Living abroad gives you a creative edge(economist.com) |
Living abroad gives you a creative edge(economist.com) |
People have long suspected that <extremely general conclusion involving vaguely-defined terms with complex meanings, like 'intelligence', 'love', 'creativity', 'belief'>. But now scientists have proved it. <Description of experiment, in which some simple test is used as a substitute for the trait in question - either a psych test, or an MRI, or something - and middle class North Americans are used as a substitute for humanity>.
I find these articles really tiresome.
After a while, surprise that things could be done so differently becomes surprise that each region thinks their ways are so natural.
That sort of insight certainly helps in negotiation scenarios like the one tested, and possibly other problem-solving as well.
Is this what passes for controls these days? It'd be much smarter to test people right before they're about to go abroad.
Not that I'm defending this study, though it may be extremely rigorous, it's really impossible to know from an economist article.
(I knew a woman who was in her mid-30s that had never been outside the state of Pennsylvania; her first trip to NYC was at the age of 33.)
Yes, but there is far more diversity in the US than in other regions, let alone other countries.
For example, there's more diversity south of the Tehachapis than there is in Western Europe. (It would be mean to point out the diversity within 50 miles of Disneyland.)
That's one 50 mile circle. Europe has dozens of similar examples.
(Egypt and Morocco don't count, for the same reason Canada and Mexico don't.)
To me, it seems that it's as likely there's a factor they don't know about, as that their hypothesis holds (i.e. living abroad causes creativity).
"Nevertheless, where both negotiators had lived abroad 70% struck a deal in which the seller was offered a management job at the petrol station in return for a lower asking price. When neither of the negotiators had lived abroad, none was able to reach a deal."
Struck me as incredibly obvious, in the few seconds between the presentation of the situation and the solution, and I have never lived abroad, and don't usually consider myself all that creative.
That said, it's pretty good out here and the dollar is crazy strong right now. I'd hop a flight if I were you!
It's not a "monoculture" so much as a dominant one. Yes, one can live within the monoculture, but the ability to make that choice doesn't mean that one could choose to live in a large number of cultures within the US.
And, both monoculture and dominant culture overstates things significantly. Even if one thinks that NYC is one culture, it's not the same as upstate NY's culture, let any of the ones in Texas.
Yes, there are lots of places in the US where one can find very similar cultures, but again, that's a choice. (Ever hear the term "don't Californicate Colorado/Oregon/Arizona"?)
You'd think that folks who claim to value diversity would actually practice it given the choice.