Do You See What I See?

Which one of these items go together: a panda, monkey, and a banana? Please answer before reading further.

You probably said the panda and the monkey. Both are animals, while the banana is a fruit. This is logical. At least this is the logic of westerners, and it is difficult for us to see how the answer could be anything else. But if you are to asked me, I would likely say the monkey and the banana go together.
Why? Whereas westerners typically see categories (animals and fruit), Asians typically see relationships (monkey eat bananas).

In one study, Japanese and U.S. students were shown a picture of an aquarium that contained one big, fast moving fish and several smaller fish, along with plants, a rock and bubbles. Later, when the students were asked what they had seen, the Japanese students were 60 percent more likely to remember background elements. They also referred more to relationships, such as "the little yellow fish" was in front of the blue rock."

Westerners pay more attention to the focal object, in this case the fish, while Asians are more at tuned to the overall surroundings. The implication of these difference run deep: Easterners attribute less causation to actors and more to context, while Westerners minimize the context and place greater emphasis on individual actors.

Differences in how Westerners and Easterners perceive the world and think about it are just being uncovered. We know practically nothing about how these differences originate because this findings indicate deep, culturally based, fundamental differences in perception and thinking.

Source: Cultural Diversity Around the World.

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