Dictation Listen to the passage. For questions 21—25, fill in the blanks with the exact words and phrases you hear. The wa

Dictation
Listen to the passage. For questions 21—25, fill in the blanks with the exact words and phrases you hear.
The way the mind works is heavily influenced by culture, according to University of Michigan psychologist Richard Nisbett. He says that two people from different cultures can look at the same picture and see it in different ways. Nisbett explains that Asians think differently from Westerners because their culture teaches them to be more aware of society, family, and historical context. Western culture—especially American culture—tends to pay more attention to individual success and being independent of family.
Nisbett argues that culture makes East Asians global thinkers. When trying to understand a situation, East Asians like to see the whole picture. They trust feelings and attach significance to relationships because these are valued highly in their culture. Conversely, Westerners tend to be more analytical. When they try to understand something, they usually prefer to analyze small pieces of information first and build their knowledge piece by piece in order to understand the whole picture.
In one experiment, Japanese and Americans viewed the same underwater scenes and reported what they had seen. The result showed that most of the Americans started by explaining the details. However, the Japanese talked about the environment or context first.
This research confirms the traditional idea that Americans are less interested in social context and place importance on the individual. The Japanese, on the other hand, place more importance on social context.