another east/west psych study

[VV o n g B a]

i'd bet 1.5 and 2.0 gen aa kids would have results in between the asian and western kids. no wonder asians seem inscrutible to westerners.

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The findings are based on a study of about three dozen students in two groups — one Japanese, one Western — who were shown a series of drawings of five children. The volunteers were told that the drawings were going to be used in an educational television program and that the researchers wanted to see how realistic they were.

Sometimes the expressions of all the children in an image were the same, but more often they varied. The participants were asked to look at the face of the person at the center of the picture and rate it on a 10-point scale for happiness, sadness and anger.

The Western students did not much change their assessment of a character’s mood no matter what was happening with the other characters. But for most of the Japanese participants, it made a measurable difference. If the figure in the center had a happy face but those in the background were sad or angry, they tended to give the happy figure a lower score. If everyone was happy, they gave the figure in the center a higher one. When the images were shown to two other groups of students wearing equipment that tracked their eye movements, the researchers found that the Japanese spent more time looking at the children in the background of the pictures.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/health/18face.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[Chooky]

It is an interesting study. I wonder if all of the images shown to the test subjects had a central figure with caucasian features or if they varied the ethnicities. It might have had a bearing on the results.

[Craig]

Why would the Asian American kids viewpoints necessarily fall between the 2 groups ? If the Asian American kid grew up in an environment mainly surrounded by Westerners, it's not hard to imagine them being more individualistic than even the Westerners ... They would have an easier time separating themselves from any particular situation, looking at things from the view of an outsider, etc. Why would they have the assumed notions of group membership if they have been outcast ?

[VV o n g B a]

Why would the Asian American kids viewpoints necessarily fall between the 2 groups ? If the Asian American kid grew up in an environment mainly surrounded by Westerners, it's not hard to imagine them being more individualistic than even the Westerners ... They would have an easier time separating themselves from any particular situation, looking at things from the view of an outsider, etc. Why would they have the assumed notions of group membership if they have been outcast ?that's certainly possible. i only thought they'd be in between b/c of other studies similar to this that did test aa's. and the aa's fell in-between.

[BillBlythe]

i wish the article was more insightful than just pointing out some of the obvious.

(obvious because we've been hearing about the same thing for awhile now)

thanks anyway.

[zero]

http://webprod1.stbglobal.com/EmployeePictures/397.jpg

Is the attached person WASP, Italian, Celtic, Jewish or Slavic or noen of the above?

[snailpoo]

http://webprod1.stbglobal.com/EmployeePictures/397.jpg

Is the attached person WASP, Italian, Celtic, Jewish or Slavic or noen of the above?

That's a red x, not a person. ...though that does help explain some of your alien vagina mothership stories.

[Sunflare]

Guys: give Zero a break will ya? We don't know why the poor AF thinks the way she does, do we? There are alot of physiological/psychriatric/emotional reasons why she may be inclined to share her particular viewpoints on matters, unclear and odd as it may seem to many.....

[snailpoo]

Yeah, I need to watch my snarkiness when tired.

[Sunflare]

^Dont worry, buddy. Nobody's perfect. I must be a million times more screwed up then you are when I'm on a roll to flame somebody or rant on a topic for discussion, I'll admit it. You're OK.

[VV o n g B a]

quick! monkey, panda, banana. which two go together?

keep ur initial answer in mind and then read the spoiler.

if u chose monkey - banana, u see a functional relationship. if u chose monkey - panda, u see a mammalian relationship. japanese are more likely to choose the functional and brits are more likely to choose the mammalian. i chose monkey - banana.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/130623

[Craig]

quick! monkey, panda, banana. which two go together?

keep ur initial answer in mind and then read the spoiler.

if u chose monkey - banana, u see a functional relationship. if u chose monkey - panda, u see a mammalian relationship. japanese are more likely to choose the functional and brits are more likely to choose the mammalian. i chose monkey - banana.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/130623Trying to insult me by calling me a Brit ? Just joking. This is clearly a Western-biased article with dubious claims. Personally, what the article claims does not really ring true with my observations. I have noticed that warmer climates have a higher density of people in general and that probably contributes to the perception of more pathogens. Also, while living in different areas of the world (including different parts of the USA), I got sick much less (and noticed other people also seemed to get sick less) when living in the warmer climates. This is most likely because more people were spending more time outside instead of being huddled together inside infecting others with their diseases.

[J Honcanese]

There's a flaw here. What about if you choose panda - banana? What happens then?

[SunWuKong]

There's a flaw here. What about if you choose panda - banana? What happens then?

that means you're an outlier.

[Arex]

Chances are, the Japanese will pick the monkey and the banana, because they have a functional relationship: the former eats the latter. The Brit will select the panda and the monkey, because they are both mammals.Huh? Maybe Brits are more sophisticated than us 'mericans, 'cause I selected panda and monkey because they are, more generally, animals. Not mammal, mammal, fruit. But animal, animal, fruit.

[SunWuKong]

i was thinking "primate, carnivora, zingiberales". because only a fool would group a member of the primate order together with a member of the carnivora order.

[snailpoo]

quick! monkey, panda, banana. which two go together?
http://www.newsweek.com/id/130623

Panda and banana. They're both tasty.

[PKoeut]

How likely would you see a monkey together with a panda over a monkey together with a banana? Or how likely would a monkey be together with a panda over a monkey together with a banana? Or how likely would a monkey go together with a panda over a monkey together with a banana?

With that in mind, the conclusion that japanese and british think "different" based on that study isn't accurate at all.

The actual conclusion is one of these two:

1.) Japanese are more fluent in japanese than british are with english.

-or-

2.) The question asked is a typical IQ paired relationship. Paired relationship questions always use the words "similar" or "most alike".
The "go together" phrase was probably a direct translation from what the japanese asked, not from what the british asked. In other words, the researchers failed to take into account language differences.

Now, re-read the following 2 questions:
Which of the two go together: Monkey - Panda - Banana
Which of the two are most similar: Monkey - Panda - Banana