Abstract
In the scientific community, the constructs of Individualism and Collectivism arouse particular interest, so that the amount of literature produced is large and diverse. Many authors contributed to the development of the construct both in terms of theoretical validity and on measurement techniques and tools. Ofer Grosbard's book Babel—A Guide to the East–West Encounter is an example of this trend. Starting from the proposal of new principles characterizing the two different paradigms of thought (Eastern—Collectivist, Western—Individualist), the author coined the term Thinking Vector which can be oriented externally or internally depending on the individual's mode of thinking. The author also proposes a questionnaire for measuring the Thinking Vector and suggestions for an optimal encounter between individuals with different paradigms of the mind. The book offers the opportunity to reflect on the explanatory significance of the constructs of Individualism and Collectivism on both a theoretical and methodological level.
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Notes
Hall (1976) identifies as collectivist the cultures he describes as high-context, characterized by a communication in which "most of the information is in the physical context or internalized in the person"; in contrast, he recognizes as individualistic the cultures he calls low context where "the mass of information is invested in the explicit code" (p.79).
The term coined by Grosbard refers to thought that, as a vector, can take various directions and intensities that characterize different individuals at different times and can be directed inwards or outwards depending on the individual's way of thinking. An individual who focuses attention on the Self is referred to as a person with an inwardly directed vector of the mind; on the other hand, an individual focused on his surroundings directs his mind vector outward.
Thinking-vector values between + 1 and + 10 indicate an Eastern thinking paradigm in which the thinking vector is outwardly directed; Thinking-vector values between –1 and –10 indicate a Western thinking paradigm in which the thinking vector is inwardly directed.
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Reho, M. Ofer Grosbard, Babel: A Guide to the East–West Encounter. Integr. psych. behav. 56, 822–828 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12124-021-09636-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12124-021-09636-6