words interfering with thinking

Dear Dr. Nisbett,
I heard an interview with you on NPR about your recent book, The
geography of thought: How culture colors the way the mind works.
I
wonder if you would be so kind as to answer a question that has come to
mind.

You mentioned a Korean student at Stanford whose dissertation verified
that talking while performing a task impaired the performance of East
Asian students but had no significant effect on the performance of
Western students. (I believe you said that the task was solving
anagrams.) Was this result exceptionless?

Thanks very much for your consideration. I look forward to reading your
book.

    /Bruce

Nevin

Hello Mr. Nevin,
    I'm not sure what you mean by exceptionless. There is always overlap between populations in our studies: some Westerners behave like Easterners and vice versa. rn

···

--On Tuesday, March 04, 2003 11:30 PM -0500 Bruce Nevin <bnevin@cisco.com> wrote:

Dear Dr. Nisbett,

I heard an interview with you on NPR about your recent book, The
geography of thought: How culture colors the way the mind works. I wonder
if you would be so kind as to answer a question that has come to mind.

You mentioned a Korean student at Stanford whose dissertation verified
that talking while performing a task impaired the performance of East
Asian students but had no significant effect on the performance of
Western students. (I believe you said that the task was solving
anagrams.) Was this result exceptionless?

Thanks very much for your consideration. I look forward to reading your
book.

        /Bruce Nevin

Richard E. Nisbett
Theodore M. Newcomb Distinguished University Professor of Psychology
Phone: 734 761-5847
Fax: 734 662-0118
Website: Nisbett

Hello Mr. Nevin,
   I'm not sure what you mean by exceptionless. There is always overlap between populations in our studies: some Westerners behave like Easterners and vice versa. rn

I'd be interested in seeing how close the correlation is. Can you give me a pointer to the dissertation and its author?

         /Bruce Nevin

···

At 04:16 PM 3/5/2003, you wrote:

--On Tuesday, March 04, 2003 11:30 PM -0500 Bruce Nevin <bnevin@cisco.com> >wrote:

Dear Dr. Nisbett,

I heard an interview with you on NPR about your recent book, The
geography of thought: How culture colors the way the mind works. I wonder
if you would be so kind as to answer a question that has come to mind.

You mentioned a Korean student at Stanford whose dissertation verified
that talking while performing a task impaired the performance of East
Asian students but had no significant effect on the performance of
Western students. (I believe you said that the task was solving
anagrams.) Was this result exceptionless?

Thanks very much for your consideration. I look forward to reading your
book.

        /Bruce Nevin

Richard E. Nisbett
Theodore M. Newcomb Distinguished University Professor of Psychology
Phone: 734 761-5847
Fax: 734 662-0118
Website: Nisbett

It's by Heejun Kim and it was published in a recent Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. rn

···

--On Wednesday, March 05, 2003 5:14 PM -0500 Bruce Nevin <bnevin@cisco.com> wrote:

At 04:16 PM 3/5/2003, you wrote:
> Hello Mr. Nevin,
> I'm not sure what you mean by exceptionless. There is always overlap
> between populations in our studies: some Westerners behave like
> Easterners and vice versa. rn

I'd be interested in seeing how close the correlation is. Can you give me
a pointer to the dissertation and its author?

         /Bruce Nevin

> --On Tuesday, March 04, 2003 11:30 PM -0500 Bruce Nevin > > <bnevin@cisco.com> wrote:
>
>> Dear Dr. Nisbett,
>>
>> I heard an interview with you on NPR about your recent book, The
>> geography of thought: How culture colors the way the mind works. I
>> wonder if you would be so kind as to answer a question that has come
>> to mind.
>>
>> You mentioned a Korean student at Stanford whose dissertation verified
>> that talking while performing a task impaired the performance of East
>> Asian students but had no significant effect on the performance of
>> Western students. (I believe you said that the task was solving
>> anagrams.) Was this result exceptionless?
>>
>> Thanks very much for your consideration. I look forward to reading your
>> book.
>>
>> /Bruce Nevin
>
> Richard E. Nisbett
> Theodore M. Newcomb Distinguished University Professor of Psychology
> Phone: 734 761-5847
> Fax: 734 662-0118
> Website: Nisbett

Richard E. Nisbett
Theodore M. Newcomb Distinguished University Professor of Psychology
Phone: 734 761-5847
Fax: 734 662-0118
Website: Nisbett