Social Engineering Blogs

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Succeeding at Intercultural Communication

How important is language in communication really?

This may seem like a silly question, but in such a large and diverse world, the myriad of languages present particular challenges to jetsetters and tourists of all sorts. No matter how many languages you know, the intrepid world traveler can never be fluent in the language of every nation. What can we do to better communicate if we don’t speak the same language?

The good news is that, according to Humintell’s own Dr. David Matsumoto, language is not actually the most important factor in cross cultural communication. Instead, a few simple phrases, combined with a focus on positive nonverbal communication can go a long way towards promoting communication without fluency.

As Dr. Matsumoto says in an interview with Psychology Today: “If you are good at non-verbal communication then you can go anywhere without knowing the language and you will get along.”

He elaborates on the fact that language is really just one part of a given interaction. In every conversation, our body language, facial expression, and gestures convey a wealth of information concerning our intentions and emotions.

In fact, sometimes linguistic fluency, if divorced from nonverbal behavior, can lead to conflict and misunderstanding. “Verbal language by itself only communicates a certain amount of content,” Dr. Matsumoto explains, “People can be saying the content they want to communicate, but just not come across correctly.”

Many of us who learned foreign language in school focused on memorizing verb tables, practicing vocabulary, and translating written documents. However, that leaves out the important aspect of body language, which can vary between cultures. Instead, Dr. Matsumoto points out that “data shows that language classes that incorporate non-verbal communication and culture in their curricula fair better.”

So, we’ve established the importance of non-verbal communication, but exactly how should this be practiced?

Followers of this blog will be familiar with the seven basic emotions. There are certain emotional expressions that span cultural divides across the planet, such as happiness, anger, and disgust.

Dr. Matsumoto emphasizes only one of these: joy. This is the clearest emotion, as “all other emotions are prone to misunderstanding… but positivity is not usually misinterpreted.” Based on his advice, we should approach intercultural communication sporting a smile and making a pointed effort to learn about their culture.

Pairing this with even a rudimentary understanding of language can also help. Dr. Matsumoto recommends learning basic, positive phrases like “good morning,” or “thank you,” which “go a long way to greasing many interactions.”

Hopefully, Dr. Matsumoto’s advice can be helpful to you! For more tips on how to improve cross cultural communication, check out Humintell’s training packages here and here.

What Would Happen If Santa Didn’t Exist?

What would happen if Santa didn’t exist ? 

Many people are thinking, well he doesn’t exist. True, but what if even the idea of Santa didn’t exist?  How would that Holiday Season compare to the current one that (technically) lies about his existence ?

Is it even healthy to lie to our children about a mythical man that delivers gifts to “every” child in the world in one evening.  Many children do not receive gifts on Christmas or ever for that matter.  

Is society’s “white lie” about Santa actually damaging our children?

An article by Slate.com purports that the Santa myth can be put in the Good lies opposed to the Bad lies that are mostly used to deflect blame or avoid responsibility – we cannot go to the park because it is closed today.

This type of good lie helps children adopt fantasy play.  This form of play may cultivate a set of skills known as “theory of mind,” which helps kids predict and understand other people’s behavior.

Go ahead tell them Santa brought it.  

Typically children, by age eight, stop believing in or stumble upon irreversible information that concludes, Santa Claus doesn’t exist anyway.

A 1997 study conducted by Marjorie Taylor, a University of Oregon psychologist, found that 4-year-olds who frequently engage in fantasy play are also better able than other kids to distinguish appearances from reality, understand other people’s expectations and know that perceptions depend on context.

Taylor’s recent study on school aged children with good fantasy lives suggests that they tend to have a better understanding of emotions as well.  The study’s findings were that school-age children interact with imaginary companions and impersonate characters as much as preschoolers and overall, 65% of children up to the age of 7 had imaginary companions at some point during their lives.

The study also found that school-age children who did not impersonate scored lower on emotion understanding.

How do I burst the Santa Bubble in a Positive Way ? 

 Jacqueline Woolley, a psychologist at the University of Texas says to give children the tools to figure it out on their own.  Leave the stocking stuffers in a way to obvious hiding place.  Write a reply letter from Santa in your own hand writing.  If your child asks you point blank, “Is Santa Claus Real?’, she suggests, in true psychologist fashion, to answer back with more questions such as, “What do you think? Are you staring to think he doesn’t? Why?

Link Between Violent Video Games and Aggression

Boy playing Gameboy - Video Games Can Now Tap in to Players’ Emotions - Humintell *Finds insufficient research to link violent video game play to criminal violence

WASHINGTON — Violent video game play is linked to increased aggression in players but insufficient evidence exists about whether the link extends to criminal violence or delinquency, according to a new American Psychological Association task force report.

“The research demonstrates a consistent relation between violent video game use and increases in aggressive behavior, aggressive cognitions and aggressive affect, and decreases in prosocial behavior, empathy and sensitivity to aggression,” says the report of the APA Task Force on Violent Media. The task force’s review is the first in this field to examine the breadth of studies included and to undertake multiple approaches to reviewing the literature.

“Scientists have investigated the use of violent video games for more than two decades but to date, there is very limited research addressing whether violent video games cause people to commit acts of criminal violence,” said Mark Appelbaum, PhD, task force chair. “However, the link between violence in video games and increased aggression in players is one of the most studied and best established in the field.”

“No single risk factor consistently leads a person to act aggressively or violently,” the report states. “Rather, it is the accumulation of risk factors that tends to lead to aggressive or violent behavior. The research reviewed here demonstrates that violent video game use is one such risk factor.”

In light of the task force’s conclusions, APA has called on the industry to design video games that include increased parental control over the amount of violence the games contain. APA’s Council of Representatives adopted a resolution at its meeting Aug. 7 in Toronto encouraging the Entertainment Software Rating Board to refine its video game rating system “to reflect the levels and characteristics of violence in games, in addition to the current global ratings.” In addition, the resolution urges developers to design games that are appropriate to users’ age and psychological development, and voices APA’s support for more research to address gaps in the knowledge about the effects of violent video game use.

The resolution replaces a 2005 resolution on the same topic.

The task force identified a number of limitations in the research that require further study. These include a general failure to look for any differences in outcomes between boys and girls who play violent video games; a dearth of studies that have examined the effects of violent video game play on children younger than 10; and a lack of research that has examined the games’ effects over the course of children’s development.

“We know that there are numerous risk factors for aggressive behavior,” Appelbaum said. “What researchers need to do now is conduct studies that look at the effects of video game play in people at risk for aggression or violence due to a combination of risk factors. For example, how do depression or delinquency interact with violent video game use?”

The task force conducted a comprehensive review of the research literature published between 2005 and 2013 focused on violent video game use. This included four meta-analyses that reviewed more than 150 research reports published before 2009. Task force members then conducted both a systematic evidence review and a quantitative review of the literature published between 2009 and 2013. (A systematic evidence review synthesizes all empirical evidence that meets pre-specified criteria to answer specific research questions — a standard approach to summarizing large bodies of research to explore a field of research.) This resulted in 170 articles, 31 of which met all of the most stringent screening criteria.

“While there is some variation among the individual studies, a strong and consistent general pattern has emerged from many years of research that provides confidence in our general conclusions,” Appelbaum said. “As with most areas of science, the picture presented by this research is more complex than is usually included in news coverage and other information prepared for the general public.”

In addition to Appelbaum, members of the APA Task Force on Violent Media were: Sandra Calvert, PhD; Kenneth Dodge, PhD; Sandra Graham, PhD; Gordon N. Hall, PhD; Sherry Hamby, PhD; and Larry Hedges, PhD.