CCM SEM 2

• The human nature
• Universal values
• Commonly shared world view

• Humanity relies more on its culture than anatomy for adaption and survival
• Different cultures develop as living conditions are different from each other
•  

Building trust is extremely important for prosperity:

Higher levels of trust -> lower interpersonal violence

Higher levels of trust -> effective organizations and productive workforce

Effective organizations -> productive workforce

Productive workforce -> welfare

"There is no example in history where people first create economic and commercial relations and then establish a culture. People first establish a common language, agreed-upon codes of behavior, and a shared sense of purpose - to wit, social capital. Only when social cultures are well developed is there enough social trust to support commercial and governmental institutions.

Culture at two levels:

1. Psychic or psychological level: focuses on the internalized norms, attitudes and behavior of individuals from a particular culture.
2. Institutional level: looks at national (or group) culture embodied in institutions (government, education, economic instiutions, business organizations).

Caveat

• Withstand the "culturalist impulse" (impulse to mainly explain people's behavior with a "cultural difference")
• Also withstand the denial of culture motivated by political correctness considerations.

• Individual biography and genetic pre-disposition form our personality
• Having the same cultural roots does not mean that one is identical in his / her behavior
• In that sense: Every person is unique

• We are only partially conscious about our mental programming
• If people from different cultures meet, they tend to interpret the other person's behavior by basing their interpretation on one's own cultural value system

• Categorizing all members of a group as having the same characteristics. Each and every member of a group of people. In doing so, we also tend to exaggerate the differences between groups.
• Selective and inflexible perception
• Often judgmental - either in the positive or in the negative direction
• Often instantaneous

• Categorizing many members of a group as having similar characteristics.
• Flexible perception
• Formulate one or more hypotheses and test them in your new cultural environment