Speech and silence: A cultural analysis of the effect of talking on psychology

While talking is assumed to be a psychologically valued act in the West, the same meaning is not assumed in the East. While this cultural divergence in beliefs is often recognized, its psychological implications have not been addressed. In this dissertation, I examined the implications of cultural assumptions about talking on the actual effect of talking on two areas of individual psychology: the self and cognition.;I reviewed cultural variations in the meanings and practices of talking that suggest that many Western assumptions about talking might be products of particular cultural experiences, rather than universal truths. Building on this review, two sets of empirical studies challenge two Western assumptions about talking.;The first set of studies challenged the American assumption that talking can promote better thinking, which is not shared in East Asian culture. Study I demonstrated that European Americans think talking and good thinking are more closely related than Koreans do. In Study 2, East Asian and European Americans were asked to "think-aloud" while working on a reasoning test. Talking interfered with East Asian Americans' performance but did not affect European Americans' performance. Study 3 suggested that talking interfered with East Asian Americans' performance because they rely less on language in their thinking than European Americans do. Study 4 showed that the cultural difference in thinking style leads to a difference in how the same task of talking and thinking is affectively experienced.;The second set of studies questioned the American assumption that talking should be valued as an act of self-expression. Study 5 demonstrated that European Americans consider the main purpose of talking to be the expression of thoughts and ideas, whereas Koreans consider the main purpose of talking to be the communication with others. Study 6 showed that verbal expression of personal values reduced self-serving tendencies for European Americans, but increased self-serving tendencies for East Asian Americans, compared to when they merely reflected on those values. This finding suggests that self-expression affirmed European American selves, but threatened East Asian American selves. Discussion focuses on the implications for the recognition and accommodation of psychological diversity.