Richard E. Nisbett

How Asians and Westerners Think Differently - and Why

Geography of Thought

Ri Liu

Very interesting book. I do question the robustness of some of the theories presented as the studies mentioned seem to have small sample sizes and often only cover a subset of western or eastern cultures. It does illuminate the issues of scientific studies in general and their emphasis on WEIRD (Western, educated, industrial, rich, democratic) cohorts. It's a bit broad in some of the assumptions as even within Asian countries there is quite a bit of variation in outlook and personality (eg Northern v Southern Chinese) and I wish this was explored more. Also, gender, how much of that is an influence, there are only some brief mentions. I also wonder how much of these observations have been brought about as a result of western being the dominant culture historically, rather than being deterministic based on inherit qualities of the culture.

It does illuminate some of the current issues we face, how that has been linked to failures in western thinking and also how an Asian 'holistic' view may provide a corrective path.

Geography of Thought How Asians and Westerners Think Differently - and Why

Reviews