Looking At Things Ethnocentrically - A Reflection on Dr. Richard Nisbett's 2000 Study

This week, I read the article How Culture Molds Habits of Thought.  Basically, this entire article was about social construction of reality and how prevolent it is around the world today.  However, it also focused on the theory of cultural construction of perception and thought patterns.  Or, in other words, how culture helps shape the way we think.  Mind blowing, isn't it?  From such a young age, we were taught that each and every one of our brains is special.  Completely unique and undeniably brilliant.  We are who we are and no one will ever be able to change that.  No one except society, that is.

The article discussed a study conducted by a social psychologist at the University of Michigan.  Dr. Richard Nisbett believes that "people who grow up in different cultures do not just think about different things: they think differently."  He decided to conduct an experiment and test his hypothesis.

Through his trials of showing a series of images to people of different cultures, seeing how they described them.  Let's use the Japanese vs. American trial as an example, shall we?  When shown an image of a large fish swimming in a not-too-simple, yet not-too-complex setting, the Japanese person described the background first, not really concentrating on what would seem to be the focal point of the image (the fish).  The American, on the other hand, described the fish's size, appearance, shape and location first, probably focusing on what they thought to be the center of attention.

I found this to be insanely intriguing, as we did something much like that in class this week.  We did an activity where we were paired off, and one partner sat facing the Smartboard and one sat with their back turned to it.  An image appeard on the board.  Then, my partner (who was facing the board) had to describe the image to me while I tried to draw it.  The way my partner described the image to me was much like how the American in Dr. Nisbett's experiment described the image of the fish.  She focused on the main focal points of the image and quite accurately described their shape and relative size and location, not really focusing on the image as a whole (as the Japanese would seemingly do).

The funny thing is, however, that we won the contest as to who had the most accurate depiction.  We were almost dead-on, which got me thinking: Did Emily use the best way to describe the image to me?  It would seem so, looking at the results we got compared to the rest of the class.  However, if our way truly was what Dr. Nisbett would call "The American Way", then wouldn't that mean our way is superior to the other methods used?

Whether it is or it isn't, one thing is certain: ethnocentrism is all around us.  Whether we look at things the American way or the Japanese way, we will always think our way is better.  I confess to it!  Each and every day, I do the things I do because I think it's the best.  So whenever somebody asks me what I see in this picture (the one up at the top of this post), I will loudly, proudly, and ethnocentrically say "There is a world.  It's blue and green and has lots of glare..." and I will continue to ignore that annoying Japanese person sitting next to me trying to convince me there's an eyebrow somewhere in the corner.  I don't see it, do you??