Self-centered cultures narrow your viewpoint

The link above describes a study done with Chinese students who were both born in and recently immigrated to America. In short, the students born in China were more able to intuit the other persons viewpoint (by a landslide) in comparison to the students born in America. The theory is that interdependent cultures are more empathic than individualist cultures.

I wonder if “individualists” think they’re self-centered… heh.

Anyway, there’s this argument that individualism gives rise to creativity, but sometimes I wonder if that isn’t a bunch of fluff we tell ourselves in an effort to justify our “self-centeredness”. I mean, Asian culture is just as influential to us as ours is to them, isn’t it?