WEST AND EAST context.

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF FAMILY?

INDIVIDUALISTIC VS. COLLABORATIVE
INDIVIDUALISTIC VS. COLLABORATIVE
Individualistic o I am special
o I am unique  Lifestyle
o I am me
o I am an individual
o I am who I am
o I am a rational
agent
o I am responsible
for my own
actions

Collaborative o I am part of my
family
o I am part of my  Relationship
community
o I am part of my
country
o The goodness of
the whole is more
important than
the individual
o My actions
directly impact
my family and my
community Westby (2009)

Independence -develop early

WEST BRIAN, EAST BRIAN independence
-express yourself
How deeply culture – the language we speak, the -Responsible for self
values we absorb – shapes the brain -Live on one’s own
-One’s own goals take
Cultural neuroscience: culture reflects on different priority
regions of the brain -Motivated by own
preferences, needs,
 Psychologist Nalini Ambady (2009) showed rights
-Tasks more important
drawings of people in a:
than relationships
o Submissive pose (head down, shoulders Cognitive skills
hunched) independent of social
o Dominant one (arms crossed, face skills
forward) Interdependence -Learn to depend on
others
To Japanese and Americans.
-Read nonverbal cues
 The brain’s dopamine-fueled reward circuit -Listen to authority
became most active at the sight of the stance. -Be responsible for
o Japanese response to submissive poses others
-Personal goals
while Americans response to dominant
secondary to goals of
poses. the group
-Motivated by the
The Americans The Asians norms of, and duties
-showed more activity in -showed more activity in imposed by, the group
regions that recognize areas that process figure- -Relationships more
objects. ground relations – holistic important than tasks
 -Social and cognitive
skills integrated

HOW A CHILD IS TAKEN CARE OF?

INDIVIDUALISTIC VS. COLLABORATIVE

HOW A SENIOR LIFE LOOKS LIKE?

INDIVIDUALISTIC VS. COLLABORATIVE

 Forms of discourse

Low Power Distance High Power Distance

-People must earn -Parents teach children to
respect obey
-Collaborative classrooms -Children respect parents
-Teachers facilitate and those in authority
learning -Teachers take initiative
-People direct themselves in class
 Thought Process
-Teachers are to transfer
wisdom
-Students respect
teachers
-People expect direction
  “Some oriental writing, …. Is marked by what
may be called an approach by indirection. In
this kind of writing, the development of the
paragraph may be said to be turning and
turning in a widening gyre. “
o The circles or gyres turn around the
subject and show it from a variety of
Tangential views, but the subject is
never looked at directly.
 Things are developed in terms of what they are
not, rather than in terms of what they are.
o Again, such a development in a modern
English paragraph would strike the
English reader as awkward and
unnecessarily indirect.

EAST ASIAN RHETORIC

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WEST AND EAST
 Problem solving
 Hinds further developed kaplan’s contrastive
rhetoric theory by suggesting that East Asian
Rhetoric (especially Japanese) is inductive, as
opposed to the linear, deductive pattern in
English writing
 Often characterized by indirect style that is
suggestive rather than empathic; more a reader-
responsible style than a writer-responsible style

Chinese rhetoric: “moving from the

surface to the core”
(Leki 96); lets the
reader make
connections to the CHINESE CULTURE
main idea without
As the saying goes….
divulging it directly
Japanese rhetoric: “specific to general
pattern…relating the 俗話說:人往高處走;可俗話又說:爬得高，摔得重!
text information to the
writer’s own As the saying goes, men go upward; on the hard, it says:
experience” (Leki 98); the higher your climb up, the harder you fall.
text should be
aesthetically pleasing 俗話說:金錢不是萬能的;可俗話又說:有錢能使鬼推磨!

Money is not everything, however, money rules all.

CULTURAL THOUGHT PATTERNS IN INTER- 俗話說:青出於藍而勝於藍;可俗話又說:薑還是老的辣!

CULTURAL EDUCATION
Blue comes from the indigo plant but is bluer than the
plant itself – the pupils exceed the master; however, Old
gingers are spicy- the master is still the master.
Robert B. Kaplan (University of Southern California)
俗話說:人人為我，我為人人;可俗話又說:人不為己， 天誅
地滅!
Everyone works for me; I work for everyone, however,
every man is for himself.
DEFINITIONS OF EDUCATION
WEST
EAST
EDUCATION
WEST
-US pays great attention
to train students’ practice
ability to utilize the
knowledge, cultivating the
students’ question to the
knowledge and authority
and building the ability to
extend the knowledge
system.
> The dynamic changes
to knowledge
> Unstructured
>Freedom
SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS
WEST
EAST
TEACHERS
WEST EAST
-American teachers were -Chinese teachers had
more knowledgeable stronger knowledge of the
about general educational subject matter and
theories and classroom building the solid
skills. foundation.
-Evokes creative thinking -Spend more time with
-Encourage students to their students.
challenge the knowledge -Persistence
-Teaching atmosphere -Authority Figure
likely and vivid.
(Latin) which comes from
a verb “educere” which STUDENTS
means to lead, draw, and
bring out the horizontal WEST -Self-confidece
“drawing out” of wisdom -Independence
into vision. -Curiosity
-Teaching (教) -Free thinking
EAST -Discipline
-Nurturing (養) -Obey
-Good observers
-Patient
-Respectful
-Afraid of making
mistakes
EAST
-Taiwan’s education pays
more attention to the
instilling and
accumulation of
knowledge, cultivating the
students’ respect to the
knowledge and authority
and building the ability to
inherit the knowledge
system.
> The acceptance to
knowledge
> Structured
>Consistence
Informal, egalitarian
-People most comfortable
with their social equals;
importance of social
rankings minimized.
Formal, hierarchichal
-People most comfortable
in the presence of a
hierarchy in which they
know their position and
the customs/rules for
behavior in the situation.