Analytic thought, which dissects the world into a limited number of discrete objects having particular attributes that can be categorized in clear ways, lends itself to being captured in language. Holistic thought, which responds to a much wider array of objects and their relations, and which makes fewer sharp distinctions among attributes or categories, is less well suited to linguistic representation. To test the possibility that Asians and Asian Americans in fact find it relatively difficult to use language to represent thought, Kim had people speak out loud as they solved various kinds of problems. This had no effect on the performance of European Americans. But the requirement to speak out loud had very deleterious effects on the performance of Asians and Asian Americans. This work is as convincing as any in this book about the different nature of thought for Asians and Westerners and its practical implications are extremely important. How should one educate Asians and Asian Americans in American classrooms? Is it a form of “colonialism” to demand that they perform verbally and share their thoughts with their classmates? Would it have the effect of undermining the skills that go with a holistic approach to the world? Or is it merely common sense to prepare them for a world in which verbal presentation skills, even if it might be difficult to achieve them, will come in handy?
I’ve always found it difficult to express my train of thought whenever I am thinking of a solution to a problem. It can be extremely difficult to put things into words, especially when one is considering many factors and 2nd order effects.
The tendency to focus on the holistic approach and think about the further impacts and relationships between the factors might possibly lead to more thoughtful outcomes, but it generally dosen’t lead to a good impression for your client in a meeting setting or your interviewer in a job interview setting.
While it is important that we all learn to constantly improve and communicate our thoughts better, I think it is good sometimes to give the benefit of doubt to someone whom might take their time and are unable to express their views on a subject clearly. While our tendency is to poorly judge on someone with unconfident speech and garbled thoughts, it could also be that their thought process does not lend itself for linguistic expression. Patience would really be of virtue in such cases.
