demographic…

  6. Improving Interpersonal Job Skills by Applying Cross-Cultural Training

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barker, S. A.

    2004-01-01

    This paper presents an experimental study that examined the effects of cross-cultural instruction on the interpersonal job skills of students in secondary vocational programs. The findings indicated that students receiving the cross-cultural instruction had significantly higher generalizable interpersonal relations skills achievement than students…

  7. Cross-Cultural Investigations of Pain

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Moore, Rod; Brødsgaard, Inger

    1999-01-01

    Authors review all available articles illuminating cross-cultural studies about pain. Searches used Medline, PsycInfo and Sociological Abstracts. All types of pains are covered: Headache, back pain, dental pain, arthritis and cancer pain. Methodological considerations are discussed including...

  8. Exploring the Effects of Cultural Values and Beliefs on Cross-Cultural Training

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Baiyin; Wang, Yingchun; Drewry, Anne Wang

    2006-01-01

    This article seeks to develop a framework for assessing the impacts of cultural values and beliefs on cross-cultural training (CCT). It argues that culture affects CCT processes including the use of training methods, trainers' selection, and trainees' learning style. The article also reasons that the congruence between parent and host cultures…

  9. The adaptive nature of culture. A cross-cultural analysis of the returns of local environmental knowledge in three indigenous societies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reyes-García, Victoria; Guèze, Maximilien; Díaz-Reviriego, Isabel; Duda, Romain; Fernández-Llamazares, Álvaro; Gallois, Sandrine; Napitupulu, Lucentezza; Orta-Martínez, Martí; Pyhälä, Aili

    2016-12-01

    Researchers have argued that the behavioral adaptations that explain the success of our species are partially cultural, i.e., cumulative and socially transmitted. Thus, understanding the adaptive nature of culture is crucial to understand human evolution. We use a cross-cultural framework and empirical data purposely collected to test whether culturally transmitted and individually appropriated knowledge provides individual returns in terms of hunting yields and health and, by extension, to nutritional status, a proxy for individual adaptive success. Data were collected in three subsistence-oriented societies: the Tsimane' (Amazon), the Baka (Congo Basin), and the Punan (Borneo). Results suggest that variations in individual levels of local environmental knowledge relate to individual hunting returns and to self-reported health, but not to nutritional status. We argue that this paradox can be explained through the prevalence of sharing: individuals achieving higher returns to their knowledge transfer them to the rest of the population, which explains the lack of association between knowledge and nutritional status. The finding is in consonance with previous research highlighting the importance of cultural traits favoring group success, but pushes it forward by elucidating the mechanisms through which individual and group level adaptive forces interact.

  10. Emotion knowledge and autobiographical memory across the preschool years: a cross-cultural longitudinal investigation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Qi

    2008-07-01

    Knowledge of emotion situations facilitates the interpretation, processing, and organization of significant personal event information and thus may be an important contributor to the development of autobiographical memory. This longitudinal study tested the hypothesis in a cross-cultural context. The participants were native Chinese children, Chinese children from first-generation Chinese immigrant families in the U.S., and European American children. Children's developing emotion knowledge and autobiographical memory were assessed three times at home, when children were 3, 3.5, and 4.5 years of age. Children's emotion knowledge uniquely predicted their autobiographical memory ability across groups and time points. Emotion knowledge further mediated culture effects on autobiographical memory. The findings provide important insight into early autobiographical memory development, and extend current theoretical understandings of the emotion-memory interplay. They further have implications for the phenomenon of infantile amnesia and cross-cultural differences in childhood recollections.

  11. Choosing an adequate design and analysis in cross-cultural personality research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jia He

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available The flourishing of cross-cultural personality research requires a keen eye for rigorous methodology in such research. With decades of experience in cross-cultural research methods, we have come to appreciate that methodological aspects of such studies are critical for obtaining valid findings. Ill-designed or -conducted studies may produce results that are difficult to interpret. A careful design and analysis can help to deal with various methodological problems in cross-cultural personality studies. Drawing on the extensive knowledge that has been accumulated in cross-cultural and personality research in the past decades, we describe a framework of bias and equivalence that enables the choice of adequate research methods and the avoidance of pitfalls that endanger valid conclusions in cross-cultural personality research. Specifically, we focus on sampling issues, test adaptations, and the combination of emic and etic approaches in this short review article. We encourage researchers to use the tools and experience that are available to considerably enlarge our insights in cross-cultural differences and similarities in personality research.

  12. Beyond diffusion: sport and its remaking in cross-cultural contexts

    OpenAIRE

    van Bottenburg, M.

    2010-01-01

    Project MUSE - Journal of Sport History - Beyond Diffusion: Sport and Its Remaking in Cross-Cultural Contexts Project MUSE Journals Journal of Sport History Volume 37, Number 1, Spring 2010 Beyond Diffusion: Sport and Its Remaking in Cross-Cultural Contexts Journal of Sport History Volume 37, Number 1, Spring 2010 E-ISSN: 2155-8455 Print ISSN: 0094-1700 Beyond Diffusion:Sport and Its Remaking in Cross-Cultural Contexts Maarten van Bottenburg†Utrecht School of GovernanceUtrecht University In 1...

  13. Using Greetings To Teach Cultural Understanding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schleicher, Antonia Folarin

    1997-01-01

    Examines the role that Yoruba greetings play in understanding the culture of the speakers. Illustrates that these greetings not only establish an atmosphere of sociability, but also communicate cultural information and serve as value reinforcement for participants and observers. Also emphasizes that teaching greetings in Yoruba involves teaching…

  14. Together We Innovate: Cross-Cultural Teamwork through Virtual Platforms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duus, Rikke; Cooray, Muditha

    2014-01-01

    In a global business environment, marketing education must support students to develop cross-cultural agility and adeptness with an aim to enhance their employability. This article contributes with an experiential cross-cultural exercise that enables students to develop new enterprises in collaboration with other students in a different country…

  15. Understanding Global / Local Cultural Leadership : Issues and Methods

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kolsteeg, Johan

    2017-01-01

    Cultural leaders sail between the Scylla and Charibdis of aggregated trans- and supranational cultural-political discourses and the cultural needs of local communities. How do these dynamics influence the work of cultural leaders? How can we understand the work of cultural leaders to connect

  16. Student reflections on learning cross-cultural skills through a 'cultural competence' OSCE.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Elizabeth; Green, Alexander R

    2007-05-01

    Medical schools use OSCEs (objective structured clinical examinations) to assess students' clinical knowledge and skills, but the use of OSCEs in the teaching and assessment of cross-cultural care has not been well described. To examine medical students' reflections on a cultural competence OSCE station as an educational experience. Students at Harvard Medical School in Boston completed a 'cultural competence' OSCE station (about a patient with uncontrolled hypertension and medication non-adherence). Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of twenty-two second year medical students, which were recorded, transcribed, and analysed. Students' reflections on what they learned as the essence of the case encompassed three categories: (1) eliciting the patient's perspective on their illness; (2) examining how and why patients take their medications and inquiring about alternative therapies; and (3) exploring the range of social and cultural factors associated with medication non-adherence. A cultural competence OSCE station that focuses on eliciting patients' perspectives and exploring medication non-adherence can serve as a unique and valuable teaching tool. The cultural competence OSCE station may be one pedagogic method for incorporating cross-cultural care into medical school curricula.

  17. Mixed messages: residents' experiences learning cross-cultural care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Elyse R; Betancourt, Joseph R; Kim, Minah K; Maina, Angela W; Blumenthal, David; Weissman, Joel S

    2005-09-01

    An Institute of Medicine report issued in 2002 cited cross-cultural training as a mechanism to address racial and ethnic disparities in health care, but little is known about residents' training and capabilities to provide quality care to diverse populations. This article explores a select group of residents' perceptions of their preparedness to deliver quality care to diverse populations. Seven focus groups and ten individual interviews were conducted with 68 residents in locations nationwide. Qualitative analysis of focus-group and individual interview transcripts was performed to assess residents' perceptions of (1) preparedness to deliver care to diverse patients; (2) educational climate; and (3) training experiences. Most residents in this study noted the importance of cross-cultural care yet reported little formal training in this area. Residents wanted more formal training yet expressed concern that culture-specific training could lead to stereotyping. Most residents had developed ad hoc, informal skills to care for diverse patients. Although residents perceived institutional endorsement, they sensed it was a low priority due to lack of time and resources. Residents in this study reported receiving mixed messages about cross-cultural care. They were told it is important, yet they received little formal training and did not have time to treat diverse patients in a culturally sensitive manner. As a result, many developed coping behaviors rather than skills based on formally taught best practices. Training environments need to increase training to enhance residents' preparedness to deliver high-quality cross-cultural care if the medical profession is to achieve the goals set by the Institute of Medicine.

  18. Cross-cultural and psychological issues in irritable bowel syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sahoo, Swapnajeet; Padhy, Susanta Kumar

    2017-10-01

    Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is one of the most common functional gastrointestinal disorders encountered by gastroenterologists worldwide. Of all the etiological factors that had been postulated to explain the pathophysiology of IBS, cultural and psychological factors are unique and difficult to understand. Culture plays an important role in coloring the presentation of IBS, and many a times, it has a significant role in several treatment aspects too. Psychological aspects like personality profiles, family relationships, societal myths, and abuse in any form are equally important in the management perspectives of IBS. In this brief review, we had tried to specifically focus on these aspects in IBS and have explained the evidences in favor of these factors. Knowledge about various cross-cultural aspects and psychological factors in patients with IBS is essential for taking an appropriate history and for undertaking a holistic approach for the management of the same. A collaborative team effort by psychiatrists and gastroenterologists could help in reducing the burden of this difficult to treat functional bowel disorder. © 2017 Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Foundation and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

  19. Family support for the elderly in Korea: continuity, change, future directions, and cross-cultural concerns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sung, K T

    2001-01-01

    This article discusses major issues and concerns regarding family support for parents and elderly people in industrialized and urbanized Korea. It summarizes new trends in family support for elderly members, continuing influences of the traditional value of family support (filial piety), growing needs for public services for elderly people and their families, urgent calls for the state to assume greater responsibilities for providing social security and services for the elderly, needs for cross-cultural studies of family support, and certain cultural similarities and differences to be considered. The article concludes with some suggestions for future research.

  20. Disability Policy Implementation From a Cross-Cultural Perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verdugo, Miguel A; Jenaro, Cristina; Calvo, Isabel; Navas, Patricia

    2017-07-01

    Implementation of disability policy is influenced by social, political, and cultural factors. Based on published work, this article discusses four guidelines considered critical for successful policy implementation from a cross-cultural perspective. These guidelines are to: (a) base policy implementation on a contextual analysis, (b) employ a value-based approach, (c) align the service delivery system both vertically and horizontally, and (d) engage in a partnership in policy implementation. Public policy should be understood from a systems perspective that includes cross-cultural issues, such as how different stakeholders are acting and the way they plan and implement policy.

  1. Strategies for Smooth and Effective Cross-Cultural Online Collaborative Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Junfeng; Kinshuk; Yu, Huiju; Chen, Sue-Jen; Huang, Ronghuai

    2014-01-01

    As the communication between different cultures is becoming more and more frequent, the competence of cross-cultural awareness and collaboration is emerging as a key ability in the 21st century. Face to face communication is the most efficient way to cultivate the competence of cross-cultural awareness and collaboration. However, there are very…

  2. Parenting and child mental health: a cross-cultural perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bornstein, Marc H

    2013-10-01

    In its most general instrumental sense, parenting consists of care of the young in preparing them to manage the tasks of life. Parents provide childhood experiences and populate the environments that guide children's development and so contribute to child mental health. Parenting is expressed in cognitions and practices. However, parents do not parent, and children do not grow up, in isolation, but in multiple contexts, and one notable context of parenting and child mental health is culture. Every culture is characterized, and distinguished from other cultures, by deep-rooted and widely acknowledged ideas about how one needs to feel, think, and act as an adequately functioning member of the culture. Insofar as parents subscribe to particular conventions of a culture, they likely follow prevailing "cultural scripts" in childrearing. Broadening our definition, it is therefore the continuing task of parents also to enculturate children by preparing them for the physical, psychosocial, and educational situations that are characteristic of their specific culture. Cross-cultural comparisons show that virtually all aspects of parenting children are informed by culture: culture influences when and how parents care for children, what parents expect of children, and which behaviors parents appreciate, emphasize and reward or discourage and punish. Thus, cultural norms become manifest in the mental health of children through parenting. Furthermore, variations in what is normative in different cultures challenge our assumptions about what is universal and inform our understanding of how parent-child relationships unfold in ways both culturally universal and specific. This essay concerns the contributions of culture to parenting and child mental health. No study of a single society can address this broad issue. It is possible, however, to learn lessons about parenting and child mental health from the study of different societies. Copyright © 2013 World Psychiatric Association.

  3. Cyberbullying: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baek, Jieun; Bullock, Lyndal M.

    2014-01-01

    Numerous studies conducted in different countries have focused on empirical research and literature reviews on prevalence, consequences, and strategies relative to cyberbullying; however, there is a lack of research regarding cyberbullying from a cross-cultural perspective. This article reviews recent research on cyberbullying and presents…

  4. Home Away Home: Better Understanding of the Role of Social Support in Predicting Cross-Cultural Adjustment among International Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baba, Yoko; Hosoda, Megumi

    2014-01-01

    Numerous studies have examined international students' adjustment problems, yet, these studies have not explored the mechanisms through which social support operates in the context of stressful events in predicting cross-cultural adjustment among international students. Using Barrera's (1988) models of social support, the present study…

  5. Translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting 17+ to Brazilian Portuguese: conceptual, item and semantic equivalence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cardoso, Monique Herrera; Capellini, Simone Aparecida

    2018-02-19

    Perform a cross-cultural adaptation of the Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting 17+ (DASH 17+) for Brazilians. Evaluation of (1) conceptual, item and (2) semantic equivalence, with assistance of four translators and application of a pilot study to 36 students. (1) The concepts and items are equivalent in the British and Brazilian cultures. (2) Adaptations were made concerning the English language pangram used in copying tasks and selection of the lower-case, cursive handwriting in the alphabet-writing task. Application of the pilot study verified acceptability and understanding of the proposed tasks by the students. The Brazilian Portuguese version of the DASH 17+ was presented after finalization of the conceptual, item and semantic equivalence of the instrument. Further studies on psychometric properties should be conducted with the purpose of measuring the speed of handwriting in youngsters and adults with greater reliability and validity to the procedure.

  6. Family Perspectives: Using a Cultural Prism to Understand Families from Asian Cultural Backgrounds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Suk-Hyang; Turnbull, Ann P.; Zan, Fei

    2009-01-01

    Educators can better serve students who come from diverse cultural backgrounds by understanding the differing cultural values of these students and their families. This article explores different cultural perspectives using a cultural prism approach, focused most specifically on the Korean and Chinese cultures. (Contains 2 tables.)

  7. A Cross-Cultural Examination of Semantic Relations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raybeck, Douglas; Herrmann, Douglas

    1990-01-01

    Reports on a cross-cultural investigation of semantic relations, including antonyms, synonyms, and class inclusion, among bilingual adult subjects in the United States, England, Italy, Greece, Yugoslavia, Pakistan, and Hong Kong. Found significant agreement across cultures, especially for antinomy. Results in general support theories of linguistic…

  8. Information and Culture: Cultural Differences in the Perception and Recall of Information from Advertisements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Ji-Hyun

    2012-01-01

    Information in general is congruent with cultural values because a culture consists of transmitted social knowledge. Cross-cultural research demonstrates that audiences who are fostered by different cultures may have different understandings of information. This research represents a comprehensive cross-cultural study using an experimental method,…

  9. Cross-cultural differences in somatic presentation in patients with generalized anxiety disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoge, Elizabeth A; Tamrakar, Sharad M; Christian, Kelly M; Mahara, Namrata; Nepal, Mahendra K; Pollack, Mark H; Simon, Naomi M

    2006-12-01

    Little is known about cultural differences in the expression of distress in anxiety disorders. Previous cross-cultural studies of depression have found a greater somatic focus in Asian populations. We examined anxiety symptoms in patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) in urban mental health settings in Nepal (N = 30) and in the United States (N = 23). Participants completed the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). The overall BAI score and somatic and psychological subscales were compared. While there was no difference in total BAI scores, the Nepali group scored higher on the somatic subscale (i.e. "dizziness" and "indigestion," t[df] = -2.63[50], p < 0.05), while the American group scored higher on the psychological subscale (i.e. "scared" and "nervous," t[df] = 3.27[50], p < 0.01). Nepali patients with GAD had higher levels of somatic symptoms and lower levels of psychological symptoms than American patients with GAD. Possible explanations include differences in cultural traditions of describing distress and the mind-body dichotomy.

  10. Cross-cultural validity and measurement invariance of the Organizational Stressor Indicator for Sport Performers (OSI-SP) across three countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arnold, R; Ponnusamy, V; Zhang, C-Q; Gucciardi, D F

    2017-08-01

    Organizational stressors are a universal phenomenon which can be particularly prevalent and problematic for sport performers. In view of their global existence, it is surprising that no studies have examined cross-cultural differences in organizational stressors. One explanation for this is that the Organizational Stressor Indicator for Sport Performers (OSI-SP; Arnold, Fletcher, & Daniels, 2013), which can comprehensively measure the organizational pressures that sport performers have encountered, has not yet been translated from English into any other languages nor scrutinized cross-culturally. The first purpose of this study, therefore, was to examine the cross-cultural validity of the OSI-SP. In addition, the study aimed to test the equivalence of the OSI-SP's factor structure across cultures. British (n = 379), Chinese (n = 335), and Malaysian (n = 444) sport performers completed the OSI-SP. Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the cross-cultural validity of the factorial model for the British and Malaysian samples; however, the overall model fit for the Chinese data did not meet all guideline values. Support was provided for the equality of factor loadings, variances, and covariances on the OSI-SP across the British and Malaysian cultures. These findings advance knowledge and understanding on the cross-cultural existence, conceptualization, and operationalization of organizational stressors. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  11. Meaningful experiences in science education: Engaging the space researcher in a cultural transformation to greater science literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morrow, Cherilynn A.

    1993-01-01

    The visceral appeal of space science and exploration is a very powerful emotional connection to a very large and diverse collection of people, most of whom have little or no perspective about what it means to do science and engineering. Therein lies the potential of space for a substantially enhanced positive impact on culture through education. This essay suggests that through engaging more of the space research and development community in enabling unique and 'meaningful educational experiences' for educators and students at the pre-collegiate levels, space science and exploration can amplify its positive feedback on society and act as an important medium for cultural transformation to greater science literacy. I discuss the impact of space achievements on people and define what is meant by a 'meaningful educational experience,' all of which points to the need for educators and students to be closer to the practice of real science. I offer descriptions of two nascent science education programs associated with NASA which have the needed characteristics for providing meaningful experiences that can cultivate greater science literacy. Expansion of these efforts and others like it will be needed to have the desired impact on culture, but I suggest that the potential for the needed resources is there in the scientific research communities. A society in which more people appreciate and understand science and science methods would be especially conducive to human progress in space and on Earth.

  12. Cultural Mega-Events as an International, Cultural, and Political Tool

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julia Nikolaeva

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This article is an attempt to offer a conceptual understanding of various kinds of mega-events and to determine their significance as an instrument of the official international cultural policy. The article examines scientific approaches to understanding and classification of mega-events. The case studies focus on such mega-events as international cross-cultural years and cultural forums. The fact that the official foreign policy of¬ten defines and shapes the goals of mega-events proves their value in establishing and promoting a positive international image of the country. Recent Russian experience in organizing cross-cultural years is examined to discuss positive and negative socio-cultural impact.

  13. Situational variations in ethnic identity across immigration generations: Implications for acculturative change and cross-cultural adaptation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noels, Kimberly A; Clément, Richard

    2015-12-01

    This study examined whether the acculturation of ethnic identity is first evident in more public situations with greater opportunity for intercultural interaction and eventually penetrates more intimate situations. It also investigated whether situational variations in identity are associated with cross-cultural adaptation. First-generation (G1), second-generation (G2) and mixed-parentage second-generation (G2.5) young adult Canadians (n = 137, n = 169, and n = 91, respectively) completed a questionnaire assessing their heritage and Canadian identities across four situational domains (family, friends, university and community), global heritage identity and cross-cultural adaptation. Consistent with the acculturation penetration hypothesis, the results showed Canadian identity was stronger than heritage identity in public domains, but the converse was true in the family domain; moreover, the difference between the identities in the family domain was attenuated in later generations. Situational variability indicated better adaptation for the G1 cohort, but poorer adaptation for the G2.5 cohort. For the G2 cohort, facets of global identity moderated the relation, such that those with a weaker global identity experienced greater difficulties and hassles with greater identity variability but those with a stronger identity did not. These results are interpreted in light of potential interpersonal issues implied by situational variation for each generation cohort. © 2015 International Union of Psychological Science.

  14. Does Parental Mind-Mindedness Account for Cross-Cultural Differences in Preschoolers' Theory of Mind?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hughes, Claire; Devine, Rory T; Wang, Zhenlin

    2017-02-03

    This study of 241 parent-child dyads from the United Kingdom (N = 120, M age  = 3.92, SD = 0.53) and Hong Kong (N = 121, M age  = 3.99, SD = 0.50) breaks new ground by adopting a cross-cultural approach to investigate children's theory of mind and parental mind-mindedness. Relative to the Hong Kong sample, U.K. children showed superior theory-of-mind performance and U.K. parents showed greater levels of mind-mindedness. Within both cultures parental mind-mindedness was correlated with theory of mind. Mind-mindedness also accounted for cultural differences in preschoolers' theory of mind. We argue that children's family environments might shed light on how culture shapes children's theory of mind. © 2017 The Authors. Child Development published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society for Research in Child Development.

  15. Suicidal behavior and attitudes in Slovak and Turkish high school students: a cross-cultural investigation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eskin, Mehmet; Palova, Eva; Krokavcova, Martina

    2014-01-01

    Suicidal behavior and its variation across social contexts are of importance for the science of suicidology. Due to its special character controlled experimental studies on suicide are ruled out for ethical reasons. Cross-cultural studies may throw light on the etiology of both suicidal behavior and its cross-cultural variation. The present study compared suicidal behavior and attitudes in 423 Slovak and 541 Turkish high school students by means of a self-report questionnaire. The two groups reported similar percentages (Slovak = 36.4%; Turkish = 33.8%) of lifetime, past 12-months or current suicidal ideation but significantly more Turkish (12.2%) than Slovak (4.8%) students reported lifetime or past 12-months suicide attempts. Slovak adolescents displayed more liberal and permissive attitudes toward suicide, while those of Turkish adolescents were more rejecting. Turkish students rated themselves to be more religious and hence they believed to a greater extent that suicidal persons would be punished in a life after death than their Slovak peers. However, attitudes of Turkish students toward an imagined suicidal close friend were more accepting than the attitudes of Slovak students. Comparison of suicidal and nonsuicidal students revealed that those reporting suicidal ideation or attempts were more accepting of suicide and viewed suicide as a solution to a greater extent than the nonsuicidal ones. The results from this study suggest that cultural factors play a role in suicidal behavior, attitudes and reactions in a predicted direction.

  16. Using research evidence to inform staff learning needs in cross-cultural communication in aged care homes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gillham, David; De Bellis, Anita; Xiao, Lily; Willis, Eileen; Harrington, Ann; Morey, Wendy; Jeffers, Lesley

    2018-04-01

    Developed countries worldwide are facing an unprecedented demand for aged care services, with recent migrants of diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds increasingly recruited as care workers while at the same time there is growing cultural diversity among aged care residents. This situation is compounded by rapidly changing technology and varied educational levels of care workers from diverse backgrounds. The objectives were threefold: to identify staff learning needs to enable them to provide high-quality cross-cultural care; to improve team cohesion; and identify preferred learning approaches. An interpretive qualitative study utilising focus group and interview data informed the development of an education resource. Fifty six care workers from four residential aged care facilities participated in either focus groups or interviews conducted in private meeting rooms within the care facilities. Participants included personal care attendants, registered and clinical nurses, managers, hospitality staff and allied health professionals. Focus group and interview data were categorised and thematically analysed. Data relevant to cross-cultural care, team cohesion and preferred learning approaches informed education resource development, including case studies. Major themes identified the need to promote cultural awareness and understanding, and strategies for cross-cultural care and communication. Themes related to team cohesion demonstrated that staff were already sympathetic and sensitive to cross-cultural issues, and that culturally and linguistically diverse staff add value to the workforce and are supported by the organisation. Staff required clear, uncomplicated education resources to equip them with skills to address problematic cultural situations. Preferred learning approaches varied and highlighted the need for varied educational materials and approaches, as well as time efficient, opportunistic education strategies for the busy workplace. An education

  17. Guidelines for conducting rigorous health care psychosocial cross-cultural/language qualitative research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arriaza, Pablo; Nedjat-Haiem, Frances; Lee, Hee Yun; Martin, Shadi S

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to synthesize and chronicle the authors' experiences as four bilingual and bicultural researchers, each experienced in conducting cross-cultural/cross-language qualitative research. Through narrative descriptions of experiences with Latinos, Iranians, and Hmong refugees, the authors discuss their rewards, challenges, and methods of enhancing rigor, trustworthiness, and transparency when conducting cross-cultural/cross-language research. The authors discuss and explore how to effectively manage cross-cultural qualitative data, how to effectively use interpreters and translators, how to identify best methods of transcribing data, and the role of creating strong community relationships. The authors provide guidelines for health care professionals to consider when engaging in cross-cultural qualitative research.

