Just finished this book a couple of days back. In this book, the author, Richard Nisbett aims to show how and why asians and westerners think differently. It is an interesting book, but when you differentiate and lump people into categories, this fashion is too simplistic. You just gotta read it with a pinch of salt and not associate them to be facts.
The book provides many examples to substantiate his theories, some a bit too anecdotal for my taste, but presumably they are on the whole backed by statistically significant data.
One example, when a picture of 1) a cow 2) a chicken and 3) a patch of grass were illustrated. The reader was asked whether the cow belonged better with the chicken or the grass
Americans tend to choose the chicken (both are animals), while Asians tend to choose the grass (the cow eats the grass). (I chose grass, so go figure.)
According to Richard,
"To the Asian, the world is a complex place, composed of continuous substances, understandable in terms of the whole rather in terms of the parts, and subject more to collective than to personal control. To the Westerner, the world is a relatively simple place, composed of discrete objects that can be understood with undue reference to context, and highly subject to personal control. Very different worlds, indeed."
Anyhow, it is a thought-provoking book which is well worth reading.
5 comments:
*heh* I was going to write an entry on a book I read too! :p
But your books are far more intellectual than mine...
You only stated one example and it already sounds flimsy. Besides, I'm highly skeptical of the phrase "statistically significant". One person is also statistically significant. I learnt this from ST.
I recommend "Orientalism" by Edward Said. ;) Probably a more interesting read.
Han: Tell me what book are you reading now....=p
Dawn: Yeah, I will look up the book "Orientalism". Sounds interesting.
I guess most studies published in books or journals will inculcate larger samples for it to be credible and to have higher statistical power.
Interesting read..I should borrow it from you babe :)
I just finished reading "Perfect Match" by Jodi Picoult. Been reading alot of her books lately. You should have heard of "My Sister's Keeper" right? Really good books..
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