Eric chats with Shinobu Kitayama, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Culture and Cognition program at the University of Michigan. He is one of the world’s leading researchers on cultural differences and similarities in a variety of mental processes such as self, emotion and cognition.

In this chat, Eric and Shinobu chat about how previous work in cultural psychology was limited mostly to differences between Westerners and East Asians. Shinobu summarizes work showing potential differences among understudied groups such as people from the Arab zone, Latin America, and South Asia. Finally, Shinobu clarifies that Western independence is not the same as selfishness and shares his own adventurous journey into the field. What was it like arriving in the US and feeling like most psychology findings did not make sense with his Japanese background?

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Shinobu's paper
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98 - Shinobu Kitayama: A Cultural Psychology for the Whole World

Stanford Psychology Podcast

98 - Shinobu Kitayama: A Cultural Psychology for the Whole World