Cultural Chameleons Blend in by Showing True Colors

Newswise — Some people know a lot about a single foreign culture. They have lived in the region for a significant period, become fluent in the language, and developed a nuanced understanding about how the society works. These regional experts have made a second home for themselves. But there are others who find themselves flung into numerous foreign lands, and who thrive no matter what the location of their latest sojourn. These “cultural chameleons” appear to have a natural ability to effortlessly make sense of and adapt to their new social environment.

Although rubrics for the ability have been plentiful, including cultural adaptability, cultural intelligence, and cross-cultural competence, the underlying mechanisms at work are still largely in question. In the scientific race to understand how the chameleons change their cultural colors so quickly, researchers have hotly pursued a host of personality factors such as extroversion and a general trait of being open to new experiences with some limited successes. Recently, Drs. Louise Rasmussen and Winston Sieck of Global Cognition, a cognitive science research organization, completed a study on cross-cultural competence showing that mental strategies play a significant role. Dr. Rasmussen presented their findings at the Society for Applied Anthropology’s 2012 conference held in Baltimore, MD.

“Cross-cultural experts are especially efficient and resourceful in how they learn and deal with cultural challenges,” says Rasmussen. “For example, many folks seem to think you need to be fully fluent in the language before you can really learn about the culture. It’s a nice ideal, but for shorter sojourns it seems to be more practical to learn several little things.” Rasmussen and Sieck found that the chameleons, or “cross-cultural experts,” as the researchers call them, tend to learn scraps of the language, history, and other facts prior to departure, and then use those facts to show their interest in the culture, thereby facilitating their efforts to build social relationships, which then opens avenues for further learning.

Rasmussen and her team conducted dozens of incident-based cognitive interviews with Americans who had a track record of rapidly attaining proficiency in a variety of new cultures. “We were not asking about their opinions,” said Rasmussen, “but rather seeking in-depth accounts of their experiences.” By analyzing their most challenging experiences interacting with people overseas, the team distilled common strategies and “mental habits” shared among the cross-cultural experts.

The findings suggest that cross-cultural expertise is not strongly associated with a certain personality type, such as extroversion. Instead, there are teachable practices that enable anyone to engage in constructive behaviors in foreign cultures. Personality comes through in some ways, the researchers admit. “The extent to which wayfarers are open to new experiences has been previously established as an important factor in cultural adaptability, and our findings are consistent with that result,” says Sieck. “The next step is to understand more about how cross-cultural experts tailor their use of strategies to fit their personality.”

Rasmussen adds that, “The cross-cultural experts are not all trying to learn the same things according to some script or theory about what’s culturally important.” Instead, her research indicates that the chameleons tend to follow their own personal interests when delving into a new culture for the first time. Whether that interest is art, language, history, religion, technology, or sports seems to matter less than the topic being of real interest to the sojourner. “We believe the personal interest makes it easier to get started learning something about the culture, and that bringing up these kinds of things with host-nationals leads to more genuine conversations.”

Cross-cultural competence theory has applications for business and government, which partly explains the recent increase in interest in the topic. According to Rasmussen, “The learning practices of the cross-cultural experts we’ve studied, provides a template to educate others.”

Rasmussen and Sieck described how the strategies they uncovered could aid the U. S. military to be more culturally effective in the March-April issue of Military Review. “Incidents such as the recent burning of the Koran in Afghanistan are terribly unfortunate,” says Sieck. “We have found there are members of the government who care deeply about other people’s cultures and really seem to be doing all they can to increase cross-cultural competence among service members and other government representatives. A stronger scientific foundation helps.”

Global Cognition is a cognitive science research organization located in Yellow Springs, OH. GC conducts basic and applied research with the aim of aiding individuals and organizations understand and interact with the diverse ideas and people they encounter across the world. GC’s facebook page shares short notes, tips, and answers questions about how the mind works, and ways it can function better.