39. Culture Affects How People Think
Take a look at Figure 39.1. What do you notice more: the cows or the backgrounds?
Figure 39.1. Picture used in Hannah Chua (2005) research
The way you answer might depend on where you grew up—the West (U.S., U.K., Europe) or East Asia. In his book, The Geography of Thought, Richard Nisbett discusses research that shows that how we think is influenced and shaped by culture.
East = Relationships; West = Individualistic
If you show people from the West a picture, they focus on a main or dominant foreground object, while people from East Asia pay more attention to context and background. East Asian people who grow ...
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