Social Engineering Blogs

An Aggregator for Blogs About Social Engineering and Related Fields

Cross Cultural Effectiveness

Management-issues.com has delved into the complex world of cultural relations.

Cross-cultural relationships and projects inevitably take more time, more effort, and more patience. Slowing down often goes against the grain of what we’re (mostly Americans) trying to accomplish.

Some interesting tid-bits:  Americans are very impatient (as if we didn’t already know) but how impatient are we?

A USA Today study found that most North Americans won’t wait in line for more than 15 minutes.  Google also tested our patience when they slowed down the speed of search results by four tenths of a second to see what impact it would have. The result was eight million fewer searches a day!

The article goes on to note that communication and trust building requires a great deal of effort and understanding and is an important factor in cross-cultural communication.  This applies to all aspects of life, whether in a business deal, traveling, or even teaching, good cross cultural communication is an integral part of our globalized world.

IntelliCulture, Humintell’s cross cultural adaptation tool aims at helping  individuals avoid conflicts due to cultural mis-communication.  It is designed to broaden the understanding of culture, where it comes from and how it influences behavior.

IntelliCulture provides useful tips on how to leverage cultural differences and think critically when encountered with a difficult situation.

What are your experiences with Cross Culture Communication? 

Interview and Interrogation Techniques

Where were you yesterday at 3:45pm? Don’t lie we have your finger prints. Why did you commit this crime?

Does this line of questioning sound intimidating?  The Daily Beast has some enlightening news. 

Research was conducted at John Jay College of Criminal Justice through the FBI’s High Value Detainee Interrogation Group. A team of leading researchers formed to find out better methods for getting high-level suspects to reveal what they know.  They have uncovered some interesting insights.

Ali Soufan, a former FBI Agent stated, “24 [a popular TV show] works in Hollywood.  Reality is not that sexy.  You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.”

Being an effective communicator, in addition to understanding and recognizing  the emotional states of other people is extremely beneficial in building rapport, which is necessary to elicit truthful information.  Scientific peer reviewed research has shown that knowing how to detect, label and react appropriately to certain emotions builds rapport.

“Torture does not work, it is illegal, and the professional intelligence, military, and law-enforcement officers who know what they are talking about, and who have firsthand experience, have been explicit that enhanced interrogation techniques undermine operational success,” says Glenn Carle, a former CIA officer.

So what are the best ways to elicit truthful information?

According to the article and many interrogators it involves understanding a subject’s culture and motivation and then gaining his or her trust—without revealing what you’re after.

Recent research backs up the idea the torture techniques are not truly effective by indicating that stress-inducing measures actually impairs memory.  Research has also proven that non-coercive interview techniques based on rapport building are the most effective in eliciting truthful information.

Dr. David Matsumoto’s new book Nonverbal Communication:  Science and Applications blends cutting-edge behavioral science with real-world practical experience, making this text the first of its kind to merge theoretical and practical worlds of nonverbal communication.

 What are your thoughts on controversial questioning techniques?

To Lie or not to Lie, that is the Question

Lying is as old as humans and research has confirmed that we learn to lie at a very young age.  Studies have also suggested that the average person lies several times a day. So it’s not surprising, then, that lie detection has a long history.

“By this method [Middle Age’s thinking that physical torture elicits truth], the robust will escape, and the feeble be condemned.  These are the inconveniences of this pretended test of truth,”  wrote Italian Enlightenment thinker, Cesare Beccaria.

See the videos below for Part 1 and Part 2 of  Jimmy Kimmel’s Lie Detector Series for some comic relief to your day.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.