Korean Job Discussion Forums

[tomato]

The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently . . . and Why by Richard E. Nisbett

I forgot how I found this book, but Merrilee recommended it here:

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=21343&highlight=nisbett+geography++thought

and Pecan recommended it here:

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=28347&highlight=nisbett+geography++thought

and here:

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=26151&highlight=nisbett+geography++thought

I just finished reading the book. The author does not directly answer any of my long-standing questions, but he sheds some light by expressing how Asians think. Here are a few of my most long-standing questions:

�� Why do Koreans take such a stereotypical view of Westerners?

Westerners see objects, Asians see fields. Westerners see trees, Asians see forests.

This has been demonstrated in the psychology laboratory. Japanese and American subjects were shown a square with a line in it. Then they were shown a larger square and asked to draw a line either proportionately longer or the original length. Japanese subjects were more accurate in drawing the proportionately longer line, American subjects were more accurate in drawing the line the original length.

Applied to the present discussion, Asians see our culture as an immense field in which everybody eats with knives and forks and nobody eats with chopsticks.

�� Why do Koreans think none of us know any Korean?

Asians see people not as agents, but as recipients of blessings and victims of curses. Applied to the present discussion, this means that Westerners are automatically blessed with English and deprived of Korean.

I have always asked, "If they are intelligent enough to learn English, why can't I be intelligent enough to learn Korean?" This is probably because learning English is only a recent trend in their culture. So they have not had time to imagine members of other cultures learning their language.

�� Why aren't Korean teachers more creative?

In Asia, the function of education is not to explore the unknown, but to find employment. In the case of teacher education, then, the function is not to find new and better ways of teaching, but to get a teaching job. Any Western notions of cruising the cosmos are inherited from the ancient Greeks.

Furthermore, a Korean employee is interested mainly in fitting into the group. What textbook should we use? What time do classes meet? It is disloyal to the group to "go off on tangents."

�� Why can't Korean English students practice independently?

Think of the first utterances which you have learned to say in any foreign language. You tell the store clerk "I want to buy a . . ." You tell the taxi driver "I want to go to . . ." You tell the doctor "I have a sore . . ."

I, I, I, I, I! How loyal to the group is that? Everyone else in the class is talking about what's on the page in the textbook, so that is what is most important.

�� Why is it so difficult to inspire discussion in upper-level classes?

Like exploring the unknown, the art of debate is brought to us courtesy of the ancient Greeks.

If you have read the book, I am interested in your comments on the book.
If you haven't read the book, I am interested in your comments on my comments.

[Demonicat]

Comments-> I gotta read that book! It sounds very informative and makes alot of sense.

[Gorgias]

The differences between individuals are greater than the differences between races, that being said:

It's a little interesting that in Korean, family names come first. Also locations are listed from most general to most particular, for example in Korean it would be America,Texas,Dallas and not the inverse as in the West. How this translates into the topography of Korean thinking I wouldn't speculate, but it relates to the trees-forest thing.

Sometimes I have the impression that Koreans consider themselves to be one single organism, for example, everyone eating off the same plate without any germ-phobia, or putting the soup or kimchi back into its origional container only to be re-served-- even in restaurants. Or the fairly open attitude about prostitution, with seamingly little fear of STDs. This might also be related to Korean's willingness to allow more-or-less strangers (i.e. teachers) hit their children-- or even touch them for that matter. Also, (no doubt almost any one could give a better explanation) Koreans use pronouns in a very different way than out West; "uri" is used for "our," "us" and "we" in cases that only "I" could fit. Maybe it's a sort of Korean version of "the royal we." Also titles, "ani," "wangjangnim" and so on serve in place of names, like a giant family or court.

Other little differences would probably have some explanation in "the psychology of everyday life," however it is beyond me to make the conections. For example, in Korea there tends to be a bus line going from any given destination to any other; "lines" and "transfering" are not common except of course on the subway. The psycological/historical reason for the seamingly odd system of addresses I can't guess, perhaps it makes more sense on a map than at street level. Also why do Koreans look in the mirror so often? I don't think pure vanity is a sufficient explanation. Why did MP3 players and handphones take off like crazy? Why do Koreans dress so fashionably/tacky? Why is garbage hazed out on TV, but not breasts? Why do Koreans swim in their clothes at the beach, or rather, why doesn't fashionability extend to swimwear? Why do the students get their spines tested? And so on. May of these things must have some explanation in psychology/sociology, but I can't piece it together.

Intersesting looking book, thanks for bringing it to the forum.

[Summer Wine]

I agree, interesting read and analysis you gave there.

[Bo Peabody]

Thank you Tomato!!!

[mithridates]

I haven't read that book but there is a hypothesis out there about exactly what you talk about in the op:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapir-Whorf_hypothesis

There are some created languages out there that people have made specifically for the purpose of making them think in a different way than before. Lojban and Toki Pona for example.

[krats1976]

Very interesting, thank you. Maybe this will be my airplane reading for my trip home in November.

It's nice to see cultural difference discussed in an academic way for a change.

[merrilee]

Finally, someone else actually read that book. Thank you, Tomato!