This post got lost in China...

Okay, my internet is back, so now I can post what I wrote the other day. I had this all ready to go, and then the cable mysteriously died. (And by “the cable mysteriously died” I mean “the cable guy was installing cable at our neighbor’s house and cut our line with a shovel.”) By the way, today is my birthday, so I expect all presents to be in my possession by the time I return from dinner at Ruth’s Chris… (and no matter what Eric says, I am NOT 48 years old today…)

So I just read about this rather ridiculous “psychological” study on one of the news websites this morning. It was something about how Americans are so much more self-centered than other people around the world, because we have a culture that focuses on the individual as opposed to the collective. Now, I don’t necessarily disagree that Americans can be self-centered, and you certainly don’t need a “study” to notice a bunch of selfish Americans walking around totally oblivious to other people. But the study itself seemed so vague and simplistic that I can’t imagine how anyone could draw conclusions from it.

The “study” consisted of a table on which two blocks sat. The study participant could clearly see both blocks – however, the “director” of the study sat on the opposite side of the table, where a piece of cardboard concealed his or her view of one of the blocks. The director would then ask the study participant to “move a block.” The participants in this study consisted of two groups – European Americans (okay, already this study is flawed – last I checked, Americans come from a lot more places than just Europe…) and Asians (if I remember correctly, they were Chinese…) Anyway… when asked to move a block, the European Americans hesitated, because there were two blocks on the table and they were unsure about which one they were supposed to move. But the Asians immediately moved the block that was visible to both the participant and the director of the study.

The “conclusion” gleaned from this study was that Americans are less apt to see other people’s point of view, whereas Asians can easily see other points of view. I guess some psychologist came to this conclusion because the Asians would automatically move the block that was visible to BOTH parties, whereas the Americans would hesitate and were unsure of which block to move. What I don’t understand is how THIS was the conclusion they came to. I mean, think about this – if you’re participating in a study, and someone across the table from you tells you to move a block, wouldn’t you ASSUME that this person was AWARE of the fact that there were two blocks on the table, even if they couldn’t see both of them? Obviously the “director” of the study would have firsthand knowledge of all blocks on the table – visible or hidden – and, therefore, politely questioning which block was in need of repositioning would seem to be common sense. In fact, unless the person seated across the table was some random stranger plucked off the street who had no clue what was going on, the LEAST selfish thing to do would seem to question which block should be moved. You KNOW the director of the study is aware of each block, so how is it “self-centered” to wonder which block they’re referring to? It’s only self-centered if they’re NOT aware of each block… So MY conclusion to this study would be that Americans are savvier than Asians, who apparently believe that a cardboard-covered block will completely escape the memory of the person who placed it there. (I don’t REALLY believe that of course… lest anyone think I have some sort of xenophobic dislike of the Chinese…)

I think the ability to see other people’s point of view has less to do with your nationality and more to do with your experiences and upbringing. When I was in high school, and frequently ridiculed for my shy personality, I vowed to never do the same to others. Because of my experiences, I’ve always tried to put myself in other people’s shoes and think about what they might be feeling or dealing with at any given time. If someone is different than me, I don’t automatically assume horrible things about them, or think it’s my right to make fun of them. And yet, if I’d been in that study, I would have been one of those “self-centered” Americans who hesitated when told to “move a block.” And honestly – would that REALLY mean I was self-centered? I’d like to think it would simply mean I was sensible and logical…