The chance to learn & develop increases potentially when you can relate to your environment. Only for our mental comprehension we stick conservatively to constant expectations. This will become a limitation to develop & change when times or people you deal with change.
CORE PRINCIPLES:
Motivation Cross-cultural it is different if people feel more intrinsic or extrinsic motivated. Important is to focus on the drive of motivation of people to interact. The most endurable trainingeffect will come forth out of relating to that drive and an individual's practical needs. Everyone needs the feeling of autonomy to be able to act and regulate, experience recognized competence (it matters what you can do) and relatedness to the environment he is living. Self-determination theory; SDT (Deci & Ryan, 1991, 2008; Gagne & Deci, 2005; Ryan & Deci 2000, 2006; Noels, 2000; Niemiec, 2009; Van den Broeck, 2009).
Focus on possibilities Benefit the experiences, knwoledge & skills people already have. No-one is unexperienced! I prefer a strength approach and focus on possibilities to contribute self confidence instead of focussing on problems & limitations (Hiemstra & Bohlmeijer, 2013). The possibilities appear within the context we (think we) are living in. Like "who do we think we are?" With the purpose to develop self-esteem & -regulation (Smith & Mackie, 2007).
Learn instead of cure The possibility-orientation implies already to focus on what we can motivate to learn instead of cure 'bad' behavior. When people learn new skills that give more results, the old behavior will become obsolete and replaced. Personally and culturally we have our own preferred learning mode (Paige & Martin, 1996). From childhood on we learn by play and discovering. Confrontation can be necessary to break the status-quo of a dogma or taboo and recover possibilities to learn. Never to judge people. Only to strengthen the self-esteem within the changing cultural context (Kitayama 2004; Markus & Kitayama, 2003, 2010; Kwak, 2010).
Cross-cultural perspectives An intercultural relation with a foreign environment can be very exciting and essential for us as humans. This focus is the friction between the cultural differences and the impact on individuals; Intercultural Sensitizer (Cushner & Landis, 1996), What is the impact on your values & norms and the ones of your opponent (Triandis, 1989; Howson, 2009; Weigl, 2009; Rosinski, 2013; Northoff, 2013).
Practical relevancy I have the opinion that a theory is as good as it can relate to practice. Just because the practical situation is much more complex than theory suggests. People are influenced at multiple levels when they act, like the situation they are in, people involved, their values & norms, emotions related and the past events they came from. Too many variables for science. Cultural patterns provide an order in this complexity and these patterns you manage together. You can change them only by action creating new common sense (Smith & Mackie,2007; Watzlawick, 2001).
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