Alle Publikationen
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2019
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(2019): Culture as a Sensor? A Novel Perspective on Human Activity Recognition. In: International Journal of Social Robotics 11 (5), S. 797-814. DOI: 10.1007/s12369-019-00590-3
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-019-00590-3 Abstract: Human Activity Recognition (HAR) systems are devoted to identifying, amidst the sensory stream provided by one or more sensors located so that they can monitor the actions of a person, portions related to the execution of a number of a-priori defined activities of interest. Improving the performance of systems for Human Activity Recognition is a long-standing research goal: solutions include more accurate sensors, more sophisticated algorithms for the extraction and analysis of relevant information from the sensory data, and the enhancement of the sensory analysis with general or person-specific knowledge about the execution of the activities of interest. Following the latter trend, in this article we propose the association and enhancement of the sensory data analysis with cultural information, that can be seen as an estimate of person-specific information, relieved of the burden of a long/complex setup phase. We propose a culture-aware Human Activity Recognition system which associates the recognition response provided by a state-of-the-art, culture-unaware HAR system with culture-specific information about where and when activities are most likely performed in different cultures, encoded in an ontology. The merging of the cultural information with the culture-unaware responses is done by a Bayesian Network, whose probabilistic approach allows for avoiding stereotypical representations. Experiments performed offline and online, using images acquired by a mobile robot in an apartment, show that the culture-aware HAR system consistently outperforms the culture-unaware HAR system.
2018
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(2018): Validating a Culturally-sensitive Social Competence Training Programme for Adolescents with ASD in a Chinese Context: An Initial Investigation. In: JOURNAL OF AUTISM AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS 48 (2), S. 450-460
Abstract: Previous studies on social skills training on ASD were done almost exclusively in the West with children as the main subjects. Demonstrations of the applicability of social interventions in different cultures and age groups are warranted. The current study outlined the development and preliminary evaluation of a CBT-context-based social competence training for ASD (CBT-CSCA) developed in Hong Kong for Chinese adolescents with ASD. Twenty-five adolescents (aged 12-17 years, with a FSIQ above 80) were recruited. Significant improvements in social competence, autistic symptoms and general psychopathology at post-training and 3-month follow-up were reported by the parents. The study provided initial evidence support to the applicability of social competence training for adolescents with ASD in a different culture.
2017
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(2017): ‘What I see is not what you get’. Why culture-specific behaviours for virtual characters should be user-tested across cultures. In: AI & Society 32 (1), S. 37-49. DOI: 10.1007/s00146-014-0567-2
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-014-0567-2 Abstract: Abstract Integrating culture into the behavioural models of virtual characters requires knowledge from very different disciplines such as cross-cultural psychology and computer science. If culture-related behavioural differences are simulated with a virtual character system, users might not necessarily understand the intent of the designer. This is, in part, due to the influence of culture on not only users, but also designers. To gain a greater understanding of the instantiation of culture in the behaviour of virtual characters, and on this potential mismatch between designer and user, we have conducted two experiments. In these experiments, we tried to simulate one dimension of culture (Masculinity vs. Femininity) in the behaviour of virtual characters. We created four scenarios in the first experiment and six in the second. In each of these scenarios, the same two characters interact with each other. The verbal and non-verbal behaviour of these characters differs depending on their cultural scripts. In two user perception studies, we investigated how these differences are judged by human participants with different cultural backgrounds. Besides expected differences between participants from Masculine and Feminine countries, we found significant differences in perception between participants from Individualistic and Collectivistic countries. We also found that the user’s interpretation of the character’s motivation had a significant influence on the perception of the scenarios. Based on our findings, we giverecommendations for researchers that aim to design culture-specific behaviours for virtual characters.
Keywords: Agent-based Modelling, Behaviour modelling, Culture, Design, Disziplin, Evaluation, Favoriten, Interaktion, Kognitionswissenschaft/Social Sciences/Humanities, Kultur, Kultursensibilität, Kulturspezifizität, Kulturtheorie, Mensch-Technik-Relationen (MTR), Modell, Modelle/Theorien, Modellierung, Realtechnik, social importance dynamics, Soziosensitive Systeme, Technik, User testing, Virtual characters 2016
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(2016): A cross-cultural comparative analysis of small group collaboration using mobile twitter. In: Computers in Human Behavior 65, S. 308-318. DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2016.08.043
Abstract: This study was undertaken to determine the distinctive user behaviors and patterns of participants communicating using Twitter on a mobile device in a small-group collaborative setting. Participants were from Western and Eastern cultures (the United States and Korea). Tweets were coded and classified and the results analyzed. Several cultural dimensions were utilized to detect subtle differences between participants from these two different cultures in their dynamic mobile exchanges. Systematic differences in microblogging behaviors were found mostly in the direction predicted by the findings of previous studies on differences in national culture; however, we also report new and interesting findings that contribute to the knowledge base. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings and how this mobile communication information technology can be leveraged to the advantage of individuals and organizations.
