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Americans and Chinese Differ in Their World View--Literally

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by Ottomaton, Aug 28, 2005.

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  1. Ottomaton

    Ottomaton Member
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    from SciAm

    Americans and Chinese Differ in Their World View--Literally


    A study of Chinese and American students has found that the two groups looked at scenes in photographs in distinct ways. The findings indicate that previously observed cultural differences in judgment and memory between East Asians and North Americans derive from differences in what they actually see.

    There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that whereas North Americans tend to be more analytic when evaluating a scenario, fixating on the focal object, East Asians are generally more holistic, giving more consideration to the context. Researchers have not known, however, whether these differences originate during the encoding, retrieval, or mental comparison stages of perceptual-cognitive processing, or whether they might even be the result of reporting bias.

    To try to pinpoint when these differences emerge, Richard E. Nisbett of the University of Michigan and his colleagues conducted a series of experiments in which Chinese and American students were shown a number of images, each depicting a single subject against a realistic and complex background. The participants--who wore an eye-movement tracker during the tests--were then shown pictures containing the same subjects on either old or new backgrounds and asked to judge whether they had seen the subjects before.

    As the team predicted, the American students homed in on the focal subject sooner and longer than did the Chinese students, who paid more attention to the background imagery. (In the image above, eye gaze patterns of an American individual appear on top; those of a Chinese individual on the bottom.) This suggests that the Americans encoded more visual details for the focal objects than did the Chinese, which would explain why the Americans fared better when it came to determining whether they had seen a given subject before, even when it was presented against a new backdrop.

    Nisbett and his collaborators posit that these differences in attention to object and context arise through socialization practices. "East Asians live in relatively complex social networks with prescribed role relations. Attention to context is, therefore, important for effective functioning," the scientists observe. "In contrast, Westerners live in less constraining social worlds that stress independence and allow them to pay less attention to context." The findings are being published online this week by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
    --Kate Wong

    ----------
    This is an interesting line of inquiry, but one with many charged issues surrounding it. I think that hypotheses like those mentioned in the last paragraph of the article are dangerous and stupid when they are made, as is clearly the case here, as pure speculation. They try and assign the whole effect to perceived differences in social structures that may have basis in fact but border on stereotyping and not on established fact.

    In the 19th century, people used to look for "scientific data" to show that showed that black people were physically more like great apes than white people. Thankfully, the data showed clearly that the physical characteristics of white people more closely match those of Gorillas. :) One of the great neurologists of the 19th century, Jean Marie Charcot, was involved in this dispute, though for the life of me I can't remember which side of the argument he fell on. In any case, it's nice to note that in that case the stupid biased speculation eventually was silenced by data.

    They final paragraph reeks to me of the 19th century bias. A couple of the other sentences in there also resonate poorly, but if one limits oneself only to the core data it's direct implications its an interesting idea. It would seem to fit into what I would call problems of communication in threads discussing either a certain island, or the inhabitants a certain group of islands and their offensive ways.
     
    #1 Ottomaton, Aug 28, 2005
  2. MartianMan

    MartianMan Member

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    I agree that the study is very limited in scope and the conclusions are far too generalized to be taken seriously. So...umm...why did you post it here?
     
    #2 MartianMan, Aug 28, 2005
  3. Ubiquitin

    Ubiquitin Member
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    Call me crazy, but Americans include people of Chinese origin. There is no biological difference between Americans (a nationalistic creation) and the Chinese.
     
    #3 Ubiquitin, Aug 28, 2005
  4. wnes

    wnes Contributing Member

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    Good question.
     
    #4 wnes, Aug 28, 2005
  5. Bullard4Life

    Bullard4Life Member

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    I couldn't disagree more. Studies conducted in the 19th century, as well as during the eugenics and Nazi movements of the early 20th century were down with the premeditated purpose of defining and solidifying proof of racial superiority. Conversely, this study was simply meant to see whether or not there might be cultural differences between people from America or China. It's no different than inquiries into whether or not different languages or cultural norms create different world views among people. The article and the scientists make no judgment as to whether one culture is better than the other, it simply tries to understand how much culture might make a difference in how people are. I think studies like this are important if we're to create greater understanding between people from different nations and cultures.
     
    #5 Bullard4Life, Aug 28, 2005
  6. Dubious

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    The differences pointed out were cultural not genetic and no inference was made that either distinction was more positive or negative. So what's the beef? Understanding the differences between cultures can aid in communication and ease realtions. It is a standard proceedure in the diplomatic corp.
     
    #6 Dubious, Aug 28, 2005
  7. Dubious

    Dubious Member

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    Studying cultural differences will get you grant money from the State Department.
     
    #7 Dubious, Aug 28, 2005
  8. langal

    langal Member

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    I don't think Chinese born in the US are considered "Americans". I know that most people in the US consider me Chinese rather than "American" (I was born in New Jersey). In the end - skin color defines more of who we are than geographic place of origin.
     
    #8 langal, Aug 28, 2005
  9. tigermission1

    tigermission1 Member

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    Guys, you are overreacting here. The article is NOT discussing whether or not the two nations are 'biologically' different, but rather that culture makes people have a different approach to how they perceive things; this is an undeniable fact. Afterall, man is a social animal, and we are all 'conditioned' to see things in a certain way, so why are people surprised by this study? IF anything, this helps different cultures to communicate better, not to make it sound like that one group is better than the other.

    Humans are very complex, and what makes us unique is our cultural differences, which is not a negative comment to make, but rather a statement of fact.

    Take any two other cultures in the world (say, France and the US) and you will find a lot of differences that might help explain some things.

    The only problem I have is with the last paragraph that says "this is why Americans are better in this or that". It might have been a more 'balanced' view if that article also proceeded to explain why the Chinese are better, for example, at understanding global affairs, since they are accustomed to considering the context of the story (for ex: the history of a conflict, the cultures of the sides involved, realistic outcomes/expectations, etc.)

    So in short, I don't see much harm in the study itself as something done out of curiosity to attempt and understand how best we should communicate with one another based on our cultural differences, while at the same time refraining from stating that either side is better or superior to the other because of that perceived difference. There is a history of these type of studies being misused to attempt and scientifically 'prove' that one race/ethnicity is superior to the other.
     
    #9 tigermission1, Aug 28, 2005
  10. Sishir Chang

    Sishir Chang Member

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    I was wondering that too and would like to see the size and makeup of their sample population. For instance did they test Chinese who were born and raised in the US? Caucasians who were born or raised in China? Ethnic Chinese who were raised by Caucasians in the US? I don't know how many Caucasians are raised by Chinese in China but if some could be found I certainly think their reactions should've been tested too.
     
    #10 Sishir Chang, Aug 29, 2005
  11. Sishir Chang

    Sishir Chang Member

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    I'm ethnically Chinese, consider myself an American and for the most part am considered an American by most non-Chinese Americans. What you say was true before but these days in general Asians who speak English fluently with an American accent in America are considered Americans.
     
    #11 Sishir Chang, Aug 29, 2005
  12. Sishir Chang

    Sishir Chang Member

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    There hypothesis was that its socialization but they don't say they specifically that they were testing in a way to weed out other differences. That's why it would be helpful to know what their sample makeup was.
     
    #12 Sishir Chang, Aug 29, 2005
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