  18. Can dimensions of national culture predict cross-national differences in medical communication?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meeuwesen, Ludwien; van den Brink-Muinen, Atie; Hofstede, Geert

    2009-04-01

    This study investigated at a country level how cross-national differences in medical communication can be understood from the first four of Hofstede's cultural dimensions, i.e. power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism/collectivism and masculinity/femininity, together with national wealth. A total of 307 general practitioners (GPs) and 5820 patients from Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland participated in the study. Medical communication was videotaped and assessed using Roter's interaction analysis system (RIAS). Additional context information of physicians (gender, job satisfaction, risk-taking and belief of psychological influence on diseases) and patients (gender, health condition, diagnosis and medical encounter expectations) was gathered by using questionnaires. Countries differ considerably form each other in terms of culture dimensions. The larger a nation's power distance, the less room there is for unexpected information exchange and the shorter the consultations are. Roles are clearly described and fixed. The higher the level of uncertainty avoidance, the less attention is given to rapport building, e.g. less eye contact. In 'masculine' countries there is less instrumental communication in the medical interaction, which was contrary to expectations. In wealthy countries, more attention is given to psychosocial communication. The four culture dimensions, together with countries' wealth, contribute importantly to the understanding of differences in European countries' styles of medical communication. Their predictive power reaches much further than explanations along the north/south or east/west division of Europe. The understanding of these cross-national differences is a precondition for the prevention of intercultural miscommunication. Improved understanding may occur at microlevel in the medical encounter, as well as on macrolevel in pursuing more effective cooperation and

  19. Cross-cultural aspects of anxiety disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hofmann, Stefan G; Hinton, Devon E

    2014-06-01

    A person's cultural background influences the experience and expression of emotions. In reviewing the recent literature on cross-cultural aspects of anxiety disorders, we identified some culturally related ethnopsychology/ethnophysiology factors (the culture's conceptualizations of how the mind and body function) and contextual factors that influence anxiety disorders. Ethnopsychology/ethnophysiology factors include the person's ideas about the mental and bodily processes (and their interaction), whereas contextual factors are associated with the social norms and rules that may contribute to anxiety, including individualism vs. collectivism and self-construals. From the perspective of ethnopsychology/ethnophysiology and contextual factors, we will discuss "khyâl cap" ("wind attacks"), taijin kyofusho, and ataques de nervios, three prominent examples of culture-specific expressions of anxiety disorders that have all been included in the DSM-5 list of cultural concepts of distress.

  20. Our Own Stories: Cross-Cultural Communication Practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dresser, Norine

    The textbook for students of intermediate English as a Second Language (ESL) is based on cross-cultural communication misunderstandings described in essays written by university students. It consists of 20 instructional units, each beginning with a real student's dilemma caused by cultural differences and each dealing with one particular custom.…

  1. Making sense of (exceptional) causal relations. A cross-cultural and cross-linguistic study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Le Guen, Olivier; Samland, Jana; Friedrich, Thomas; Hanus, Daniel; Brown, Penelope

    2015-01-01

    In order to make sense of the world, humans tend to see causation almost everywhere. Although most causal relations may seem straightforward, they are not always construed in the same way cross-culturally. In this study, we investigate concepts of "chance," "coincidence," or "randomness" that refer to assumed relations between intention, action, and outcome in situations, and we ask how people from different cultures make sense of such non-law-like connections. Based on a framework proposed by Alicke (2000), we administered a task that aims to be a neutral tool for investigating causal construals cross-culturally and cross-linguistically. Members of four different cultural groups, rural Mayan Yucatec and Tseltal speakers from Mexico and urban students from Mexico and Germany, were presented with a set of scenarios involving various types of causal and non-causal relations and were asked to explain the described events. Three links varied as to whether they were present or not in the scenarios: Intention-to-Action, Action-to-Outcome, and Intention-to-Outcome. Our results show that causality is recognized in all four cultural groups. However, how causality and especially non-law-like relations are interpreted depends on the type of links, the cultural background and the language used. In all three groups, Action-to-Outcome is the decisive link for recognizing causality. Despite the fact that the two Mayan groups share similar cultural backgrounds, they display different ideologies regarding concepts of non-law-like relations. The data suggests that the concept of "chance" is not universal, but seems to be an explanation that only some cultural groups draw on to make sense of specific situations. Of particular importance is the existence of linguistic concepts in each language that trigger ideas of causality in the responses from each cultural group.

  2. Making sense of (exceptional) causal relations. A cross-cultural and cross-linguistic study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Le Guen, Olivier; Samland, Jana; Friedrich, Thomas; Hanus, Daniel; Brown, Penelope

    2015-01-01

    In order to make sense of the world, humans tend to see causation almost everywhere. Although most causal relations may seem straightforward, they are not always construed in the same way cross-culturally. In this study, we investigate concepts of “chance,” “coincidence,” or “randomness” that refer to assumed relations between intention, action, and outcome in situations, and we ask how people from different cultures make sense of such non-law-like connections. Based on a framework proposed by Alicke (2000), we administered a task that aims to be a neutral tool for investigating causal construals cross-culturally and cross-linguistically. Members of four different cultural groups, rural Mayan Yucatec and Tseltal speakers from Mexico and urban students from Mexico and Germany, were presented with a set of scenarios involving various types of causal and non-causal relations and were asked to explain the described events. Three links varied as to whether they were present or not in the scenarios: Intention-to-Action, Action-to-Outcome, and Intention-to-Outcome. Our results show that causality is recognized in all four cultural groups. However, how causality and especially non-law-like relations are interpreted depends on the type of links, the cultural background and the language used. In all three groups, Action-to-Outcome is the decisive link for recognizing causality. Despite the fact that the two Mayan groups share similar cultural backgrounds, they display different ideologies regarding concepts of non-law-like relations. The data suggests that the concept of “chance” is not universal, but seems to be an explanation that only some cultural groups draw on to make sense of specific situations. Of particular importance is the existence of linguistic concepts in each language that trigger ideas of causality in the responses from each cultural group. PMID:26579028

  3. Cross-cultural leadership: leading around the world.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanges, Paul J; Aiken, Juliet R; Park, Joo; Su, Junjie

    2016-04-01

    Situational models of leadership have been discussed since the mid-1960s. In this paper, we review the evidence concerning one such contextual variable, societal culture. The traditional cross-cultural literature shows how culture affects the kind of leadership characteristics, attributes, and behaviors desired and believed to be important in a society. The research also shows that culture moderates the outcomes resulting from different styles of leadership. The newly emerging global leadership literature focuses on leadership when followers are culturally diverse. We review the current state of these literatures and provide research suggestions. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Simulating trait evolution for cross-cultural comparison.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nunn, Charles L; Arnold, Christian; Matthews, Luke; Borgerhoff Mulder, Monique

    2010-12-12

    Cross-cultural anthropologists have increasingly used phylogenetic methods to study cultural variation. Because cultural behaviours can be transmitted horizontally among socially defined groups, however, it is important to assess whether phylogeny-based methods--which were developed to study vertically transmitted traits among biological taxa--are appropriate for studying group-level cultural variation. Here, we describe a spatially explicit simulation model that can be used to generate data with known degrees of horizontal donation. We review previous results from this model showing that horizontal transmission increases the type I error rate of phylogenetically independent contrasts in studies of correlated evolution. These conclusions apply to cases in which two traits are transmitted as a pair, but horizontal transmission may be less problematic when traits are unlinked. We also use the simulation model to investigate whether measures of homology (the consistency index and the retention index) can detect horizontal transmission of cultural traits. Higher rates of evolutionary change have a stronger depressive impact on measures of homology than higher rates of horizontal transmission; thus, low consistency or retention indices are not necessarily indicative of 'ethnogenesis'. Collectively, these studies demonstrate the importance of using simulations to assess the validity of methods in cross-cultural research.

  5. Cross-cultural issues in forensic psychiatry training.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Layde, Joseph B

    2004-01-01

    Forensic psychiatry was officially recognized as a subspecialty by the American Board of Medical Specialties in the 1990's. In 1994, the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN) gave its first written examination to certify forensic psychiatrists. In 1996, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) began to officially accredit one-year residency experiences in forensic psychiatry, which follow a 4-year residency in general psychiatry. The extra year of training, colloquially known as a fellowship, is required for candidates who wish to receive certification in the subspecialty of forensic psychiatry; since 2001, completion of a year of training in a program accredited by ACGME has been required for candidates wishing to take the ABPN forensic psychiatry subspecialty examination. With the formal recognition of the subspecialty of forensic psychiatry comes the need to examine special issues of cultural importance which apply specifically to forensic psychiatry training. This paper examines the current literature on cross-cultural issues in forensic psychiatry, sets out several of the societal reasons for the importance of emphasizing those issues in forensic psychiatric training, and discusses how those issues are addressed in the curriculum of one forensic psychiatry fellowship at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW). While much has been written about cross-cultural issues in general psychiatry, very little has appeared in the literature on the topic of cross-cultural issues in forensic psychiatry.

  6. Pedagogy as influencing nursing students' essentialized understanding of culture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gregory, David; Harrowing, Jean; Lee, Bonnie; Doolittle, Lisa; O'Sullivan, Patrick S

    2010-01-01

    In this qualitative study, we explored how students understood "culture." Participants defined culture and wrote narratives regarding specific cultural encounters. The sample comprised both nursing (n=14) and non-nursing (n=8) students to allow for comparison groups. Content analysis of the narratives revealed two broad paradigms of cultural understanding: essentialist and constructivist. Essentialist narratives comprised four themes: determinism (culture defied individual resistance); relativism (the possibility of making value judgments disappeared); Othering (culture was equated to exotica, and emphasized difference); and, reductionism (personhood was eclipsed by culture). In contrast, the constructivist narratives were characterized by influence (non-determinism), dynamism (culture was dynamic and evolutionary); and, relationship-building. The unintended negative consequences of essentialist notions of culture were revealed in the nursing students' narratives. Pedagogy is implicated in nursing students' essentialized understanding of culture.

  7. Revisiting a Theory-Supported Approach to Teaching Cross-Cultural Management Skills

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sizoo, Steve; Serrie, Hendrick; Shapero, Morris

    2007-01-01

    Cross-cultural skills are a major criterion for success in the global business environment. For American managers in multinational organizations, this means learning to manage cultural difference at three levels: self, interpersonal, and organizational. Since literature indicates that training programs based on cross-cultural and learning theories…

  8. A study of cultural differences in cross-border Mergers & Acquisitions : Case studies review in Swedish companies

    OpenAIRE

    Cao, Vu; Li, Rusi

    2010-01-01

    Among the challenges that companies may face during the post M&A phase, cultural integration can be seen as one of the trickiest tasks. Cultural differences which are inevitable in any deal are always there. The link between how people from autonomous groups live together and the deal result is an interesting topic that needs to be investigated. Since we have an interest in developing the understanding of cultural differences during integration process in cross-border M&As, the resear...

  9. A cross-cultural mentoring program

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Huang-Nissen, S.; Myers, R.Y.

    1995-04-01

    This report summarized the results of the pilot Cross-Cultural Mentoring Program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, from the inception of the program idea through its implementation and assessment. It discusses the benefits of mentoring, the origins of the program, program design and implementation, program assessment, and conclusions and recommendations.

  10. The Past, Present, and Future of Cross-Cultural Psychology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lonner, Walter J.

    Cross-cultural psychology had its beginnings at the turn of the century when W. H. R. Rivers made his famous investigations on perception and other processes. In the mid 1960's and early 1970's cross-cultural research as a method in psychology gained a momentum that led to an almost unchecked acceleration. The author details the recent growth in…

  11. Differentiation between work and nonwork self-aspects as a predictor of presenteeism and engagement: cross-cultural differences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garczynski, Amy M; Waldrop, Jessica S; Rupprecht, Elizabeth A; Grawitch, Matthew J

    2013-10-01

    Research on the work-life interface does not specifically account for how individuals cognitively conceptualize their work and nonwork lives in terms of the differentiation between work and nonwork self-aspects. In addition, no cross-cultural research examines self-concept differentiation in conjunction with employee outcomes of presenteeism and engagement, pointing to a need to study these relationships cross-culturally. Results of the current study revealed cultural differences in self-concept differentiation, engagement, mental presenteeism, and physical presenteeism. Indian participants reported lower levels of differentiation and higher levels of engagement, mental presenteeism, and physical presenteeism than American participants. Nationality interacted with self-concept differentiation to predict mental presenteeism, physical presenteeism, and engagement. Among Indian participants, self-concept differentiation did not impact scores on the other variables. However, among American participants, those lower in differentiation reported greater engagement, lower mental presenteeism, and lower physical presenteeism. These results have important implications for the study of the work-life interface, and they provide evidence that engagement and presenteeism may be culturally contingent.

  12. Self-starvation in context: towards a culturally sensitive understanding of anorexia nervosa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, S

    1995-07-01

    Extreme forms of self-starvation can be traced across time and place, and may be construed using a variety of explanatory models. Curiously, the prevailing biomedical definition of anorexia nervosa has assigned primacy to the exclusive use of 'fat phobia' by the affected subjects to justify their diminished food intake. This paper assembles evidence to show that this culturally constructed version of fat phobic anorexia nervosa has neglected the full metaphorical significance of self-starvation and, when applied in a cross-cultural context, may constitute a category fallacy. By delegitimizing other rationales for non-eating and thereby barring subjective expressions, this regnant interpretive strategy may obscure clinicians' understanding of patients' lived experience, and even jeopardize their treatment. Nonetheless, it is a relatively simple task to attune the extant diagnostic criteria to a polythetic approach which will avert cultural parochialism in psychiatric theory and practice. As a corollary of the archival and ethnocultural study of extreme self-starvation, there is, contrary to epistemological assumptions embedded in the biomedical culture of contemporary psychiatry, no 'core psychopathology' of anorexia nervosa.

  13. Familiarising the Stranger: Immigrant Perceptions of Cross-Cultural Interaction and Bicultural Identity

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Korne, Haley; Byram, Michael; Fleming, Michael

    2007-01-01

    As contact between cultures continues to increase, the impact that this has on cultural identity and belonging is unclear. Cross-cultural or bicultural identification remains a relatively unexplored phenomenon. Is it possible, natural or potentially good to have an identity rooted in more than one culture? If so, how is cross-cultural identity…

  14. Cross-Cultural Equivalency of the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iskifoglu, Gökhan

    2014-01-01

    This study describes the cross-cultural applicability of a multidimensional inventory of students' evaluation of critical thinking dispositions (California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory). The goal was to assess the cross-cultural psychometric equivalency of the CCTDI through testing measurement invariance across American and Turkish…

  15. Is “culture” a workable concept for (cross-)cultural psychology?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Poortinga, Y.H.

    2015-01-01

    In this essay three points are addressed: First, despite repeated findings of limited cross-cultural variation for core areas of study, research in cross-cultural psychology continues to be directed mainly at finding differences in psychological functioning. This often happens at the cost of

  16. Cross-Cultural Training of Expatriate Faculty Teaching in International Branch Campuses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jauregui, Martin

    2013-01-01

    This study investigates the intersection between academics and culture in international branch campus using Stier's (2006) "cross-cultural characteristics and competencies." The purpose of this study was to examine the type of cross-cultural training being used by the international branch campuses in Qatar's Education City, in particular…

  17. Integrating social factors into cross-cultural medical education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Green, Alexander R; Betancourt, Joseph R; Carrillo, J Emilio

    2002-03-01

    The field of cross-cultural medical education has blossomed in an environment of increasing diversity and increasing awareness of the effect of race and ethnicity on health outcomes. However, there is still no standardized approach to teaching doctors in training how best to care for diverse patient populations. As standards are developed, it is crucial to realize that medical educators cannot teach about culture in a vacuum. Caring for patients of diverse cultural backgrounds is inextricably linked to caring for patients of diverse social backgrounds. In this article, the authors discuss the importance of social issues in caring for patients of all cultures, and propose a practical, patient-based approach to social analysis covering four major domains--(1) social stress and support networks, (2) change in environment, (3) life control, and (4) literacy. By emphasizing and expanding the role of the social history in cross-cultural medical education, faculty can better train medical students, residents, and other health care providers to care for socioculturally diverse patient populations.

  18. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE IN CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jadranka Zlomislić

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study is to explore the influence of education and additional factors influencing students’ awareness of intercultural differences. For the purposes of this research assessment was carried out with regard to their role in promoting cultural awareness and facing cross-cultural challenges posed by unfamiliar cross-cultural contexts. Cultural education is presumed to be a key factor for achieving a significant increase of cultural sensitivity and cultural awareness in order to ensure successful cross-cultural communication and increase mobility of students/working professionals. For this study, it was assumed that the cultural awareness of students increases due to the courses they take and their overall study experience. A special questionnaire was developed for the purposes of this research, and the obtained results were statistically analyzed with the help of descriptive statistics, the non-parametric chi-square test, and the Mann-Whitney test. The research has shown that intercultural competence has a statistically significant positive effect on the readiness of students to participate in study and work programs abroad. Thus, it is mandatory that foreign language competence as well as intercultural competence be a priority of the curriculum if we are to increase the number of highly educated experts who will be capable to compete successfully as students or professionals in all fields and all cultural areas. If we recognize that globalization has made the world a global village, we all need the intercultural competence to successfully live in it.

  19. Cross-Cultural Detection of Depression from Nonverbal Behaviour.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alghowinem, Sharifa; Goecke, Roland; Cohn, Jeffrey F; Wagner, Michael; Parker, Gordon; Breakspear, Michael

    2015-05-01

    Millions of people worldwide suffer from depression. Do commonalities exist in their nonverbal behavior that would enable cross-culturally viable screening and assessment of severity? We investigated the generalisability of an approach to detect depression severity cross-culturally using video-recorded clinical interviews from Australia, the USA and Germany. The material varied in type of interview, subtypes of depression and inclusion healthy control subjects, cultural background, and recording environment. The analysis focussed on temporal features of participants' eye gaze and head pose. Several approaches to training and testing within and between datasets were evaluated. The strongest results were found for training across all datasets and testing across datasets using leave-one-subject-out cross-validation. In contrast, generalisability was attenuated when training on only one or two of the three datasets and testing on subjects from the dataset(s) not used in training. These findings highlight the importance of using training data exhibiting the expected range of variability.

  20. Cross-cultural differences in emotion suppression in everyday interactions

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Huwae, Sylvia; Schaafsma, Juliëtte

    Previous research suggests that in collectivistic cultures, people tend to suppress their emotions more than in individualistic cultures. Little research, however, has explored cross-cultural differences in emotion regulation in everyday interactions. Using a daily social interaction method, we

  1. Glutaraldehyde cross-linking of amniotic membranes affects their nanofibrous structures and limbal epithelial cell culture characteristics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lai, Jui-Yang; Ma, David Hui-Kang

    2013-01-01

    Given that the cells can sense nanometer dimensions, the chemical cross-linking-mediated alteration in fibrillar structure of collagenous tissue scaffolds is critical to determining their cell culture performances. This article explores, for the first time, the effect of nanofibrous structure of glutaraldehyde (GTA) cross-linked amniotic membrane (AM) on limbal epithelial cell (LEC) cultivation. Results of ninhydrin assays demonstrated that the amount of new cross-links formed between the collagen chains is significantly increased with increasing the cross-linking time from 1 to 24 hours. By transmission electron microscopy, the AM treated with GTA for a longer duration exhibited a greater extent of molecular aggregation, thereby leading to a considerable increase in nanofiber diameter and resistance against collagenase degradation. In vitro biocompatibility studies showed that the samples cross-linked with GTA for 24 hours are not well-tolerated by the human corneal epithelial cell cultures. When the treatment duration is less than 6 hours, the biological tissues cross-linked with GTA for a longer time may cause slight reductions in 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium, inner salt, and anti-inflammatory activities. Nevertheless, significant collagen molecular aggregation also enhances the stemness gene expression, indicating a high ability of these AM matrices to preserve the progenitors of LECs in vitro. It is concluded that GTA cross-linking of collagenous tissue materials may affect their nanofibrous structures and corneal epithelial stem cell culture characteristics. The AM treated with GTA for 6 hours holds promise for use as a niche for the expansion and transplantation of limbal epithelial progenitor cells.

  2. Beyond diffusion: sport and its remaking in cross-cultural contexts

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Bottenburg, M.

    2010-01-01

    Project MUSE - Journal of Sport History - Beyond Diffusion: Sport and Its Remaking in Cross-Cultural Contexts Project MUSE Journals Journal of Sport History Volume 37, Number 1, Spring 2010 Beyond Diffusion: Sport and Its Remaking in Cross-Cultural Contexts Journal of Sport History Volume 37, Number

  3. Design and Evaluation of a Cross-Cultural Training System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santarelli, Thomas; Stagl, Kevin C.

    2011-01-01

    Cross-cultural competency, and the underlying communication and affective skills required to develop such expertise, is becoming increasingly important for a wide variety of domains. To address this need, we developed a blended learning platform which combines virtual role-play with tutorials, assessment and feedback. A Middle-Eastern Curriculum (MEC) exemplar for cross-cultural training U.S. military personnel was developed to guide the refinement of an existing game-based training platform. To complement this curriculum, we developed scenario authoring tools to enable end-users to define training objectives, link performance measures and feedback/remediation to these objectives, and deploy experiential scenarios within a game-based virtual environment (VE). Lessons learned from the design and development of this exemplar cross-cultural competency curriculum, as well as formative evaluation results, are discussed. Initial findings suggest that the underlying training technology promotes deep levels of semantic processing of the key information of relevant cultural and communication skills.

  4. A Frame Analysis Approach To Cross-Cultural Television Advertising

    OpenAIRE

    Noel M. Murray

    2011-01-01

    The role of visuals in advertising research is examined. An argument is developed to support a theory of frame analysis for cross-cultural television advertising. Frame analysis is explained and commercials from Japan and the Dominican Republic are used to illustrate application of the theory. It is hoped that frame analysis will supplement content analysis as a methodological approach to cross-cultural television advertising.

  5. Is Male Androphilia a Context-Dependent Cross-Cultural Universal?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hames, Raymond; Garfield, Zachary; Garfield, Melissa

    2017-01-01

    The cross-cultural ethnographic literature has traditionally used the label male "homosexuality" to describe sexual relationships between biological males without considering whether or not the concept encompasses primary sexual attraction to adult males. Although male androphilia seems to be found in all national populations, its universal existence in tribal populations has been questioned. Our goal is to review previous cross-cultural classifications and surveys of male same sex behavior to present a system that does justice to its varied expressions, especially as it is informed by contemporary sexuality research. Previous comparative research does not effectively distinguish male same sex behavior from male androphilia. Using the standard cross-cultural sample (SCCS) as a sampling frame and the ethnographic sources in the human relations area files and elsewhere, we present distributional data on various forms of male same sex behavior. The SCCS is useful because it is designed to be representative of all historically known social formations and the sample is designed to reduce similarities as a consequence of common descent or historical origin as well as reduce the probability of diffusion of sociocultural practices from one culture to another. Our results show that male same sex behavior as well as male androphilia is much more common than previously estimated in the SCCS. With our findings, we make an argument that male androphilia is a context-dependent cross-cultural universal.

  6. Cross-Cultural Perspectives After Participation in the YES Program: A Pilot Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vanessa E. Fuentes

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract:  Guided by empowerment and ecological theories, the Youth Empowerment Solutions (YES program facilitates character development through activities based in cultural differences, team building, and social change. This pilot study consisted of two focus groups (n = 13 of middle school youth conducted after their participation in an abbreviated version of the YES program. Specifically, the present study examined youth’s cross-cultural perspectives after participation. The focus groups were transcribed and coded for emergent themes using Heaton’s (2005 supplementary data analysis framework. Qualitative analysis resulted in two emergent themes: 1 enhanced appreciation for similarities and differences in cultural and ethnic backgrounds, and 2 the role of respect in understanding differences and confronting stereotypes. Specifically, youth reported that engagement in this program fostered positive awareness of cultural differences and respect for inter-ethnic relationships. The findings provide support for the benefits of the YES program on moral development and promotion of healthy peer relationships.