Keywords: Art des Kommunikationsmediums, Disziplin, East-West divide, Informations- & Kommunikationstechnik, Interaktion, Kultur, Kultursensibilität, Kulturspezifizität, Kulturtheorie, Mensch-Technik-Relationen (MTR), microblogging behaviours, mobile communication technology, national culture, Realtechnik, Technik, Twitter, user behaviour -
(2016): Don't Be a Stranger-Designing a Digital Intercultural Sensitivity Training Tool that is Culture General. In: IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies 9 (2), S. 120-132. DOI: 10.1109/TLT.2015.2456912
Abstract: Digital intercultural training tools play an important role in helping people to mediate cultural misunderstandings. In recent years, these tools were made to teach about specific cultures, but there has been little attention for the design of a tool to teach about differences across a wide range of cultures. In this work, we take the first steps to create a digital self-contained culture-general training tool. In the first part of the article, we focus on different aspects and methods of intercultural training. This information is then used in the second part to evaluate the effect of these different methods on the perception of behaviour in misunderstandings. We found that experiential and story-based approaches may lead to different perceptions of participants. In the third part, we expanded on these critical incidents, and incorporated virtual characters, to evaluate if experiential incidents in an embedded story can lead to an attribution of perceived differences in behaviour to specific differences in culture and to users becoming less judgemental of inappropriate behaviours by people from different cultures. The results suggest that the tool had some effect, but that a debriefing relating the general differences to specific instances would be beneficial.
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(2016): Cultural intelligence (CQ) in virtual, cross-cultural interactions. Generalizability of measure and links to personality dimensions and task performance. In: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTERCULTURAL RELATIONS 50, S. 29-38. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijintrel.2015.11.001
Abstract: Previous studies have focused on investigating CQ in face-to-face contexts but very few have assessed CQ in virtual, cross-cultural interactions. This study highlights the relevance of cultural intelligence (CQ) as an intercultural capability in cross-cultural communications that are virtual. This two-study research (study 1: n = 274; study 2: n = 223) conducted in call centers in the Philippines (a) assesses the generalizability of the four-factor CQ model (i.e., cognitive, metacognitive, motivational and behavioral CQ) as applied in the virtual context and (b) tests the relationship between CQ personality dimensions (i.e., openness to experience and extraversion) and supervisor's ratings of task performance. Study 1 results show that the structural validity of the four-factor CQ model was supported with minor issues in some of the items indicating the need to modify the CQ measure when utilized in the virtual context. Study 2 results show that CQ is positively and significantly related to openness to experience and extraversion. In addition, results show that CQ predicts task performance highlighting the importance of developing CQ among call center representatives and other working professionals who virtually engage and interact with clients and customers from culturally diverse backgrounds.
2015
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(2015): Variational pragmatics and responding to thanks – revisited. In: Multilingua 34 (4), S. 527-546. DOI: 10.1515/multi-2014-0106
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/multi-2014-0106 Abstract: In 2005, Klaus P. Schneider published a fascinating article with the title “‘No problem, you’re welcome, anytime’: Responding to thanks in Ireland, England, and the U.S.A.”. Adopting the then emerging and now established framework of variational pragmatics, Schneider’s pioneering paper presents the results of a study on differences between responses to thanks across different varieties of English using experimental discourse completion tasks (DCTs). The paper at hand revisits this cross-varietal analysis and presents the results of an empirical investigation of this same speech act based on natural data collected with the help of Labovian-style fieldwork methodology common in variationist sociolinguistics. The results reveal fundamental differences between the two data types and underline the fact that these different datasets address different research questions. The findings also highlight the existence of regional variation in the use of this speech act in spontaneous real-life interaction. Finally, the paper also puts forward the term imbalance reducer after thanks (IRAT) as a more appropriate term for the speech act of responding to thanks.
