Westerners are more prone to make the fundamental attribution error of overemphasizing a person’s character (internal factors) and underemphasizing the situation (external factors) when judging that person’s behavior.

This tendency corresponds with the West’s emphasis on the individual versus the East’s emphasis on the collective, but on an interior individual level derives from brain processing differences, with Westerners tending to be more left-brain dominant / analytic and Easterners more right-brain dominant / holistic. [Iain McGilchrist, The Master and His Emissary]

This cultural processing difference shows up in Westerners focusing the subject of an image and Easterners the whole scene, a difference is also reflected in the tendency of the visual art, with Western art having prominent subjects and Eastern art integrating the subject into a larger scene. [Richard Nisbett, The Geography of Thought.]

The Buddhist doctrine of dependent co-arising, consistent with the right-brain, holistic/systemic perspective, provides a counter to the left-brain, analytic/reductionist perspective. Buddhist mindfulness practices embody this intellectual understanding by decreasing emotional reactivity and judgment.

See also:

  • Robert Wright, Why Buddhism is True
  • Joana Macy, Mutual Causality in Buddhism and General Systems Theory