Culture – Page 43 – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

There’s More to Shopping Than Just Buying Stuff

By Guest PostJune 3, 2011Cultureaustralia, concept of socializing and shopping, deakin university, hunters, lone browsers, michigan state university, patricia huddleston, post world war, shopping, stella minahan, therapeutic, therapy, why women go shopping, women

EAST LANSING, Mich. — For women, shopping is more than just buying stuff. For some it can be therapeutic, for others a time to socialize, or for some a challenge to find the right product at the right price.

Michigan State University’s Patricia Huddleston is co-author of a new book, “Consumer Behavior: Women and Shopping,” which looks at the reasons why women go shopping, as well as provides a history of how shopping has evolved over the years. (more…)

Preserving the Navajo Language, One Interpreter at a Time

By Guest PostJune 2, 2011Cultureagnese nelms haury, arizona, arizona supreme court, armando valles, casey watchman, christian missionaries, english to navajo, karen frances begay, navajo interpreter training institute, navajo nation, new mexico, perphelia fowler, philanthropist, rick nez, roseann gonzalez, university of arizona, university of new mexico, vocabulary

*A group of 33 students were competively selected to earn free certification from the UA’s Navajo Interpreter Training Institute to gain eligibility to serve as interpreters in New Mexico and Arizona state courts.*

Many of the 33 students enrolled in the University of Arizona’s Navajo Interpreter Training Institute have similar backgrounds – they began their unofficial role as English-to-Navajo language interpreters as children translating for their parents and grandparents.

Now, as adults who live and work across Arizona and New Mexico, they still find themselves providing the same service. (more…)

Who Knows You Best? Not You, Say Psychologists

By Guest PostMay 31, 2011Cultureanxiety related traits, blind spots, conventional wisdom, erika n carlson, Facebook, know thyself, listen to others, simine vazire, socrates

Know thyself. That was Socrates’ advice, and it squares with conventional wisdom. “It’s a natural tendency to think we know ourselves better than others do,” says Washington University in St. Louis assistant professor Simine Vazire.

But a new article by Vazire and her colleague Erika N. Carlson reviews the research and suggests an addendum to the philosopher’s edict: Ask a friend. “There are aspects of personality that others know about us that we don’t know ourselves, and vice-versa,” says Vazire. “To get a complete picture of a personality, you need both perspectives.” The paper is published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. (more…)

World-Wide Assessment Determines Differences in Cultures

By Guest PostMay 26, 2011Culturecross cultural tolerance, cultural conflict, cultural differences

Ukraine, Israel, Brazil and the United States are “loose” cultures

Conflicts and misunderstandings frequently arise between individuals from different cultures. But what makes cultures different; what makes one more restrictive and another less so? (more…)

Ants Give New Evidence for Interaction Networks

By Guest PostMay 25, 2011Culture, Scienceanna dornhaus, ant species, antennae, ants antennate, benjamin blonder, daniel wolf, dornhaus and blonder, evolutionary argument, Facebook, han jing, information, interaction networks, internet, kayla lauger, local grapevine, milan curry, paradigm, self directed networks, southern arizona, temnothorax rugatulus, trophallaxis, tuan cao, unique color code, university of arizona

*UA researchers have uncovered evidence in ant colonies suggesting that social networks may function differently than previously assumed.*

Be it through the Internet, Facebook, the local grapevine or the spread of disease, interaction networks influence nearly every part of our lives.

Scientists previously assumed that interaction networks without central control, known as self-directed networks, have universal properties that make them efficient at spreading information. Just think of the local grapevine: Let something slip, and it seems like no time at all before nearly everyone knows. (more…)

Take Fear Head on, Actor Tom Hanks Tells Yale Seniors

By Guest PostMay 23, 2011Culture, Educationacademy awards, apollo 13, big, catherine lew, class day, eliza gonzalez, eric randall, Facebook, fear or faith, forest gump, graduates, ivy ode, john paul jones, old campus, old country, oscar-winning actor, philadelphia, preparing to leave, saving private ryan, tom hanks, toy story, tweets, Twitter, veterans of the iran and afghan wars, woody, yale, yale baseball cap, yale class day, youtube viral sensations

How Yale’s newest graduates make their imprint on the world and on history will be determined by how well they handle fear and inspire faith, Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks told the seniors in his Class Day address on May 22.

In the ceremony on the Old Campus, Hanks urged the soon-to-be graduates to begin their future by coming to the aid of the U.S. veterans of the Iran and Afghan wars, whose “faith in themselves is shadowed by the fear of not knowing what is expected of them next,” he said. (more…)

Why Russians Think Americans Don’t Own Their Homes

By Guest PostMay 22, 2011Culture, Economyamerican housing system, american model, credit card debt, fannie mae, free market economy, home ownership, homeowners, housing the new russia, jane zavisca, metaphor, mortgage, russia, russian government, russians, sociologist, soviet era, soviet era housing, soviet union, university of arizona

*UA sociologist Jane Zavisca says the two countries are polar opposites when it comes to mortgage financing.*

When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, one of the structural problems the new government and free-market economy had to deal with was housing. Most Russians lived in government-owned apartments that had been built beginning in the late 1950s. The question then became, who owned all of that Soviet-era housing?

In her new book, “Housing the New Russia,” due to be published by Cornell University Press, Jane Zavisca said the new Russian government dealt with it by announcing that this huge stock of apartments was, as of 1992, privately owned. (more…)

MU Archeologist Finds Oldest 3-D Statue In Western Hemisphere

By Guest PostMay 21, 2011Culture, Scienceandean people, myth of fox, myths, rising sun, statue, statue in peru, temple in peru

Statue at temple in Peru helps us understand ancient culture, myths

COLUMBIA, Mo. – A University of Missouri archeologist has found a 4,000-year-old statue in Peru that gives new insight into an ancient agricultural society. (more…)

Category Archives: Culture