“Getting to Yes” is a popular book about winning negotiations, but when talking about inter-cultural communication, “Getting to No” might be more instructive. Professor Zeng’s humorous description of different ways to handle a demanding McDonald’s customer shows deep cultural differences in seeing the world. The American way is to stand on rules, communicating the reasons in
It appears that culture heavily influences how well people incorporate the context of an environment versus how well they can filter out the context to focus on a prominent object. This has been illustrated in eye measurements of Asians versus North Americans as they evaluate photographs, of Japanese & Americans recalling foreground objects versus background
Can something be true and not true at the same time? East Asian & Western philosophies have had very different ways of answering this question that still affects the ways people in various cultures reason. The collectivist culture of Asia emphasizes harmony & a constantly changing environment in which contradictions are natural, & truth depends
Body language speaks much louder than words! The verbal portion of a message is responsible for only 7% of what people remember…body language accounts for 55% of what people retain. Body language is particularly important in the collectivist culture of Thailand, where it communicates the social order & respect. I found a cute school project
