page_title: Naive dialecticism
section_title: Cultural products
hierarchical_section_title: Naive dialecticism / Cultural products
context_page_description: Naïve dialecticism is a collection of East Asian public beliefs characterized by the acceptance of contradiction and the expectation of change in everyday life. Within cultural psychology, naïve dialecticism explains some of the cultural differences observed between those who hold dialectical beliefs and those who hold more Westernized beliefs. Individuals who hold dialectical beliefs are primarily members of Confucian influenced cultures, such as in Japan, China, and Korea. Certain researchers have shown that specific aspects of naïve dialecticism have broad implications on cognition, emotion, and behavior. As well, it is sometimes regarded as being more contextual, flexible, holistic, and dialectical as compared with Western thinking and reasoning. Dialecticism is a perceptual framework that applies to all situations and guides all actions, which is called a domain-general thinking style. Naïve dialecticism is an expansion on this research; it is a whole collection of domain-specific beliefs, meaning that there is a tendency to understand a situation in terms of these beliefs but there is variation depending on the context and individual differences
context_section_description: The principles of naïve dialecticism are apparent in cultural products. For example, in the yin/yang symbol, there is perpetual motion from black to white indicating that the world is in constant flux. The black and white dots represent contradiction; Not only can opposites co-exist, they could not exist without one another. The values of balance and harmony are represented by the symmetry of the symbol, and the cognitive style of holism by the outer circle representing context
  The Yin/Yang symbol is present in many well known pieces of art, as well as other symbols of Taoism and naive dialectic beliefs. The famous woodblock print “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” by Japanese artist Hokusai depicts a large wave that a writer describes as a “yin yang of empty space beneath the mountain… The violent Yang of nature is overcome by the yin of the confidence of these experienced fishermen” (Andreas Ramos). This follows the principle of contradiction, which states that events and states of being have coexisting opposing parts.
  The following story demonstrates contradiction and change, and the idea that what starts off as a blessing may actually end up a curse and vice versa. This way of thinking is consistent with naïve dialecticism, and as a cultural product from ancient times it gives a glimpse into the roots of traditional East Asian thought.
caption: Great Wave off Kanagawa
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