
The Dark Side of Going Abroad: Foreign Experiences Increase Immoral Behavior [pdf] - tjalfi
http://faculty.insead.edu/william-maddux/documents/JPSP%20Culture%20and%20immoral%20behavior%20(in%20press).pdf
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cocktailpeanuts
> "Using multiple methods (longitudinal, correlational, and experimental),
> eight studies (N > 2200) establish that broad foreign experiences can lead
> to immoral behavior by increasing moral relativism, or the belief that
> morality is relative rather than absolute."

Well, morality _IS_ relative. It's not a "dark side" of going abroad. I feel
pity for those who did this research because they're the ones who are "in the
dark" and believe in their little world enough to do a research and write a
paper on this. It's similar to bunch of christians doing a research about why
God exists. I'm all for philosophy and theorizing things but just don't claim
it to be "scientific" just because you used all these multiple longitudinal,
correlational, and experimental whatever bullshit methods.

~~~
axtheter
Well, I'm taking a stats class now and longitudinal etc aren't scientific
bullshit. The real question is: were the methods properly used? Was the study
well done? They frequently aren't, for a multitude of reasons.

I only skimmed the paper and so may be entirely wrong, but the sample sizes
seemed awfully small. What drove me crazy is their simplistic notion is that
the CPI and CI indexes of the countries they visited was a factor of sorts.
The CPI is a ranking of countries "by their perceived levels of corruption, as
determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys.". The key word is
'perceived' \- some cultures, 'back-scratching' is a fundamental component of
how the society works and so by idealistic Western standards, it is wrong, but
that society isn't hypocritical about it.

On the other hand, the UK is #10 in the CPI list, but after living here for a
number of years now, I understand the culture enough to say that the English
are utterly hypocritical about the amount of corruption that is actually
present, despite the PERCEPTION the UK is a country that belongs in the top
10. And most English people I know are well aware of the inherent corruption
(at least my friends, all left leaning ex-communists...) If the study was
correct, then foreign students from other countries who study here, travel
here would be become less immoral?? I think not. Morality is primarily a
function of the individual, their personality, and how it was shaped by their
own culture growing up. I doubt very much it is affected so easily, except for
weak willed people.

Living here has not made me any more corrupt, but the opposite. Although I no
longer have any problem stabbing someone who has shown themselves to be
corrupt/unethical in the back... as a counter-action. I have gotten tired of
being screwed with, but I certainly am not going to plan to be unethical right
off the bat with someone. i.e. I play Tit for Tat now in the Prisoner's
Dilemma game of life, not the ideal strategy taught to children to socialize
them properly.

So if you want to measure how 'personality morality' changes over time,
superficial things like a brief exposure to other cultures isn't going to be
useful, it is hard core life experiences that shape a person more, and how
their understanding of humanity evolves. And that is much harder to assess and
doesn't get you published etc etc.

And I bet this bad study could/would be used by populist nationalists etc to
justify why exposure to other cultures must be prevented... oh lord.

~~~
cocktailpeanuts
Yes couldn't have said it better.

To clarify, I said bullshit because "bullshit" is a term used to refer to smug
intellectuals who have an impure agenda and package them with "scientific"
methods so the "common people" will just believe them. it's like how those
cigarette companies fund researches to prove that cigarettes are good for your
health. It's bullshit, and they should be ashamed of themselves for hiding
behind bullshit science and doing their propaganda and mislead the public.

So yeah, I think no matter how great the tools are, if you use it wrong, it is
bullshit. Just like knife can be used for cooking but also killing people.

