Large-Scale Psychological Differences Within China Explained by Rice versus Wheat Agriculture

Cross-cultural psychologists have mostly contrasted East Asia with the West. However, this study shows that there are psychological differences within China almost as large as differences between East and West. We propose that a history of farming rice makes cultures more interdependent, while farming wheat makes cultures more independent, and these agricultural legacies continue to affect people in the modern world. We tested 1,162 Han Chinese participants in six sites and found that rice-growing southern China is more interdependent and holistic-thinking than the wheat-growing north. To control for confounds like climate, we tested people from neighboring counties along the rice-wheat border and found differences that were just as large. We also show that modernization and pathogen prevalence theories do not fit the data