东西方的思维差异竟来自于这里?我们都知道，东西方的文化存在差异，一般而言，我们会倾向于相信“地理决定论”，认为是地理因素塑造了东西方人的性格。

　　原 文

　　A growing number of case studies explore how our social environment moulds our minds. From the broad differences between East and West, to subtle variation between US states, it is becoming increasingly clear that history, geography and culture can change how we all think in subtle and surprising ways – right down to our visual perception. Our thinking may have even been shaped by the kinds of crops our ancestors used to farm, and a single river may mark the boundaries between two different cognitive styles. Wherever we live, a greater awareness of these forces can help us all understand our own minds a little better.

　　越来越多的个案研究探讨了社会环境是如何塑造了人们的思想。从东西方的巨大差异到美国各个州之间的微妙差别，越来越明显的是，历史、地理和文化可以用十分微妙且出人意料的方式改变人们的思维方式——甚至包括我们视觉感知。我们的思维方式可能是由祖先曾经耕种过的农作物类型塑造而成的，一条河流可能是两种不同认知风格的分界线。不管我们住在哪里，更清晰地意识到这些因素会帮助我们地了解自己的思想。

　　Mould 作为名词是“模具”的意思;这里用作动词，是“铸造，浇铸”之义，抽象意义上指“塑造”，“对…施加影响”;另外mould有“霉菌”的意思，因此作为动词还有“使…长霉”的意思。

　　subtle

　　adj.微妙的，难以察觉的，精细的;

　　variation

　　变化 (=difference)

　　right down to

　　(延伸)到，就连…也包括在内

　　visual perception

　　视觉感知，视知觉

　　ancestors

　　祖先

　　boundary

　　界限

　　02

　　那么，在探讨地理因素究竟如何决人的不同之前，我们先要明确，东西方的确存在着思维方式的差异，尽管在此之前科学家们很大程度上忽略了全球思维方式的多样性(Until recently, scientists had largely ignored the global diversity of thinking)。

　　这个差异当然涉及到层面，那么比较显著的差异是什么呢?

　　原 文

　　Some of the most notable differences revolved around the concepts of “individualism” and “collectivism”; whether you consider yourself to be independent and self-contained, or entwined and interconnected with the other people around you, valuing the group over the individual. Generally speaking - there are many exceptions - people in the West tend to be more individualist, and people from Asian countries like India, Japan or China tend to be more collectivist.

　　一些最显著的差别围绕着“个人主义”和“集体主义”的概念展开：你自认为独立自持，还是和周围的人紧密相联、重视集体超过个人。一般来说——通常也有例外——西方人更倾向于成为个人主义者，而来自诸如印度、日本和中国等亚洲的人们更有可能是集体主义者。

　　notable

　　adj.显著的

　　revolve

　　v. 旋转

　　individualism/collectivism

　　个人主义/集体主义

　　individualist/collectivist

　　个人主义者/集体主义者

　　individualistic

　　adj.个人主义的，利己主义的

　　self-contained 和independent是同义词

　　entwine

　　v.缠住，缠绕;

　　entwined和interconnected是同义词

　　03

　　这具体表现为：

　　原 文

　　When questioned about their attitudes and behaviours, people in more individualistic, Western societies tend to value personal success over group achievement, which in turn is also associated with the need for greater self-esteem and the pursuit of personal happiness. But this thirst for self-validation also manifests in overconfidence – they are likely to overestimate their abilities. This tendency for self-inflation appears to be almost completely absent in a range of studies across East Asia; in fact, in some cases the participants were more likely to underestimate their abilities than to inflate their sense of self-worth. People living in individualistic societies may also put more emphasis on personal choice and freedom.

　　当问及态度和行为时，在更个人主义的西方社会的人们倾向于认为个人成功高于集体成就，这反过来又成为他们需求自尊和追求个人幸福的原因。但是这种对自我肯定的渴望也体现在过度自信上——他们很有可能高估自己的能力。这种自我膨胀的倾向几乎没有出现在全东亚的系列研究中;事实上，在某些个案中，参与者更倾向低估自己的能力，而不是自我价值意识膨胀。生活在个人主义社会的人们也可能更重视个人选择和自由。

　　In turn

　　反过来

　　manifest

　　v. 体现

　　overestimate/underestimate

　　高估/低估(v)

　　inflation

　　膨胀

　　put more emphasis on

　　更重视

　　04

　　这样的个人或集体主义的倾向还有其他更具体的表现。

　　原 文

　　Crucially, our “social orientation” appears to spill over into more fundamental aspects of reasoning. People in more collectivist societies tend to be more ‘holistic’ in the way they think about problems, focusing more on the relationships and the context of the situation at hand, while people in individualistic societies tend to focus on separate elements, and to consider situations as fixed and unchanging.

　　关键是，我们的“社会倾向”似乎渗透到人们理性的更基本方面。在更集体主义的社会，人们思考问题的方式更倾向于“全盘”思考，更关注当前情况的各种关系和语境，而在更个人主义的社会，人们更关注单个成分，认为情况是固定不变的。

　　fundamental

　　基本的，基础的

　　holistic

　　全盘的;整体的

　　05

　　此外，我们观察事物的方式也不同。

　　原 文

　　People from East Asia tend to spend more time looking around the background of an image – working out the context – whereas people in America tended to spend more time concentrating on the main focus of the picture. Intriguingly, this distinction could also be seen in children’s drawings, suggesting that the different ways of seeing emerge at a very young age.

　　来自东亚的人们会花时间观察一张图的背景，弄明白其背景——而美国人则倾向于用时间关注图片的焦点。有趣的是，这个差异也体现在孩子们的画作上，表明观察方式的差异在幼年就开始浮现。

　　whereas

　　反之，表示转折对比关系，这里可用while替代

　　Intriguingly

　　有趣的是

　　emerge

　　出现