 |
Gert Jan Hofstede (1956): I am a Dutch population biologist and social scientist in information management, interested in the interplay of the contrasting forces of cultural evolution, societal change and cultural stability. Applications of these ideas range from management to artificial intelligence (read more under "Gert Jan").
|
From whereabouts are you visiting us? Click to update. Installed 20 May 2012.
 |
| Why is culture so important? Every visitor of this site has her or his unique personality, history, and interest. Yet all people share a common human nature. Our shared human nature is intensely social: we are group animals. We use language and empathy, and practice collaboration and intergroup competition. But the unwritten rules of how we do these things differ from one human group to another. "Culture" is how we call these unwritten rules about how to be a good member of the group. Culture provides moral standards about how to be an upstanding group member; it defines the group as a "moral circle". It inspires symbols, heroes, rituals, laws, religions, taboos, and all kinds of practices - but its core is hidden in unconscious values that change at a far slower rate than the practices. We tend to classify groups other than our own as inferior or (rarely) superior. This applies to groups based on national, religious, or ethnic boundaries, but also on occupation or academic discipline, on club membership, adored idol, or dress style. In our globalized world most of us can belong to many groups at the same time. But to get things done, we still need to cooperate with members of other groups carrying other cultures. Skills in cooperation across cultures are vital for our common survival. The authors of these pages are committed to the development of such intercultural cooperation skills. |
Would you like to help? Together with people from many universities, I (Gert Jan) am involved in research on modelling of social behaviour, including culture, in computer agents and virtual characters. Creating believable behaviour that is not fully scripted in advance is quite a challenge. If you would like to contribute by watching some episodes and answering a few questions about them, click here:
* Buy or sell a second-hand car. This is with Delft University. We wonder which cross-cultural differences we'll see in negotiation behaviour. For any questions: thelemoncargame@gmail.com. The game links with Gert Jan's publications about negotiation across cultures (see Google scholar).
* Francesco and Horatio meet. How would you feel if it was you?
* A student asks the professor for more time. Do you think the student and teacher are behaving fairly?
Thank you in advance! During 2012 we are expecting some results. Check back here or at project sites www.ecute.eu (education for cultural understanding), www.semira.wur.nl (policy across countries) to know more.
|