  7. Teaching cross-cultural communication skills online: a multi-method evaluation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Amy L; Mader, Emily M; Morley, Christopher P

    2015-04-01

    Cultural competency education is an important and required part of undergraduate medical education. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether an online cross-cultural communication module could increase student use of cross-cultural communication questions that assess the patient's definition of the problem, the way the problem affects their life, their concerns about the problem, and what the treatment should be (PACT). We used multi-method assessment of students assigned to family medicine clerkship blocks that were randomized to receive online cultural competency and PACT training added to their standard curriculum or to a control group receiving the standard curriculum only. Outcomes included comparison, via analysis of variance, of number of PACT questions used during an observed Standardized Patient Exercise, end-of-year OSCE scores, and qualitative analysis of student narratives. Students (n=119) who participated in the online module (n=60) demonstrated increased use of cross-cultural communication PACT questions compared to the control group (n=59) and generally had positive themes emerge from their reflective writing. The module had the biggest impact on students who later went on to match in high communication specialties. Online teaching of cross-cultural communication skills can be effective at changing medical student behavior.

  8. Integration of basic controversies in cross-cultural psychology

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Poortinga, Y.H.

    2016-01-01

    This article discusses controversies in the field of cross-cultural psychology, including cultural psychology, with a view to possible integration.1 It briefly describes the indigenisation movement as a reaction against Western scientific ethnocentrism and mentions two methodological topics, that

  9. Cross-cultural psychiatric residency training: the Oregon experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boehnlein, James K; Leung, Paul K; Kinzie, John David

    2008-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to describe the goals and structure of cross-cultural psychiatric training at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU). This training in core knowledge, skills, and attitudes of cultural psychiatry over the past three decades has included medical students, residents, and fellows, along with allied mental health personnel. The curriculum includes both didactic sessions devoted to core topics in the field and varied clinical experiences in community settings and the Intercultural Psychiatric Program under the supervision of experienced academic faculty. The authors review the central elements of the training experiences and include a detailed description of the core clinical settings and experiences. At the conclusion of their clinical experiences, trainees have specialized cross-cultural psychiatric knowledge and skills, including treatment of refugees and immigrants, sociocultural variables that influence the assessment and treatment of a wide range of psychiatric conditions, and comfort with cultural dynamics that influence both the doctor/patient relationship and collaboration with a wide range of mental health professionals. Because of rapid demographic changes in the U.S. population, providing cross-cultural training for students, residents, and fellows is an essential foundation for the education of the next generation of clinicians and health care leaders. OHSU has provided a long-term model for this training in a busy clinical and academic setting that places an emphasis on multidisciplinary and multicultural collaboration.

  10. Cross-Cultural Communication Training for Students in Multidisciplinary Research Area of Biomedical Engineering

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shigehiro Hashimoto

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Biomedical Engineering makes multidisciplinary research area, which includes biology, medicine, engineering and others. Communication training is important for students, who have a potential to develop Biomedical Engineering. Communication is not easy in a multidisciplinary research area, because each area has its own background of thinking. Because each nation has its own background of culture, on the other hand, international communication is not easy, either. A cross-cultural student program has been designed for communication training in the multidisciplinary research area. Students from a variety of backgrounds of research area and culture have joined in the program: mechanical engineering, material science, environmental engineering, science of nursing, dentist, pharmacy, electronics, and so on. The program works well for communication training in the multidisciplinary research area of biomedical engineering. Foreign language and digital data give students chance to study several things: how to make communication precisely, how to quote previous data. The experience in the program helps students not only understand new idea in the laboratory visit, but also make a presentation in the international research conference. The program relates to author's several experiences: the student internship abroad, the cross-cultural student camp, multi PhD theses, various affiliations, and the creation of the interdisciplinary department.

  11. Cross-Cultural Differences in Children’s Choices, Categorizations, and Evaluations of Truths and Lies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fu, Genyue; Xu, Fen; Cameron, Catherine Ann; Heyman, Gail; Lee, Kang

    2008-01-01

    This study examined cross-cultural differences and similarities in children’s moral understanding of individual- or collective-oriented lies and truths. Seven-, 9-, and 11-year-old Canadian and Chinese children were read stories about story characters facing moral dilemmas about whether to lie or tell the truth to help a group but harm an individual or vice versa. Participants chose to lie or to tell the truth as if they were the character (Experiments 1 and 2) and categorized and evaluated the story characters’ truthful and untruthful statements (Experiments 3 and 4). Most children in both cultures labeled lies as lies and truths as truths. The major cultural differences lay in choices and moral evaluations. Chinese children chose lying to help a collective but harm an individual, and they rated it less negatively than lying with opposite consequences. Chinese children rated truth telling to help an individual but harm a group less positively than the alternative. Canadian children did the opposite. These findings suggest that cross-cultural differences in emphasis on groups versus individuals affect children’s choices and moral judgments about truth and deception. PMID:17352539

  12. The Weird World of Cross-Cultural False-Belief Research: A True- and False-Belief Study among Samoan Children Based on Commands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mayer, Andreas; Träuble, Birgit

    2015-01-01

    Previous cross-cultural research using false-belief tasks has explored whether children's theory of mind develops synchronously across cultures. Success on false-belief tasks is usually interpreted as an important indicator of children's mental state understanding, but inconsistent findings have led to questions regarding the interpretation of…

  13. The cross-cultural equivalence of participation instruments: a systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stevelink, S A M; van Brakel, W H

    2013-07-01

    Concepts such as health-related quality of life, disability and participation may differ across cultures. Consequently, when assessing such a concept using a measure developed elsewhere, it is important to test its cultural equivalence. Previous research suggested a lack of cultural equivalence testing in several areas of measurement. This paper reviews the process of cross-cultural equivalence testing of instruments to measure participation in society. An existing cultural equivalence framework was adapted and used to assess participation instruments on five categories of equivalence: conceptual, item, semantic, measurement and operational equivalence. For each category, several aspects were rated, resulting in an overall category rating of 'minimal/none', 'partial' or 'extensive'. The best possible overall study rating was five 'extensive' ratings. Articles were included if the instruments focussed explicitly on measuring 'participation' and were theoretically grounded in the ICIDH(-2) or ICF. Cross-validation articles were only included if it concerned an adaptation of an instrument developed in a high or middle-income country to a low-income country or vice versa. Eight cross-cultural validation studies were included in which five participation instruments were tested (Impact on Participation and Autonomy, London Handicap Scale, Perceived Impact and Problem Profile, Craig Handicap Assessment Reporting Technique, Participation Scale). Of these eight studies, only three received at least two 'extensive' ratings for the different categories of equivalence. The majority of the cultural equivalence ratings given were 'partial' and 'minimal/none'. The majority of the 'none/minimal' ratings were given for item and measurement equivalence. The cross-cultural equivalence testing of the participation instruments included leaves much to be desired. A detailed checklist is proposed for designing a cross-validation study. Once a study has been conducted, the checklist can

  14. Guide for understanding and evaluation of safety culture

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2008-01-01

    This report was the guide of understanding and evaluation of safety culture. Operator's activities for enhancement of safety culture in nuclear installations became an object of safety regulation in the management system. Evaluation of operator's activities (including top management's involvement) to prevent degradation of safety culture and organization climate in daily works needed understanding of safety culture and diversity of operator's activities. This guide was prepared to check indications of degradation of safety culture and organization climate in operator's activities in daily works and encourage operator's activities to enhance safety culture improvement and good practice. Comprehensive evaluation of operator's activities to prevent degradation of safety culture and organization climate would be performed from the standpoints of 14 safety culture elements such as top management commitment, clear plan and implementation of upper manager, measures to avoid wrong decision making, questioning attitude, reporting culture, good communications, accountability and openness, compliance, learning system, activities to prevent accidents or incidents beforehand, self-assessment or third party evaluation, work management, change management and attitudes/motivation. Element-wise examples and targets for evaluation were attached with evaluation check tables. (T. Tanaka)

  15. Cross-cultural School Based Encounters as Health Education

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bruselius-Jensen, Maria; Renwick, Kerry; Aagaard-Hansen, Jens

    2017-01-01

    : Qualitative analysis of 18 focus group discussions with 72 Danish and 36 Kenyan students. Results: Cross-cultural dialogues promoted students’ engagement and reflections on their own and peers’ health condition, access to education, food cultures, gender and family structures. Conclusion: Findings indicate...

  16. Music, empathy and cultural understanding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clarke, Eric; DeNora, Tia; Vuoskoski, Jonna

    2015-12-01

    In the age of the Internet and with the dramatic proliferation of mobile listening technologies, music has unprecedented global distribution and embeddedness in people's lives. It is a source of intense experiences of both the most intimate and solitary, and public and collective, kinds - from an individual with their smartphone and headphones, to large-scale live events and global simulcasts; and it increasingly brings together a huge range of cultures and histories, through developments in world music, sampling, the re-issue of historical recordings, and the explosion of informal and home music-making that circulates via YouTube. For many people, involvement with music can be among the most powerful and potentially transforming experiences in their lives. At the same time, there has been increasing interest in music's communicative and affective capacities, and its potential to act as an agent of social bonding and affiliation. This review critically discusses a considerable body of research and scholarship, across disciplines ranging from the neuroscience and psychology of music to cultural musicology and the sociology and anthropology of music, that provides evidence for music's capacity to promote empathy and social/cultural understanding through powerful affective, cognitive and social factors; and explores ways in which to connect and make sense of this disparate evidence (and counter-evidence). It reports the outcome of an empirical study that tests one aspect of those claims, demonstrating that 'passive' listening to the music of an unfamiliar culture can significantly change the cultural attitudes of listeners with high dispositional empathy; presents a model that brings together the primary components of the music and empathy research into a single framework; and considers both some of the applications, and some of the shortcomings and problems, of understanding music from the perspective of empathy.

  17. Music, empathy and cultural understanding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clarke, Eric; DeNora, Tia; Vuoskoski, Jonna

    2015-12-01

    In the age of the Internet and with the dramatic proliferation of mobile listening technologies, music has unprecedented global distribution and embeddedness in people's lives. It is a source of intense experiences of both the most intimate and solitary, and public and collective, kinds - from an individual with their smartphone and headphones, to large-scale live events and global simulcasts; and it increasingly brings together a huge range of cultures and histories, through developments in world music, sampling, the re-issue of historical recordings, and the explosion of informal and home music-making that circulates via YouTube. For many people, involvement with music can be among the most powerful and potentially transforming experiences in their lives. At the same time, there has been increasing interest in music's communicative and affective capacities, and its potential to act as an agent of social bonding and affiliation. This review critically discusses a considerable body of research and scholarship, across disciplines ranging from the neuroscience and psychology of music to cultural musicology and the sociology and anthropology of music, that provides evidence for music's capacity to promote empathy and social/cultural understanding through powerful affective, cognitive and social factors; and explores ways in which to connect and make sense of this disparate evidence (and counter-evidence). It reports the outcome of an empirical study that tests one aspect of those claims, demonstrating that 'passive' listening to the music of an unfamiliar culture can significantly change the cultural attitudes of listeners with high dispositional empathy; presents a model that brings together the primary components of the music and empathy research into a single framework; and considers both some of the applications, and some of the shortcomings and problems, of understanding music from the perspective of empathy. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Ensuring Quality in qualitative cross-cultural research

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Demuth, Carolin

    2013-01-01

    Within recent years, there has been an increasing call for qualitative research in cross-cultural psychology. Despite this general openness, there seems to be some confusion about how to evaluate the quality of such research. This has been partly due to the heterogeneity of the field...... and the epistemological underpinnings of qualitative research that do not allow for standard criteria of rigor as in the traditional psychological research. Nevertheless, there is an emerging canon of recognized standards of good practice in qualitative research which the present paper will briefly discuss. The paper...... aims at motivating cross-cultural psychologists to produce high quality qualitative research that will contribute to the further advancement of the field....

  19. Influence of cross-cultural leadership on organizational culture: Arcelormittal, Newcastle, a South African perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A Feldman

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this research was to determine the influence of cross cultural leadership on organisational culture. This is assessed by using the GLOBE project’s dimensions of culture which are an extension to Hofstede model of culture. These are; power distance, uncertainty avoidance, human orientation, individuality vs. collectivism, egalitarianism, assertiveness, long term orientation and performance orientation. As more organisations in South Africa become more culturally diverse, it is important to determine where the organisational culture stems from? This is essential in addressing cross cultural conflicts and in efforts to create a winning culture in the workplace. The case study involves Arcelormittal South Africa (AMSA, and will hopefully contribute positively in identifying salient cultural implications in managerial positions such as for example, high employee turnover and cultural clashes which hinder individual performance. A qualitative research design was used in this study to determine participants’ perspectives on organisational culture and leadership. Two instruments were used for primary data collection in this research. The first one was designed by the researcher to capture the demographics data for this particular study. The second instrument used was the GLOBE survey questionnaire which captured 8 dimensions of culture and was specifically designed to encompass questions relevant to the business environment. A convenience sampling methodology was used with a target population of 115 managers classified as middle management of AMSA. The research revealed that there is a general shift from a Eurocentric approach to leadership which is congruent with high individualism and low human orientation. The influence of cross cultural leadership is thus indicated by the preference for higher degree of human orientation and collectivism amongst managers, which is associated with the Afrocentric leadership style and the black ethnic

  20. The cross-cultural validity of posttraumatic stress disorder: implications for DSM-5.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hinton, Devon E; Lewis-Fernández, Roberto

    2011-09-01

    There is considerable debate about the cross-cultural applicability of the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) category as currently specified. Concerns include the possible status of PTSD as a Western culture-bound disorder and the validity of individual items and criteria thresholds. This review examines various types of cross-cultural validity of the PTSD criteria as defined in DSM-IV-TR, and presents options and preliminary recommendations to be considered for DSM-5. Searches were conducted of the mental health literature, particularly since 1994, regarding cultural-, race-, or ethnicity-related factors that might limit the universal applicability of the diagnostic criteria of PTSD in DSM-IV-TR and the possible criteria for DSM-5. Substantial evidence of the cross-cultural validity of PTSD was found. However, evidence of cross-cultural variability in certain areas suggests the need for further research: the relative salience of avoidance/numbing symptoms, the role of the interpretation of trauma-caused symptoms in shaping symptomatology, and the prevalence of somatic symptoms. This review also indicates the need to modify certain criteria, such as the items on distressing dreams and on foreshortened future, to increase their cross-cultural applicability. Text additions are suggested to increase the applicability of the manual across cultural contexts: specifying that cultural syndromes-such as those indicated in the DSM-IV-TR Glossary-may be a prominent part of the trauma response in certain cultures, and that those syndromes may influence PTSD symptom salience and comorbidity. The DSM-IV-TR PTSD category demonstrates various types of validity. Criteria modification and textual clarifications are suggested to further improve its cross-cultural applicability. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  1. Language, Culture, and Cognition in Cross-cultural Communication

    OpenAIRE

    Nardon, Luciara; Steers, Richard; Stone, Christian

    2012-01-01

    It is well documented that communication styles and patterns vary across cultures. However, less is known about the process underlying these differences. Understanding why communication patterns vary is just as important as understanding how they vary because communication is by nature a dynamic and interactive process. Despite the importance of the transmission of meaning for successful communication, and the role that cognition plays in the assignment of meaning, little has been done to dra...

  2. Applications of Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling to Cross-Cultural Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheung, Mike W.-L.; Au, Kevin

    2005-01-01

    Multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) has been proposed as an extension to structural equation modeling for analyzing data with nested structure. We have begun to see a few applications in cross-cultural research in which MSEM fits well as the statistical model. However, given that cross-cultural studies can only afford collecting data…

  3. Cross-cultural differences in the sleep of preschool children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mindell, Jodi A; Sadeh, Avi; Kwon, Robert; Goh, Daniel Y T

    2013-12-01

    The aim of our study was to characterize cross-cultural sleep patterns and sleep problems in a large sample of preschool children ages 3-6years in multiple predominantly Asian (P-A) and predominantly Caucasian (P-C) countries/regions. Parents of 2590 preschool-aged children (P-A countries/regions: China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand; P-C countries: Australia-New Zealand, Canada, United Kingdom, United States) completed an Internet-based expanded version of the Brief Child Sleep Questionnaire (BCSQ). Overall, children from P-A countries had significantly later bedtimes, shorter nighttime sleep, and increased parental perception of sleep problems compared with those from P-C countries. Bedtimes varied from as early as 7:43pm in Australia and New Zealand to as late as 10:26pm in India, a span of almost 3h. There also were significant differences in daytime sleep with the majority of children in P-A countries continuing to nap, resulting in no differences in 24-h total sleep times (TST) across culture and minimal differences across specific countries. Bed sharing and room sharing are common in P-A countries, with no change across the preschool years. There also were a significant percentage of parents who perceived that their child had a sleep problem (15% in Korea to 44% in China). Overall, our results indicate significant cross-cultural differences in sleep patterns, sleeping arrangements, and parent-reported sleep problems in preschool-aged children. Further studies are needed to understand the underlying bases for these differences and especially for contributors to parents' perceptions of sleep problems. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. Cross-cultural adaptation of instruments assessing breastfeeding determinants: a multi-step approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    Background Cross-cultural adaptation is a necessary process to effectively use existing instruments in other cultural and language settings. The process of cross-culturally adapting, including translation, of existing instruments is considered a critical set to establishing a meaningful instrument for use in another setting. Using a multi-step approach is considered best practice in achieving cultural and semantic equivalence of the adapted version. We aimed to ensure the content validity of our instruments in the cultural context of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Methods The Iowa Infant Feeding Attitudes Scale, Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale-Short Form and additional items comprise our consolidated instrument, which was cross-culturally adapted utilizing a multi-step approach during August 2012. Cross-cultural adaptation was achieved through steps to maintain content validity and attain semantic equivalence in the target version. Specifically, Lynn’s recommendation to apply an item-level content validity index score was followed. The revised instrument was translated and back-translated. To ensure semantic equivalence, Brislin’s back-translation approach was utilized followed by the committee review to address any discrepancies that emerged from translation. Results Our consolidated instrument was adapted to be culturally relevant and translated to yield more reliable and valid results for use in our larger research study to measure infant feeding determinants effectively in our target cultural context. Conclusions Undertaking rigorous steps to effectively ensure cross-cultural adaptation increases our confidence that the conclusions we make based on our self-report instrument(s) will be stronger. In this way, our aim to achieve strong cross-cultural adaptation of our consolidated instruments was achieved while also providing a clear framework for other researchers choosing to utilize existing instruments for work in other cultural, geographic and population

  5. Women Mentoring in the Academe: A Faculty Cross-Racial and Cross-Cultural Experience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guramatunhu-Mudiwa, Precious; Angel, Roma B.

    2017-01-01

    Two women faculty members, one White from the southeastern United States and one Black African from Zimbabwe, purposefully explored their informal mentoring relationship with the goal of illuminating the complexities associated with their cross-racial, cross-cultural experience. Concentrating on their four-year mentor-mentee academic relationship…

  6. Cultural Patterns of Soil Understanding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patzel, Nikola; Feller, Christian

    2017-04-01

    Living soil supports all terrestrial ecosystems. The only global threat to earth's soils comes from human societies' land use and resource consuming activities. Soil perception and understanding by soil scientists are mainly drawn from biophysical parameters and found within Cartesian rationality, and not, or much less consciously from its rather intangible cultural dimension. But nevertheless, human soil perception, soil awareness, and soil relation are a cultural phenomenon, too. Aiming at soil awareness and education, it is of first order importance for the soil science community and the IUSS to study, discuss and communicate also about the cultural perceptions and representations of soil. For any society, cultural patterns in their relation to soil encompass: (i) General culturally underlying structures like (religious or 'secular') myths and belief systems. (ii) The personal, individual relation to/with and behaviour towards soil. This includes implicit concepts of soil being part integral concepts of landscape because the large majority of humans don't see soil as a distinct object. This communication would be to make evident: (i) the importance of cultural patterns and psychic/psychological background concerning soil, by case studies and overviews on different cultural areas, (ii) the necessity to develop reflections on this topic as well to communicate about soil with large public, as to raise awareness soil scientists to the cultural dimension of soils. A working group was recently founded at IUSS (Division 4) on this topic.

  7. On Vocabulary Teaching from the Perspective of Cross-Cultural Communication

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    潘航

    2013-01-01

    Language is the carrier of culture, and culture determines language application. Vocabulary is the essential element of a language, thus the cultivation of cross-culture communication ability should start from vocabulary.

  8. Cross-cultural invariance of NPI-13: Entitlement as culturally specific, leadership and grandiosity as culturally universal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Żemojtel-Piotrowska, Magdalena; Piotrowski, Jarosław; Rogoza, Radosław; Baran, Tomasz; Hitokoto, Hidefumi; Maltby, John

    2018-04-15

    The current study explores the problem with the lack of measurement invariance for the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) by addressing two issues: conceptual heterogeneity of narcissism and methodological issues related to the binary character of data. We examine the measurement invariance of the 13-item version of the NPI in three populations in Japan, Poland and the UK. Analyses revealed that leadership/authority and grandiose exhibitionism dimensions of the NPI were cross-culturally invariant, while entitlement/exploitativeness was culturally specific. Therefore, we proposed NPI-9 as indicating scalar invariance, and we examined the pattern of correlations between NPI-9 and other variables across three countries. The results suggest that NPI-9 is valid brief scale measuring general levels of narcissism in cross-cultural studies, while the NPI-13 remains suitable for research within specific countries. © 2018 International Union of Psychological Science.

  9. ' Emotional Learning and Identity Development in Medicine : A Cross-Cultural Qualitative Study Comparing Taiwanese and Dutch Medical Undergraduates

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Helmich, Esther; Yeh, Huei-Ming; Yeh, Chi-Chuan; de Vries-Erich, Joy M; Tsai, Daniel Fu-Chang; Dornan, Tim

    Purpose Current knowledge about the interplay between emotions and professional identity formation is limited and largely based on research in Western settings. This study aimed to broaden understandings of professional identity formation cross-culturally. Method In fall 2014, the authors

  10. Major cultural-compatibility complex: considerations on cross-cultural dissemination of patient safety programmes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeong, Heon-Jae; Pham, Julius C; Kim, Minji; Engineer, Cyrus; Pronovost, Peter J

    2012-07-01

    As the importance of patient safety has been broadly acknowledged, various improvement programmes have been developed. Many of the programmes with proven efficacy have been disseminated internationally. However, some of those attempts may encounter unexpected cross-cultural obstacles and may fail to harvest the expected success. Each country has different cultural background that has shaped the behavior of the constituents for centuries. It is crucial to take into account these cultural differences in effectively disseminating these programmes. As an organ transplantation requires tissue-compatibility between the donor and the recipient, there needs to be compatibility between the country where the program was originally developed and the nation implementing the program. Though no detailed guidelines exist to predict success, small-scale pilot tests can help evaluate whether a safety programme will work in a new cultural environment. Furthermore, a pilot programme helps reveal the source of potential conflict, so we can modify the original programme accordingly to better suit the culture to which it is to be applied. In addition to programme protocols, information about the cultural context of the disseminated programme should be conveyed during dissemination. Original programme designers should work closely with partnering countries to ensure that modifications do not jeopardise the original intention of the programme. By following this approach, we might limit barriers originating from cultural differences and increase the likelihood of success in cross-cultural dissemination.

  11. PERSONAL CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE IN BIOGRAPHICAL AND HAGIOGRAPHICAL LIFE AND ACTIVITIES OF SAINT ANTHIM THE IBERIAN (GEORGIAN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adam VAKHTANG AKHALADZE

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available In this study we analyze the biographical and hagiographical life and multifaceted activities of St. Anthim the Iberian in cross-cultural communicative dimension. Modern Post-Global world and its Weltanschauung need not onlytrans(cross-cultural, but also trans-historical contexts. We have designated the existence of trans-cultural polylogue (dialogue of many between all historical eras and ethnicities with their cultural codes and symbols. Our research enabled us to identify the following parameters of trans-cultural communicative competence: (i adequately assess the communicative situation; (ii possession of a certain body of knowledge about the native and other cultures; (iii to put into practice intercultural communicative intentions; (iv presence of not only the ability to understand other cultures, as well as members of their own culture, but also the ability to build new patterns of behavior, based on the values and norms of different cultures; (v strive to mix our own and others' cultural identity and as a result of the exchange of positive examples of actions and patterns of decision-making to go to a qualitatively new synthesis of action; (vi check the communication results with the help of feedback. We also identified the following aspects and facts of life and activity of Anthim the Iberian in the context of cross-cultural communicative competence: (a getting a wonderful upbringing (social intercultural communicative abilities and skills, and education (the possession of a certain body of knowledge about both native and other cultures, understanding and respect for diverse cultural values; (b the forced emigration of the native culture medium (communicative and behavioral adaptation to the behavior of other cultures; (c the experience of cruelty trafficking – the kidnapping and slavery sale (the religious-spiritual, social and cross-cultural communicative negative experience and its interpretation in a truly constructive manner that

  12. Cross-cultural Leadership

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oana Simona Hudea

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available The present paper is meant to outline the positive effects that diversity may have on any organisation, subject to the condition that the said diversity be appropriately managed. As the leader is a person who, by power of example, makes other people adopting a similar attitude, the actions of the same oriented towards the fructification of the advantages of a cross-cultural environment, which are depicted in this study, are not only directly, but also indirectly, by synergy, impacting, in a positive way, on the organisation.Innovation, performance, competitive advantage and reputation are just some of the outcomes of finding unity in diversity.

