Reviewer And Cheat Sheet For Understanding The Self, Study Guides, Projects, Research of Social Sciences

Download Reviewer And Cheat Sheet For Understanding The Self and more Study Guides, Projects, Research Social Sciences in PDF only on Docsity! The self in Western & Eastern Thought LESSON 4 MS. CHEN VILLANUEVA, RPm, CMHFR INTRODUCTION Different cultures and varying environment tend to create different perception, of the "self" One of the most common distinctions between cultures and people is the eastern vs. western dichotomy, wherein Eastern represents Asia and Western represents Europe and Northern America. It must be understood that this distinction and the countries included was politically colored during their inception. Thus, we should be more open to other cultural differences in the perspective, formation, and expression of the "self" other than what we will discuss in this lesson. In the Philippines alone, each region may have a similar or varying perception regarding the "self." Comparing West and East In Western perspective, the focus is always on the self; you compare yourself to others so you can be better; you create associations and bask in the glory of that group for your self-esteem. Another way to put it is that Western philosophy views the world in dualities, whereby you are different from the other person, the creator is different from the thing they produced, and the self is recognized and defined (Wolter 2012). The Eastern viewpoint, on the other hand, sees the other as a part of yourself as well as the things you may produce, a play in which everyone is related and has a certain role to play (Wolter 2012). Several studies showed that Americans, for example, talk more about their personal attributes when describing themselves, while Asians in general would talk about their social roles or the social situations that invoked certain traits that they deem positive for their self (Gleitman, Gross, and Reisberg 2011). Evaluation of the self also differs as Americans would highlight their personal achievements, while Asians would rather keep a low profile as promoting the self can be seen as boastfulness that disrupts social relationships (Gleitman, Gross, and Reisberg 2011). In western culture, relationships are not hierarchical and everyone is considered to be equally important and respected irrespective of their age or professional qualification, whereas, in eastern culture, people who are older or have higher professional qualifications are considered to be more respectful and important. Moreover, in the west, people are more task-focused when it comes to spending time, that is, they see time as money and want to get their tasks done without wasting any time, whereas, in the east, people are more event focused and love to spend their time on building relationships. When it comes to speech, people in the west are honest, whereas people in the east value harmony over honesty, that is, they would rather speak the lie and maintain harmony in the relationship than speak the truth. Also, the westerners are independent and do things themselves, on the other hand, the eastern culture has different levels of society, and people in a higher level of society hire people from a lower level of society and help them monetarily. Considering food, eastern culture is famous for its hospitality, whereas westerners view the same hospitality as ostentatious and prefer to be efficient which easterners view as inconsiderate. Then there is a difference in ethics, how something is considered to be right or wrong. In eastern culture, ethics are based on honor and shame. If something brings honor to your society then it is considered to be right and if something brings shame to your society then it is considered to be wrong. Such is not the case in western culture. In western culture, ethics are strictly based on law. If something follows the law it is considered to be right and if something breaks the law it is considered to be wrong. source: https://absoluteinternship.com/blog/east-vs-west-5-cultural-differences-international-student-should- know/#:~:text=Eastern%20and%20Western%20cultures%20have,are%20task%20orientated%20and%20individualistic.%E2%80%9 D The Western culture then is what we would call an individualistic culture, since their focus is on the person. Asian culture, on the other hand, is called a collectivistic culture, as the group and social relations is given more importance than individual needs and wants. By valuing the individual, westerners may seem to have loose associations or even loyalty to their groups. Competition is the name of the game and they are more likely straightforward and forceful in their communication as well as decision- making. Eastern or oriental persons look after the welfare of their groups and values cooperation. They would also be more compromising, and they tend to go around the bush in explaining things, hoping that the other person would "feel" what they really want to say (Qingxue 2003). Westerners also emphasize more on the value of equality even if they see that the individual can rise above everything else. Because everyone is on their own in the competition, one can say that they also promote ideals that create a "fair' competition and protect the individual. Asians puts more emphasis on hierarchy-as the culture wants to keep things in harmony and in order (Qingxue 2003). For example, Westerners would most likely call their boss, parents, or other seniors by their first name. The boss can also be approached head-on when conflicts or problems about him or her arises. For Asians, we have respectful terms for our seniors and a lot of workers would not dare go against the high-ranking officials (Qingxue 2003).