Annex 1 Report: Survey on cognitive process differences between Westerners and Asians In Chapter 4, Literature review: cognitive science perspective, we per- used the literature on cognition and found that research conducted in the US and Japan by Imai and Gentner (1997) following the Whorfian tradition (Whorf, 1940, 1955a, 1955b, 1962, 1997) affirms the Westerners’ predilec- tion for individuating phenomena or objects – form preference – in contrast to the Asians’ propensity not to do so but to subsume the phenomena under the coverage of substance – material preference. In the same chapter we argued that the predilection for individuation is a pointer towards the deductive way of thinking when the individuation presupposes the existence of some kind of model, based on which observed characteristics of a new object are identified and compared before the object’s cognition and identification. We adapted Imai and Gentner’s experiment to our purpose because: 1. These researchers’ investigation addresses itself to the question of lan- guage learning and the capture of ontological meaning. 2. The sample used is a mixture of US/Japanese and children/adults. Accordingly we (a) limited the age range (19 to 62) and (b) used a wider spread of nationalities (Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, US, Italian, French, German, Indian) and (c) centred exclusively on the individuation issue, as shown in Table A1.1. Summary of the findings1 ● Asian (East Asians) and Western differences in shape/material distinction seem to exist, though no statistically significant differences were detected in this survey. As shown in Table A1.1 Tests of between-subjects effects, Sig. was .170. 156 Annex 1 157 ● However, as also shown in Table A1.1, Age by Mother Tongue provides a sta- tistically significant difference at p <.05, which means that age combined with language influences the shape/material d istinction. ● As shown in Figure A1.1, Asians between 20 and 30 years old tend to rec- ognize fewer shapes compared with their Western counterparts. Overall across ages, Asians have less shape bias. ● Asians recognize fewer shapes at different educational levels, but when better educated (that is with graduate degrees) they have more shape bias, as shown in Figure A1.2. Samples and method Preparation of the questionnaire The text of the questionnaire was first written in Spanish and then trans- lated into Japanese and English. Both the Spanish text and the graphics used were originally prepared by JA Ruiz and Nuria Villagra based on Imai and Gentner (1997). age 1 < 20, 0.7 2 < = 30, 3 > 30 1 0.65 2 3 0.6 Estimated marginal means 0.55 0.5 1 2 Language 1 = Western, 2 = East Asian Figure A1.1 Age and form recognition frequency 158 Asian versus Western Management Thinking Table A1.1 Samples Sex Female 77 Male 74 Age Less than 20 28 <20 but >=30 69 Over 30 54 Education Vocational, etc 10 Undergraduate 84 Graduate 57 Mother tongue Indo-Arian* 89 East Asian 62 N = 151 * Includes 20 Indians with Indo-Arian languages as their mother tongue. edu 0 = no 0.8 university education 1 = undergraduate studies 0.7 3 = graduate studies 0 0.6 1 2 3 0.5 Estimated marginal means 0.4 1 2 Language 1 = Western, 2 = East Asian Non-estimable means are not plotted Figure A1.2 Education levels and form recognition frequency The questionnaire was tested in February 2010 with eight Spanish adults in Spanish and three Japanese executives in Japanese to improve the text and eliminate possible misunderstandings. English was corrected by an English native speaker. Annex 1 159 Some minor corrections were made taking into account the suggestions by the test groups. Some shapes were disfigured, since they seemed to be too obviously linked to the original figures. Samples The samples were collected as follows: 1. China, Japan and Korea: mainly through the personal contacts of one of the authors. Fifteen part-time MBA programme participants at Yonsei University (all of them are executives of Korean MNCs or international organizations), and 39 undergraduate university students from Japan took part. Eight Japanese respondents are former executives who volun- teered to respond at the researchers’ request. 