  13. Disability Policy Implementation from a Cross-Cultural Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verdugo, Miguel A.; Jenaro, Cristina; Calvo, Isabel; Navas, Patricia

    2017-01-01

    Implementation of disability policy is influenced by social, political, and cultural factors. Based on published work, this article discusses four guidelines considered critical for successful policy implementation from a cross-cultural perspective. These guidelines are to: (a) base policy implementation on a contextual analysis, (b) employ a…

  14. Understanding the workplace culture of a special care nursery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, Valerie J; McCormack, Brendan G; Ives, Glenice

    2005-04-01

    This paper presents findings from the first phase of a research study focusing on implementation and evaluation of emancipatory practice development strategies. Understanding the culture of practice is essential to undertaking effective developments in practice. Culture is a dominant feature of discussions about modernizing health care, yet few studies have been undertaken that systematically evaluate the development of effective practice cultures. The study intervention is that of emancipatory practice development with an integrated evaluation approach based on Realistic Evaluation. The aim of Realistic Evaluation is to evaluate relationships between Context (setting), Mechanism (process characteristics) and Outcome (arising from the context-mechanism configuration). This first phase of the study focuses on uncovering the context (in particular the culture) of the Special Care Nursery in order to evaluate the emancipatory practice development processes and outcomes. Data collection methods included survey, participant observation and interview. Cognitive mapping, constant comparative method and coding were used to analyse the data. Findings. Four key categories were identified: Teamwork, Learning in Practice, Inevitability of Change and Family-Centred Care and collectively these formed a central category of Core Values and Beliefs. A number of themes were identified in each category, and reflected tensions that existed between differing values and beliefs within the culture of the unit. Understanding values and beliefs is an important part of understanding a workplace culture. Whilst survey methods are capable of outlining espoused workplace characteristics, observation of staff interactions and perceptions gives an understanding of culture as a living entity manifested through interpersonal relationships. Attempts at changing workplace cultures should start from the clarification of values held among staff in that culture.

  15. Cross-Cultural Considerations in Pediatric Neuropsychology: A Review and Call to Attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olson, Katie; Jacobson, Kristin

    2015-01-01

    In the search to understand the basis of performance discrepancies, many clinicians are recognizing that, often, factors with no direct relationship to brain functioning influence performance on neuropsychological measures of cognition among children and adolescents. The emergent research on cross-cultural neuropsychology indicates that while the test performance discrepancies do indeed exist, they can be explained by a number of other factors, some of which are known and others that have yet to be operationalized or even identified. While a review of all such factors is beyond the scope of this article, an examination of those that have received the most attention is presented: factors associated with the examinee, factors associated with the neuropsychological measures, cultural competency of the examiner, and factors at the organizational/political level.

  16. Cross-cultural differences in dementia: the Sociocultural Health Belief Model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sayegh, Philip; Knight, Bob G

    2013-04-01

    Many minority ethnic (ME) older adults face several culturally associated and systemic barriers to timely dementia diagnoses that may result in delays to dementia care-seeking. We aimed to develop and propose a model illustrating variables that influence dementia care-seeking among ME older adults. We conducted a literature review on the effects of these barriers on diagnostic delays and impairment levels at initial evaluation. We also strived to provide a basis for the Sociocultural Health Belief Model (SHBM) to guide future research and service planning pertaining to culture and dementia care-seeking. There was consistent evidence that ME older adults with dementia tended to have greater diagnostic delays and higher levels of cognitive impairment and behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia at initial evaluation than their non-Hispanic White counterparts. We also found several barriers to dementia care-seeking among ME groups. These barriers included lower levels of acculturation and accurate knowledge about dementia, more culturally associated beliefs about dementia, such as the perception of memory loss as normal aging and stigma associated with dementia, and health system barriers. The SHBM provides an empirically based conceptual framework for examining cross-cultural differences in dementia care-seeking among diverse groups. We provide recommendations for future research, such as the need for research with more diverse ethnic subgroups and the examination of group-specific cultural values. We conclude with a discussion of the clinical and service implications of our review, including potential interventions aimed at facilitating timely dementia diagnoses among ME older adults.

  17. Musical Objects, Cross-Domain Correspondences, and Cultural Choice: Commentary on “Cross-Cultural Representations of Musical Shape” by George Athanasopoulos and Nikki Moran

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zohar Eitan

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The target article illustrates deep cross-cultural gaps, involving not only the representation of musical shape but also the notion of a musical object itself. Yet, numerous empirical findings suggest that important cross-modal correspondences involving music and visual dimensions are inborn or learned at infancy, prior to the acquisition of language and most culture-specific behavior. Drawing on recent empirical work, the commentary attempts to reconcile this apparent disparity.

  18. Between Relativism and Imperialism: Navigating Moral Diversity in Cross-Cultural Bioethics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beck, Daniel

    2015-12-01

    The need for explicit theoretical reflection on cross-cultural bioethics continues to grow as the spread of communication technologies and increased human migration has made interactions between medical professionals and patients from different cultural backgrounds much more common. I claim that this need presents us with the following dilemma. On the one hand, we do not want to operate according to an imperialist ethical framework that denies and silences the legitimacy of cultural values other than our own. On the other hand, we do not want to backslide into a form of cultural relativism that is unable to critically appraise cultural practices that are harmful, unjust, or oppressive. I examine two prominent attempts - the principlism of Tom Beauchamp and James Childress and the Contractarianism of Robert Baker - to frame cross-cultural bioethics between these two extremes and argue that both approaches have significant flaws. The principlist approach fails to provide a non-question begging way to identify cross-cultural norms that does not already assume the universal legitimacy of moral principles dominant in North American society. Baker's contractarianism cannot grapple with the realities of political power imbalances that often characterize cross-cultural moral disputes. I suggest that a naturalized feminist framework, though not free of its own theoretical difficulties, provides the best alternative for approaching moral diversity respectfully and critically. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  19. Measuring values for cross-cultural research

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Maseland, R.K.J.; Hoorn, A.A.J. van

    2009-01-01

    This paper investigates the empirical relevance of the recent critique that values surveys, as they are, suffer from the problem of measuring marginal preferences rather than values. By surveying items from cross-cultural surveys by Hofstede, Inglehart and GLOBE, we show that the marginal

  20. Problems in Cross Cultural Trust Building

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mogensen, Kirsten

    2013-01-01

    Based on an explorative study of the Danish Public Diplomacy activities in Pakistan this paper brings to attention a number of issues related to cross cultural trust building. The empirical data includes information from the communication consultant at the Danish Embassy in Islamabad, and other...

  1. Cross-Cultural Perspectives of Service Quality and Risk in Air Transportation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cunningham, Lawrence F.; Young, Clifford E.; Lee, Moonkyu

    2002-01-01

    This study compares US and Korean customers in terms of their perceptions of airline service quality based on SERVPERF and industry-based measures, as well as their perceptions of risks involved in the airline choice. SERVPERF is a set of multi-dimensional measures of customer evaluations of service quality. The results indicate that: (1) US passengers are generally more satisfied with their airline service than Korean customers on most of the SERVPERF dimensions; (2) Koreans are generally more satisfied with the bumping procedures whereas US participants feel more satisfied with the airline's baggage handling, operations/safety, and connections; and (3) US participants perceive higher levels of performance and financial risks whereas Koreans feel greater social risk in choosing an airline. This study also examines the SERVPERF, industry-based measure, and perceived risk in predicting customer satisfaction with, and intention to repatronize the airline. The results suggest that US customers consider service reliability, in-flight comfort, and connections as the key factors determining satisfaction with airline service whereas Korean passengers generally regard reliability, assurance, and risk factors as predictors of satisfaction. The determining factors of customer intention to repatronize the airline are reliability and empathy for US, and reliability and overall risk for Korean customers. The study demonstrates the applicability of SERVPERF as a cross-cultural tool and indicates the importance of perceived risk in cross-cultural studies.

  2. Adolescent Behavior and Health in Cross-Cultural Context

    Science.gov (United States)

    Demetrovics, Zsolt

    2012-01-01

    Specific behavioral problems appear during early adolescence, and they become more pronounced. Although these problems are universal in many aspects, cultural differences are also conspicuous. The author, in addition to analyzing the five studies in the Special Issue, addresses questions concerning the cross-cultural context. The analysis reveals…

  3. Merging experiences and perspectives in the complexity of cross-cultural design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Winschiers-Theophilus, Heike; Bidwell, Nicola; Blake, Edward

    2010-01-01

    While our cross-cultural IT research continuously strives to contribute towards the development of HCI appropriate cross-cultural models and best practices, we are aware of the specificity of each development context and the influence of each participant. Uncovering the complexity within our...

  4. Choosing an adequate design and analysis in cross-cultural personality research

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    He, Jia; van de Vijver, Fons

    2017-01-01

    The flourishing of cross-cultural personality research requires a keen eye for rigorous methodology in such research. With decades of experience in cross-cultural research methods, we have come to appreciate that methodological aspects of such studies are critical for obtaining valid findings.

  5. Canadian residents' perceptions of cross-cultural care training in graduate medical school.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Barinder; Banwell, Emma; Groll, Dianne

    2017-12-01

    The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada specifies both respect for diversity as a requirement of professionalism and culturally sensitive provision of medical care. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the perception of preparedness and attitudes of medical residents to deliver cross-cultural care. The Cross Cultural Care Survey was sent via e-mail to all Faculty of Medicine residents (approx. 450) in an academic health sciences centre. Comparisons were made between psychiatry residents, family medicine residents, and other residency groups with respect to training, preparedness, and skillfulness in delivering cross-cultural care. Seventy-three (16%) residents responded to the survey. Residents in psychiatry and family medicine reported significantly more training and formal evaluation regarding cross-cultural care than residents in other programs. However, there were no significant differences in self-reported preparedness and skillfulness. Residents in family medicine were more likely to report needing more practical experience working with diverse groups. Psychiatry residents were less likely to report inadequate cross-cultural training. While most residents reported feeling skillful and prepared to work with culturally diverse groups, they report receiving little additional instruction or formal evaluation on this topic, particularly in programs other than psychiatry and family medicine.

  6. Canadian residents’ perceptions of cross-cultural care training in graduate medical school

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Barinder; Banwell, Emma; Groll, Dianne

    2017-01-01

    Background The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada specifies both respect for diversity as a requirement of professionalism and culturally sensitive provision of medical care. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the perception of preparedness and attitudes of medical residents to deliver cross-cultural care. Methods The Cross Cultural Care Survey was sent via e-mail to all Faculty of Medicine residents (approx. 450) in an academic health sciences centre. Comparisons were made between psychiatry residents, family medicine residents, and other residency groups with respect to training, preparedness, and skillfulness in delivering cross-cultural care. Results Seventy-three (16%) residents responded to the survey. Residents in psychiatry and family medicine reported significantly more training and formal evaluation regarding cross-cultural care than residents in other programs. However, there were no significant differences in self-reported preparedness and skillfulness. Residents in family medicine were more likely to report needing more practical experience working with diverse groups. Psychiatry residents were less likely to report inadequate cross-cultural training. Conclusion While most residents reported feeling skillful and prepared to work with culturally diverse groups, they report receiving little additional instruction or formal evaluation on this topic, particularly in programs other than psychiatry and family medicine. PMID:29354194

  7. Gender, religion, and sociopolitical issues in cross-cultural online education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaidi, Zareen; Verstegen, Daniëlle; Naqvi, Rahat; Morahan, Page; Dornan, Tim

    2016-05-01

    Cross-cultural education is thought to develop critical consciousness of how unequal distributions of power and privilege affect people's health. Learners in different sociopolitical settings can join together in developing critical consciousness-awareness of power and privilege dynamics in society-by means of communication technology. The aim of this research was to define strengths and limitations of existing cross-cultural discussions in generating critical consciousness. The setting was the FAIMER international fellowship program for mid-career interdisciplinary health faculty, whose goal is to foster global advancement of health professions education. Fellows take part in participant-led, online, written, task-focused discussions on topics like professionalism, community health, and leadership. We reflexively identified text that brought sociopolitical topics into the online environment during the years 2011 and 2012 and used a discourse analysis toolset to make our content analysis relevant to critical consciousness. While references to participants' cultures and backgrounds were infrequent, narratives of political-, gender-, religion-, and other culture-related topics did emerge. When participants gave accounts of their experiences and exchanged cross-cultural stories, they were more likely to develop ad hoc networks to support one another in facing those issues than explore issues relating to the development of critical consciousness. We suggest that cross-cultural discussions need to be facilitated actively to transform learners' frames of reference, create critical consciousness, and develop cultural competence. Further research is needed into how to provide a safe environment for such learning and provide faculty development for the skills needed to facilitate these exchanges.

  8. Leicester Cough Questionnaire: translation to Portuguese and cross-cultural adaptation for use in Brazil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Felisbino, Manuela Brisot; Steidle, Leila John Marques; Gonçalves-Tavares, Michelle; Pizzichini, Marcia Margaret Menezes; Pizzichini, Emilio

    2014-01-01

    To translate the Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ) to Portuguese and adapt it for use in Brazil. Cross-cultural adaptation of a quality of life questionnaire requires a translated version that is conceptually equivalent to the original version and culturally acceptable in the target country. The protocol used consisted of the translation of the LCQ to Portuguese by three Brazilian translators who were fluent in English and its back-translation to English by another translator who was a native speaker of English and fluent in Portuguese. The back-translated version was evaluated by one of the authors of the original questionnaire in order to verify its equivalence. Later in the process, a provisional Portuguese-language version was thoroughly reviewed by an expert committee. In 10 patients with chronic cough, cognitive debriefing was carried out in order to test the understandability, clarity, and acceptability of the translated questionnaire in the target population. On that basis, the final Portuguese-language version of the LCQ was produced and approved by the committee. Few items were questioned by the source author and revised by the committee of experts. During the cognitive debriefing phase, the Portuguese-language version of the LCQ proved to be well accepted and understood by all of the respondents, which demonstrates the robustness of the process of translation and cross-cultural adaptation. The final version of the LCQ adapted for use in Brazil was found to be easy to understand and easily applied.

  9. Bridging the Divide: Cross-Cultural Mediation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahan, Laura N.; Mahuna, Joshua M.

    2017-01-01

    The article strives to contribute to the growing field of conflict resolution by analyzing contrasting cross-cultural perceptions through insights from multiple areas to resolve intercultural conflicts and disputes. Western-centric mediation techniques are dissected in juxtaposition to indigenous methodologies in degrees of (1) substantiality and…

  10. Unique cultural values of Madura cattle: is cross-breeding a threat?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tri Satya Mastuti Widi, Tri; Udo, H.M.J.; Oldenbroek, J.K.; Budisatria, I.G.S.; Baliarti, E.; Zijpp, van der A.J.

    2013-01-01

    In Indonesia, cross-breeding local cattle with European beef breeds is widely promoted to stimulate beef production. This cross-breeding is threatening local breeds that have often different functions, including cultural roles. This study analysed the cultural values of Madura cattle and the effects

  11. Fostering Autonomy in EFL Cross-Cultural Distance Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Hikyoung

    2008-01-01

    The Korea Waseda Cross Cultural Distance Learning Project (KWCCDLP) is an endeavor to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural differences of speakers from different backgrounds through the medium of English. The project fully utilizes a student centered approach to learning where learners are the agents. This project aimed at university level…

  12. A cross-cultural comparison of the developmental evolution of expertise in diabetes self-management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shimizu, Yasuko; Paterson, Barbara L

    2007-11-01

    The authors compare the findings of two research studies, one conducted in Japan and the other in Canada, about the developmental evolution of self-management of diabetes. In this article, the authors identify the similarities and differences that exist in the research data, proposing that the differences are situated in the different cultural perspectives of self-management that exist in both countries. Researchers have acknowledged that self-management has cultural dimensions. Despite this, however, there are few studies that have provided a cross-cultural comparison of the experience of self-management among different cultural groups. The authors conducted a critical comparative analysis of two models of developing expertise in diabetes self-management. The review included an analysis of the cultural meanings of the various terms and the underlying assumptions of both models. The models shared many similarities; however, their differences were identified, such as the meaning and interpretation of various words or experiences, and shaped by the culturally bound perspectives of self and health. The findings serve as a caution to imposing ethnocentric views and interpretations in diabetes care. In addition, they remind us about the importance of asking people with diabetes about what they understand, desire and understand. The findings challenge nurses to reflect on how the development of self-management of diabetes in various national contexts is influenced by health care practices that focus on control or harmony.

  13. Munificence of Parent Corporate Contexts and Expatriate Cross-Cultural Training in China

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Selmer, Jan

    2006-01-01

    The practice of providing expatriates with cross-cultural training varies widely among business corporations. To examine the proposition that some characteristics of the parent corporation context could be munificent to the practice of providing cross-cultural training, a mail survey was addressed...... to business expatriates in China. Surprisingly, the results showed no association between corporate size, international stake, and international experience on the one hand and the extent to which the expatriates had received cross-cultural training on the other hand. Although an ad hoc analysis found...... a positive relationship between international experience and the provision of sequential cross-cultural training, there was no association between any of the variables depicting corporate context and predeparture or postarrival training. The findings and their implications are discussed in detail....

  14. Factors associated with intensiveness of use of child preventive health services in Taiwan: a comparative study between cross-cultural immigrant families and native-born families.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chien, Su-Chen; Yeh, Yen-Po; Wu, Jyun-Yi; Lin, Chun-Hsiu; Chang, Pei-Chi; Fang, Chiung-Hui; Yang, Hao-Jan

    2013-01-01

    To compare intensiveness of use of child preventive health services (CPHS) between cross-cultural immigrant families and native-born families in Taiwan and to explore factors associated with differences in intensiveness of CPHS use. Cross-cultural immigrant families were defined as families where the mother was an immigrant from another southeast Asian country. In native-born families, both parents were Taiwanese-born. Data were collected from 318 immigrant mothers and 340 native-born mothers of children aged 7 years or younger in a cross-sectional survey in central Taiwan. A social determinants framework of health inequities was constructed, and ordinal logistic regression models were used to examine the effect of four domains of intermediary determinants on the relationship between family type and underuse of CPHS: CPHS-related factors, medical-related factors, maternal acculturation factors, and sociodemographic/socioeconomic characteristics. Cross-cultural immigrant families were less likely to intensively use CPHS than native-born families. This difference appeared to be mediated by the greater likelihood of having an older child or a lower educated father in cross-cultural families. Findings of this study highlight the importance of promoting health behaviors and combating health inequities and social inequalities for cross-cultural immigrant families in Taiwan from a sociodemographic/socioeconomic and political context.

  15. An International Discussion about Cross-Cultural Career Assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Osborn, Debra S.

    2012-01-01

    Career assessments are a common resource used by career practitioners internationally to help inform individuals' career decision-making. Research on the topic of cross-cultural career assessment has been mostly limited to the applicability of an established inventory to a different culture. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the existing…

  16. Developing cross-cultural healthcare workers: content, process and mentoring

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mark A Strand

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Career service in cross-cultural healthcare mission work is the ambition of many people around the world. However, premature termination of this expected long-term service mitigates against achieving the goals of the individual and the organization. The lingering challenge of high rates of missionary attrition impacts the long-term effectiveness of the work and the health and well-being of the workers. One of the keys to reducing premature attrition is cross-cultural training for these individuals, provided it offers the right content, through the best medium, at the time of greatest perceived need by the missionary. This paper applies the Dreyfus Model of skills acquisition to the process of mentoring career healthcare missionaries in a progressive manner, utilizing a mentoring method. These missionaries can flourish in their work and more effectively achieve their individual and organizational goals through strategic mentorship that clearly defines a pathway for growing their cross-cultural skills.

  17. Promotion of Cultural Tourism through Cooperation in the Cross-Border Area

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rădulescu Corina Michaela

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The uniqueness and richness of culture and heritage in the cross-border area: Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Ukraine (HU-SK-RO-UA creates the opportunity for developing cultural tourism through innovative tourism and integrated tourism products, with the result of promoting tourism, generally in Europe and especially in Trans-Carpatic Region. For this purpose, new projects initiated can achieve better cooperation and coordination between the relevant stakeholders in the tourism sector, as well as to develop and implement joint tourism strategies. The paper presents a project proposal on promoting the culture and heritage in HU-SK-RO-UA area, through tourism function. The main activities designed in the project lead to joint cross-border tourism management in order to increase the attractiveness of cultural sites and joint cross-border touristic offer, by strengthening joint new touristic products and organizing joint cultural events.

  18. Cross-Cultural Agreement in Facial Attractiveness Preferences: The Role of Ethnicity and Gender

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coetzee, Vinet; Greeff, Jaco M.; Stephen, Ian D.; Perrett, David I.

    2014-01-01

    Previous work showed high agreement in facial attractiveness preferences within and across cultures. The aims of the current study were twofold. First, we tested cross-cultural agreement in the attractiveness judgements of White Scottish and Black South African students for own- and other-ethnicity faces. Results showed significant agreement between White Scottish and Black South African observers' attractiveness judgements, providing further evidence of strong cross-cultural agreement in facial attractiveness preferences. Second, we tested whether cross-cultural agreement is influenced by the ethnicity and/or the gender of the target group. White Scottish and Black South African observers showed significantly higher agreement for Scottish than for African faces, presumably because both groups are familiar with White European facial features, but the Scottish group are less familiar with Black African facial features. Further work investigating this discordance in cross-cultural attractiveness preferences for African faces show that Black South African observers rely more heavily on colour cues when judging African female faces for attractiveness, while White Scottish observers rely more heavily on shape cues. Results also show higher cross-cultural agreement for female, compared to male faces, albeit not significantly higher. The findings shed new light on the factors that influence cross-cultural agreement in attractiveness preferences. PMID:24988325

  19. Cross-cultural agreement in facial attractiveness preferences: the role of ethnicity and gender.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vinet Coetzee

    Full Text Available Previous work showed high agreement in facial attractiveness preferences within and across cultures. The aims of the current study were twofold. First, we tested cross-cultural agreement in the attractiveness judgements of White Scottish and Black South African students for own- and other-ethnicity faces. Results showed significant agreement between White Scottish and Black South African observers' attractiveness judgements, providing further evidence of strong cross-cultural agreement in facial attractiveness preferences. Second, we tested whether cross-cultural agreement is influenced by the ethnicity and/or the gender of the target group. White Scottish and Black South African observers showed significantly higher agreement for Scottish than for African faces, presumably because both groups are familiar with White European facial features, but the Scottish group are less familiar with Black African facial features. Further work investigating this discordance in cross-cultural attractiveness preferences for African faces show that Black South African observers rely more heavily on colour cues when judging African female faces for attractiveness, while White Scottish observers rely more heavily on shape cues. Results also show higher cross-cultural agreement for female, compared to male faces, albeit not significantly higher. The findings shed new light on the factors that influence cross-cultural agreement in attractiveness preferences.

  20. The Concept Of Framing In Cross-Cultural Business Communication

    OpenAIRE

    Gabriela Dumbravă

    2010-01-01

    Starting from the concept of cultural frames and their role in signifying human experience, the paper aims at pointing out that business communication, like any social interaction, is underrun by a process of framing, according to which individuals perceive, comprehend and appropriate otherness. Expanded to cross - cultural business communication, framing provides a clearer perspective on cultural divergence and ensures the acquiring of cultural sensitivity, which, in a global business envi...

  1. A Cross-Cultural Perspective:An Integration of Traditional Chinese Cul-ture into College English Textbooks

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    ZHANG Ni

    2014-01-01

    Teaching language is teaching culture. English is an international language with local and global significance.In“New Horizon College English”, Chinese culture elements are deficient, which is not conducive to our country ’s higher education and cross-cultural communication skills and to achieve the goal of innovation of Chinese culture. As an important part of world cul⁃ture, Chinese culture should be integrated into college English education. College English teaching materials should include not only western cultural elements but also fully present Chinese culture elements.

