Read the Actual Rice Versus Wheat Study in Science Magazine

Cross-cultural psychologists have mostly contrasted East Asia with the West. However, this study shows that there are major psychological differences within China. We propose that a history of farming rice makes cultures more interdependent, whereas farming wheat makes cultures more independent, and these agricultural legacies continue to affect people in the modern world. We tested 1162 Han Chinese participants in six sites and found that rice-growing southern China is more interdependent and holistic-thinking than the wheat-growing north. To control for confounds like climate, we tested people from neighboring counties along the rice-wheat border and found differences that were just as large. We also find that modernization and pathogen prevalence theories do not fit the data.

Read Large-Scale Psychological Differences Within China Explained by Rice Versus Wheat Agriculture in Science Magazine

Similar Posts:

• Wheat (North) vs. Rice (South): How China’s Culinary Divide Shapes Chinese Personality (WSJ)
• China Offers Tax Incentives to Persuade U.S. Companies to Stay (NYT)
• Why Emerging Market Refrigerators Contain Cold Hard Economic Data (II)
• Apple Makes Plans to Move Production Out of China (WSJ)
• Into Africa: India Vies With China for Post-pandemic Clout (Nikkei Asian Review)
• Russia Now Demands Rubles For Grain As World’s Largest Wheat Exporter (Zero Hedge)
• Don’t Believe All the Doom and Gloom Scenarios for China? (FT)
• China Reopening, Oil, and Doing Nothing (Profit Hunting Blog)
• “This Is What Annihilation Looks Like”: Biden Export Controls ‘Wreaking Havoc’ On China’s Chip Industry (Zero Hedge)
• Fund Managers Are Wary of “Cheap” Asian Stock Markets (FT Adviser)
• Why China’s Stock Market Tumble is Giving India’s a Lift (Nikkei Asia)
• Emerging Markets in the East Converging With Developed Markets in the West (Create Research)
• The Big Debate: ‘Is China Flashing Green? No, It’s Not’ (City Wire)
• China’s Seniors Will Reshape the World (Bloomberg)
• Lessons From a Decade of Chinese Stock Trading (WSJ)