Lesson Module - 7 - Cognition - Part - 1

Cognition

Differences in Thinking Styles

• Cultures Influencing Thought: Individualistic vs collectivistic cultures lead to different thinking styles.

• Analytic Thinking: Predominant in Western cultures.

• Holistic Thinking: Common in Eastern cultures.

• Origins: Analytic thinking traces back to Ancient Greece; holistic thinking originates in Confucian China.

Analytic Thinking

Historical Foundations

• Plato: Proposed a stable realm of forms, leading Western thought towards stability and abstract logical rules.

• Aristotle: Classifications based on shared characteristics; saw behaviors as functions of specific properties (e.g., gravity in stones).

Characteristics of Analytic Thinking

• Focus on Objects: Objects viewed independently of context.

• Component Parts: Understanding based through their attributes.

• Categorization: Uses attributes for classifying objects.

• Fixed Rules: Explanations based on unchanging logical rules.

Holistic Thinking

Historical Foundations

• Eastern Philosophies: Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism emphasize change, interconnectedness, and harmony.

• Lao Tzu: Advocated for fitting in with the natural world and letting go of ego.

• Confucius: Highlighted the importance of family relationships, morals, social duties, and interconnectedness.

Characteristics of Holistic Thinking

• Contextual Focus: Understand objects in relation to their context.

• Interrelatedness: Relationships are central in categorization and understanding behavior.

• Systemic View: Recognizes a system of interactions rather than isolated objects.

Cultural Reflections in Art

Systematic Variations in Art

• Western Art: Emphasis on figures, larger faces (3x larger on average).

• Eastern Art: Higher horizons in landscapes (15% higher).

Aesthetic Preferences

• Study Findings: East Asians prefer art that includes more context, while Americans prefer art focusing on objects.

• Research Example: Masuda et al. (2008) examined artistic preferences across cultures:

• Western Paintings: 731 from MET.

• East Asian Paintings: 660 from major East Asian museums.

Visual Attention: Eye-Tracking Studies

Attention Disposition in Visual Scenes

• Cultural Differences: Westerners focus primarily on central figures, while Easterners attend to background elements.

• Study Findings: Eye-tracking showed that Japanese participants allocated more attention to contextual figures than Americans in tasks.

Problem-Solving and Reasoning

Cultural Preferences

• Analytic Reasoning: Rule-based strategy predominant in Western cultures.

• Intuitive Reasoning: Family resemblance strategy more common in Eastern cultures.

Research on Reasoning Styles

• Study 1 Findings: East Asians struggled with rule applications in categorization, showing difficulty when rules conflicted with exemplar-based strategies.

• Study 2 Findings: In a similarity condition, East Asians showed a stronger preference for family resemblance categorization.

Effects of Environmental Complexity on Cognition

• Research on Environment: Compared boundaries and edges in schools and hotels in Japan vs the USA. Findings indicated that Japanese environments were more complex.

• Cognition in Busy Environments: Growing up in complex environments in Japan enhances information processing skills in similar busy scenes.