  2. Theory and Method in Cross-Cultural Psychology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malpass, Roy S.

    1977-01-01

    Cross cultural psychology is considered as a methodological strategy, as a means of evaluating hypotheses of unicultural origins with evidence of more panhuman relevance, and as a means of developing new theoretical psychological phenomena. (Author)

  3. Cross-cultural relevance of the Interpersonal Theory of suicide across Korean and U.S. undergraduate students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suh, Sooyeon; Ebesutani, Chad K; Hagan, Christopher R; Rogers, Megan L; Hom, Melanie A; Ringer, Fallon B; Bernert, Rebecca A; Kim, Soohyun; Joiner, Thomas E

    2017-05-01

    This study investigated the cross-cultural relevance and validity of the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide (ITS) utilizing young adult samples from South Korea (n =554) and the United States (U.S.; n =390). To examine the ITS, all participants completed self-report questionnaires measuring Thwarted Belongingness, Perceived Burdensomeness, and Capability for Suicide. We examined whether each construct significantly predicted the severity of suicidal risk in both samples. We also determined whether the strength of the effects of Thwarted Belongingness and Perceived Burdensomeness on suicidal ideation differed between the two samples due to the greater degree of importance placed on interpersonal relationships in collectivistic cultures such as South Korea. Structural equation modeling was used to examine these hypotheses. Thwarted Belongingness, Perceived Burdensomeness, and Capability for Suicide significantly predicted elevated suicidal risk. However, there were no significant differences in the paths from Thwarted Belongingness or Perceived Burdensomeness to suicide risk between the South Korean and U.S. These findings support the cross-cultural relevance and applicability of the ITS, whereby Thwarted Belongingness and Perceived Burdensomeness serve as indicators of suicide risk in both Western (U.S.) and East Asian (Korean) samples. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Cross Cultural Differences in Unconscious Knowledge

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kiyokawa, Sachiko; Dienes, Zoltan; Tanaka, Daisuke; Yamada, Ayumi; Crowe, Louise

    2012-01-01

    Previous studies have indicated cross cultural differences in conscious processes, such that Asians have a global preference and Westerners a more analytical one. We investigated whether these biases also apply to unconscious knowledge. In Experiment 1, Japanese and UK participants memorized strings of large (global) letters made out of small…

  5. Cross-cultural undergraduate medical education in North America: theoretical concepts and educational approaches.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reitmanova, Sylvia

    2011-04-01

    Cross-cultural undergraduate medical education in North America lacks conceptual clarity. Consequently, school curricula are unsystematic, nonuniform, and fragmented. This article provides a literature review about available conceptual models of cross-cultural medical education. The clarification of these models may inform the development of effective educational programs to enable students to provide better quality care to patients from diverse sociocultural backgrounds. The approaches to cross-cultural health education can be organized under the rubric of two specific conceptual models: cultural competence and critical culturalism. The variation in the conception of culture adopted in these two models results in differences in all curricular components: learning outcomes, content, educational strategies, teaching methods, student assessment, and program evaluation. Medical schools could benefit from more theoretical guidance on the learning outcomes, content, and educational strategies provided to them by governing and licensing bodies. More student assessments and program evaluations are needed in order to appraise the effectiveness of cross-cultural undergraduate medical education.

  6. The challenge of cross-cultural assessment--The Test of Ability To Explain for Zulu-speaking Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Solarsh, Barbara; Alant, Erna

    2006-01-01

    A culturally appropriate test, The Test of Ability To Explain for Zulu-speaking Children (TATE-ZC), was developed to measure verbal problem solving skills of rural, Zulu-speaking, primary school children. Principles of 'non-biased' assessment, as well as emic (culture specific) and etic (universal) aspects of intelligence formed the theoretical backdrop. In addition, specific principles relating to test translation; test content; culturally appropriate stimulus material; scoring procedures and test administration were applied. Five categories of abstract thinking skills formed the basis of the TATE-ZC. These were: (a) Explaining Inferences, (b) Determining Cause, (c) Negative Why Questions, (d) Determining Solutions and (e) Avoiding Problem. The process of test development underwent three pilot studies. Results indicate that the TATE-ZC is a reliable and valid test for the target population. A critical analysis of the efficacy of creating a test of verbal reasoning for children from the developing world concludes the article. As a result of this activity (1) the participant will have a clearer understanding of the principles that need to be followed when developing culturally appropriate test material; (2) the participant will understand the process of developing culturally appropriate test material for non-mainstream cultures; (3) the participant will be able to apply the process and principles to other cross-cultural testing situations.

  7. Culture-specific delusions. Sense and nonsense in cultural context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaines, A D

    1995-06-01

    It can be said that a definition of delusions requires the invocation of cultural understandings, standards of acceptability, as well as conceptions of reality and the forces that animate it. For these reasons, the determination of delusional or normative ideation can only be effected properly within particular cultural contexts. The cross-cultural record suggests that it is difficult to separate the delusional from the cultural; a belief that is patterened and culturally specific is, by definition a cultural, not a delusional belief. One must rely upon particular, relevant local cultural understandings to ascertain when the bounds of culture have been transgressed and meaning has given way to unshareable nonsense.

  8. Understanding How Culture Influences Emotions in Consumer Decision Making

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, Jeanne

    2016-01-01

    to understand how other cultural dimensions, than those traditionally studied (individualism vs. collectivism) in relation to consumers’ behavior, influence emotions. It is confirmed that indeed also Danes as other Western cultures prefer high arousal positive emotions over low arousal positive emotions......The present research contributes to a limited researched area in consumer research focusing on culture and emotion. Little is known about how culture influence emotions in consumer decision making but there is an emerging interest in deepening the understanding of this. Review of previous studies...... reveal that culture shapes how consumers ideally want to feel, and that this in turn influences preferences and choice, which is guided by anticipated emotions. Empirical results confirm that some emotions are preferred more than others and that studying discrete emotions may be important when trying...

  9. The Need for a Cross-Cultural Empirical Musicology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marc Leman

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The paper by Lara Pearson shows that a case study based on qualitative description may reveal interesting aspects about the co-occurrence of hand gestures and singing in a particular music culture. However, above all the paper lets us dream about what could be possible if forces from cultural studies and music cognition research were to be combined. A cross-cultural empirical musicology holds the promise of scientific work that goes far beyond qualitative descriptions.

  10. Cross-cultural education in U.S. medical schools: development of an assessment tool.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peña Dolhun, Eduardo; Muñoz, Claudia; Grumbach, Kevin

    2003-06-01

    Medical education is responding to an increasingly diverse population and to regulatory and quality-of-care requirements by developing cross-cultural curricula in health care. This undertaking has proved problematic because there is no consensus on what elements of cross-cultural medicine should be taught. Further, less is known about what is being taught. This study hypothesized that a tool could be developed to assess common themes, concepts, learning objectives, and methods in cross-cultural education. In 2001, 31 U.S. medical schools were invited to provide the researchers all written and/or Web-based materials related to implementing cross-cultural competency in their curricula. A tool was developed to measure teaching methods, skill sets, and eight content areas in cross-cultural education. A total of 19 medical schools supplied their curricular materials. There was considerable variation in approaches to teaching and in the content of cross-cultural education across the schools. Most emphasized teaching general themes, such as the doctor-patient relationship, socioeconomic status, and racism. Most also focused on specific cultural information about the ethnic communities they served. Few schools extensively addressed health care access and language issues. This assessment tool is an important step toward developing a standard nomenclature for measuring the success of cross-cultural education curricula. On the national level, the tool can be used to compare program components and encourage the exchange of effective teaching tools by promoting a common language, which will be essential for developing and implementing curricula, for comparing programs, and evaluating their effects on quality of care.

  11. Can we really use available scales for child and adolescent psychopathology across cultures? A systematic review of cross-cultural measurement invariance data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stevanovic, Dejan; Jafari, Peyman; Knez, Rajna; Franic, Tomislav; Atilola, Olayinka; Davidovic, Nikolina; Bagheri, Zahra; Lakic, Aneta

    2017-02-01

    In this systematic review, we assessed available evidence for cross-cultural measurement invariance of assessment scales for child and adolescent psychopathology as an indicator of cross-cultural validity. A literature search was conducted using the Medline, PsychInfo, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases. Cross-cultural measurement invariance data was available for 26 scales. Based on the aggregation of the evidence from the studies under review, none of the evaluated scales have strong evidence for cross-cultural validity and suitability for cross-cultural comparison. A few of the studies showed a moderate level of measurement invariance for some scales (such as the Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised, Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children, Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale, Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale, Mood and Feelings Questionnaire, and Disruptive Behavior Rating Scale), which may make them suitable in cross-cultural comparative studies. The remainder of the scales either showed weak or outright lack of measurement invariance. This review showed only limited testing for measurement invariance across cultural groups of scales for pediatric psychopathology, with evidence of cross-cultural validity for only a few scales. This study also revealed a need to improve practices of statistical analysis reporting in testing measurement invariance. Implications for future research are discussed.

  12. Riding the waves of culture understanding cultural diversity in business

    CERN Document Server

    Trompenaars, Fons

    1993-01-01

    The definitive guide to cross-cultural management--updated to help you lead effectively during a time of unprecedented globalization First published nearly 20 years ago, Riding the Waves of Culture became the standard guide to conducting business in an international context. Now, the third edition provides you with important new information and groundbreaking methods for leading effectively in the most globalized business landscape ever. Fons Trompenaars is a world expert on international management and founder and director of Trompenaars Hampden-Turner (THT), a consulting firm in the field of intercultural management. Charles Hampden-Turner is a Senior Research Associate at the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge and cofounder and Director of Research and Development at the Trompenaars-Hampden-Turner Group.

  13. A multilevel model of patient safety culture: cross-level relationship between organizational culture and patient safety behavior in Taiwan's hospitals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, I-Chi; Ng, Hui-Fuang; Li, Hung-Hui

    2012-01-01

    As health-care organizations endeavor to improve their quality of care, there is a growing recognition of the importance of establishing a culture of patient safety. The main objective of this study was to investigate the cross-level influences of organizational culture on patient safety behavior in Taiwan's hospitals. The authors measured organizational culture (bureaucratic, supportive and innovative culture), patient safety culture and behavior from 788 hospital workers among 42 hospitals in Taiwan. Multilevel analysis was applied to explore the relationship between organizational culture (group level) and patient safety behavior (individual level). Patient safety culture had positive impact on patient safety behavior in Taiwan's hospitals. The results also indicated that bureaucratic, innovative and supportive organizational cultures all had direct influence on patient safety behavior. However, only supportive culture demonstrated significant moderation effect on the relationship between patient safety culture and patient safety behavior. Furthermore, organizational culture strength was shown correlated negatively with patient safety culture variability. Overall, organizational culture plays an important role in patient safety activities. Safety behaviors of hospital staff are partly influenced by the prevailing cultural norms in their organizations and work groups. For management implications, constructed patient priority from management commitment to leadership is necessary. For academic implications, research on patient safety should consider leadership, group dynamics and organizational learning. These factors are important for understanding the barriers and the possibilities embedded in patient safety. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  14. The Use of Social Media and Popular Culture to Advance Cross-Cultural Understanding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tuzel, Sait; Hobbs, Renee

    2017-01-01

    Although we live in a global society, educators face many challenges in finding meaningful ways to connect students to people of other cultures. This paper offers a case study of a collaboration between teachers in the US and Turkey, where 7th grade students interacted with each other via online social media as a means to promote cultural…

  15. Improving socially constructed cross-cultural communication in aged care homes: A critical perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiao, Lily Dongxia; Willis, Eileen; Harrington, Ann; Gillham, David; De Bellis, Anita; Morey, Wendy; Jeffers, Lesley

    2018-01-01

    Cultural diversity between residents and staff is significant in aged care homes in many developed nations in the context of international migration. This diversity can be a challenge to achieving effective cross-cultural communication. The aim of this study was to critically examine how staff and residents initiated effective cross-cultural communication and social cohesion that enabled positive changes to occur. A critical hermeneutic analysis underpinned by Giddens' Structuration Theory was applied to the study. Data were collected by interviews with residents or their family and by focus groups with staff in four aged care homes in Australia. Findings reveal that residents and staff are capable of restructuring communication via a partnership approach. They can also work in collaboration to develop communication resources. When staff demonstrate cultural humility, they empower residents from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds to engage in effective communication. Findings also suggest that workforce interventions are required to improve residents' experiences in cross-cultural care. This study challenges aged care homes to establish policies, criteria and procedures in cross-cultural communication. There is also the challenge to provide ongoing education and training for staff to improve their cross-cultural communication capabilities. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  16. Pathogen prevalence predicts human cross-cultural variability in individualism/collectivism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fincher, Corey L; Thornhill, Randy; Murray, Damian R; Schaller, Mark

    2008-06-07

    Pathogenic diseases impose selection pressures on the social behaviour of host populations. In humans (Homo sapiens), many psychological phenomena appear to serve an antipathogen defence function. One broad implication is the existence of cross-cultural differences in human cognition and behaviour contingent upon the relative presence of pathogens in the local ecology. We focus specifically on one fundamental cultural variable: differences in individualistic versus collectivist values. We suggest that specific behavioural manifestations of collectivism (e.g. ethnocentrism, conformity) can inhibit the transmission of pathogens; and so we hypothesize that collectivism (compared with individualism) will more often characterize cultures in regions that have historically had higher prevalence of pathogens. Drawing on epidemiological data and the findings of worldwide cross-national surveys of individualism/collectivism, our results support this hypothesis: the regional prevalence of pathogens has a strong positive correlation with cultural indicators of collectivism and a strong negative correlation with individualism. The correlations remain significant even when controlling for potential confounding variables. These results help to explain the origin of a paradigmatic cross-cultural difference, and reveal previously undocumented consequences of pathogenic diseases on the variable nature of human societies.

  17. On the Meaning of Cross-Cultural Differences in Simple Cognitive Measures

    Science.gov (United States)

    van de Vijver, Fons J. R.

    2008-01-01

    A set of 5 reaction time tests of increasing cognitive complexity were administered to 35 secondary school pupils in Zimbabwe and The Netherlands at 4 consecutive school days in order to explore the existence and nature of cross-cultural differences on reaction time tests measuring basic cognitive operations. No cross-cultural differences were…

  18. Cross-cultural perspectives on physician and lay models of the common cold.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baer, Roberta D; Weller, Susan C; de Alba García, Javier García; Rocha, Ana L Salcedo

    2008-06-01

    We compare physicians and laypeople within and across cultures, focusing on similarities and differences across samples, to determine whether cultural differences or lay-professional differences have a greater effect on explanatory models of the common cold. Data on explanatory models for the common cold were collected from physicians and laypeople in South Texas and Guadalajara, Mexico. Structured interview materials were developed on the basis of open-ended interviews with samples of lay informants at each locale. A structured questionnaire was used to collect information from each sample on causes, symptoms, and treatments for the common cold. Consensus analysis was used to estimate the cultural beliefs for each sample. Instead of systematic differences between samples based on nationality or level of professional training, all four samples largely shared a single-explanatory model of the common cold, with some differences on subthemes, such as the role of hot and cold forces in the etiology of the common cold. An evaluation of our findings indicates that, although there has been conjecture about whether cultural or lay-professional differences are of greater importance in understanding variation in explanatory models of disease and illness, systematic data collected on community and professional beliefs indicate that such differences may be a function of the specific illness. Further generalizations about lay-professional differences need to be based on detailed data for a variety of illnesses, to discern patterns that may be present. Finally, a systematic approach indicates that agreement across individual explanatory models is sufficient to allow for a community-level explanatory model of the common cold.

  19. International Manager Development: Cross-Cultural Training in Highly Diverse Environments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harris, Hilary; Kumra, Savita

    2000-01-01

    Managers working in different cultures need such skills as empathy, flexibility, acceptance of relativity, and tolerance of ambiguity. A business administration curriculum based on the Myers Briggs Type Indicator seeks to raise awareness of cultural differences, develop students' cultural "antennae," and improve cross-cultural…

  20. Social networks and family violence in cross-cultural perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Korbin, J E

    1995-01-01

    The purpose of this chapter was twofold. First, the chapter put forward a brief cross-cultural perspective indicating that multiple types of intrafamilial violence occur cross-culturally. Second, the chapter placed social networks at the core of a complex etiology of intrafamilial violence. The purpose of giving centrality to social networks is not to suggest that social networks are the sole or primary agent contributing to family violence but to broaden the context in which family violence is viewed beyond that of the perpetrator, the victim/survivor, or the violent dyad.

  1. Interdisciplinary Service-Learning: Building Student Competencies through the Cross-Cultural Parent Groups Project

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michele Belliveau

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Changing demographics and an emphasis on competency-based social work education call for innovative approaches to the delivery of curricular content. In an effort to introduce BSW students to the socio-political issues facing the local Latino immigrant community, a service-learning project was developed in collaboration with the Spanish Language Department and a local middle school. An analysis of outcomes from social work student evaluations showed that students engaged with the community and issues in new and unexpected ways. Through their engagement in a cross-cultural group project, students developed greater cultural competency, honed their group practice skills in an unfamiliar context, provided a needed service to the community, and raised their awareness about the working conditions of new immigrants as part of a developing framework for social action. Details and implications of the project as a means to build student competencies are described.

  2. Benner's remnants: culture, tradition and everyday understanding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paley, John

    2002-06-01

    Benner's account of meaning and embodiment in nursing depends on a theory which she has never fully articulated, although she makes numerous allusions to it. Behind the background of shared meanings hovers something called 'culture', which provides each individual with meaning, determines what counts as real for her, and actively hands down interpretation-laden practices. This view is based, Benner claims, on the Heideggerian assumption that the meaning and organization of a culture precedes individual meaning-giving activity. I explore Benner's implicit view of culture, drawing on her published work over 15 years, and offer an appraisal of it. In doing so, I attempt to make sense of some rather strange remarks Benner has recently made about 'remnants' of Cartesian and Kantian thinking being found in the everyday understandings of people with asthma. The concept of culture is developed with reference to both Benner's own work and that of the anthropologist, Clifford Geertz, whose work she frequently cites. Having identified the principal tenets of what we might conveniently call the Benner-Geertz theory, I proceed to interrogate the theory, using the recent anthropological literature -- and, in particular, materialist attacks on the idea of culture as a system of meanings -- in order to cast doubt on it. I also review, very briefly, an alternative way of understanding 'culture', which is not vulnerable to the same criticisms. Benner's implicit theory of culture is revealed, somewhat ironically, as an inverted form of Cartesian dualism. Its intellectual provenance is not Heidegger, who appears to reject it, but the sort of American sociology associated with Talcott Parsons. As a corollary, it is suggested that Benner's 'remnants' analogy cannot be justified, and that the idea of Cartesian and Kantian concepts permeating Western culture, infecting both the providers and receivers of health care, is a myth.

  3. Understanding Organizational Culture and Communication through a Gyroscope Metaphor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bisel, Ryan S.; Messersmith, Amber S.; Keyton, Joann

    2010-01-01

    To fill a critical void in organizational culture pedagogy, the authors present an instructional system that employs the metaphor of a gyroscope to help students understand implicit assumptions in culture research. Working from Martin's nexus approach to organizational culture and Fairhurst and Putnam's tripartite theory of organizational…

  4. Cross-Cultural Conflicts within Sports Teams

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stura, Claudia; Johnston, Linda M.

    2018-01-01

    Since sports are increasingly used a way to bring formerly conflicting parties together post-conflict, more work needs to be done to ensure that sports are actually conducted in a way that promotes peace rather than exacerbates the conflict. Since many sports-for-peace programs cross cultural boundaries, this exploratory study was conducted to…

  5. Globalization of Problem-based Learning (PBL: Cross-cultural Implications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matthew Choon-Eng Gwee

    2008-03-01

    Full Text Available Problem-based learning (PBL is essentially a learning system design that incorporates several educational strategies to optimize student-centered learning outcomes beyond just knowledge acquisition. PBL was implemented almost four decades ago as an innovative and alternative pathway to learning in medical education in McMaster University Medical School. Since then, PBL has spread widely across the world and has now been adopted globally, including in much of Asia. The globalization of PBL has important cross-cultural implications. Delivery of instruction in PBL involves active peer teaching-learning in an open communication style. Consequently, this may pose an apparent serious conflict with the Asian communication style generally dominated by a cultural reticence. However, evidence available, especially from the PBL experience of some senior Korean medical students doing an elective in the University of Toronto Medical School and the cross-cultural PBL experience initiated by Kaohsiung Medical University, strongly suggests creating a conducive and supportive learning environment for students learning in a PBL setting can overcome the perceived cultural barriers; that is, nurture matters more than culture in the learning environment. Karaoke is very much an Asian initiative. The Karaoke culture and philosophy provide a useful lesson on how to create a conducive and supportive environment to encourage, enhance and motivate group activity. Some key attributes associated with Asian culture are in fact consistent with, and aligned to, some of the basic tenets of PBL, including the congruence between the Asian emphasis on group before individual interest, and the collaborative small group learning design used in PBL. Although there are great expectations of the educational outcomes students can acquire from PBL, the available evidence supports the contention the actual educational outcomes acquired from PBL do not really match the expected

  6. Globalization of problem-based learning (PBL): cross-cultural implications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gwee, Matthew Choon-Eng

    2008-03-01

    Problem-based learning (PBL) is essentially a learning system design that incorporates several educational strategies to optimize student-centered learning outcomes beyond just knowledge acquisition. PBL was implemented almost four decades ago as an innovative and alternative pathway to learning in medical education in McMaster University Medical School. Since then, PBL has spread widely across the world and has now been adopted globally, including in much of Asia. The globalization of PBL has important cross-cultural implications. Delivery of instruction in PBL involves active peer teaching-learning in an open communication style. Consequently, this may pose an apparent serious conflict with the Asian communication style generally dominated by a cultural reticence. However, evidence available, especially from the PBL experience of some senior Korean medical students doing an elective in the University of Toronto Medical School and the cross-cultural PBL experience initiated by Kaohsiung Medical University, strongly suggests creating a conducive and supportive learning environment for students learning in a PBL setting can overcome the perceived cultural barriers; that is, nurture matters more than culture in the learning environment. Karaoke is very much an Asian initiative. The Karaoke culture and philosophy provide a useful lesson on how to create a conducive and supportive environment to encourage, enhance and motivate group activity. Some key attributes associated with Asian culture are in fact consistent with, and aligned to, some of the basic tenets of PBL, including the congruence between the Asian emphasis on group before individual interest, and the collaborative small group learning design used in PBL. Although there are great expectations of the educational outcomes students can acquire from PBL, the available evidence supports the contention the actual educational outcomes acquired from PBL do not really match the expected educational outcomes commonly

  7. Nuclear power operations: A cross-cultural perspective

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rochlin, G.I.; Meier, A. von

    1994-01-01

    The authors present here a summary of similarities and differences observed in reactor control rooms, in the context of a review of the literature that framed and shaped the inquiry. After a brief overview of the scope, background, and origins of the study, the authors set it into the context of cross-cultural research, with particular attention to the methodological strengths and shortcomings of working in depth with a small number of cases. Following a summary of the observations and a discussion of their relevance, the authors conclude that the cultural variations they observe are indeed functional adaptations to specific social and cultural environments. 149 refs

  8. Spatial, temporal, and health associations of eating alone: A cross-cultural analysis of young adults in urban Australia and Japan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takeda, Wakako; Melby, Melissa K

    2017-11-01

    Eating alone is driven by social and cultural factors, not solely by individual preferences. In academic research, eating alone is often simply treated as an alternative to social, commensal eating, and little is known about the practice of eating alone itself. This study employs a cross-cultural analysis to explore social and cultural associations of eating alone. The analysis is based on 1) cultural domain data, derived from principal component analysis of freelist responses, a set of words or phrases related to the topic of eating alone; and 2) in-depth interviews with 72 young adults aged 20-40 in urban Australia and Japan. Many Australian and Japanese young adult participants associated eating alone with both pleasure and stress of being isolated from others. However, the comparison of principal components between Australian and Japanese groups and gender subgroups showed cross-cultural variations and complexity in the context of eating alone including: locations and timings of eating alone, and associations with healthy/unhealthy eating. Analyses of interviews are included to deepen understandings of cultural domains. These key associations are influenced by a range of social and cultural environments such as fast food cultures, work and life environments, and the scope of public health nutrition programs. The association between eating alone and healthy eating among young adults indicates that individualistic understandings of food intake in current public health nutrition programs are more favorable to eating alone and foster a gap between ideas of healthy eating and commensal eating as a cultural ideal. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Models and mosaics: investigating cross-cultural differences in risk perception and risk preference.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weber, E U; Hsee, C K

    1999-12-01

    In this article, we describe a multistudy project designed to explain observed cross-national differences in risk taking between respondents from the People's Republic of China and the United States. Using this example, we develop the following recommendations for cross-cultural investigations. First, like all psychological research, cross-cultural studies should be model based. Investigators should commit themselves to a model of the behavior under study that explicitly specifies possible causal constructs or variables hypothesized to influence the behavior, as well as the relationship between those variables, and allows for individual, group, or cultural differences in the value of these variables or in the relationship between them. This moves the focus from a simple demonstration of cross-national differences toward a prediction of the behavior, including its cross-national variation. Ideally, the causal construct hypothesized and shown to differ between cultures should be demonstrated to serve as a moderator or a mediator between culture and observed behavioral differences. Second, investigators should look for converging evidence for hypothesized cultural effects on behavior by looking at multiple dependent variables and using multiple methodological approaches. Thus, the data collection that will allow for the establishment of conclusive causal connections between a cultural variable and some target behavior can be compared with the creation of a mosaic.

