Joseph Shaules and Ishita Ray argue that the deeper goal of intercultural education is to see that our minds are shaped by culture. They explore natural biases, such as ethnocentrism and stereotypes, and the psychological impact of foreign experiences, including Oz moments and cultural shock. Emre Seven tells of his discovery that not everyone sees the world as he does.
Is gender cultural? Oddly, gender is rarely mentioned in intercultural education, even though expectations about being a man or woman vary widely around the world. Join Joseph Shaules, Yvonne van der Pol and Ishita Ray as they explore cultural assumptions about gender. Emre Seven and Zeina Matar share their experiences navigating different gender worlds, and we also learn about research into gender attitudes.
Do people touch a lot or hardly at all? Do you show guests the kitchen? Do you speak to the stranger sitting next to you? In this episode, Joseph Shaules and Liu Liu explore proxemics–the study of the human use of space. We learn about Edward Hall’s pioneering work in this area, and cultural differences in body language, physical space, and life spaces. Podcast team members share stories of navigating these differences, and explain that they reflect cultural patterns we are just now starting to understand.
In this episode, Joseph Shaules and Ishita Ray explore cultural intuitions–the ability to “read the air” and interpret our environment. Research into intuitions–the feeling of knowing–helps us understand why developing new cultural intuitions is so challenging. We discuss the feel-good fallacy–the idea that having the right attitude is not enough to avoid cultural misunderstanding. Ishita recounts the “body shock” she experienced in France the first time she experienced a bise . . . a kiss on the cheek, and Yvonne van der Pol and Emre Seven share stories of the dilemmas they faced because of mismatched cultural intuitions.
Is motivation a basic drive that’s the same everywhere? Does it depend on culture? Yvonne and Joseph explore the latest insights into culture and motivation. We learn that our experience of motivation depends on our cultural self. We hear stories from Liu Liu, Emre Seven and Ishita Ray about independent versus interdependent motivation, and find out about the two motivational systems that are critical for cultural learning.
