Ashamed of My Major

As a Psych major, every so often I'll find a study so stupid that it makes me want to hold my head in my hands and weep. Here's one now.

 The headline is "Americans Don't Understand Others."

The study, though oversimplified compared to real life, was instructive. Keysar and his colleagues arranged two blocks on a table so participants could see both. However, a piece of cardboard obstructed the view of one block so a "director," sitting across from the participant, could only see one block.

When the director asked 20 American participants (none of Asian descent) to move a block, most were confused as to which block to move and did not take into account the director's perspective. Even though they could have deduced that, from the director's seat, only one block was on the table.

Most of the 20 Chinese participants, however, were not confused by the hidden block and knew exactly which block the director was referring to. While following directions was relatively simple for the Chinese, it took Americans twice as long to move a block.

"That strong, egocentric communication of Westerners was nonexistent when we looked at Chinese," Keysar said. "The Chinese were very much able to put themselves in the shoes of another when they were communicating."

The assumptions and leaps of logic here are awful to the point of inducing whiplash. As if that wasn't enough, check this out:

"Of course, these are very gross oversimplifications," said Keysar. "Even in America, you can find collectivist societies. For example, working class people tend to be much more collective."

No, the gross oversimplification here is that you're assuming the truth of your assertions, namely that being from a "collectivist" culture makes it easier to see another person's perspective!  Your only evidence for that claim comes from MOVING BLOCKS ABOUT A TABLE.  Taking a completely unrealistic situation in a lab and applying that to vastly different conditions in the real world and then attaching a blanket statement headline is irresponsible bordering on malicious.  This is agenda driven research and make no mistake.

This study might tell us something about perspective as it relates to moving and directing objects in the physical world, but making the enormous logical jump to culture, and then tacking on a value judgment to boot is just embarrassing.  How in the hell do these idiots manage to get research grants?

Posted by: Joseph at 10:17 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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