  10. Cross-Cultural Collaboration as Community Growth and Integration: Children’s Music Projects in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Scotland

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hannah Linklater

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper constitutes a reflective account of inclusive approaches in two children’s music projects, both aiming to foster group creativityalongside cross-cultural awareness and understanding. The first of these projects involved sharing songs composed by children and youngpeople from a special needs school in Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina, with a primary school choir in Edinburgh, Scotland. The second project, inSarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, focused on group song-writing and performance involving three groups of children from ethnically separated schools, alongside a choir from a school for children with visual impairments. On reflection, we discuss cross-cultural musical collaboration as an effective means of bringing children togetheracross social and cultural divides in order to share new experiences while building respect for differences. We hope projects such as these may represent the first step towards the ultimate goal of encouraging and nurturing more inclusive friendships between children who might not otherwise have opportunities to interact with each other.

  11. Moving Beyond Conventional Wisdom: Advancements in Cross-Cultural Theories of Leadership, Conflict, and Teams.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gibson, Cristina B; McDaniel, Dana M

    2010-07-01

    In this article, we discuss the importance of a cross-cultural approach to organizational behavior. To do so, we illustrate how cross-cultural research in the past two decades has enabled us to reconceptualize constructs, revise models, and extend boundary conditions in traditional organizational behavior theories. We focus on three domains-teams, leadership, and conflict-and review cross-cultural empirical evidence that has extended several theories in each of these domains. We support the claim that even well-established organizational behavior theories vary in the extent to which they may be applied unilaterally across cultures, thus identifying the critical need to advance these theories via a cross-cultural research agenda. © The Author(s) 2010.

  12. Cross-cultural adaptation, content validation, and reliability of the ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Background: Assessment of lifestyle risk factors must be culturally- and contextually relevant and available in local languages. This paper reports on a study which aimed to cross culturally adapt a composite lifestyle cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors questionnaire into an African language (Yoruba) and testing some ...

  13. Dysthymia in a cross-cultural perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gureje, Oye

    2011-01-01

    Dysthymia is a relatively less-studied condition within the spectrum of depressive disorders. New and important information about its status has emerged in recent scientific literature. This review highlights some of the findings of that literature. Even though studies addressing the cross-cultural validity of dysthymia are being awaited, results of studies using comparable ascertainment procedures suggest that the lifetime and 12-month estimates of the condition may be higher in high-income than in low and middle-income countries. However, the disorder is associated with elevated risks of suicidal outcomes and comparable levels of disability whereever it occurs. Dysthymia commonly carries a worse prognosis than major depressive disorder and comparable or worse clinical outcome than other forms of chronic depression. Whereas there is some evidence that psychotherapy may be less effective than pharmacotherapy in the treatment of dysthymia, the best treatment approach is one that combines both forms of treatment. Dysthymia is a condition of considerable public health importance. Our current understanding suggests that it should receive more clinical and research attention. Specifically, the development of better treatment approaches, especially those that can be implemented in diverse populations, deserves research attention.

  14. A cross-cultural study on emotion expression and the learning of social norms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hareli, Shlomo; Kafetsios, Konstantinos; Hess, Ursula

    2015-01-01

    When we do not know how to correctly behave in a new context, the emotions that people familiar with the context show in response to the behaviors of others, can help us understand what to do or not to do. The present study examined cross-cultural differences in how group emotional expressions (anger, sadness, neutral) can be used to deduce a norm violation in four cultures (Germany, Israel, Greece, and the US), which differ in terms of decoding rules for negative emotions. As expected, in all four countries, anger was a stronger norm violation signal than sadness or neutral expressions. However, angry and sad expressions were perceived as more intense and the relevant norm was learned better in Germany and Israel than in Greece and the US. Participants in Greece were relatively better at using sadness as a sign of a likely norm violation. The results demonstrate both cultural universality and cultural differences in the use of group emotion expressions in norm learning. In terms of cultural differences they underscore that the social signal value of emotional expressions may vary with culture as a function of cultural differences, both in emotion perception, and as a function of a differential use of emotions. PMID:26483744

  15. A cross-cultural study on emotion expression and the learning of social norms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hareli, Shlomo; Kafetsios, Konstantinos; Hess, Ursula

    2015-01-01

    When we do not know how to correctly behave in a new context, the emotions that people familiar with the context show in response to the behaviors of others, can help us understand what to do or not to do. The present study examined cross-cultural differences in how group emotional expressions (anger, sadness, neutral) can be used to deduce a norm violation in four cultures (Germany, Israel, Greece, and the US), which differ in terms of decoding rules for negative emotions. As expected, in all four countries, anger was a stronger norm violation signal than sadness or neutral expressions. However, angry and sad expressions were perceived as more intense and the relevant norm was learned better in Germany and Israel than in Greece and the US. Participants in Greece were relatively better at using sadness as a sign of a likely norm violation. The results demonstrate both cultural universality and cultural differences in the use of group emotion expressions in norm learning. In terms of cultural differences they underscore that the social signal value of emotional expressions may vary with culture as a function of cultural differences, both in emotion perception, and as a function of a differential use of emotions.

  16. A cross-cultural study on emotion expression and the learning of social norms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shlomo eHareli

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available When we do not know how to correctly behave in a new context, the emotions that people familiar with the context show in response to the behaviors of others, can help us understand what to do or not to do. The present study examined cross-cultural differences in how group emotional expressions (anger, sadness, neutral can be used to deduce a norm violation in four cultures (Germany, Israel, Greece and the US, which differ in terms of decoding rules for negative emotions. As expected, in all four countries, anger was a stronger norm violation signal than sadness or neutral expressions. However, angry and sad expressions were perceived as more intense and the relevant norm was learned better in Germany and Israel than in Greece and the US. Participants in Greece were relatively better at using sadness as a sign of a likely norm violation. The results demonstrate both cultural universality and cultural differences in the use of group emotion expressions in norm learning. In terms of cultural differences they underscore that the social signal value of emotional expressions may vary with culture as a function of cultural differences, both in emotion perception, and as a function of a differential use of emotions.

  17. Glutaraldehyde cross-linking of amniotic membranes affects their nanofibrous structures and limbal epithelial cell culture characteristics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lai JY

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Jui-Yang Lai,1–3 David Hui-Kang Ma4,5 1Institute of Biochemical and Biomedical Engineering, 2Biomedical Engineering Research Center, 3Molecular Medicine Research Center, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan; 4Limbal Stem Cell Laboratory, Department of Ophthalmology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan; 5Department of Chinese Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan Abstract: Given that the cells can sense nanometer dimensions, the chemical cross-linking-mediated alteration in fibrillar structure of collagenous tissue scaffolds is critical to determining their cell culture performances. This article explores, for the first time, the effect of nanofibrous structure of glutaraldehyde (GTA cross-linked amniotic membrane (AM on limbal epithelial cell (LEC cultivation. Results of ninhydrin assays demonstrated that the amount of new cross-links formed between the collagen chains is significantly increased with increasing the cross-linking time from 1 to 24 hours. By transmission electron microscopy, the AM treated with GTA for a longer duration exhibited a greater extent of molecular aggregation, thereby leading to a considerable increase in nanofiber diameter and resistance against collagenase degradation. In vitro biocompatibility studies showed that the samples cross-linked with GTA for 24 hours are not well-tolerated by the human corneal epithelial cell cultures. When the treatment duration is less than 6 hours, the biological tissues cross-linked with GTA for a longer time may cause slight reductions in 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl-2-(4-sulfophenyl-2H-tetrazolium, inner salt, and anti-inflammatory activities. Nevertheless, significant collagen molecular aggregation also enhances the stemness gene expression, indicating a high ability of these AM matrices to preserve the progenitors of LECs in vitro. It is concluded that GTA cross-linking of collagenous tissue materials may affect their nanofibrous

  18. A cross-culture, cross-gender comparison of perspective taking mechanisms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kessler, Klaus; Cao, Liyu; O'Shea, Kieran J; Wang, Hongfang

    2014-06-22

    Being able to judge another person's visuo-spatial perspective is an essential social skill, hence we investigated the generalizability of the involved mechanisms across cultures and genders. Developmental, cross-species, and our own previous research suggest that two different forms of perspective taking can be distinguished, which are subserved by two distinct mechanisms. The simpler form relies on inferring another's line-of-sight, whereas the more complex form depends on embodied transformation into the other's orientation in form of a simulated body rotation. Our current results suggest that, in principle, the same basic mechanisms are employed by males and females in both, East-Asian (EA; Chinese) and Western culture. However, we also confirmed the hypothesis that Westerners show an egocentric bias, whereas EAs reveal an other-oriented bias. Furthermore, Westerners were slower overall than EAs and showed stronger gender differences in speed and depth of embodied processing. Our findings substantiate differences and communalities in social cognition mechanisms across genders and two cultures and suggest that cultural evolution or transmission should take gender as a modulating variable into account.

  19. Age and gender differences in self-esteem-A cross-cultural window.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bleidorn, Wiebke; Arslan, Ruben C; Denissen, Jaap J A; Rentfrow, Peter J; Gebauer, Jochen E; Potter, Jeff; Gosling, Samuel D

    2016-09-01

    Research and theorizing on gender and age differences in self-esteem have played a prominent role in psychology over the past 20 years. However, virtually all empirical research has been undertaken in the United States or other Western industrialized countries, providing a narrow empirical base from which to draw conclusions and develop theory. To broaden the empirical base, the present research uses a large Internet sample (N = 985,937) to provide the first large-scale systematic cross-cultural examination of gender and age differences in self-esteem. Across 48 nations, and consistent with previous research, we found age-related increases in self-esteem from late adolescence to middle adulthood and significant gender gaps, with males consistently reporting higher self-esteem than females. Despite these broad cross-cultural similarities, the cultures differed significantly in the magnitude of gender, age, and Gender × Age effects on self-esteem. These differences were associated with cultural differences in socioeconomic, sociodemographic, gender-equality, and cultural value indicators. Discussion focuses on the theoretical implications of cross-cultural research on self-esteem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  20. Cross-cultural equivalence in translations of the oral health impact profile.

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacEntee, Michael I; Brondani, Mario

    2016-04-01

    The Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP) has been translated for comparisons across cultural boundaries. This report on a systematic search of literature published between 1994 and 2014 aims to identify an acceptable method of translating psychometric instruments for cross-cultural equivalence, and how they were used to translate the OHIP. An electronic search used the keywords 'cultural adaptation', 'validation', 'Oral Health Impact Profile' and 'OHIP' in MEDLINE and EMBASE databases supplemented by reference links and grey literature. It included papers on methods of cross-cultural translation and translations of the OHIP for dentulous adults and adolescents, and excluded papers without translational details or limited to specific disorders. The search identified eight steps to cross-cultural equivalence, and 36 (plus three supplemental) translations of the OHIP. The steps involve assessment of (i) forward/backward translation by committee, (ii) constructs, (iii) item interpretations, (iv) interval scales, (v) convergent validity, (vi) discriminant validity, (vii) responsiveness to clinical change and (viii) pilot tests. Most (>60%) of the translations involved forward/backward translation by committee, item interpretations, interval scales, convergence, discrimination and pilot tests, but fewer assessed the underlying theory (47%) or responsiveness to clinical change (28%). An acceptable method for translating quality of life-related psychometric instruments for cross-cultural equivalence has eight procedural steps, and most of the 36 OHIP translations involved at least five of the steps. Only translations to Saudi Arabian Arabic, Chinese Mandarin, German and Japanese used all eight steps to claim cultural equivalence with the original OHIP. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  1. A Cross-Cultural Study of Adolescent Procrastination

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klassen, Robert M.; Ang, Rebecca P.; Chong, Wan Har; Krawchuk, Lindsey L.; Huan, Vivien S.; Wong, Isabella Y. F.; Yeo, Lay See

    2009-01-01

    In this study, we explore academic procrastination and associated motivation variables in 612 adolescents from Canada and Singapore. Few studies have explored adolescent procrastination and no previous studies have investigated adolescent procrastination using a cross-cultural framework. Singaporean adolescents reported higher levels of…

  2. Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Validation of SNOT-20 in Portuguese

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bezerra, Thiago Freire Pinto; Piccirillo, Jay F.; Fornazieri, Marco Aurélio; Pilan, Renata R. de M.; Abdo, Tatiana Regina Teles; Pinna, Fabio de Rezende; Padua, Francini Grecco de Melo; Voegels, Richard Louis

    2011-01-01

    Introduction. Chronic rhinosinusitis is a highly prevalent disease, so it is necessary to create valid instruments to assess the quality of life of these patients. The SNOT-20 questionnaire was developed for this purpose as a specific test to evaluate the quality of life related to chronic rhinosinusitis. It was validated in the English language, and it has been used in most studies on this subject. Currently, there is no validated instrument for assessing this disease in Portuguese. Objective. Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of SNOT-20 in Portuguese. Patients and Methods. The SNOT-20 questionnaire underwent a meticulous process of cross-cultural adaptation and was evaluated by assessing its sensitivity, reliability, and validity. Results. The process resulted in an intelligible version of the questionnaire, the SNOT-20p. Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.91, P cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the SNOT-20 questionnaire into Portuguese. PMID:21799671

  3. African Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology and Sport Facilitation ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Focus and Scope. The African Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology and Sport Facilitation is a professional journal of the Association of Psychology in Sport and Human Behaviour. It publishes a wide variety of original articles and reports relevant to cultural and sport behaviour, theoretical propositions, research outcomes ...

  4. Cross-Cultural School-Based Encounters as Global Health Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bruselius-Jensen, Maria; Renwick, Kerry; Aagaard-Hansen, Jens

    2017-01-01

    Objective: Drawing on the concepts of the cosmopolitan person and democratic health education, this article explores the merits of primary school-based, cross-cultural dialogues for global health education. Design: A qualitative study of the learning outcomes of the Move/Eat/Learn (MEL) project. MEL facilitates cultural meetings, primarily…

  5. Cross-Informant Evaluations of Preschoolers' Adjustment in Different Cultures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Israelashvili, Moshe

    2017-01-01

    An accurate and agreed upon evaluation of preschoolers' behavior is crucial for young children's positive development. This study explores possible cultural differences in cross-informants' evaluations. The premise is that informants who are from different cultures tend to give different evaluations of preschoolers' adjustment and/or that the…

  6. A Brazilian Portuguese cross-cultural adaptation of the modified JOA scale for myelopathy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pratali, Raphael R; Smith, Justin S; Motta, Rodrigo L N; Martins, Samuel M; Motta, Marcel M; Rocha, Ricardo D; Herrero, Carlos Fernando P S

    2017-02-01

    To develop a version of the modified Japanese Orthopaedic Association (mJOA) scale that had been translated into Portuguese and cross-culturally adapted for the Brazilian population. The well-established process of forward-backward translation was employed along with cross-cultural adaptation. Three bilingual translators (English and native Portuguese) performed the forward translation of the mJOA scale from English to Portuguese based on iterative discussions used to reach a consensus translation. The translated version of the mJOA scale was then back-translated into English by a native English-speaking translator unaware of the concepts involved with the mJOA scale. The original mJOA scale and the back-translated version were compared by a native North American neurosurgeon, and as they were considered equivalent, the final version of the mJOA scale that had been translated into Portuguese and cross-culturally adapted was defined. To facilitate global and cross-cultural comparisons of the severity of cervical myelopathy, this study presents a version of the mJOA scale that was translated into Portuguese and cross-culturally adapted for the Brazilian population.

  7. Cultural effects on mindreading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perez-Zapata, Daniel; Slaughter, Virginia; Henry, Julie D

    2016-01-01

    People from other cultural backgrounds sometimes seem inscrutable. We identified a potential cause of this phenomenon in two experiments demonstrating that adults' mental state inferences are influenced by the cultural identity of the target. We adapted White, Hill, Happé, and Frith's (2009) Strange Stories to create matched intra-cultural and cross-cultural mindreading and control conditions. Experiment 1 showed that Australian participants were faster to respond and received higher scores in the intra-cultural mindreading condition relative to the cross-cultural mindreading condition, but performance in the control conditions was equivalent. Experiment 2 replicated this pattern in independent samples of Australian and Chilean participants. These findings have important implications for cross-cultural communication and understanding. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. An Examination of Cross-Cultural Curriculum Development and Student Cross-Cultural Competencies in a School-Based Consultation Course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arra, Christopher T.

    2010-01-01

    The goal of this case study was to describe the cross-cultural consultation experiences of school psychology graduate students as they progressed through a semester-long school-based consultation course. Graduate students enrolled in a consultation course completed both quantitative and qualitative assessment measures. The course instructor used…

  9. New insights in cross-cultural communication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schapira, Lidia

    2012-01-01

    Improving clinician-patient communication, improving clinical decision making, and eliminating mistrust have been identified as three key areas for reducing disparities in care. An important step is the training of cancer professionals to deliver culturally competent care in clinical settings as well as increasing the proportion of underrepresented minorities in the health care workforce. Providing care that is attuned to the patient's cultural preferences begins by talking to the patient about his or her cultural history and identifying the locus of decision making, preferences for disclosure of vital health information, and goals of care. Patients with low literacy and those with poor fluency of the dominant language require additional services. Language interpretation by trained professionals is fundamental to ensure that patients are able to provide informed consent for treatment. A working definition of culture involves multiple dimensions and levels and must be viewed as both dynamic and adaptive, rather than simply as a collection of beliefs and values. Effective cross-cultural education avoids stereotyping and promotes communication and negotiation to solve problems and minimize tension and conflict. Recent research has identified that unconscious biases held by clinicians affect their behavior and recommendations for treatment.

  10. Patterns of adult cross-racial friendships: A context for understanding contemporary race relations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plummer, Deborah L; Stone, Rosalie Torres; Powell, Lauren; Allison, Jeroan

    2016-10-01

    This study examined patterns, characteristics, and predictors of cross-racial friendships as the context for understanding contemporary race relations. A national survey included 1,055 respondents, of whom 55% were white, 32% were black, and 74% were female; ages ranged from 18 to ≥65 years. Focus groups were conducted to assess societal and personal benefits. Participants (n = 31) were racially diverse and aged 20 to 66 years. After accounting for multiple covariates, regression analysis revealed that Asians, Hispanics, and multiracial individuals are more likely than their white and black counterparts to have cross-racial friends. Females were less likely than males to have 8 or more cross-racial friends. Regression analysis revealed that the depth of cross-racial friendships was greater for women than men and for those who shared more life experiences. Increasing age was associated with lower cross-racial friendship depth. Qualitative analysis of open-ended questions and focus group data established the social context as directly relevant to the number and depth of friendships. Despite the level of depth in cross-racial friendships, respondents described a general reluctance to discuss any racially charged societal events, such as police shootings of unarmed black men. This study identified salient characteristics of individuals associated with cross-racial friendships and highlighted the influence of the social, historical, and political context in shaping such friendships. Our findings suggest that contemporary race relations reflect progress as well as polarization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  11. Culture and Negotiation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bülow, Anne Marie; Kumar, Rajesh

    2011-01-01

    The literature on cross-cultural negotiation has expanded considerably over the past few decades, but the findings are often ambiguous and sometimes even contradictory. This introduction highlights the critical areas where objections are commonly raised about the relevance of national culture......, the applicability of typologies that treat cultures as static, and the problem of ambiguous terminology. It may not be surprising that studies contradict each other given the ambiguity of the national cultural construct and variations in the context of the negotiating situations that are studied. The articles...... in this issue contribute to deepening our understanding about cross-cultural negotiation processes....

  12. Cross-cultural variation in symptom perception of hypoglycemia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sanjay Kalra

    2013-01-01

    Conclusion: Significant cross-cultural differences related to the symptomatology of hypoglycemia are noted. Indian diabetologists should be aware of the varying presentation of hypoglycemia based on language and ethnic background.

  13. The Cultivation of Cross-Cultural Communication Competence in Oral English Teaching Practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Chunyan

    2015-01-01

    This paper analyzes the main problems and difficulties in current college English oral English teaching practice, illustrates the relationship between oral English teaching and cross-cultural communication competence. On the one hand, cross-cultural communication plays an essential role in oral English teaching; besides, oral English teaching…

  14. Anxiety- and Health-Related Quality of Life Among Patients With Breast Cancer: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of China and the United States

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jin You

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: Literature has documented the prevalence of anxiety and its adverse effect on quality of life among patients with breast cancer from Western countries, yet cross-cultural examinations with non-Western patients are rare. This cross-cultural study investigated differences in anxiety and its association with quality of life between US and Chinese patients with breast cancer. Methods: Patients with breast cancer from the United States and China completed measures for anxiety (Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and quality of life (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast. Results: After controlling for demographic and medical characteristics, Chinese patients reported higher levels of trait and state anxiety than US patients. Although there was an association between anxiety and quality of life in both groups of patients, the association between state anxiety and quality of life was stronger among Chinese patients than among US patients, with the association between trait anxiety and quality of life the same between the two cultural samples. Conclusion: These findings suggest that anxiety and its association with quality of life among patients with breast cancer varies depending on cultural context, which reveals greater anxiety and poorer quality of life among Chinese patients compared with US patients. This suggests greater unmet psychosocial needs among Chinese patients and highlights the need to build comprehensive cancer care systems for a better quality of life in Chinese populations.

  15. Toward a multidimensional understanding of culture for health interventions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asad, Asad L; Kay, Tamara

    2015-11-01

    Although a substantial literature examines the relationship between culture and health in myriad individual contexts, a lack of comparative data across settings has resulted in disparate and imprecise conceptualizations of the concept for scholars and practitioners alike. This article examines scholars and practitioners' understandings of culture in relation to health interventions. Drawing on 169 interviews with officials from three different nongovernmental organizations working on health issues in multiple countries-Partners in Health, Oxfam America, and Sesame Workshop-we examine how these respondents' interpretations of culture converge or diverge with recent developments in the study of the concept, as well as how these understandings influence health interventions at three different stages-design, implementation, and evaluation-of a project. Based on these analyses, a tripartite definition of culture is built-as knowledge, practice, and change-and these distinct conceptualizations are linked to the success or failure of a project at each stage of an intervention. In so doing, the study provides a descriptive and analytical starting point for scholars interested in understanding the theoretical and empirical relevance of culture for health interventions, and sets forth concrete recommendations for practitioners working to achieve robust improvements in health outcomes. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. A course-based cross-cultural interaction among pharmacy students in Qatar and Canada.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilby, Kyle John; Taylor, Jeff; Khalifa, Sherief I; Jorgenson, Derek

    2015-03-25

    To develop, implement, and evaluate a course-based, cross-cultural student interaction using real-time videoconferencing between universities in Canada and Qatar. A professional skills simulation practice session on smoking cessation was run for students in Qatar (n=22) and Canada (n=22). Students role played cases in small group situations and then interacted with colleagues from the other country regarding culturally challenging situations and communication strategies. Students were assessed on analytical content and communication skills through faculty member and peer evaluation. Cultural competency outcomes were assessed using a postsession survey. Overall, 92.3% of respondents agreed that learning was enhanced through the cross-cultural exchange, and 94.9% agreed that insight was gained into the health-related issues and needs of people from another culture. A course-based, cross-cultural interaction was an effective method to incorporate cultural competency principles into student learning. Future initiatives should increase direct student interaction and focus on culturally sensitive topics.

  17. Working with interpreters in cross-cultural qualitative research in the context of a developing country: systematic literature review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shimpuku, Yoko; Norr, Kathleen F

    2012-08-01

    This article is a report of a systematic literature review describing how cross-cultural researchers conducted qualitative studies with interpreters in Tanzania. The purpose was to draw methodological implications for working with interpreters within the context of developing countries. In a growing number of cross-cultural nursing studies in developing countries, interpreters play a crucial role for imparting verbal and cultural understanding. In many studies, however, the interpreters' role and their influences on the findings are not adequately described, and therefore the study credibility is weakened. Cross-cultural qualitative studies conducted with interpreters in Tanzania were searched in four databases. Meeting our inclusion criteria were 20 studies published from 1994-2009. We used Garrard's Matrix Method following Wallin and Ahlström's framework to analyse how cross-cultural researchers described the role of interpreters. We identified three major patterns of how researchers worked with interpreters: (i) invisible assistance, (ii) independent fieldwork and (iii) integrated collaboration. In many studies, interpreters' information was limited. They were often asked to collect data in the field without the presence of the researcher. They were integrated into the research process beyond data collection, such as subject recruitment, review of interviews, transcription and translation and analysis. From planning of research to dissemination of the findings, nurse researchers should carefully consider interpreters' influences on the findings. They may use a set of questions we developed for working with interpreters in developing countries to systematically describe the interpreter's role and maximize their research credibility. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  18. Dyslexia from a Cross-Linguistic and Cross-Cultural Perspective: The Case of Russian and Russia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kornev, Aleksandr N.; Rakhlin, Natalia; Grigorenko, Elena L.

    2010-01-01

    An important goal of research on specific learning disorders (such as dyslexia, or specific reading disability, or dysgraphia, or specific writing disorder) is to elucidate the universal characteristics and cross-linguistic and cross-cultural differences of literacy acquisition and disability. However, despite the acknowledged necessity of…

  19. Cross cultural adaptation of the menopause specific questionnaire ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Cross cultural adaptation of the menopause specific questionnaire into the Persian language. ... Annals of Medical and Health Sciences Research ... good internal consistency in vasomotor, physical and psychosocial domains, but not sexual.

