You have devoted much of your research to the study of cultural differences, mainly between East Asian societies and Western cultures. What are some of the key discoveries you can share with us?

Well, we can begin by talking about two different mentalities: the Eastern and the Western. For example, individuals from East Asian cultures pay attention to context to a much greater extent than Westerners do. Westerners tend to ignore context and focus on a particular thing. It could be a person they want to influence or whose behavior they want to understand. It’s often said that individuals from East Asian cultures are situation-centered. They are expected to be sensitive to their environment. Effective behavior in the East depends on being able to fit in with others and coordinate one’s actions with them. Westerners, on the other hand, are individual-centered. They expect their environment to be sensitive to them. They expect to be able to control their environment. They can safely ignore social relationships to a much greater extent than is possible for East Asians.