Rosetta Project: Measuring National Differences

摘要

Cross cultural difficulties with coordination, communication, planning, and decision making highlight the limitations of current research in psychology. What is labeled 'psychology' is actually 'Western psychology' rather than human psychology. Researchers, subjects, and paradigms are primarily from Western nations and outcomes often do not generalize to other samples. Practitioners in many applied domains lack the information and constructs they need take the perspectives of others during international interchanges. While the identification and measurement of national differences is critical, there are few tools for measuring differences and predicting complex cognitive processes. The lack of validated measurement instruments has hampered efforts to enhance performance in applied domains where it is important to understand the cognition of partners and/or adversaries. It has also limited efforts to understanding of the underlying dynamics of sense-making, decision-making and other complex cognitive processes. This research program was designed to describe cognition and the social context of cognitive differences among groups. The focus was on differences that, if understood might support and allow better perspective taking and anticipation. The long-term goal will be to strengthening multinational interactions.