  20. Acculturation Theory and the Practical Approaches to Cross-cultural Inclusiveness in International Cooperation

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Huang Kaisheng; Zhou Xinping

    2017-01-01

    Harmony and cultural inclusiveness are two basic principles highly advocated by the Silk Road Spirit.In response to the urgent appeal to cultivating cross-cultural adaptation,essential concepts and models of acculturation theory have been discussed and possible strategies proposed.It is concluded that integration contributes to implementing positive adaptation to the host culture,whilst multiculturalism helps to facilitate mutual exchange between Chinese and foreign cultures.Specific suggestions are further documented in order to mimmize misunderstanding and conflicts in cross-cultural communication.

  1. The Culure Assimilator: An Approach to Cross-Cultural Training

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fiedler, Fred E.; And Others

    1971-01-01

    Evaluates the cultural assimilator, a kind of training manual to help members of one culture understand and adjust to another culture. Describes those constructed for the Arab countries, Iran, Thailand, Central America, and Greece. (MB)

  2. Chinese version of the Global Youth Tobacco Survey: cross-cultural instrument adaptation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chiou Hung-Yi

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Tobacco smoking poses public health concerns because of its high risk for many chronic diseases. Most smokers begin using tobacco in their teens and recent reports indicate that smoking prevalence is climbing among youth. The Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS is a worldwide, school-based, tobacco-specific survey, but cross-cultural differences limit its effectiveness in international studies. Specifically, the GYTS assesses not only the prevalence of smoking, but also tobacco-related attitudes, school curricula, and advertisements, which are culturally influenced. Therefore, we conducted this study to develop a Chinese version of the GYTS for both national surveillance and international comparison. Methods The original English GYTS was translated and back translated using a cross-cultural adaptation process. The comprehensiveness and feasibility of using the Chinese-version GYTS were reviewed by a panel of 6 tobacco-control experts. The understandability and cultural relevance of the Chinese-version GYTS were discussed in a focus group of 5 schoolteachers and 8 students. The expert and focus group feedback was incorporated into a final Chinese version of the GYTS, which was administered to 382 students throughout Taiwan by multi-stage sampling from 10 randomly selected schools. Results The internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha for the GYTS subscales (smoking susceptibility, attitude toward smoking, and media messages about smoking ranged from 0.70 to 0.94. The internal logical agreement of responses ranged from 85.3 to 99.2%. Conclusion The Chinese version of the GYTS has good reliability and validity and can serve as the foundation for international comparison and tobacco control in Chinese-speaking communities.

  3. Prenatal genetic counseling in cross-cultural medicine: A framework for family physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhogal, Ashvinder K; Brunger, Fern

    2010-10-01

    To help family physicians practise effective genetic counseling and offer practical strategies for cross-cultural communication in the context of prenatal genetic counseling. PubMed and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews were searched. Most evidence was level II and some was level III. The values and beliefs of practitioners, no less than those of patients, are shaped by culture. In promoting a patient's best interest, the assumptions of both the patient and the provider must be held up for examination and discussed in the attempt to arrive at a consensus. Through the explicit discussion and formation of trust, the health professionals, patients, and family members who are involved can develop a shared understanding of appropriate therapeutic goals and methods. Reflecting on the cultural nature of biomedicine's ideas about risk, disability, and normality helps us to realize that there are many valid interpretations of what is in a patient's best interest. Self-reflection helps to ensure that respectful communication with the specific family and patient is the basis for health care decisions. Overall, this helps to improve the quality of care.

  4. The self-concept of the elderly: a cross-cultural comparison.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Katzko, M W; Steverink, N; Dittmann-Kohli, F; Herrera, R R

    1998-01-01

    This study examines the self-concept of the elderly in a cross-cultural perspective. An open-ended sentence completion methodology was employed. A sample of elderly Spanish and elderly Dutch were compared to gain an idea of the cross-cultural generality of the content of the self-concept. Analysis focuses on responses to sentences which probed the respondents' motivations and future plans and goals. Differences could be interpreted as reflecting an individualistic (Dutch) vs. collectivistic (Spanish) distinction between the two cultures. Furthermore, the findings had implications for how to interpret dimensions of meaningful aging. For example, a dimension such as "purpose in life" was more generalizable across the two samples than a dimension such as "autonomy."

  5. The consequences of "Culture's consequences"

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Knudsen, Fabienne; Froholdt, Lisa Loloma

    2009-01-01

      In this article, it is claimed that research on cross-cultural crews is dominated by one specific understanding of the concept of culture, which is static, evenly distributed and context-independent. Such a conception of culture may bring some basic order while facing an unknown culture...... review of the theory of Geert Hofstede, the most renowned representative of this theoretical approach. The practical consequences of using such a concept of culture is then analysed by means of a critical review of an article applying Hofstede to cross-cultural crews in seafaring. Finally, alternative...... views on culture are presented. The aim of the article is, rather than to promote any specific theory, to reflect about diverse perspectives of cultural sense-making in cross-cultural encounters. Udgivelsesdato: Oktober...

  6. Cross-cultural variation in disease-related concerns among patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levenstein, S; Li, Z; Almer, S; Barbosa, A; Marquis, P; Moser, G; Sperber, A; Toner, B; Drossman, D A

    2001-06-01

    The aim of this work was to study cross-cultural variations in the impact of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) on health-related quality of life by an international comparison of disease-related concerns. Item and factor scores on the Rating Form of Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patient Concerns and overall mean concern levels were compared by analysis of variance among 2002 IBD patients in eight countries. The overall level of concern varied from 51 out of 100 in Portugal to 19 in Sweden, with intermediate scores for Italy (43), Canada (40), United States (39), France (39), Austria (33), and Israel (25). Having surgery, an ostomy, the uncertain nature of the disease, and medication side effects were each rated among the first five in importance in six countries. Other items varied considerably. For example, concern regarding pain and suffering was high in Israel and low in Portugal, whereas concern over developing cancer was low in Italy. Concern over financial issues and access to high-quality health care were inversely associated with measures of national economic prosperity. 1) Cross-cultural comparisons of patient concerns related to IBD are feasible using translated scales. 2) Reporting tendencies vary greatly; within Europe, patients from southern countries report greater overall concern. 3) The complications and the variable evolution of disease elicit general concern, but the importance of specific issues varies among countries. 4) The reasons for national differences may have social, cultural, and/or economic determinants with relevance to the patient-physician relationship, patient education, and therapeutic decision making.

  7. Using Facebook for Cross-Cultural Collaboration: The Experience of Students from Taiwan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Chun-Min

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of Facebook among college students in a cross-cultural collaboration project between Taiwan and the United States, and focuses specifically on Taiwanese students' perceptions. Questions explored are: (1) Is Facebook a feasible platform for cross-cultural collaboration? (2) How does this…

  8. Language Personality in the Conditions of Cross-Cultural Communication: Case-Study Experience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davidovitch, Nitza; Khyhniak, Kateryna

    2018-01-01

    The article is devoted to the problem of identification of a language personality's traits under conditions of cross-cultural communication. It is shown that effective cross-cultural communication is revised under globalization and increasingly intensive social interactions. The results of the authors' research prove that it is possible to develop…

  9. Cross-cultural caregiving and the temporal dimension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Escandon, Socorro

    2013-11-01

    The caregiving research literature has explored and documented findings from psychological, clinical, and policy/program perspectives, but little is known regarding the contextual perspectives of caregiving. Temporal factors influence the structure and functioning of the caregiving family. The proposed paradigm adaptation extends a contextual perspective that addresses the exploration of the caregiving process as a temporal, dynamic, progressive process over time, in which decisions made by caregivers may not always be based on observable tasks but, nevertheless, may have important consequences. When cultures cross, attitudes and behaviors are modified, resulting from contact with a different set of values and beliefs. Cross-cultural research aims to explore these changes that take place over time. Future research should consider the inclusion of measures that assess the temporal aspect of caregiving and the acculturation considerations of family caregivers. These measures are especially needed because of the increased influence of international migration, economic globalization, and political conflicts in today's multicultural societies.

  10. A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Anxiety among College Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baloglu, Mustafa; Abbasi, Amir; Masten, William G.

    2007-01-01

    A number of studies have continued to investigate cross-cultural differences in anxiety. However, the cross-national research on anxiety is still far less advanced than other psychological constructs such as schizophrenia or depression. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to compare and contrast the levels of anxiety experienced by …

  11. A Brazilian Portuguese cross-cultural adaptation of the modified JOA scale for myelopathy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raphael R. Pratali

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVES: To develop a version of the modified Japanese Orthopaedic Association (mJOA scale that had been translated into Portuguese and cross-culturally adapted for the Brazilian population. METHODS: The well-established process of forward-backward translation was employed along with cross-cultural adaptation. RESULTS: Three bilingual translators (English and native Portuguese performed the forward translation of the mJOA scale from English to Portuguese based on iterative discussions used to reach a consensus translation. The translated version of the mJOA scale was then back-translated into English by a native English-speaking translator unaware of the concepts involved with the mJOA scale. The original mJOA scale and the back-translated version were compared by a native North American neurosurgeon, and as they were considered equivalent, the final version of the mJOA scale that had been translated into Portuguese and cross-culturally adapted was defined. CONCLUSION: To facilitate global and cross-cultural comparisons of the severity of cervical myelopathy, this study presents a version of the mJOA scale that was translated into Portuguese and cross-culturally adapted for the Brazilian population.

  12. Cross-cultural differences in visual perception

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jiří Čeněk

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available According to recent cross-cultural studies there exist culturally based differences between visual perception and the related cognitive processes (attention, memory. According to current research, East Asians and Westerners percieve and think about the world in very different ways. Westerners are inclined to attend to some focal object (a salient object within a perception field that is relatively big in size, fast moving, colourful focusing on and analyzing its attributes. East Asians on the other hand are more likely to attend to a broad perceptual field, noticing relationships and changes. In this paper we want to describe the recent findings in the field and propose some directions for future research.

  13. Original Research Cross-cultural adaptation, content validation, and ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    study which aimed to cross culturally adapt a composite lifestyle cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors ... and a relative lack of access to adequate advice and care. .... meaning different things are distinguished by giving symbols.

  14. Enhancing Cross-Cultural Competence in Multicultural Teacher Education: Transformation in Global Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seeberg, Vilma; Minick, Theresa

    2012-01-01

    Teacher education needs to engage teacher candidates in developing cross-cultural competence so that they may be able to transmit global learning to their future students. This study theorizes cross-cultural competence (CCC) from the perspectives of multicultural and global education. During a four-year project at a mid-western US university,…

  15. Examining Students' Perceptions of Plagiarism: A Cross-Cultural Study at Tertiary Level

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kayaoglu, M. Naci; Erbay, Sakire; Flitner, Cristina; Saltas, Dogan

    2016-01-01

    Plagiarism continues to dominate the academic world as one of its greatest challenges, and the existing literature suggests cross-cultural investigation of this critical issue may help all shareholders who detect, are confronted by and struggle with this issue to address it. Therefore, the present study, drawing upon a cross-cultural investigation…

  16. Cross-cultural acceptability and utility of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire: views of families

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paula Kersten

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Screening children for behavioural difficulties requires the use of a tool that is culturally valid. We explored the cross-cultural acceptability and utility of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire for pre-school children (aged 3–5 as perceived by families in New Zealand. Methods A qualitative interpretive descriptive study (focus groups and interviews in which 65 participants from five key ethnic groups (New Zealand European, Māori, Pacific, Asian and other immigrant parents took part. Thematic analysis using an inductive approach, in which the themes identified are strongly linked to the data, was employed. Results Many parents reported they were unclear about the purpose of the tool, affecting its perceived value. Participants reported not understanding the context in which they should consider the questions and had difficulty understanding some questions and response options. Māori parents generally did not support the questionnaire based approach, preferring face to face interaction. Parents from Māori, Pacific Island, Asian, and new immigrant groups reported the tool lacked explicit consideration of children in their cultural context. Parents discussed the importance of timing and multiple perspectives when interpreting scores from the tool. Conclusions In summary, this study posed a number of challenges to the use of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire in New Zealand. Further work is required to develop a tool that is culturally appropriate with good content validity.

  17. Cross-cultural acceptability and utility of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire: views of families.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kersten, Paula; Dudley, Margaret; Nayar, Shoba; Elder, Hinemoa; Robertson, Heather; Tauroa, Robyn; McPherson, Kathryn M

    2016-10-12

    Screening children for behavioural difficulties requires the use of a tool that is culturally valid. We explored the cross-cultural acceptability and utility of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire for pre-school children (aged 3-5) as perceived by families in New Zealand. A qualitative interpretive descriptive study (focus groups and interviews) in which 65 participants from five key ethnic groups (New Zealand European, Māori, Pacific, Asian and other immigrant parents) took part. Thematic analysis using an inductive approach, in which the themes identified are strongly linked to the data, was employed. Many parents reported they were unclear about the purpose of the tool, affecting its perceived value. Participants reported not understanding the context in which they should consider the questions and had difficulty understanding some questions and response options. Māori parents generally did not support the questionnaire based approach, preferring face to face interaction. Parents from Māori, Pacific Island, Asian, and new immigrant groups reported the tool lacked explicit consideration of children in their cultural context. Parents discussed the importance of timing and multiple perspectives when interpreting scores from the tool. In summary, this study posed a number of challenges to the use of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire in New Zealand. Further work is required to develop a tool that is culturally appropriate with good content validity.

  18. How to Learn Multidisciplinary Design: Biomedical Engineering in Cross Cultural Seminar

    OpenAIRE

    Shigehiro Hashimoto

    2016-01-01

    The way to learn multidisciplinary design has been discussed. "Biomedical engineering" is exemplified for multidisciplinary field. "Biomedical Engineering" makes the multidisciplinary research area, which includes biology, medicine, engineering, and others. The cross-cultural student seminars on biomedical engineering have been exemplified as the case studies. In the group work, students are divided into the small cross cultural groups. Each group finds a problem, methods to solve the problem...

  19. Inter-Cultural Competence and Cross-Border Inter-firm Learning Processes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kuada, John

    2006-01-01

    Studies in cross-cultural management and cross-border interfirm relations have been among the dominant research themes in international business management during the last three decades. There are significant commonalities in the foundational thoughts underlying these studies and there have been ...

  20. The Cross-Cultural Consistency of Marital Communication Associated with Marital Distress.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Halford, W. Kim; And Others

    1990-01-01

    Compared problem-solving behaviors of four samples of couples, sorted by marital happiness/distress and culture (German and Australian). Results showed cultural differences in frequency and functional significance of negative verbal communication, along with cross-culturally consistent marital behaviors associated with marital distress. (Author/TE)

  1. Are cultural dimensions relevant for explaining cross-national differences in antibiotic use in Europe?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deschepper, Reginald; Grigoryan, Larissa; Lundborg, Cecilia Stålsby; Hofstede, Geert; Cohen, Joachim; Kelen, Greta Van Der; Deliens, Luc; Haaijer-Ruskamp, Flora M

    2008-06-06

    was not significantly correlated, except in one study after controlling for GDP (r = 0.81). For Individualism and Long-Term Orientation no significant correlations were found. Power Distance is a cultural aspect associated with antibiotic use, suggesting that the culture-specific way people deal with authority is an important factor in explaining cross-national differences in antibiotic use. There are indications that Uncertainty Avoidance also plays a role but further research is needed to better understand the complex effect of cultural dimensions.

  2. Understanding Nuclear Safety Culture: A Systemic Approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Afghan, A.N.

    2016-01-01

    The Fukushima accident was a systemic failure (Report by Director General IAEA on the Fukushima Daiichi Accident). Systemic failure is a failure at system level unlike the currently understood notion which regards it as the failure of component and equipment. Systemic failures are due to the interdependence, complexity and unpredictability within systems and that is why these systems are called complex adaptive systems (CAS), in which “attractors” play an important role. If we want to understand the systemic failures we need to understand CAS and the role of these attractors. The intent of this paper is to identify some typical attractors (including stakeholders) and their role within complex adaptive system. Attractors can be stakeholders, individuals, processes, rules and regulations, SOPs etc., towards which other agents and individuals are attracted. This paper will try to identify attractors in nuclear safety culture and influence of their assumptions on safety culture behavior by taking examples from nuclear industry in Pakistan. For example, if the nuclear regulator is an attractor within nuclear safety culture CAS then how basic assumptions of nuclear plant operators and shift in-charges about “regulator” affect their own safety behavior?

  3. International Service-Learning: Ethics in Cross-Cultural Partnerships

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kim Jones

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available All study abroad courses require the development of productive cross-cultural relationships. Working with local service providers from diverse cultural backgrounds, such as tour guides, hotel managers, and bus drivers, can be demanding work. However, these commercial relationships are reasonably well defined in terms of consumers and vendors of services. On the other hand, the collaboration and shared goals necessary for engaging in direct service abroad require the development of meaningful partnerships that extend beyond commercial interactions. Ethical partnerships are complicated by unequal power dynamics, different cultural expectations of reciprocity, and culturally specific understandings of relationship duration. The goal of this study is to identify divergent expectations amongst students providing the service, local service coordinators, and recipients of the service. An open-ended interview guide was developed for students and collaborators in three short-term international service-learning courses. Students wrote responses regarding their perceptions of the need for the project and the impact on all participants. Similar questions were asked of local service coordinators and members of the community in face-to-face interviews. This provided insight into the variety of perceptions of needs and outcomes. We argue that the process of aligning of mutual and individual goals and perceptions is integral to ascertaining informed consent for the participation of students, partner organizations, and community members in ISL programs. Furthermore, in striving for informed consent, the development of ethical, sensitive, and reciprocal ISL partnerships can be promoted. While it was not possible to obtain data from all groups in all three courses, this exploratory, qualitative investigation offered meaningful opportunities to maintain and further develop equitable relationships and to clarify expectations for future collaborations and coursework

  4. Cultural dimension of individualism and collectivism and its perceptual and cognitive correlates in cross-cultural research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jiří Čeněk

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper reviews the current findings on the dimension of individualism/collectivism, which might be a useful tool for the comparison of different cultures and for the investigation of the effect of culture as a psychological concept on individual mental processes. The validity and reliability of the concept of the dimension of individualism/collectivism is discussed. The related theory of analytic and holistic thinking is introduced within a framework of extensive comparative research in the field of cross-cultural psychology. Several interesting research designs on cross-cultural differences in cognition and perception are described. The empirical part contains a short report of research conducted on a sample (N=92 of Czech and Czech Vietnamese university students using a scale of horizontal and vertical individualism/collectivism (Bartoš, 2010. The results do not fully support the traditional view of individualistic Europeans and collectivistic Asians.

  5. ''What are you?'' A recurring question in a cross-cultural psychiatrist's life and career.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hicks, Madelyn Hsiao-Rei

    2011-04-01

    This article contributes to the Transcultural Psychiatry special issue of autobiographical articles on: ''The Personal and the Professional: Lives and Careers of Cultural Psychiatrists.'' The author describes influences and themes in her professional development as a cross-cultural psychiatrist and academic. Growing up as a part-Chinese, part-white child in rural Midwestern America resulted in frequently being asked: ''What are you?'' This abrupt, bald, but essential question eventually became a useful tool in the productive, repeated re-working of identity, values, and goals throughout her personal and professional life. Experiences of being an outsider, family histories, and early observations of racism are linked to later interests in cross-cultural psychiatry, ethics, and the protection of vulnerable populations. She describes her research on cross-cultural measurement, depression, suicidality, domestic violence and violence in war. Issues of career advancement and internal conflict are described for women academics who occupy three simultaneous, primary roles: academic, doctor and mother. The theme of ''crossing,'' as in ''cross-cultural,'' indicates the effort and intention required to move between races, cultures, classes, intellectual disciplines, personal and professional identities, clinical and academic roles, and social roles allocated to men and women.

  6. Intergenerational Transmission Effects on Relationship Satisfaction: A Cross-Cultural Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoshida, Keitaro; Busby, Dean M.

    2012-01-01

    Although intergenerational transmission processes have been studied on various aspects of family life, cross-cultural comparisons have rarely been made. In the present study, the authors examine how intergenerational transmission processes on relationship satisfaction differ between individuals with different gender and cultural identities. A…

  7. Cross-Cultural Adaptation of the CHAMPS Questionnaire in French Canadians with COPD

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mak, Susanne; Soicher, Judith E.; Mayo, Nancy E.; Wood-Dauphinee, Sharon; Bourbeau, Jean

    2016-01-01

    Physical activity is difficult to measure in individuals with COPD. The Community Healthy Activities Model Program for Seniors (CHAMPS) questionnaire demonstrated strong clinometric properties when used with the elderly and with those affected by chronic disease. Study objectives were to translate, culturally adapt the CHAMPS into French, and reexamine its test-retest reliability and construct validity in French and English Canadians with COPD. This paper presents the cross-cultural adaptation of the CHAMPS; results of its clinometric testing will be described in another article. The CHAMPS examines the degree of physical activity performed in a typical week through two summary scales, caloric expenditure and activity frequency. The CHAMPS was only in English; thus, a cross-cultural adaptation was needed to translate the CHAMPS into French for use in French Canadians with COPD. Cross-cultural adaptation consisted of forward and back translation, with expert review at each stage of translation: minor inconsistencies were uncovered and rectified. Five French participants with COPD completed the finalized Canadian French CHAMPS and participated in cognitive debriefing; no problematic items were identified. A structured and stepwise, cross-cultural adaptation process produced the Canadian French CHAMPS, with items of equivalent meaning to the English version, for use in French Canadians with COPD. PMID:27445570

  8. Cross-Cultural Adaptation of the CHAMPS Questionnaire in French Canadians with COPD

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Susanne Mak

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Physical activity is difficult to measure in individuals with COPD. The Community Healthy Activities Model Program for Seniors (CHAMPS questionnaire demonstrated strong clinometric properties when used with the elderly and with those affected by chronic disease. Study objectives were to translate, culturally adapt the CHAMPS into French, and reexamine its test-retest reliability and construct validity in French and English Canadians with COPD. This paper presents the cross-cultural adaptation of the CHAMPS; results of its clinometric testing will be described in another article. The CHAMPS examines the degree of physical activity performed in a typical week through two summary scales, caloric expenditure and activity frequency. The CHAMPS was only in English; thus, a cross-cultural adaptation was needed to translate the CHAMPS into French for use in French Canadians with COPD. Cross-cultural adaptation consisted of forward and back translation, with expert review at each stage of translation: minor inconsistencies were uncovered and rectified. Five French participants with COPD completed the finalized Canadian French CHAMPS and participated in cognitive debriefing; no problematic items were identified. A structured and stepwise, cross-cultural adaptation process produced the Canadian French CHAMPS, with items of equivalent meaning to the English version, for use in French Canadians with COPD.

  9. A cross-culture, cross-gender comparison of perspective taking mechanisms

    OpenAIRE

    Kessler, Klaus; Cao, Liyu; O'Shea, Kieran J.; Wang, Hong Fang

    2014-01-01

    Being able to judge another person's visuo-spatial perspective is an essential social skill, hence we investigated the generalizability of the involved mechanisms across cultures and genders. Developmental, cross-species, and our own previous research suggest that two different forms of perspective taking can be distinguished, which are subserved by two distinct mechanisms. The simpler form relies on inferring another's line-of-sight, whereas the more complex form depends on embodied transfor...

  10. Cross-Cultural Service Learning with Native Americans: Pedagogy for Building Cultural Competence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bolea, Patricia S.

    2012-01-01

    This paper articulates a curricular approach that centers on a Native American service learning course. Social work students engaged in cross-cultural immersion on a reservation in the United States. By examination of historical United States policy impacting Indian tribes and contemporary experiences that challenge basic instruction in public…

  11. Learning to Teach Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students through Cross-Cultural Experiences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Savva, Maria

    2017-01-01

    Teacher participation in cross-cultural experiences is often associated with the broadening of perspectives and increased intercultural sensitivity. While these qualities provide an overarching and important framework for intercultural development, they remain highly abstract. What exactly do we mean when we refer to these qualities? And in what…

  12. Exploring Culture Theory Global Leadership and OrganizationalBehaviour Effectiveness in Cross-cultural Communication inAsian Business Negotiations

    OpenAIRE

    Hoo, Pin Lick Soo

    2016-01-01

    While certain In international business negotiations, having the knowledge of cross-cultural communication is essential especially in global business environments and thus, many researchers have spent numerous years to investigate how culture influences Asian business negotiation which has contributed to negotiation outcome. This article provides critical insight into the theoretical link of cultural dimensions of culture for international business negotiations. The proposed model suggested i...

