Differences between Asian and Western Children. A matter of context. Or category?
Given four words: Monkey, Banana, Cow, Grass.
How do you categorize them? There may be two major categorizations to consider:
Categorization 1 (By Context):
Monkey & Banana (Context of monkey eating banana)
Cow & Grass (Context of cow eating grass)
Categorization 2 (By Category):
Cow & Monkey (Category of Animals)
Banana & Grass (Category of Animals’ foods)
According to a paper written in 1972 by cognitive psychologist Chiu Lian Hwang, the majority of Asian children would categorize by context (and have a more holistic view) by associating the animal with the food that it eats. The norm for Western children was to look at the categorize the cow & monkey together as being members of the animal kingdom, which is coming from more of an analytical viewpoint. The important thing here is that neither are wrong.
Interesting study for thought. Especially in our modern environment where me might be leading a team with members from over six different nationalities on it. We are no longer dealing with topics such as ‘managing men vs managing women;’ but the differences in managing someone who was brought up, schooled and exposed to an Asian environment vs someone who grew up with Western education, environment and ideals. A modern manager must be able to sensitize themselves to such differences in upbringings amongst the members of their team.
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Add comment September 12th, 2009