Biological Sameness, Different Outlook

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Nia Burgashvili February 15, 2012 Written Communication 01 Dr. Walker Biological Sameness, Different Outlook Begley is an American journalist at Newsweek, where she spent most of her career. Also, Begley wrote the “Science Journal” column in the Wall Street Journal where her article, “East vs. West: One Sees the Big Picture, the Other Is Focused,” originally appeared in 2003. In it she explains a new theory that not all human beings think in similar ways. In my compare and contrast-effect essay, I discuss the similarities and differences of these personal experiences based on the scientific studies of the Eastern and Western minds and the effect these studies reveal about the cross-cultural viewpoint that could potentially influence our daily lives. As we all know, human cognition is not the same everywhere. According to psychologist Richard Nsebett, there are two different approaches used to explain the differences between the eastern and the western individuals. As an easterner, the Japanese describes himself as outgoing with his family, competitive on the soccer field, and serious at work. On the other hand, the Briton describes himself as friendly, intellectual and goal-driven. This is further proven when asking a Japanese and a Briton to decide which, out of a panda, a monkey, and a banana, would go together. The Briton will choose and the monkey and the panda, because Westerners typically see categories—monkeys and pandas as animals, whereas the Japanese will choose the monkey and the banana, because Easterners typically see relationships—monkeys eat bananas. In short, Eastern and Western ways of thinking differ in that Westerners see categories and Asians (Easterners) see relationships, as shown in the examples above. Essentially, the East thinks about big picture, while the West focuses more on details. An aquarium experiment showed that
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