The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently...and Why Paperback – April 5, 2004

This is a very insightful book with lots of information. It is well written and researched. There are many differences between the way Westerners and Easterners think. Some of the points may seem obvious, but they are still interesting to read about. Children who grow up in the East learn verbs faster. In contrast, children in the West pick up nouns faster. This is because Easterners learn the relationships between objects with action words first. Westerners generally just learn what the object is first. Conflict resolution is handled very differently too. The goal in Eastern conflict resolution is to reduce hostility and to reach a compromise. The goal in resolving conflict in the West is having satisfaction that justice was carried out with a clear winner and loser. However as the author suggests Westerners have to begun to embrace a lot of Eastern ideas. There is a greater emphasis in achieving harmony in a person's life in Eastern cultures. Asian people are more self critical of themselves as a result. In contrast, the goal of a Westerner is to achieve a sense of uniqueness and superiority. I also learned that students who study history in the West focus on the implications or outcomes of events first. Asian students study the causes of historical events first. Teacher training and evaluation is a process that never ends in Eastern countries unlike the West where it is short.The Geography of Thought is a very short book, but it should not be read rapidly because of the depth and quantity of information. I have a greater insight and appreciation for the way people think now. I enjoyed it very much.

In the late 1980s, I was schooled in eastern thought as I initiated important business relationships with Japanese companies. I had heard war stories from Americans about dealing with the Japanese, and visa versa. I learned then that it was critical to understand a culture's worldview (true as well for Europe, South American, etc.) if I wanted to develop strong relationships and have global business success.I have now turned my attention to China and am actively involved in the development and commercialization of medical technology for the high-growth China medical market (and ultimately for all emerging economies). A close friend, Professor Po Chi Wu, who teaches the theory and practice of Innovation at the famed Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, introduced me to "The Geography of Thought" as a primer for my work in China.Psychologist, researcher, professor, and author, Richard Nisbett, has highlighted in "Geography" the different systems of perception and thought that exist between the West and "East Asia." The book has implications for how we interact with one another for all who are working across this divide. Historical belief systems related to philosophy, science, and society are at the root of each cultures world view and support for their unique social practices.The author feels the book will serve its purpose if it causes one to understand that there are other valid approaches to thinking about the world and that they can serve as a mirror to examine beliefs and habits of mind.I found the book to be a compliment to my "East Asian" learnings and strongly recommend it for those who are beginning the journey west to the Far East. "Geography" will provide an excellent foundation for understanding and will be useful for those interested in establishing strong trans-pacific relationships.

I've always had an interest in differences between cultures especially related to thought. I've lived most of my live in Europe and in Asia. I speak English and some Chinese. Though, I'm always wary of generalizations of culture, especially without any time-period as culture is changing. Still I found Nisbett's work insightful and funny at times.The book consist of 3 different parts (though not marked in the book). The first part lays the foundation for the rest by looking in the history and how it influenced cultures. The second part summarizes many research on cultural differences the author has done and read about. The last part offers some conclusion.The first part consist of three chapter. The first one sets the tone and theme of the whole book. In it, the author looks at the difference in philosophy between ancient Greece and ancient China and notes interesting difference in how thought has evolved. The second and third chapter build on this by showing that these ancient differences are still there in modern life.The second part consists of the authors research work, four chapters per subject. These subjects relate to looking at an object or noticing the context of that object. Looking for cause at properties of individuals or at the relationship of individual and its environment. Looking at focus on nouns and object or focus on verbs and relationships and last using pure logic in daily life or dealing with contradictions and finding a middle way. Each of his claims were backed up with interesting psychological experiments.The last part is the conclusion of the book. Chapter eight provides mainly questions about how the differences in this book apply to real life. The last epilogue asks the question whether cultures are converging or going to clash. He provides two common perspectives. One) cultures are all westernizing and becoming more similar and two) the cultures are fundamentally different, will stay so, and this will clash in the future. Interestingly, the author gives his opinion which is a middle way (so he did learn something during his research :P) between to two extremes. Cultures will converge but they will as much westernize as easternize. (and I agree with that conclusion, based on my experiences living in both west and east).I enjoyed reading the book. The author starts of by apologizing for the generalizations he makes. Even though he did, it did still annoy me. But I realize that its not possible to talk about cultures without making generalizations. Even though I enjoyed the book, I didn't have the kind of huge insight that the title promised me and... from that perspective... I was disappointed. Still, this book is definitively worth reading if you are interested in fundamental differences between eastern and western thinking. Well worth my time...

Libro interessante che fa luce su alcune questioni che differenziano occidentali e asiatici nel modo di vedere il mondo, parlare e imparare. Personalmente non conoscevo molti aspetti affrontatati e ho trovato il libro molto interessante. Le argomentazioni sono supportate da esempio pratici che aiutano a chiarire concetti più astratto, a volte risultano ripetitivi ma nella maggior parte delle volte sono utili. Consigliato alle persone curiose e affascinante da modi diversi di vedere il mondo. Bello!

Pone en su sitio las diferencias entre las mentalidades oriental y occidental con una bae empírica y con conceptos muy bien elegidos.

I would recommend to all the people that are not acquainted with the possibility of differents perceptions of the world.

Nikel bien recu merci :)

西洋人がサイエンスを東洋人よりも発達させた理由の一部を説明した部分に感銘を受けました。動詞と名詞のどちらを文の中で主に使うかで、西洋と東洋を比較した章が、ありますが、要点は動詞に頼った文は、論理的に確実性が少ないという事です。アリストテレスが、動詞は時間を伴うと述べ、真理は、時間に左右されずに成立しなくてはいけないと、考えた事と関係します。ソクラテスは人間である。人間は、いつか、必ず死ぬ。ゆえに、ソクラテスは、いつか、死ぬ。当たり前の、ように、感じるますが、厳密に、言うと、ソクラテスも私たちも食事をし、例えば、ある日は、糖分を多くとり、体の中に、グルコースが、いつもより多かったり、下痢をした日は、細胞の中に水分が少なかったり、時間が経つと、全く、同じ自分では、ありません。それでも、同じ名詞として、扱かっているので、成り立つわけです。議論の中に、動詞が多い程、時間の影響を受けるので、不確実なわけです。誰かが、歩いている、と言っても、今は、座っているかも、しれません。言いたい事をうまく説明できたか、わかりませんが、結論としては、最近読んだ本の中では、自分に役に立つ良い本でした。