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Cultural Differences Effects onComplex Cognition & Operations

22 October 007Innovative Organizations and Complex Systems

Ottawa, Canada

Rik Warren, PhD

Human Effectiveness Directorate

Air Force Research Laboratory

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Overview

• Some example incidents

• Fundamental differences

• Complex cognition & culture in general

– Complexity in data

– Complexity in theory & modeling

– Complexity in methodology

• Dimensions: Multiplicity & complexity in

– Cultural dimensions

– Perceptual & cognitive dimensions

• Implications: more complexity and some simplicity

ROSETTA PROJECT

INTERACTION

National Culture

• Culture – Acquired – Values, attitudes, influences

behavior• Values

– Basic convictions: what is right & wrong, good & bad, important & unimportant

– Relatively stable: not subject to sudden shifts or impulses of the moment

– Standard for judging behavior

KNOWN

UNKNOWN

Surface behaviors influenced by beneath-the-surface values and assumptions. By knowing people’s values and beliefs, you can come to expect and predict their behavior.

Incidents

• “This is Wing Commander Jones” – Right away, Sir!

• “ This is Group Captain Jones” – Please hold ...

• “This is Dean Smith ...”

• Triandis in “Individualism and collectivism: – American manager in Greece– Why should we do his work!

• From a German officer…

“In my country, you speak up only if you have something important to add; silence is okay. In the U.S., however, people seem to feel it’s bad to be silent, and they will speak up, in a meeting for example, just to let others know that they are there.

Example of Culturally Based Behaviour

• From a German officer…

“In my country, you speak up only if you have something important to add; silence is okay. In the U.S., however, people seem to feel it’s bad to be silent, and they will speak up, in a meeting for example, just to let others know that they are there. Many of us interpret this behavior of the Americans as either stupidity or arrogance…”

• From a British officer…

“Why don’t the American’s down the hall just come and talk to me! They often leave me a voicemail instead of walking 10 seconds to my desk or calling to speak to me directly, even when they know that I’m here…This seems very cold and impersonal to me.”

Example of Culturally Based Behaviour

• From a German officer…

“In my country, you speak up only if you have something important to add; silence is okay. In the U.S., however, people seem to feel it’s bad to be silent, and they will speak up, in a meeting for example, just to let others know that they are there. Many of us interpret this behavior of the Americans as either stupidity or arrogance…”

• From a British officer…

“Why don’t the American’s down the hall just come and talk to me! They often leave me a voicemail instead of walking 10 seconds to my desk or calling to speak to me directly, even when they know that I’m here…This seems very cold and impersonal to me.”

• From the American officer…

“I know I’ve been accused by my colleagues of leaving them too many voicemails, but from my perspective it’s simply a way of not interrupting them and giving them a message that they can listen to when they have time to deal with it.”

Example of Culturally Based Behaviour

Country Profiles

Situations & Correct Action - 1

• Ethics 101: Boat in trouble: Who to cast overboard?

– Parents or children?

– Why?

– Why your answer is wrong.

Situations & Correct Action - 2• Parable (Matt. 21): Father asks sons to work in field:

– One says yes, but doesn’t go

– Other says no, but does go

– ? Who did the will of the father?

• Collectivist cultures & harmony

– Hofstede (1997, p. 58 re missionaries in Indonesia):

• Action of “secondary importance”

• Saying “No” caused father to loose face

– “Yes” doesn’t always mean yes in some cultures

– Importance of saving own & others face

– Duties of co-pilots …

Culture & Decision Making: Air Accident Rates by Region

Western-built transport hull loss accidents, by ac cident site, 1991 through 200 0*

1Insufficient fleet experience to generate reliable ra te.

*Departure Data use d is Preliminary

Accidents permillion departures

United Statesand Canada

0.4

Latin Americaand Caribbean

3.7

Europe0.7

China2.5

Middle East2.3

Africa10.2

Asia2.6

World1.3

Oceania0.5

(ExcludingChina)

JAA - 0.5Non JAA - 5.5

C.I.S. 1

Regional Perspective

1 World – Many Cultures• Different cultures view the world differently

• Different cultures (re-)act differently to same information

• Military: Distributed Operations, multinational coalitions

Challenges• Appreciate utility of understanding culture

– Others & ourselves

– Magnitude of effects

• Learn cultural etiquette & practices

– Use of left hand, etc.

• Understand Cultural Dimensions:

– Perceptual, cognitive, decisional

• Predict potential cooperation & conflicts

– Computable models of cultural interaction

Analytic v. Holistic Reasoning

Who: Westerners East Asians

World is made of : Discrete, independent objects

Continuous & interacting elements

Perceptual: Field independent – ignore background

Field dependent – include back- & foreground

Cognitive causal attribution:

Simple explanations involving few elements

Complex explanations involving many factors

Perceptual & Cognitive Dimensions

• Attribution:

– Situational vs. Dispositional

• Locus of Control

• Intrinsic-Extrinsic Motivation

• Field /Object Orientation

• Analytic vs. Holistic Reasoning

– 1 fish, 2 fish, red fish, …

• Dialectical Reasoning

• Counterfactual Thinking

• Categorization - similarity and rules

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Japan Korea Taiwan USSadness Ratings

Country

Sadness Judgements of Central Figure with Varying Backgrounds

Sad

Methodological Complexity

• Previous slide: Apparent main effect of country

• BUT: CAUTION: Different countries use rating scales differently:

– Mediterranean & Middle East: Important to appear honest

• If you are asked a question, surely you know your own mind

• Therefore, use extreme ends of a rating scale

– East Asia: Important to appear modest• If asked a question, surely you don’t know everything especially

since everything is related to everything else

• Therefore, use middle of a rating scale

Simplicity vs. Complexity

• If you look at things from the right angle ...

Cultural Factors vs. Interaction• How devise prediction equations? Predict what?

• Lists of factors: Not predict interactions

– But interaction what we really want to know!

• Naïve: 50 factors -> 2,500 interaction terms

• Better: directly observe interacting people

– Tasks: decision making & resource allocation

– Finesse 50x50 interaction terms & factors

– Key: data chosen for analyses

• Focus on predicting cooperation v conflict

– Develop models of the interactions

– Develop data collection tools & method

Mathematics of Marriage

• Gottman et al. (2002)

• Couple discusses problem

– Data: positivity, negativity of each spouse

• If you’d keep your trap shut and let me finish …

– Predict: Divorce, married-happy, -unhappy

• Dynamic nonlinear (process) model

– Discover explanatory parameters

– Improve marriage therapy by targeting key parameters

Malcolm Gladwell - Blink

Mathematics of Marriage

Complexity Introduced by Culture can Affect:

Information Exchange

Coordination

Assigning Roles & Responsibilities

Support (error-checking)

imperfect situation awareness

inaccurate situation assessment, and

flawed or delayed decision making

Inability to Adapt

Analytic vs Holistic Fish