I just finished doing a paper for my diversity class and focused on Asian Athletes in American pro sports. I learned through my research the psychological differences of American and Asian athletes based upon how they were raised in each culture. It was very enlightening. Anyway, it has led me to believe that changing Yao’s behavior is not quite as easy as telling him to “Dunk the ball” or “Throw some elbows” Many have been frustrated with Yao’s passiveness and don’t understand it despite obvious size and skill advantage. We have been pushing for Yao to be more aggressive and he is certainly trying. We’ve all read how impolite it is to dunk the ball in China and understand to certain point, BUT we never really grew up that way and that type of culture/mentality has not been ingrained in us since childhood. Imagine growing up Human in Spock’s world, Vulcan. The human may be naturally more inclined towards aggression but represses it (through decades of living with Vulcans) despite finally being told that he could start acting more human. Yao can be aggressive and believe he will eventually be consistently so, although it will take a couple of years before his subconscious mind stops fighting this.
I think you have mistaken one of the basic principles of nature vs. nurture in psychology. Psychologists generally agree that a person's traits are a mixture of nature AND nurture. Think about it this way: certain psychological disorders are more common in large cities than small towns. Does life in crowded cities somehow cause disorders or do people develop such disorders because of a genetic predisposition and then move to big cities in search of jobs, housing and welfare services? We really can't tell. The conclusion is then, from the point of view of the scientific methods used in psychology, your assumption is not parsimonious and only partly falsifiable. It could indeed be that Yao is not as aggressive because of BOTH nature and nurture; or it could be neither (eg. maybe he's not aggressive because when he is, he'll be gasping for air by the 3rd quarter). I suppose I should also tell you that throughout Chinese history, there has been no shortage of aggression. Indeed, Chinese history is the bloodiest one in the world and the Chinese people (at least prior to post Tang dynasty enlightenment) were among the most war-like as well.
Yao just need some kind special glasses that makes him see the opponent as Korean/Japan NT. Then u'll see him hanging on the rim. Dunk over the double team. And jump out from the paint to black three point shot, then swing his fist to opponent player.
I really think it's more of Yao himself having a nature of the nice guy kind of thing. I don't really buy the argument that growing up in China stops people from being aggressive are wild in sports. Watch Chinese soccer, if a player makes a goal, he still go around screaming like a mad, takes off his shirt, do some celeberatory dance and hog the camera, just like the europeans or Americans (when scoring a touchdown in football) so I don't think the nurture is that big part of it. I think Yao is definitely one of those quiet types, are even more quite Duncan
OmegaSupreme The paper is too long for this thread but I can email it to you sometime if you really want to. To reply to the other posts, I never said their is a lack of agression in Asian culture but believe it is more subdued and disciplined. I also believe that Yao is actully inlclined towards the assertive side except that he is trying not to make waves and destroy the harmony of the team.
im going to have to pipe up and say that you are trying to pigeonhole yao based on racial characteristics instead of looking at him as an individual. asian stereotypes are either the peaceful shaolin monk, aggressive chinese communists, noble samurai, computer nerd, effeminate male. the language im hearing being thrown around are part of one of these spectrums. pick your select few of characteristics from the selections and put it together, it feels right doesn't it? its okay to look at them that way i guess, since asians are vulcans, blacks are klingons etc...
Where did you hear that they do not like to dunk in China? This is a misunderstood aspect of basketnball in China. They do have their own slam dunk contest during their all-star break in China.
