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dotcoma · Aug 23, 2005, 02:11 pm

[CENTER]http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,166500,00.html[/CENTER]

Quote:

WASHINGTON — Asians and North Americans really do see the world differently. Shown a photograph, North American students of European background paid more attention to the object in the foreground of a scene, while students from China spent more time studying the background and taking in the whole scene, according to University of Michigan (search) researchers.

The researchers, led by Hannah-Faye Chua (search) and Richard Nisbett (search), tracked the eye movements of the students — 25 European Americans and 27 native Chinese — to determine where they were looking in a picture and how long they focused on a particular area.

"They literally are seeing the world differently," said Nisbett, who believes the differences are cultural.

"Asians live in a more socially complicated world than we do," he said in a telephone interview. "They have to pay more attention to others than we do. We are individualists. We can be bulls in a china shop, they can't afford it."

The findings are reported in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (search).

The key thing in Chinese culture is harmony, Nisbett said, while in the West the key is finding ways to get things done, paying less attention to others.

And that, he said, goes back to the ecology and economy of times thousands of years ago.

In ancient China, farmers developed a system of irrigated agriculture, Nisbett said. Rice farmers had to get along with each other to share water and make sure no one cheated.

Pretty cool I thought

Mulkaccino · Aug 23, 2005, 03:42 pm

Yes it is. This type of subject matter is what I'm going to school for, under the guise of anthropogeography. Culture applies a filter on the way we view our land.

For example, the structure of the english language has verbs that can only written/spoke in tense. You cannot use a verb without tense. Since we speak in linear tounge we view the landscape much differently than, say, a Early American language that uses non-linear verbs and revolves around the relationship between two objects . English speakers look at a parcel of land and contemplate what it's good for. The Native American tribe culture looks at the same parcel of land and contemplates their relationship to it.

This is just one of thousands of examples. It's very holistic.

GodBlessAmerica · Aug 25, 2005, 08:07 pm

What ever the Chinese can do to view things like Europeans will no doubt help their driving.

A friend back from China recently says a $100 a month is big money and socialization is forced because nobody can be by themselves inside. They often live in areas the size of one of your bedroom small closets.

You could arrive in an area and see thousands all outdoors sitting around because there is nowhere to go inside.

Aug 23, 2005, 03:42 pm	#2 (permalink) (top)
Mulkaccino Molten Ash Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 105	Yes it is. This type of subject matter is what I'm going to school for, under the guise of anthropogeography. Culture applies a filter on the way we view our land. For example, the structure of the english language has verbs that can only written/spoke in tense. You cannot use a verb without tense. Since we speak in linear tounge we view the landscape much differently than, say, a Early American language that uses non-linear verbs and revolves around the relationship between two objects . English speakers look at a parcel of land and contemplate what it's good for. The Native American tribe culture looks at the same parcel of land and contemplates their relationship to it. This is just one of thousands of examples. It's very holistic.

Aug 25, 2005, 08:07 pm	#3 (permalink) (top)
GodBlessAmerica Look Stuff Up Posts: 810	What ever the Chinese can do to view things like Europeans will no doubt help their driving. A friend back from China recently says a $100 a month is big money and socialization is forced because nobody can be by themselves inside. They often live in areas the size of one of your bedroom small closets. You could arrive in an area and see thousands all outdoors sitting around because there is nowhere to go inside.