Chinese And Americans Literally View The World Differently

[mitsuki lover]

A blurb in Scientific American this month referring to a report in the
online edition mentions that studies have uncovered that Chinese and
American students literally view the world differently from each other.
This makes me wonder how much differently those of us of European
descent view the world in general around us from those of Asian descent.
Also is this perception part of the reason why Asia has been given the
reputation of being so hard for Westerners to understand?
Do Westerners and Asians in general misunderstand each other because
of the cultural differences in how we percieve the world?

[starfire]

Well, parts of Asia as well as parts of Europe were each "closed" to the rest of the world at different points of history. Maybe that attributes to the differences in perception?

How we perceive things , I would say, is definitely a deciding factor in who and what we understand. It shapes our reality as a society, so if another society perceives a different reality, it's only natural that the two would have trouble understanding each other. At least the way I see it.

Interesting thread, ML. Something to think about.

[Scribs]

Well, seeing as the east and the west have been closed to eachother till relatively recently, it would make sense that their culture would develop differently from ours. It would account for alot of missunderstandings between the cultures.

[Lynx]

i'd definatly vote on cultural differences. i've taken a cultural anthropology class and we discussed this type of thing a lot.

culture isnt something that stays the same over time, it is constantly evolving. eastern and western culture are becoming more similar as time goes on, due to the ideas of "globalization" and such.

cultural anthropology is an extremely interesting topic, i'd highly recommend taking it if any of you have the chance (it satisfys a bunch of gen ed requirements at many colleges too!)

[RefractedAhav]

another thing that can lead to major differences between cultures is the differnces between thier domminat religios philosophies. Even the west has gone through many changes as Christianity rose from a forbiden religion, to the dominate religion of Europe, was distorted by corruption, split into many branches, and declined as aethism arose. I think that one thing that the east and the west have in common, the over all rejection of God, will casue the eventual downfall of both.

[Locke]

For a sec I thought the title was a derogatory remark...

[teen4truth]

What do you mean they 'view the world differently?'

[Mithrandir]

Yeah. I think we have to assume that's cultural. There's not really much difference between people all the way around. I've never found a difference I can't explain as culture, whether that's education, access to technology, food or philosophy.

(And trust me, I've given this a LOT of thought).

Reminds me a bit of the parable of the mice and the elephant, though. If we're on the tail, and they're on the trunk, I wonder what the elephant *really* looks like...

[~Natsumi Lam~]

me personally,

i am white and married to an azn family... it has been the most difficult part of my life so far... even more than dealing with my faith. I wish it would get better but it is getting worse. They just dont like me because i am white and not like them. They have told my husband to get rid of me and get someone good, and that he is making me look ugly by not wanting me to be bone thin. I have tried 150% to fit in and get along.... it didnt work at all. My experience in my personal life has been real bad. But as for my friend life, all through highschool and college all but one of my friends where azn and the parents loved me.... [i knew some were putting on a front] but most were sincere.

I think the differences in views stem from [primarily]

1. Women and Men roles and how they should interact
2. How white verse azn families instruct and push their children in education
3. To date or to not date
4. Freedom for their children
5. Religious differences



~NL~

[Technomancer]

Here's a link to a summary of the study:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/08/0822_050822_chinese.html

I expect that cultural differences affect what one considers important, even subconciously at a very early age, and hence the brain adapts to new way of looking at a scene. I probably have access to the original study and may take a look at it if I have the time. It might be interesting to see how many of these differences become "hardwired" during early development (i.e. does this result in some slight neurological differences as well?)

[mitsuki lover]

I wonder if in the future these differences in how we percieve the world will slowly
disappear as we more and more grow into a supergobilized society the way we
appear to be doing.