Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/57469
Research The World Is More Helpful Than You Think While many people recognize that it's sometimes necessary to ask for help, they most often underestimate how easily that help will come, say Frank Flynn, associate professor of orga- nizational behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business in Cali- found that participants consistently overestimated by 50 percent the number of people they would have to ask before their request would be fulfilled. Those results were replicated in a real-world scenario that involved volunteers for Team in Training, a division of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Volunteers, who receive training for endurance sports events in exchange for fund raising for the society, were asked to estimate the number of people they thought they would have to solicit to reach their fund-raising goals and the average donation they expected. In this case, too, volunteers predicted they would have to approach 50 percent more people than they actually did, and they underestimat- ed the average actual donation they received by $17. The researchers found that those ask- ing for help often fail to understand the fornia, and Vanessa Lake, a psychol- ogy doctoral student at Columbia University in New York. In two studies, Flynn and Lake directed participants to estimate how many strangers they thought would comply with a range of requests for help—to lend a cell phone, fill out a questionnaire, or find the campus gym, for instance. Then, participants were instructed to make those requests of people in campus settings. The researchers 54 BizEd NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2008 motivations of potential helpers. Many people, they say, feel a social obligation to be benevolent. How- ever, the request has to be direct and personal. Flynn and Lake found people were less successful in receiv- ing help when using indirect means. In another study, for instance, par- ticipants overestimated the number of people who would assist them when they indicated their need for help with a look rather than a direct verbal request. And in another, par- ticipants overestimated the number of people who would respond when handed a questionnaire that includ- ed a written request to fill it out. "People seem to miscalculate how willing others are to say yes to direct requests," says Flynn. "Peo- ple are more willing to help than you think, and that can be impor- tant to know when you're trying to get the resources you need to get a job done." Their paper, "If you need help, just ask: Underestimating compli- ance with direct requests for help," was published in the July 2008 issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Brain Scans Reveal Cultural Preferences Brain scans may not be able to tell whether a person is lying, but they can tell what cultural traditions a person prefers. That's the finding of cross- disciplinary research that involved Karen Walch, a professor who teaches crosscultural negotiaton at the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Arizona. Walch's research team included 15 medical science academics who PHILIP & KAREN SMITH/GETTY IMAGES