How do cultural differences between the West and the East influence ways of thinking and the world order?

This blog post examines how cultural differences between the West and the East impact ways of thinking and the world order. We will explore how the characteristics of each culture were formed and consider what changes they may bring in the future.

 

Author Richard Nisbett did not acknowledge cultural differences until about 12 years before writing this book. He believed, in a typically ‘Western’ way, that people used the same rules of inference regardless of culture. Later, he met a graduate student from China who advised him on the cultural differences between the West and the East, but he was initially skeptical. However, this universalist changed his perspective through a series of studies examining whether human reasoning abilities could be altered by education. Transformed into a cultural psychologist, he sought to understand Western and Eastern cultures through various experimental studies with his graduate student and colleagues. He emphasizes that rather than dichotomously separating and comparing East and West, each culture exhibits specific average tendencies.
Modern Western characteristics can be traced back to ancient Greece, while modern Eastern characteristics find their origins in ancient China. Ancient Greece, organized as city-states, was a region with extensive coastlines where trade flourished more than agriculture. Its inhabitants frequently interacted with people of diverse cultures, religions, and ideas, encountering individuals who held opposing views. Most often, individuals had to sustain their livelihoods independently rather than collectively within a village. Interstate movement was relatively free, allowing ideas rejected in one state to be presented anew in another. This ecological and social environment of ancient Greece fostered intellectual curiosity and autonomy. Contemplation of abstract concepts, the establishment of pure theory, and the development of rhetoric were their primary concerns.
Meanwhile, ancient China operated as a centralized system, surrounded by navigable rivers and vast tracts of land. Constructing canals and cultivating land for agriculture required the labor of many people, which made a village function as a single organism. As members of society, individuals had to fulfill their respective roles and strive to maintain the harmony of the collective. Rather than asserting one’s own opinions clearly, a fluid and compromising attitude was required to maintain good relationships with others. In ancient China, scholarship was pursued not to satisfy intellectual curiosity but as a practical discipline with tangible value. They believed contradictory elements could coexist, and that the universe was complex, meaning countless causes influenced outcomes. These characteristics of ancient Greece and ancient China became the foundation for modern Western and Eastern cultures.
According to anthropologist Edward Hall’s classification, the West can be described as a low-context society, while the East is a high-context society. In low-context societies, individuals can be discussed separately from their situational context, whereas in high-context societies, individuals are closely connected to others and significantly influenced by the surrounding context. Consequently, Westerners tend to overestimate their uniqueness, while Easterners tend to underestimate themselves, seeing themselves as similar to or inferior to others. Western parents emphasize independence to their children, whereas Eastern parents emphasize interdependence. These parenting styles and cultural characteristics shape distinct thought systems in children raised within each culture.
Westerners tend to think independently of context because they view individual objects by separating form from content. Easterners tend to think contextually dependent because they view continuous material within the overall context. Furthermore, Westerners attribute the cause of an outcome to the attributes of an object, while Easterners consider that there are likely complex and diverse causes, including the situation. Westerners are better at using formal logic than Easterners and generally prefer binary choice logic, but this makes them prone to basic attribution errors. Easterners tend to be more tolerant of contradictions and less eager for debate than Westerners, making it harder for them to excel in rhetoric. Opinions differ on whether these differences between the West and East will become more pronounced or be absorbed into one another, but the author believes they will converge at a middle ground as each side accommodates the other.
It seems the people around him greatly influenced the author’s shift in focus to cultural psychology and his writing of this book. He was surrounded by graduate students and colleagues of various nationalities who conducted research with him or participated in his studies. Being able to examine both Western and Eastern perspectives equally from a researcher’s standpoint proved immensely valuable to him. The bulk of the book consists of experimental studies he and his colleagues conducted. While the exact sample sizes used in the research are not specified, the findings presented by the author indicate that the differences in cognitive systems between Western and Eastern cultures were noteworthy. In this era of a global village, nations now have many points of comparison, enabling them to identify and strengthen their own necessary characteristics. Accordingly, in the East, including Korea, training in logical and critical thinking begins as early as elementary school. In the West, emphasis is placed on cultivating attitudes for community life and fostering understanding of people of different races and religions.
Even within a single cultural sphere, individuals may possess Western-oriented traits or Eastern-oriented traits. Problems between such individuals are likely to be resolved more smoothly than those between people from different cultures. Within the same cultural sphere, even if one person focuses on the attributes of an object and another on the context of a situation, their approach to solving the problem will be similar. If both individuals are Westerners, they will likely determine victory or defeat based on logical reasoning. If both are Easterners, they will likely consider concessions to find a suitable compromise. However, if these two individuals come from different cultural backgrounds, the Westerner will likely seek to identify only one correct argument through debate, while the Easterner will likely expect the other party to make concessions to find a compromise. Based on this reality, understanding cultural differences is essential when addressing international issues.
Although Korea and Japan have fully embraced Western culture, this is not because Westernized Eastern nations could not develop without Western assistance. Unlike Western religions, Eastern religions tend to embrace other faiths and pursue harmony. Similarly, Eastern nations are mindful of their position and role in the world. Furthermore, Easterners, who possess self-reflective thinking, are more eager to learn from the West to improve their own shortcomings compared to Westerners. However, while they recognize their deficiencies, they often cannot articulate why they should improve them. This is because Easterners excel at understanding the ‘how’ but pay less attention to the ‘why’. Looking at history, many of the world’s great inventions originated in ancient China. Ancient Chinese people created inventions as solutions to problems. Meanwhile, ancient Greeks questioned the causes of problems, gathered in public squares to critique or support each other’s theories, and refined a single theory. Just as diverse genetic combinations aid individual survival and species preservation, diverse cultures playing their respective roles enabled human civilization to develop.
The fact that the United States, a global superpower, is wary of China, which may emerge as a future superpower, can be seen as reflecting the Eastern perspective of viewing situations fluidly. For example, if China’s annual growth rate increases while the rate of increase in the US growth rate decreases, according to the Western cognitive framework, one might think this trend will not change. Conversely, within an Eastern cognitive framework, one might anticipate that this trend could shift at any time. In this scenario, the United States would likely feel a sense of crisis and strive to reduce the rate of decline in its growth rate—a result of adopting an Eastern mode of thinking. China, aware that its own growth rate might not be sustainable indefinitely, would prepare accordingly. While these strategies may seem insignificant in the short term, they play a crucial role in ensuring sustainable growth over the long term.
This book examines cognitive differences between the West and the East based on various experimental studies and their findings. However, the author concludes by stating that these differences will harmonize in a direction beneficial to both the West and the East.

 

About the author

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I'm a "Cat Detective" I help reunite lost cats with their families.
I recharge over a cup of café latte, enjoy walking and traveling, and expand my thoughts through writing. By observing the world closely and following my intellectual curiosity as a blog writer, I hope my words can offer help and comfort to others.