  13. Cross-cultural Knowledge Management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dorel Mihai PARASCHIV

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available The success of international companies in providing high quality products and outstanding services is subject, on the one hand, to the increasing dynamic of the economic environment and on the other hand to the adoption of worldwide quality standards and procedures. As market place is becoming more and more global, products and services offered worldwide by international companies must face the multi-cultural environment challenges. These challenges manifest themselves not only at customer relationship level but also deep inside companies, at employee level. Important support in facing all these challenges has been provided at cognitive level by management system models and at technological level by information cutting edge technologies Business Intelligence & Knowledge Management Business Intelligence is already delivering its promised outcomes at internal business environment and, with the explosive deployment of public data bases, expand its analytical power at national, regional and international level. Quantitative measures of economic environment, wherever available, may be captured and integrated in companies’ routine analysis. As for qualitative data, some effort is still to be done in order to integrate measures of social, political, legal, natural and technological environment in companies’ strategic analysis. An increased difficulty is found in treating cultural differences, common knowledge making the most hidden part of any foreign environment. Managing cultural knowledge is crucial to success in cultivating and maintaining long-term business relationships in multicultural environments. Knowledge Management provides the long needed technological support for cross-cultural management in the tedious task of improving knowledge sharing in multi-national companies and using knowledge effectively in international joint ventures. The paper is approaching the conceptual frameworks of knowledge management and proposes an unified model

  14. A cross-cultural study of acceptability and food pairing for hot sauces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Hyun-Jee; Chung, Seo-Jin; Kim, Kwang-Ok; Nielsen, Belinda; Ishii, Rie; O'Mahony, Michael

    2018-04-01

    This study was conducted to understand the acceptance levels of hot sauces among consumers from different culinary cultures. Two newly developed hot sauces [fermented red chili pepper with soybean-paste-based sauce(GS) and fermented red chili-pepper-based sauce(KS)] were compared with Tabasco sauce(TB) and Sriracha sauce(SR). Two separate cross-cultural home-use tests(HUTs) were conducted: pizza and cream soup were provided as food items in HUT 1, whereas grilled chicken wings and rice noodle soup were provided in HUT 2. Consumers residing in Denmark, South Korea, and US participated in each HUT (n≅100 per country). Acceptance levels and the reasons for (dis)liking particular hot sauces applied to food systems were assessed. The food items that paired well with different hot sauces when the sauces were applied freely to regular meals were also analyzed among the US and Korean subjects. When the hot-sauce samples were applied to pizza and cream soup, the preferred order of the samples exhibited a cross-cultural agreement (GS = KS > TB). In the case of grilled chicken and rice noodle soup, the acceptance rating was similar for the three types of hot sauces among Koreans, whereas the acceptance was higher for SR among the US subjects for both foodstuffs, while Danish subjects preferred GS and KS over SR. The US subjects did not like hot-sauce samples with sweet and weak spiciness, whereas the Korean and Danish subjects disliked the hot-sauce sample when it was too spicy and not sufficiently sweet. These findings indicate that the matching of particular sauces with specific food items is culture-dependent, and this needs to be considered when trying to export food products such as hot sauce to other countries. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Using Literature to Teach Cross-Cultural Management: A German Perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bloch, Brian

    1995-01-01

    Discusses the use of German literature in courses teaching cross-cultural management. The article argues that literature depicting society and culture promotes effective business interaction. It also attempts to clarify the benefits of using literary texts to supplement theoretical texts on international business. (26 references) (Author/CK)

  16. Cross Culture Communication——in Our Daily Life

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    宋君; 陈忱

    2007-01-01

    Since the late 1960s,culture has been considered tighter with communication.Culture IS based on the community of communication.Communication involves people and their environment.Thus culture is an important factor in communication.Today with modem economic and technological development,intercultural communication is mole important than ever before. When people from different cultural background communicate with each other,their social stereotype pattern of behavior, their habits of language and thought differ from one another,because these are the possible factors that affect intercultural communications.Culture norms also change,culture may be transferred as signs but we have to study and understand the above carefially.

  17. Translation of interviews from a source language to a target language: examining issues in cross-cultural health care research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-Amer, Rasmieh; Ramjan, Lucie; Glew, Paul; Darwish, Maram; Salamonson, Yenna

    2015-05-01

    To illuminate translation practice in cross-language interview in health care research and its impact on the construction of the data. Globalisation and changing patterns of migration have created changes to the world's demography; this has presented challenges for overarching social domains, specifically, in the health sector. Providing ethno-cultural health services is a timely and central facet in an ever-increasingly diverse world. Nursing and other health sectors employ cross-language research to provide knowledge and understanding of the needs of minority groups, which underpins cultural-sensitive care services. However, when cultural and linguistic differences exist, they pose unique complexities for cross-cultural health care research; particularly in qualitative research where narrative data are central for communication as most participants prefer to tell their story in their native language. Consequently, translation is often unavoidable in order to make a respondent's narrative vivid and comprehensible, yet, there is no consensus about how researchers should address this vital issue. An integrative literature review. PubMed and CINAHL databases were searched for relevant studies published before January 2014, and hand searched reference lists of studies were selected. This review of cross-language health care studies highlighted three major themes, which identify factors often reported to affect the translation and production of data in cross-language research: (1) translation style; (2) translators; and (3) trustworthiness of the data. A plan detailing the translation process and analysis of health care data must be determined from the study outset to ensure credibility is maintained. A transparent and systematic approach in reporting the translation process not only enhances the integrity of the findings but also provides overall rigour and auditability. It is important that minority groups have a voice in health care research which, if accurately

  18. Diverse cultures at work: ensuring safety and health through leadership and participation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Starren, A.; Luijters, K.; Drupsteen, L.; Vilkevicius, G.; Stulginskis, A.; Eeckelaert, L.; Elsler, D.

    2013-01-01

    The differences between cultures are helpful in understanding discrepancies when several nationalities are working together. Cross-cultural studies describe characteristics of cultures and differences between different cultures. Therefore, the cross-cultural literature is very helpful in describing

  19. Validation of the Cross-Cultural Alcoholism Screening Test (CCAST).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gorenc, K D; Peredo, S; Pacurucu, S; Llanos, R; Vincente, B; López, R; Abreu, L F; Paez, E

    1999-01-01

    When screening instruments that are used in the assessment and diagnosis of alcoholism of individuals from different ethnicities, some cultural variables based on norms and societal acceptance of drinking behavior can play an important role in determining the outcome. The accepted diagnostic criteria of current market testing are based on Western standards. In this study, the Munich Alcoholism Test (31 items) was the base instrument applied to subjects from several Hispanic-American countries (Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru). After the sample was submitted to several statistical procedures, these 31 items were reduced to a culture-free, 31-item test named the Cross-Cultural Alcohol Screening Test (CCAST). The results of this Hispanic-American sample (n = 2,107) empirically demonstrated that CCAST measures alcoholism with an adequate degree of accuracy when compared to other available cross-cultural tests. CCAST is useful in the diagnosis of alcoholism in Spanish-speaking immigrants living in countries where English is spoken. CCAST can be used in general hospitals, psychiatric wards, emergency services and police stations. The test can be useful for other professionals, such as psychological consultants, researchers, and those conducting expertise appraisal.

  20. A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Korean and American Science Teachers' Views of Evolution and the Nature of Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Sun Young; Nehm, Ross H.

    2011-01-01

    Despite a few international comparisons of the evolutionary beliefs of the general public, comparatively less research has focused on science teachers. Cross-cultural studies offer profitable opportunities for exploring the interactions among knowledge and belief variables in regard to evolution in different socio-cultural contexts. We investigated the evolutionary worldviews of pre-service science teachers from Asia (specifically South Korea), a region often excluded from international comparisons. We compared Korean and American science teachers': (1) understandings of evolution and the nature of science, and (2) acceptance of evolution in order to elucidate how knowledge and belief relationships are manifested in different cultural contexts. We found that Korean science teachers exhibited 'moderate' evolutionary acceptance levels comparable to or lower than American science teacher samples. Gender was significantly related to Korean teachers' evolution content knowledge and acceptance of evolution, with female Christian biology teachers displaying the lowest values on all measures. Korean science teachers' understandings of nature of science were significantly related to their acceptance and understanding of evolution; this relationship appears to transcend cultural boundaries. Our new data on Korean teachers, combined with studies from more than 20 other nations, expose the global nature of science teacher ambivalence or antipathy toward evolutionary knowledge.

  1. Cross-cultural adaptation of the Social and Emotional Questionnaire on Dementia for the Brazilian population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Belfort, Tatiana; Bramham, Jessica; Simões Neto, José Pedro; Sousa, Maria Fernanda Barroso de; Santos, Raquel Luiza dos; Nogueira, Marcela Moreira Lima; Torres, Bianca; Rosa, Rachel Dias Lopes da; Dourado, Marcia Cristina Nascimento

    2015-01-01

    Impairments in social and emotional functioning may affect the communication skills and interpersonal relationships of people with dementia and their caregivers. This study had the aim of presenting the steps involved in the cross-cultural adaptation of the Social and Emotional Questionnaire (SEQ) for the Brazilian population. Cross-cultural adaptation study, conducted at the Center for Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders in a public university. The process adopted in this study required six consecutive steps: initial translation, translation synthesis, back translation, committee of judges, pretesting of final version and submission to the original author. In general, the items had semantic, idiomatic, conceptual and experiential equivalence. During the first pretest, people with dementia and their caregivers had difficulties in understanding some items relating to social skills, which were interpreted ambiguously. New changes were made to allow better adjustment to the target population and, following this, a new pretest was performed. This pre-test showed that the changes were relevant and gave rise to the final version of the instrument. There was no correlation between education level and performance in the questionnaire, among people with dementia (P = 0.951). The Brazilian Portuguese version of the Social and Emotional Questionnaire was well understood and, despite the cultural and linguistic differences, the constructs of the original version were maintained.

  2. Cross Cultural Comparative Education--Fortifying Preconceptions or Transformation of Knowledge?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Birkeland, Åsta

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to carry out a critical inquiry of comparative education by using an example of a comparative programme within kindergarten teacher education in Norway. The article discusses the inclination, in cross-cultural comparative studies, to emphasise cultural essentialism, to evaluate educational practice from a…

  3. Empathy without borders? Cross-cultural heart and mind-reading in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Background: This cross-cultural study was designed to examine cultural differences in empathy levels of first-year medical students. Methods: A total of 257 students from the academic year 2010/11, 131 at Jimma University, Ethiopia, and 126 at the Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany, completed the Balanced ...

  4. Procalcitonin levels in patients with positive blood culture, positive body fluid culture, sepsis, and severe sepsis: a cross-sectional study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Ying; Li, Xia-Xi; Jiang, Ling-Xiao; Du, Meng; Liu, Zhan-Guo; Cen, Zhong-Ran; Wang, Hua; Guo, Zhen-Hui; Chang, Ping

    2016-01-01

    Numerous investigations on procalcitonin (PCT) have been carried out, although few with large sample size. To deal with the complexity of sepsis, an understanding of PCT in heterogeneous clinical conditions is required. Hospitalized patients aged 10-79 years were included in this retrospective and cross-sectional study. PCT tests were assayed within 2 days of blood culture. A total of 2952 cases (from 2538 patients) were enrolled in this study, including 440 cases in the 'positive BC' group, 123 cases in the 'positive body fluid culture' group, and 2389 cases in the 'negative all culture' group. Median PCT values were 4.53 ng/ml, 2.95 ng/ml, and 0.49 ng/ml, respectively. Median PCT values in the gram-negative BC group and gram-positive BC group, respectively, were 6.99 ng/ml and 2.96 ng/ml. Median PCT values in the 'positive hydrothorax culture' group, 'positive ascites culture' group, 'positive bile culture' group, and 'positive cerebrospinal fluid culture' group, respectively, were 1.39 ng/ml, 8.32 ng/ml, 5.98 ng/ml, and 0.46 ng/ml. In all, 357 cases were classified into the 'sepsis' group, 150 of them were classified into the 'severe sepsis' group. Median PCT values were 5.63 ng/ml and 11.06 ng/ml, respectively. PCT could be used in clinical algorithms to diagnose positive infections and sepsis. Different PCT levels could be related to different kinds of microbemia, different infection sites, and differing severity of sepsis.

  5. Vocabulary of Emotions Test (VET: A Cross-cultural Validation in Portuguese and Croatian Contexts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Costa

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available This article discusses the adaptation and cross-cultural validation of the Vocabulary of Emotions Test (VET in the Portuguese and Croatian contexts, an Emotional Intelligence ability measure with 35 items, which assesses individual's ability to understand emotion. Based on Mayer and Salovey's (1997 theoretical framework of emotional intelligence, VET was originally developed in Croatian academic settings by Takšić, Harambašić and Velemir (2003. This study involved 1119 secondary school students, 682 Portuguese and 437 Croatian, attending different grades and courses. Overall, in both Croatian (original version and Portuguese (adapted version contexts, VET evidenced good psychometric properties particularly concerning sensibility, difficulty item analysis and reliability, although slightly better indicators were found in the Croatian original version. Moreover, cultural and gender differences were found, benefiting Portuguese students and girls.

  6. Commentary on Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Positive Youth Development With Implications for Intervention Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koller, Silvia H; Verma, Suman

    2017-07-01

    There is a growing focus on youth positive development issues among researchers and practitioners around the world. In this special issue of Child Development, each of the international authors provides new perspectives and understanding about youth developmental assets in different cultural settings. The present commentary (a) examines some of the cross-cultural themes that emerge from the four articles by international authors in this issue with implications for positive youth development (PYD) and (b) how intervention science can benefit by incorporating a PYD approach. As evident, youth involved in contexts that provide positive resources from significant others not only were less likely to exhibit negative outcomes, but also were more likely to show evidence of positive development. © 2017 The Authors. Child Development © 2017 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

  7. FORMATION OF STUDENTS’ FOREIGN LANGUAGE COMPETENCE IN THE INFORMATIONAL FIELD OF CROSS CULTURAL INTERACTION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vitaly Vyacheslavovich Tomin

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Knowledge of foreign languages is becoming an integral feature of competitive persona-lity, ability to engage in cross-cultural communication and productive cross-cultural inte-raction, characterized by an adequate degree of tolerance and multi-ethnic competence, the ability for cross-cultural adaptation, critical thinking and creativity. However, the concept of foreign language competence has so far no clear, unambiguous definitions, thereby indicating the complexity and diversity of the phenomenon, which is an integrative, practice-oriented outcome of the wish and ability for intercultural communication. There have been mentioned a variety of requirements, conditions, principles, objectives, means and forms of foreign language competence forming, among which special attention is paid to non-traditional forms of practical training and information field in a cross-cultural interaction. There have been explained the feasibility of their application, which allows solving a complex of series of educational and teaching tasks more efficiently. There have been clarified the term «information field» in cross-cultural interaction, which is a cross-section of internally inherent in every individual «sections» of knowledge, skills, and experience, arising in certain given educational frameworks and forming a communication channel. The resultative indicators of the formation of foreign language competence and ways to improve its effectiveness are presented.

  8. Cross-Cultural Selling: Examining the Importance of Cultural Intelligence in Sales Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delpechitre, Duleep; Baker, David S.

    2017-01-01

    Cross-cultural selling has become an important factor in sales education. In the current competitive business graduate market, students who enter the workforce in frontline customer service positions are expected to perform sales at a higher level. Students that have acquired an education in sales during their undergraduate program have been found…

  9. On the importances of cultivating cross-cultural awareness of pre-service English teachers of primary schools

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    聂冬霞

    2016-01-01

    Cross-cultural communication becomes more important in English education in primary schools and one of the main tasks of English learning in primary schools is to improve students' cross-cultural awareness. For pre-service English teachers they should pay more attention on the importances of cultivating their cross-cultural awareness in English learning.

  10. Women and Slavery: A Cross-Cultural Perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wertz, Dorothy C.

    A cross-cultural and historical survey of the relationship between slavery and the status of women focuses on Marxian theory, the position of free women, sexual division of labor, the threat of rape, and equivalents of slavery in the modern world. Throughout history, the majority of slaves have been women, many of whom held favored positions,…

  11. Understanding childbirth practices as an organizational cultural phenomenon: a conceptual framework.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Behruzi, Roxana; Hatem, Marie; Goulet, Lise; Fraser, William; Misago, Chizuru

    2013-11-11

    Understanding the main values and beliefs that might promote humanized birth practices in the specialized hospitals requires articulating the theoretical knowledge of the social and cultural characteristics of the childbirth field and the relations between these and the institution. This paper aims to provide a conceptual framework allowing examination of childbirth practices through the lens of an organizational culture theory. A literature review performed to extrapolate the social and cultural factors contribute to birth practices and the factors likely overlap and mutually reinforce one another, instead of complying with the organizational culture of the birth place. The proposed conceptual framework in this paper examined childbirth patterns as an organizational cultural phenomenon in a highly specialized hospital, in Montreal, Canada. Allaire and Firsirotu's organizational culture theory served as a guide in the development of the framework. We discussed the application of our conceptual model in understanding the influences of organizational culture components in the humanization of birth practices in the highly specialized hospitals and explained how these components configure both the birth practice and women's choice in highly specialized hospitals. The proposed framework can be used as a tool for understanding the barriers and facilitating factors encountered birth practices in specialized hospitals.

  12. Cross-Cultural Transfer in Gesture Frequency in Chinese-English Bilinguals

    Science.gov (United States)

    So, Wing Chee

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to examine cross-cultural differences in gesture frequency and the extent to which exposure to two cultures would affect the gesture frequency of bilinguals when speaking in both languages. The Chinese-speaking monolinguals from China, English-speaking monolinguals from America, and Chinese-English bilinguals from…

  13. Cross-border transfer of knowledge: Cultural lessons from project GLOBE

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Javidan, Mansour; Stahl, Günther K.; Brodbeck, Felix; Wilderom, Celeste P.M.

    2005-01-01

    Distant cross-border business is on the rise. It necessitates effective transfer of knowledge across geographic and cultural borders. In this article we present the key results from the GLOBE study of 62 cultures and apply them to a real-life case of a North European business school designing and

  14. Equity in Cross-Cultural Gifted Screening from a Philippine Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vista, Alvin

    2015-01-01

    This paper discusses issues on cross-cultural gifted screening from a Philippine perspective. Research on gifted education in the Philippines, and Southeast Asia in general, is still nascent. The main focus of this review of literature is on equity of the gifted education screening process across wide socioeconomic, cultural, and linguistic…

  15. Interoperability and different ways of knowing: How semantics can aid in cross-cultural understanding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pulsifer, P. L.; Parsons, M. A.; Duerr, R. E.; Fox, P. A.; Khalsa, S. S.; McCusker, J. P.; McGuinness, D. L.

    2012-12-01

    To address interoperability, we first need to understand how human perspectives and worldviews influence the way people conceive of and describe geophysical phenomena. There is never a single, unambiguous description of a phenomenon - the terminology used is based on the relationship people have with it and what their interests are. So how can these perspectives be reconciled in a way that is not only clear to different people but also formally described so that information systems can interoperate? In this paper we explore conceptions of Arctic sea ice as a means of exploring these issues. We examine multiple conceptions of sea ice and related processes as fundamental components of the Earth system. Arctic sea ice is undergoing rapid and dramatic decline. This will have huge impact on climate and biological systems as well as on shipping, exploration, human culture, and geopolitics. Local hunters, operational shipping forecasters, global climate researchers, and others have critical needs for sea ice data and information, but they conceive of, and describe sea ice phenomena in very different ways. Our hypothesis is that formally representing these diverse conceptions in a suite of formal ontologies can help facilitate sharing of information across communities and enhance overall Arctic data interoperability. We present initial work to model operational, research, and Indigenous (Iñupiat and Yup'ik) concepts of sea ice phenomena and data. Our results illustrate important and surprising differences in how these communities describe and represent sea ice, and we describe our approach to resolving incongruities and inconsistencies. We begin by exploring an intriguing information artifact, the World Meteorological Organization "egg code". The egg code is a compact, information rich way of illustrating detailed ice conditions that has been used broadly for a century. There is much agreement on construction and content encoding, but there are important regional

  16. Cross-Culturalism of Harry Potter

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vesna Suljic

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available Seven books in the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling have broken sales records worldwide. They have been made into films which have also attracted millions of fans, and the Harry Potter brand has been a hallmark since the beginning of the new millennium. Fifteen years after publishing the first book in the heptalogy, e-books again made more than 1 million pounds in just three days in April 2012. The article "Cross-Culturalism of Harry Potter" examines what attracted readers to the first and then subsequent books in the Harry Potter series and presents some of the cross-cultural implications in socio-linguistic, educational and psychological areas. It analyzes the reasons for the sales records around the world and why the books appeal to both young and adult population. It also includes some controversy following the series' world success. The research methods include: evaluation of the primary sources (seven books in the series, the media coverage, literary reviews by scholars such as Bloom and Thomas, literary critics' essays, and a survey of English language instructors in an educational institution. The main contributing factors to the global popularity of the series are: highly entertaining, well-plotted text with fantastic setting but also realistic references to the modern era; the text which continues the archetypal story-telling traditions, incorporating the contemporary socio-economic, political and educational issues; smart marketing; excessive media coverage; the Internet; the film industry involvement; and the universal human need to believe that good can triumph over evil.

  17. Symposium: Does Cross-Cultural Philosophy Stand in Need of a Hermeneutic Expansion?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Douglas L. Berger

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Does cross-cultural philosophy stand in need of a hermeneutical expansion? In engaging with this question, the symposium focuses upon methodological issues salient to cross-cultural inquiry. Douglas L. Berger lays out the ground for the debate by arguing for a methodological approach, which is able to rectify the discipline’s colonial legacies and bridge the hermeneutical distance with its objects of study. From their own perspectives, Hans-Georg Moeller, Paul Roth and A. Raghuramaraju analyze whether such a processual and hermeneutically-sensitive approach can indeed open up new hermeneutic horizons. Their responses shed light upon cross-cultural philosophy’s continued embedment in Euroamerican professional philosophy and how the locality of its knowledge-seeking endeavors may indeed have repercussions on attempts to bridge temporal and spatial distances.

  18. Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Manchester Foot Pain and Disability Index into Spanish.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gijon-Nogueron, Gabriel; Ndosi, Mwidimi; Luque-Suarez, Alejandro; Alcacer-Pitarch, Begonya; Munuera, Pedro Vicente; Garrow, Adam; Redmond, Anthony C

    2014-03-01

    The Manchester Foot Pain and Disability Index (MFPDI) is a self-assessment 19-item questionnaire developed in the UK to measure foot pain and disability. This study aimed at conducting cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the MFPDI for use in Spain. Principles of good practice for the translation and cultural adaptation process for patient-reported outcomes measures were followed in the MFPDI adaptation into Spanish. The cross-cultural validation involved Rasch analysis of pooled data sets from Spain and the UK. Spanish data set comprised 338 patients, five used in the adaptation phase and 333 in the cross-cultural validation phase, mean age (SD) = 55.2 (16.7) and 248 (74.5 %) were female. A UK data set (n = 682) added in the cross-cultural validation phase; mean age (SD) = 51.6 (15.2 %) and 416 (61.0 %) were female. A preliminary analysis of the 17-item MFPDI revealed significant local dependency of items causing significant deviation from the Rasch model. Grouping all items into testlets and re-analysing the MFPDI as a 3-testlet scale resulted in an adequate fit to the Rasch model, χ (2) (df) = 15.945 (12), p = 0.194, excellent reliability and unidimensionality. Lack of cross-cultural invariance was evident on the functional and personal appearance testlets. Splitting the affected testlets discounted the cross-cultural bias and satisfied requirements of the Rasch model. Subsequently, the MFPDI was calibrated into interval-level scales, fully adjusted to allow parametric analyses and cross-cultural data comparisons when required. Rasch analysis has confirmed that the MFPDI is a robust 3-subscale measure of foot pain, function and appearance in both its English and Spanish versions.

  19. Cross-Cultural Counselling with International Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barletta, John; Kobayashi, Yumi

    2007-01-01

    This article explores the issues for counsellors working with international students, particularly Asian international students. As globalisation has expanded people have tended to study overseas in great numbers, hence the increasing importance for professionals to examine counselling in this cultural speciality. In order to understand effective…

  20. Culture moderates the relationship between interdependence and face recognition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andy H Ng

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Recent theory suggests that face recognition accuracy is affected by people’s motivations, with people being particularly motivated to remember ingroup versus outgroup faces. In the current research we suggest that those higher in interdependence should have a greater motivation to remember ingroup faces, but this should depend on how ingroups are defined. To examine this possibility, we used a joint individual difference and cultural approach to test (a whether individual differences in interdependence would predict face recognition accuracy, and (b whether this effect would be moderated by culture. In Study 1 European Canadians higher in interdependence demonstrated greater recognition for same-race (White, but not cross-race (East Asian faces. In Study 2 we found that culture moderated this effect. Interdependence again predicted greater recognition for same-race (White, but not cross-race (East Asian faces among European Canadians; however, interdependence predicted worse recognition for both same-race (East Asian and cross-race (White faces among first-generation East Asians. The results provide insight into the role of motivation in face perception as well as cultural differences in the conception of ingroups.