Southerners Are Wiser Than Northerners Regarding Interpersonal Conflicts in China.

Xin-Dong Wei,Feng-Yan Wang

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00225

Abstract

Initial evidence suggests that cultural differences have consequences for wise reasoning (perspective taking, consideration of change and alternatives, intellectual humility, search for compromise, and adopting an outsider’s vantage point), with more reports of wise reasoning about interpersonal conflicts among Japanese (as compared to American) young and middle-aged adults. Similarly, we found that people from the rice-farming area of southern China also exhibited greater wise reasoning when they encountered conflicts with a friend or in the workplace than those from the wheat-farming area of northern China (N = 487, 25 provinces). The relationship between rice farming and wise reasoning was mediated by loyalty/nepotism. This research advances study of the relationship between wisdom and culture. It also provides evidence for the influence of social-ecological factors on wisdom and culture.

Highlights

China has a strong sense of national identity; it is not immutable in culture
Based on the information above, we proposed two hypotheses: (i) People in the rice-farming regions of southern China are wiser about interpersonal conflicts with friends or colleagues in the workplace than are people in the northern wheatfarming regions. (ii) Loyalty/nepotism explains the cultural differences in wise reasoning between southern rice farmers and northern wheat farmers
Wise reasoning was positively associated with the percentage of rice farming (r = 0.45, p = 0.04) and GDP per capita (r = 0.46, p = 0.04)

Summary

Introduction

China has a strong sense of national identity; it is not immutable in culture. These behaviors include “holistic thought, low importance of the self, and a strong distinction between friends and strangers” People who were raised in the traditional wheat-farming regions of northern China exhibit behaviors more typical of individualistic cultures such as United States, which include “analytic thought, strong importance of the self, and a smaller distinction between friends and strangers” Grossmann et al (2010, 2013) presented aspects of wise reasoning that include intellectual humility, recognition of uncertainty and change, consideration of multiple ways a situation could unfold, appreciation of others’ perspectives, consideration of or search for compromise, and acknowledgment of the importance of conflict resolution. These statistics might lead to the hypothesis that people from southern China are better at preserving

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