2 Know thy culture文化特性-当局者迷

Know thy culture: Few do Know thy culture: Few do By Shelley Emling International Herald Tribune FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2006 When it comes to recognizing cultural traits, Michaela Jedinak would seem to have a wider experience to draw on than many people: The daughter of Czech parents, Jedinak grew up in Germany and now lives in London, where she works as a consultant.   So when a recent conversation turned to national stereotypes, she drew on her upbringing to recall a longtime perception about Germans - that when it comes to food, quantity matters as much as quality.   "This is such a true saying," Jedinak said. "Nothing upsets me more than having a small portion on my plate."   Jedinak's astute self-perception may be the exception that proves the rule. According to a new global study, the most inaccurate national stereotyping comes from a country's own citizens.   The National Institute on Aging, a U.S. research group, studied 4,000 citizens in 49 countries. The authors garnered the assistance of researchers from around the world to ask people how they viewed themselves; how they viewed friends, relatives and associates in their own culture; and how they would describe the "typical" member of their culture. The researchers then compared the results with the findings of other independent assessments of the culture.   The study found that on rare occasions, the self-stereotypes matched reality - at least as it could be measured by the researchers. For example, Germans think of themselves as conscientious and industrious, and that is how the independent measurement came out.   But most often there was little agreement between self-perception and the results. For example, the Americans in the study said they believed the typical American was assertive, and Canadians said they believed the typical Canadian was submissive. But, in fact, Americans and Canadians had almost identical scores on measures of assertiveness: a slight notch above the average in the study sample.   Looking at other personality traits, the researchers found that citizens of India considered themselves unconventional and open to new experiences, but measurements of personality showed that they were more conventional than the rest of the sample.   Czechs said they believed that Czechs were antagonistic and disagreeable, but when personality was actually observed, Czechs scored higher than most on levels of altruism and modesty.   Indonesians and Japanese said they thought they were very neurotic, but they actually ranked in the middle of the 49 cultures for anxiety, fears and other such traits. Northern Ireland had the most extroverted population, according to the survey; New Zealanders, Australians and Spaniards all believed themselves to be in that category.   When it came to self-assessment, the English were the worst. They see themselves as repressed but, according to the assessment, they are among the most extroverted.   "We're hoping to contribute to a basic understanding of stereotypes, which affect social interactions for many groups," said Robert McCrae, a psychologist and one of the authors of the study, which was published in Science magazine. "We need to remind ourselves to see people as individuals."