Keywords: Danksagung, Disziplin, Höflichkeit, IRAT, Kultur, Kulturdifferenz, Kulturelle Normen, Kultursensibilität, Kulturspezifizität, Kulturtheorie, Linguistik, Pragmatics, Pragmatik, Real-Life Interaction, Regionale Varianz, Soziale Angemessenheit, Soziolinguistik, Sprachgebrauch, Sprechakt, Thanks 2012
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(2012): “It's rude to VP”. The cultural semantics of rudeness. In: Journal of Pragmatics 44 (9), S. 1051-1062. DOI: 10.1016/j.pragma.2012.02.002
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2012.02.002 Abstract: Over recent years, linguists have given an increasing amount of attention to impoliteness studies (Bousfield, 2008; Culpeper et al., 2003; Kienpointner, 1997; Meier, 1995a,b; Mills, 2009). Oddly however, little attention has yet been paid to the semantics of the English word rude. Lacking precise translation equivalents in many languages, rude is a keyword revealing much about socially accepted ways of behaving in Anglo society (Wierzbicka, 1997; cf. Fox, 2004). In Australian English, as in English generally, it is the primary ethno-descriptor in the domain of “impoliteness”. This paper provides a detailed lexical semantic analysis of rude in the productive formula It's rude to VP, and also in the fixed expression rude word. The semantic explications are framed in the simple universal primes of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) (Goddard and Wierzbicka, 2002; Peeters, 2006; Wierzbicka, 1996). The argumentation is supported by data on Australian English collected from Google searches.
2011
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(2011): Understanding Historical (Im)Politeness. In: Journal of Historical Pragmatics 12 (1-2), S. 133-155. DOI: 10.1075/jhp.12.1-2.06ker
Abstract: Forms and conceptions of politeness vary noticeably from one society to another, and also, within a given society, from one age to another. However, it can be assumed that the treatment of politeness phenomena in terms of "facework" as advocated by Brown and Levinson (1978, 1987) might help us to shed some light on both cultural variations and diachronic variations in politeness behaviour. This assumption is tested by considering the question of "good manners" in the French classic age as they are recorded in some prescriptive and literary writings. The study reveals that the profound logic that politeness obeys is the same in all eras. I take a special interest in the "double binds" we are confronted with in the exercise of politeness, looking at, for example, compliments as a ritual activity.
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(2011): Agent-based modeling of consumer decision making process based on power distance and personality. In: KNOWLEDGE-BASED SYSTEMS 24 (7), S. 1075-1095. DOI: 10.1016/j.knosys.2011.05.001
Abstract: Simulating consumer decision making processes involves different disciplines such as: sociology, social psychology, marketing, and computer science. In this paper, we propose an agent-based conceptual and computational model of consumer decision-making based on culture, personality and human needs. It serves as a model for individual behavior in models that investigate system-level resulting behavior. Theoretical concepts operationalized in the model are the Power Distance dimension of Hofstede’s model of national culture; Extroversion, Agreeableness and Openness of Costa and McCrae’s five-factor model of personality, and social status and social responsibility needs. These factors are used to formulate the utility function, process and update the agent state, need recognition and action estimation modules of the consumer decision process. The model was validated against data on culture, personality, wealth and car purchasing from eleven European countries. It produces believable results for the differences of consumer purchasing across eleven European countries.
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(2011): Culture-specific concepts of politeness. Indirectness and politeness in English, Hebrew and Korean requests. In: Intercultural Pragmatics 8 (3). DOI: 10.1515/iprg.2011.018
Abstract: Pragmatic clarity and politeness have been the two major factors in pragmatic competence rules since Grice (1975). Clarity and politeness have been claimed as complementary elements (Lakoff 1973) and politeness as the motivation for indirectness in requests (Searle 1975, 1979; Gordon and Lakoff 1975; Lakoff 1973, 1975, 1977, 1979, 1989, 1990; Leech 1983; Brown and Levinson 1978, 1987). However, highly indirect strategies, e. g., hints, may also be perceived as lacking in politeness because of a lack of concern for pragmatic clarity (Blum-Kulka 1987). In order to compare indirectness and politeness scales in Korean, Hebrew, and English and to re-examine the link between indirectness and politeness cross-culturally, this study uses the theoretical and methodological framework of Blum-Kulka (1987) and Blum-Kulka, House, and Kasper (1989). The study results show that neither non-conventional indirectness nor some strategies of conventional indirectness imply politeness in Korean and imply, in agreement with Yu (2002), that politeness is differently perceived cross-culturally. In particular, the results of the study show that the conventional indirect strategies such as Strong Hints, Mild Hints, and Suggestory Formulae in the nine request categories are not significantly correlated with politeness in Korean and that Performatives (Austin 1962) and Want Statements are perceived as direct but polite strategies in Korean. These results support that the degree and the concepts of politeness in Korean, Hebrew, and English are significantly different.
