If I were an American, I surely would be living in a rented place. But I am Chinese. Research by Chinese psychologists indicates that a Chinese person’s self-concept embodies an ingredient of “mother” that is lacking in American and British people. To Americans, “Mother” and “Clinton” are both objects outside their concept of themselves, according to research published in the latest issue of the academic journal, China Science.

Recently a reporter interviewed one of the major contributors to the article, Zhu Ying, a professor of psychology at Peking University, on this interesting topic:

Reporter: Based on your research, can we say that Chinese people place more emphasis than do Westerners on the opinions of others in their relationships?

Zhu Ying: Probably. As we know, the radical idea in Confucianism is “Benevolence (Ren)” which talks about human relationship. The self in psychology is very complicated. Everyone, except those who have certain mental diseases has self-consciousness. For example, I am constantly conscious that I am here, I am Zhu Ying, a professor of psychology in Peking University and I am talking with you, etc. The concept of self in East and West is different. Self includes one’s own name, profession, and temperament for example. For people in the East, human relationship is a major point in self-concept. For Chinese, their idea of self includes parents, friends, and colleagues and so on. Without parents, friends, and colleagues and so on, the content of “self” may have a narrower range in the West where the idea of self is one independent from others -- having nothing to do with parents, friends and colleagues and so on, but only including himself or herself. In other words, the individual has the complete say.

That is to say Chinese are more dependent on others, Westerners on themselves. For instance, as a guest, you may be asked by the host what you want to eat. Chinese will always reply, “Anything is OK,” while a Westerner may answer explicitly, “Steak (or some other food).” The Chinese response more than likely lays more stress on a mothers’ opinion.

Reporter: How did you conduct the experiment?

Zhu Ying: Self and memory have a close relationship, which means participants in the experiment can easily remember words relating to themselves. First, chose some adjectives, for example “brave,” “beautiful,” “lazy,” “filial” and etc. If participants consider themselves lazy, they can remember “lazy” very well. If we relate “Lu Xun” with “brave,” those participants may not remember “brave” as easily as they can remember “lazy.”

We had several groups of volunteers for the experiment. The results show that they remembered those adjectives concerning mother as easily as they remembered those words concerning themselves. For example, if they think of their mothers as “diligent,” they could remember the word “diligent” as easily as words about themselves.

Studies from abroad show different results. Americans remember words related to “Mother” and words related to “Clinton” at the same rate, below what they remember related to themselves.

Reporter: According to your paper, self-concept is a function of the right cerebral hemisphere. Therefore, is there a difference in the location in the brain of the “mother” concept in Chinese and Westerners?

Zhu Ying: We plan to conduct an experiment on this topic. Current studies show that self-concept is located in the right cerebral hemisphere while the faculty of understanding language (for instance, “Lu Xun” is a linguistic concept) is in the left hemisphere. I would guess that in Chinese people “mother” and “self-concept” both are located in the right hemisphere.

Magnetic Resonance Imagery (fMRI) is widely used today to explore the human brain. This technology can be found in many hospitals abroad. Some major hospitals such as Beijing Hospital and Sanyi Hospital in China also have this technology. In a closed room, a participant lies in the machine, with eyes observing some stimuli. Researchers can observe the whole process through a computer outside. We ask participants whether their mother is diligent. As they answer, the machine begins scanning the brain. We can then observe on the screen which section of the brain is working, and also we can observe in this working section changes of oxygen in the blood through a higher rate of oxygen consumption.

Reporter: Does the Chinese self-concept include “father?”

Zhu Ying: We have conducted an experiment concerning “father,” although I didn’t mention it in the paper. The result is the same as “mother.” In other words, Chinese people’s wishes are always dependent on others.

Reporter: What is the significance of this psychological research on self-concept?

Zhu Ying: Psychological research in the 21st century will be focused on “concept.” Nature and Science magazines often publish research papers on concept.

It is generally thought that self-consciousness is the core of “consciousness” and controls other psychological processes. Self-concept is an advanced function of knowing, and only the orangutan and dolphin in animals are considered to have self-concept. For instance, if a chimpanzee finds a painted red-dot on his face when looking in the mirror, he will wipe it off. But a monkey won’t. Scientists have found recently dolphins are fond of looking in the mirror with an inclination to self-appreciation.

Human beings begin to be self-conscious at three-years of age. A one-year-old baby cannot recognize his image in the mirror. We see them bite their toes, as they regard their toes as interesting as anything else in the world.

Reporter: Could you please introduce something about your next plan for the research?

Zhu Ying: I plan to conduct the same experiment in America to compare the results, and I have contacted a professor in America. In addition, I have contacted some related experts in Hong Kong and also want to make the experiment on people with bicultural backgrounds.

Since Peking University frequently hosts foreign affairs, as much as any province does in a year, Peking University students to a certain degree have both Chinese and western personal traits. Actually, we have already conducted the experiment with some students from the university. The results are about what we expected.

(北京青年报 [Beijing Youth Daily] January 14, 2002 by Tian Liping, translated by Zhang Tingting for china.org.cn)