2. Spain and the rest of Europe and the US: IESE Business School’s network inserted the questionnaire in its alumni web site. There were 42 Spanish- speaking people and the rest were distributed among German, French, Italian and English-speaking respondents. Twenty Indian respondents were contacted by IESE network. Fifteen of them speak Gujarati as their mother tongue and five speak Sindhi. Method The materials shown in slides to the respondents are given in Table A1.2. First, the respondents observe a slide in PowerPoint and they are told that this object is, for example, nycko; then they are shown a slide that comprises two objects or ‘entities’, one of which bears a certain resemblance in shape to the original entity, while the other shows an obviously non-discrete material of which the first was made, and are asked which one of the two is, for them, nycko. Ten sets of slides are shown. To avoid orientation bias, some objects are placed horizontally while the original ones are shown placed vertically, and so on. Results To examine the overall pattern 2 (Sex) × 3 (Age) × 3 (Education) × 2 (Mother tongue), a mixed ANOVA was conducted using the frequency of shape responses as the dependent variable. Age at p < 0.004, Age × Education at p <0.001 and Sex × Education × language at p < 0.1 show statistically signifi- cant relationships. (See Table A1.3.) Age has an impact on shape recognition both in the West and Asia (see Figure A1.1). The greater the age, the higher the shape recognition both in the West and Asia. The trend is greater in the respondents aged 30 or less. The educational background is another factor that influences shape rec- ognition. When Asian respondents’ education is higher than undergraduate 160 Asian versus Western Management Thinking Table A1.2 Slides shown to the respondents Standard Shape alternative Material alternative 1 Metal clip (Disfigured) metal Metal piece clip 2 Porcelain rounded Elongated T-shape Porcelain piece T-shape piece piece 3 Coloured wood Wood lemon juicer Plastic pieces piece resembling a coloured in the lemon juicer same colour as the original piece 4 Wood piece Plastic whisk Pile of wood resembling a whisk 5 Wood pyramid Porcelain pyramid Wood piece viewed from top 6 UFO-like metal Plastic saucer Metal piece piece 7 Stone-like yellow Pebble Amber piece object 8U-shaped U-shaped piece Luminescent, luminescent piece (placed upside amorphous down) scribbling 9 W-shaped wood Disfigured W-shaped Wood piece mould in dust 10 Brown disfigured Green round S Heap of brown S-shaped piece coloured earth degrees, Asians show a marked trend to opt for shape recognition, which is even better than their Western counterparts. Perhaps, the higher educa- tional level exposes them more to Western-style, model-based deduction. When the educational level is undergraduate or lower, Westerners have a better shape recognition than Asians. (See Figure A1.2.) Conclusion and discussion The Western respondents’ stronger shape orientation cannot be seen inde- pendently of other factors in this survey. However, in the age and education cross-sections, a difference can be discerned compared with Asians. Among both Westerners and Asians, younger people (under 30) show a greater shape preference than older respondents, while within the same age bracket, Westerners are more shape oriented. There can be several expla- nations for this. The younger age fosters more analytic and perhaps more rational thinking, which is reflected in this shape preference range across Table A1.3 Tests of between-subjects effects Dependent variable: freqform Type III sum Mean Noncent. Observed Source of squares df square F Sig. parameter powerb Corrected Model 2.370a 29 .082 1.882 .009 54.583 .991 Intercept 13.747 1 13.747 316.581 .000 316.581 1.000 Sex .031 1 .031 .703 .403 .703 .132 Age .491 2 .246 5.656 .004 11.312 .854 Education .202 3 .067 1.552 .205 4.657 .401 Language .083 1 .083 1.910 .170 1.910 .278 Sex * Age .374 2 .187 4.304 .016 8.607 .740 Sex * Education .355 3 .118 2.723 .047 8.170 .649 Sex * Language .005 1 .005 .123 .726 .123 .064 Age * Education .952 4 .238 5.481 .000 21.926 .972 Age * Language .340 2 .170 3.918 .022 7.837 .697 Education * Language .067 2 .034 .775 .463 1.549 .179 Sex * Age * Education .312 3 .104 2.393 .072 7.179 .586 Sex * Age * Language .269 2 .134 3.092 .049 6.184 .587 Sex * Education * Language .412 2 .206 4.743 .010 9.487 .783 Age * Education * Language .045 1 .045 1.026 .313 1.026 .171 Sex * Age * Education * Language .000 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 Error 5.254 121 .043 Total 60.910 151 Corrected Total 7.625 150 a R Squared = .311 (Adjusted R Squared = .146) b Computed using alpha = 162 Asian versus Western Management Thinking West and East. Or older age teaches people to reason more synthetically than analytically, which is reflected in a lesser shape predilection. Education may be a major driver for Asians to become deductive thinkers. In Western-style graduate education in management schools, where teach- ers stress model-based, rational, analytic thinking, Asians may rapidly turn themselves into strategic planners, with a high number-crunching capabil- ity. Their shape recognition, which is better than that of Western counter- parts with a similar educational background, is thought-provoking at the very least.