Les réactions à cette situation sont les mêmes du côté américain comme du côté français. Soit on leur demande poliment de se taire, soit on ne fait rien. une réponse m’a tout de même interpellé : celle de la personne qui demande à un de ces amis de demander aux gens de faire moins de bruit. Elle me parait un peu étonnante, je trouve que demander à quelqu’un, même si c’est un ami, de régler son problème est peu déplacé. A chacun de régler ses problèmes je pense.

Like in the line situation, it seems like MIT students are more interested in avoiding confrontation and willing to try to wait it out. Potentially that is just a demographic difference in MIT students versus other Americans where it is probably more evenly distributed the reactions. Do you think that there is a demographic bend to your direct and pointed responses?

I agree with Stephen that it seems MIT students are more interested in avoiding confrontation. After Professor Sabine mentioned in class how in media, people are more direct and at time aggressive with how they criticize people, I almost see this as a continuation of the cultural trend. I’m interested to know if both MIT and ENSIRB students were to do a similar exercise responding to “how you’d respond if someone turned around in the movie theater and curtly told you to be quiet,” would reactions be similar?

The results here seem similar to the supermarket situation in which on the MIT side there is some “ignore them” and a similar amount of “politely tell them to be quiet.” On the ENSEIRB side, there is more “tell them to be quiet” than to “ignore them.” I wonder if this relates at all back to individualism, where on the ENSEIRB side they were saying how they preferred equity, and this idea of everyone being on the same playing field makes them more likely to do something about someone talking in the theater.

I think Stephen’s point is interesting. In my experience, MIT students definitely tend toward introverted/nonconfrontational. Going a bit further with it, I’d say that’s fairly typical of people interested in technical fields in America – one part of the “nerd” stereotype that does, on average, seem to apply. I’m curious – is there a similar stereotype in France, and do parts of it seem remotely accurate?

I agree with Paul that most of the reactions are are the same, expect for asking a friend or an attendant to intervene. Although, I think that maybe the person asking for help with a rude person is just someone who wants to avoid direct conflict or is not confident enough to speak up. Would speaking up make some feel judged as rude by others?

I agree with previous statements that point to a sort of skew towards being non-confrontational among MIT students. When I’ve found myself in situations like this with other MIT students and I speak up assertively, MIT students seem to be taken aback no matter how polite I am. That could also be MIT students generally feeling very entitled. I agree with Paul that somebody should take care of their own problems, though.

I would agree with above these results seem very similar to the prompt about waiting in line. It is interesting to hear the comments about the specific demographic of MIT and being non confrontational. I think that this may be accurate in that I am sure that a different demographic may respond differently. Although I also think that it may be cultural as well in that it is possible people in France may be generally more confrontational. I wonder if the demographic of ENSEIRB is similar to that of MIT or not.

I agree that MIT students seem to be more non-confrontational, but I also wonder if it may be a cultural phenomenon as well. For example, in schools, we are often taught to disengage and ignore, rather than be actively assertive. I wonder if anyone remembers the anti-bullying assemblies from grade school, in which the idea of ignoring the bully was encouraged over standing up for yourself. In fact, students who stood up for themselves were often punished (perhaps to an even greater extent than the bullies) due to zero-tolerance policies and such. This may contribute to the overall non-confrontational side of American adolescents.

I also think that this is part of each countries’ culture. When I visit Morocco, I generally feel that people there are more open to talking to strangers, whereas Americans are more hesitant. I could be totally off base, but this is just something that I’ve noticed.

I think Americans in general are less confrontational and strive to maintain a certain level of distance from others. In Europe, people were much more willing to talk to strangers and perhaps this stems from the differences in perception regarding a bubble of personal space. But the difference in willingness to confront could come from here. I also highly agree with susan in that the educational system in America teaches us not to confront. At least in my elementary and middle schools, even if someone came up to you and punched you, you were told to walk away because otherwise you would also be in trouble. Which definitely gets ingrained over time.

Les réponses des deux côtés sont similaires, soit on ignore soit on leur demande de se taire. Ceci dépend de la tolérance de la personne. Mon avis est que les personnes qui décident d’ignorer ont une énorme tolérance. C’est le minimum de respecter au cinéma le silence pour que tout le monde puisse profiter agréablement de son film.

Je suis bien d’accord avec lola, de part le fait que les gens payent leurs places et c’est donc la moindre des choses de pouvoir profiter du film dans le silence.

Je pense que là encore plus que culturel, les réactions à ce type de situation sont dues à la personnalité, c’est donc pour cela que l’on trouve des similitudes dans les réponses américaines et française. Ainsi comme tout le monde je pense que cela dépend de la tolérance de chacun comme l’a si bien dit Lola.