Sat, 20 March 2010
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Blogger Kristen Bernardi discusses a study that claims expatriates are more creative than their homebound counterparts.A recent study published in The Economist claimed that those who live abroad are more creative.
When given a simple problem-solving task, researchers found that “60 percent of students who were either living abroad or had spent some time doing so solved the problem, whereas only 42 percent of those who had not lived abroad did so.”
A follow-up study showed that expats were also more adept at creative negotiating:
“Pairs of students were asked to play the role of a seller of a petrol station who then needed to get a job and a buyer who would need to hire staff to run the business. The two were likely to reach an impasse because the buyer had been told he could not afford what the seller was told was his minimum price. Nevertheless, where both negotiators had lived abroad 70 percent struck a deal in which the seller was offered a management job at the petrol station in return for a lower asking price. When neither of the negotiators had lived abroad, none was able to reach a deal.”
Empirical evidence that we’re awesome!
(I’ll pause now so you can all send the link to the study to your friends and family with a note attached telling them how extraordinary you are for living abroad. Go on, I did it last week.)
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All boasting aside, these results should come as no surprise to someone who has attempted to learn a language beyond an intermediate level.
When stuck for a word, you describe what you’re talking about. You may not remember how to say neoyorquina, but you can manage, Soy de Nueva York. Even though you can’t pronounce otorrinolaringólogo, you are able to find a doctor in Spain to treat your migraines.
Expats spend their lives explaining themselves and navigating new places as best as they can within the cultural context they’re plopped into. We become quite good at it. We learn to be resourceful because we have to, and it can be very rewarding.
Here's a short introduction to our Banking section for those living in Spain.
Here's a short introduction to our Where to Live section in Spain.
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