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4/14/2017 BBC - Future - How East and West think in profoundly different ways

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Psychologists are uncovering the surprising influence of geography on our reasoning, behaviour, and

sense of self.

By David Robson 19 January 2017

As Horace Capron first travelled through Hokkaido in 1871, he searched for a sign of human life among the vast prairies, wooded

glades and threatening black mountains. "The stillness of death reigned over this magnificent scene," he later wrote. "Not a leaf was

stirred, not the chirping of a bird or a living thing." It was, he thought, a timeless place, straight out of pre-history.

"How amazing it is that this rich and beautiful country, the property of one of the oldest and most densely populated nations of the

world ... should have remained so long unoccupied and almost as unknown as the African deserts," he added.

This was Japan's frontier - its own version of the American 'Wild West'. The northernmost of Japan's islands, Hokkaido was remote,

with a stormy sea separating it from Honshu. Travellers daring to make the crossing would have then had to endure the notoriously

brutal winters, rugged volcanic landscape and savage wildlife. And so the Japanese government had largely left it to the indigenous

Ainu people, who survived through hunting and fishing.

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(Credit: Getty Images)

The Human Planet Psychology

How East and West think in profoundly different ways

4/14/2017 BBC - Future - How East and West think in profoundly different ways

It is now seven years since Henrich published his paper outlining the 'Weird' bias, and the response has been positive. He is

particularly pleased that researchers like Talhelm are beginning to set up big projects to try to understand the kaleidoscope of different

ways of thinking. "You want a theory that explains why different populations have different psychologies."

But despite the good intentions, further progress has been slow. Thanks to the time and money it takes to probe minds across the

globe, most research still examines Weird participants at the expense of greater diversity. "We agree on the illness. The question is

what the solution should be."

David Robson is BBC Future's feature writer. He is@d_a_robson on Twitter.

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