2010
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(2010): Culture and cooperation. In: Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences 365 (1553), S. 2651-2661. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2010.0135
DOI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20679109 Abstract: Does the cultural background influence the success with which genetically unrelated individuals cooperate in social dilemma situations? In this paper, we provide an answer by analysing the data of Herrmann et al. (2008a), who studied cooperation and punishment in 16 subject pools from six different world cultures (as classified by Inglehart & Baker (2000)). We use analysis of variance to disentangle the importance of cultural background relative to individual heterogeneity and group-level differences in cooperation. We find that culture has a substantial influence on the extent of cooperation, in addition to individual heterogeneity and group-level differences identified by previous research. The significance of this result is that cultural background has a substantial influence on cooperation in otherwise identical environments. This is particularly true in the presence of punishment opportunities.
2009
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(2009): Multicultural Competence and Social Justice Training in Counseling Psychology and Counselor Education A Review and Analysis of a Sample of Multicultural Course Syllabi. In: COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGIST 37 (1), S. 93-115
Abstract: This article presents the findings of a descriptive content analysis of 54 multicultural and diversity-related course syllabi drawn from counseling and counseling psychology programs accredited by the American Psychological Association and the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Programs. Results suggest that most courses adhere to the knowledge, awareness, and skills paradigm of multicultural competence. However, actual course content varies considerably. Whereas the findings identify social justice content as a growing presence in multicultural courses, there is a need to more clearly outline the fundamental points of distinction and overlap between multicultural competence and social justice advocacy in counselor and counseling psychology training.
2005
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(2005): Opinion. The neural basis of human moral cognition. In: Nature reviews. Neuroscience 6 (10), S. 799-809. DOI: 10.1038/nrn1768
DOI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16276356 Abstract: Moral cognitive neuroscience is an emerging field of research that focuses on the neural basis of uniquely human forms of social cognition and behaviour. Recent functional imaging and clinical evidence indicates that a remarkably consistent network of brain regions is involved in moral cognition. These findings are fostering new interpretations of social behavioural impairments in patients with brain dysfunction, and require new approaches to enable us to understand the complex links between individuals and society. Here, we propose a cognitive neuroscience view of how cultural and context-dependent knowledge, semantic social knowledge and motivational states can be integrated to explain complex aspects of human moral cognition.
Keywords: Beeinflussung sozial angemessenen Verhaltens, Brain/physiology, chemisch / neurologisch / medikamentös / durch Substanzen, Cognition/physiology, Disziplin, Good manners, Humans, Intellektualtechnik, Kogn. Architektur, Kultursensibilität, Mensch-Technik-Relationen (MTR), Moral und Kognition, moralisches Wissen, Morals, Neural Pathways/physiology, Neurosciences/methods, Neurowissenschaften, Normen, Observablen/Kriterien für sozial angemessenes Verhalten und dessen Bewertung, Postkasten, Psychologie, Soziale Angemessenheit, Technik 2000
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(2000): Meaning Well and Global Good Manners. Reflections on White Western Feminist Cross-cultural Praxis. In: Australian Feminist Studies 15 (33), S. 387-399. DOI: 10.1080/713611987
Abstract: In this article we want to engage with white feminist praxis. Reflecting our own positionings, we bring together some issues raised in cross-cultural encounters between black, Indigenous, and Third World feminists on the one hand, and white Western middle-class feminists on the other. In so doing we range from international development contexts, engagements between Indigenous and non-Indigenous feminists in Australia.
1985
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(1985): Different cultures, different languages, different speech acts. In: Journal of Pragmatics 9 (2-3), S. 145-178. DOI: 10.1016/0378-2166(85)90023-2
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(85)90023-2 Abstract: This paper discusses a number of differences between English and Polish in the area of speech acts, and links them with different cultural norms and cultural assumptions. It is shown that English, as compared with Polish, places heavy restrictions on the use of the imperative and makes extensive use of interrogative and conditional forms. Features of English which have been claimed to be due to universal principles of politeness are shown to be language-specific and culture-specific. Moreover, even with respect to English, they are shown to be due to aspects of culture much deeper than mere norms of politeness. Linguistic differences are shown to be associated with cultural differences such as spontaneity, directness, intimacy and affection vs. indirectness, distance, tolerance and anti-dogmaticism. Certain characteristic features of Australian English are discussed and are shown to reflect some aspects of the Australian ethos. Implications for a theory of speech acts and for interethnic communication are discussed. In particular, certain influential theories of speech acts (based largely on English) are shown to be ethnocentric and dangerous in their potential social effects.
Keywords: Disziplin, Englisch, Höflichkeit, Höflichkeitsforschung, Höflichkeitsforschung der zweiten Welle, Kultur, Kulturdifferenz, Kulturelle Normen, Kultursensibilität, Kulturspezifizität, Kulturtheorie, Linguistik, Politeness, Polnisch, Soziale Angemessenheit, Sprache, Sprachgebrauch, Sprachspezifizität, Sprechakt, Wierzbicka
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