Mindfulness Training
Mindfulness Training
Mindfulness Training
Mindfulness Training
Mindfulness Training
Part II: Legacy
Harlan County, KY
Culture of Honor
The “culture of honor” hypothesis says
that it matters where you’re from, not just
in terms of where you grew up or where
your parents grew up, but in terms of
where your great-grandparents and
great-great grandparents grew up and
even where your great-great-great
grandparents grew up. (p. 170)
Culture of Honor
Small disputes, high stakes

Reputation, status
The American South
The states in dark red are almost always included in modern
day definitions of the South, while those in medium red are
usually included. Some sources classify Maryland and Missouri
as Southern, with Delaware only rarely grouped within the
region. West Virginia is often considered Southern, because it
was once part of Virginia
Culture of Honor
Small disputes, high stakes

Reputation, status
Culture of Honor
Small disputes, high stakes

Reputation, status
"Ole-Ranl" Hatfield and "Devil-Anse" McCoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCwe61LzjgI
Persistence of Culture of Honor
An Empirical Demonstration
Cohen et al.

Southerners should be



More likely to view an insult as damaging
More upset by the insult
More prepared for aggressive response…
An Empirical Demonstration
Experiments 1 - 3

The basic “asshole” procedure
Experiment 1
Experiment 2
Experiment 3
Experiment 3
Conclusions
A male who is insulted but does not
retaliate risks having his masculine
reputation diminished…When a
challenging or highly status-relevant
situation is encountered…the person may
lash out with violent or aggressive
behavior to reassert him- or herself.
(Image that appeared when I searched for “violent redneck”)
Conclusions
Cultural legacies are powerful forces.
They have deep roots and long lives.
They persist, generation after generation,
virtually intact, even as the economic and
social and demographic conditions that
spawned them have vanished, and they
play such a role in directing attitudes
and behavior that we cannot make sense
of our world without them. (p. 175)
The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes
The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes
Korean Air Flight 801
Captain
1st Officer
“Wiper on”
“Not in sight”
Flight Eng.
1st Officer
Flight Eng.
1st Officer
Flight Eng
“Eh”
“Let’s make a missed approach”
“Not in sight”
“Not in sight, missed approach”
“Go around”
Captain
“Go around”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II4dwx00v28
The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes
Korean Airlines Crash Rate


1988 – 1998: 4.79 per million departures
Dismal safety record
The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes
It is a complex and sometimes strange
story. But it turns on a very simple fact,
the same fact that runs through the
tangled history of Harlan…Korean Air
did not succeed—it did not right itself—
until it acknowledged the importance of
its cultural legacy.
The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes
Avianca Flight 052
“Through it all, the cockpit was filled with a heavy silence”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCyLgeVUuIE
How does the crew communicate?
Mitigated Speech

Any attempt to downplay or sugarcoat the
meaning of what is being said…
Don’t bother if it’s too much trouble…
How does the crew communicate?
Mitigated Speech

Any attempt to downplay or sugarcoat the
meaning of what is being said…
Don’t bother if it’s too much trouble…
How does the crew communicate?
You notice on the weather radar an area
of heavy precipitation 25 miles ahead.
[The pilot] is maintaining his present
course at Mach .73, even though
embedded thunderstorms have been
reported in your area and you encounter
moderate turbulence. You want to ensure
that you aircraft will not penetrate this
area. Question: What do you say to the
pilot?
1. Command
2. Crew Obligation Statement
3. Crew Suggestion
4. Query
5. Preference
6. Hint
Crew Resource Management
The Basic Goal

Teaching junior crew members to
communicate clearly and
assertively…
Avianca: “All the guys had to do was tell the
controller, ‘We don’t have the fuel to comply
with what you are trying to do.’ All they had to
do was say, ‘We can’t do that. We have to
land in the next ten minutes.” S. Ratwatte (right)
Crew Resource Management
Power-Distance Index

Concerned with attitudes toward
hierarchy…how much a culture
values and respects authority
http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/map/hofstede-power-distance-index.html
Crew Resource Management
Changing the culture of the cockpit

Basic goal of CRM
Crew Resource Management
Our ability to succeed at what we do is
powerfully bound up with where we’re
from, and being a good pilot and coming
from a high-power distance culture is a
difficult mix.
Crew Resource Management
The new cockpit culture
English mandatory
 New communication style

Miracle on the Hudson
3:27:36 Flight 1549: "Ah, this, uh, Cactus 1539.
Hit birds, we lost thrust in both engines. We're
turning back towards LaGuardia."
3:27:42 New York TRACON: "OK, yeah, you
need to return to Laguardia. Turn left heading of
uh, 2-2-0."
U.S. Airways Flight 1549
Miracle on the Hudson
3:28:05 New York TRACON: "Cactus 1529, if
we can get it to you, do you want to try to land
runway 1-3?"
3:28:11 Flight 1549: "We're unable. We may
end up in the Hudson."
3:28:31 New York TRACON: "All right cactus
1549. It's going to be a left. Traffic to runway
3-1."
3:28:34 Flight 1549: "Unable."
U.S. Airways Flight 1549
Miracle on the Hudson
3:29:21 New York TRACON: "Cactus 1529,
turn right 2-8-0, you can land runway one at
Teterboro."
3:29:25 Flight 1549: "We can't do it."
3:29:26 New York TRACON: "OK, which
runway would you like at Teterboro?"
3:29:28 Flight 1549: "We're gonna be in the
Hudson."
U.S. Airways Flight 1549
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/11/incredible-new-look-at-us-airways-flight-1549/
Another Crash Landing
United Airlines Flight 232
Another Crash Landing
What does Denny
Fitch’s story teach
us about success?
United Airlines Flight 232