“… In Other News, ‘Never The Twain Shall Meet.’”
According to a study detailed in The New York Times, there’s a rather Manichaean divide when it comes to how people around the world assess others’ facial expressions, and wouldn’t you know it, it falls on lines of ordinal direction!
By Nalini Abhiraman, March 18, 2008, Science, Daily, Humor
Solid gold.
Hark! The goras, the gaijin, the waiguks, the vellaikaarans — whatever you call them, it’s serious: They’re finding out the face-reading secrets buried deep in our Oriental, collectively-oriented psyches. See, we Easterners read expressions differently, because we don’t process emotions as individuals! We assess facial expressions based on a holistic evaluation of the group. … Holistic like our medicines! (OMG) Maybe we’re so holistically-minded because we view life not as a line but as a circle, turn, turn, turn.
Well, I we don’t know about you y’all, but [1] this exposé from The New York Times is too close for my our comfort. So saddle up your camels and flying carpets — we’ve got to meet somewhere and discuss how to stay inscrutably ‘Other’ in this changing age. Let’s meet in heady, spicy Samarkand. … If that’s cool with everyone.
[2] East and West Part Ways in Test of Facial Expressions [[3] NYT]
© Copyright 2007 Nirali Magazine
Article printed from Nirali Magazine: http://niralimagazine.com
URL to article: http://niralimagazine.com/2008/03/in-other-news-never-the-twain-shall-meet/
URLs in this post:
[1] this exposé from The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/health/18face.html?em&ex=1205985600&
en=eedf66e88edd96d3&ei=5087%0A
[2] East and West Part Ways in Test of Facial Expressions: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/health/18face.html?em&ex=1205985600&
en=eedf66e88edd96d3&ei=5087%0A
[3] NYT: http://nytimes.com
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