tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post7753866218437054164..comments2024-03-28T18:35:54.237+09:00Comments on BigHominid's Hairy Chasms: psych experimentKevin Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328790917314282058noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-51959146025595537912014-12-05T20:47:46.035+09:002014-12-05T20:47:46.035+09:00Good question. I think you've touched on a no...Good question. I think you've touched on a notion that indicates how complex the topic really is: I'd agree that language definitely has an influence here. It's a commonplace in linguistics to say that thought determines language, and language determines thought. Perhaps it's useful to think of language, in a Venn diagram, as a subset of culture, which would be in line with saying that culture affects thought.Kevin Kimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01328790917314282058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-60481654181938432752014-12-05T20:43:21.233+09:002014-12-05T20:43:21.233+09:00Interesting experiment. I've read GoT as well,...Interesting experiment. I've read GoT as well, so I know exactly what you were getting at. As I read your post, though, a weird thought came to mind: do you think the mother tongue has anything to do with the order in which the students describe the elements of the picture? I realize this is a rather flimsy theory, and I suspect that it would fall apart if applied to Chinese, but in the case of Korean or Japanese, the natural order of language is opposite of what we would get in English.<br /><br />So, like you said, an American might say "I see two guys fighting inside a fish tank." But a Korean would say "어항에서 남자 두 명이 칼싸움하고 있다." It would require significant linguistic acrobatics to mention the fish tank first.<br /><br />If this idea has any merit, the next question to ask would be the chicken-or-egg question: Are Koreans field-dependent because of their language, or does their language reflect their field dependency? (Option 3: Or is it a feedback loop?)<br /><br />Just spitballing, as usual.Charleshttp://www.liminality.orgnoreply@blogger.com