High Context

David Brooks, in his Op-ed piece, "Harmony and the Dream," writes, "If you show an American an image of a fish tank, the American will usually describe the biggest fish in the tank and what it is doing. If you ask a Chinese person to describe a fish tank, the Chinese will usually describe the context in which the fish swim." I'd like to think that the word "tank" would prompt more than just a description of the "biggest fish," but that aside, Brooks notes a difference between Eastern culture (he uses the word "Asians") and Western culture, especially regarding the effect of context. It reminds me of two lists that a former professor of mine once wrote on a whiteboard (and I wish I knew the source of these. Anyone?):

High Context Cultures

• More primitive
• More formal
• East
• Group
• Time is not important
• Tied in with nature
  
• Reason = intuition
• Message = nonverbal, body language (usu. neg.)
• Social = family, rank is important
• Relationships = Group
• Social Organization = connections/relationships

Low Context Culture

• More modern/contemporary
• Less formal
• West
• Individual
• Time is important
• Reason = analytical (Socratic)
• Message = elaborate codes, words are important
• Social = behavior unpredictable
• Relationships = individual
• Social Organization = laws/policy
  

I've transcribed (verbatim) the above lists from my notes. Some of the diction (like "primitive") is problematic, but in general I find these lists to be accurate when I apply them to my experiences in China, Europe, and the U.S. Of course, as the Atlantic writer James Fallows points out, it's important not too generalize too much--that is, this can't be applied to all the peoples (or Eastern cultures) within Asia.