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You Are What You Eat

You Are What You Eat人如其食东方人与西方人思维方式不一样,这一说法可不只是什么偏见。过去的二十年里,许多心理学研究都显示,西方人比东亚人更具个性、更注重分析和抽象思维。为解释这一现象,研究者们提出了以下几种假说。其一是认为现代化促进了个人主义的发展,但这一假说在第一道坎就受挫：日本是一个超现代化国家,但其国民保持了集体主义的观念。

That orientals and occidentals think in different ways is not mere prejudice. Many psychological studies conducted over the past two decades suggest Westerners have a more individualistic, analytic and abstract mental life than do East Asians. Several hypotheses have been put forward to explain this. One, that modernisation promotes individualism, falls at the first hurdle： Japan, an ultra-modern country whose people have retained a collective outlook. A second, that a higher prevalence of infectious disease in a place makes contact with strangers more dangerous, and causes groups to turn inward, is hardly better.