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On a recent visit to the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Professor Richard Nisbett, a pioneer in research on cultural differences in social cognition, gave a public lecture on “Culture and Cognition.” During his stay, Professor Nisbett met with Dr Hyun-Jung Lee and talked his half-century long intellectual journey. In this interview, he discussed how he first became interested in cultural differences in cognition and reasoning, what his insights are on the cultural differences in thinking style, and why and how we might benefit from understanding different thinking style of others. Here he shares the journey and insights gleaned in his career-long focus on culture and our evolving understanding of the phenomena.
Richard E. Nisbett is the Theodore M. Newcomb Distinguished University Professor and Research Professor in the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, in the USA. He was trained as cognitive social psychologist (PhD, Columbia University, USA, 1966). After spending five years at Yale University as Assistant Professor of Psychology, Professor Nisbett moved to the University of Michigan in 1971 and has stayed there ever since. His research during the 1970s and 1980s represents the mainstream cognitive social psychology; on reasoning, errors and biases in reasoning and social judgments. Later in the 1990s his research expands to include the issues such as violence, aggression and culture of honor in US regional culture, focusing on the South USA specifically, which was a little detour from the mainstream cognitive social psychology. Moving to the 2000s Professor Nisbett’s research primarily focuses on societal cultural differences in social cognition. Among his many achievements and contributions, the book The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently and Why (2003) remains a particular inspiration for many, including the cross-cultural management scholars. His most recent book is Mindware: Tools for Smart Thinking (2015).
Cross-cultural differences in thinking style: analytical and holistic thinking
H.J. Lee: Professor Nisbett, so, how did it all start? You are a cognitive social psychologist, trained in the field where “cultural differences” are typically treated as “noise,” or something to be controlled for in research design. Tell me about how you got interested in the cultural differences in cognitive reasoning and thinking style.
R. Nisbett: my whole career is about...