Good post.

James

"..What the researcher, Boaz Keysar, is saying ..."

Wasn't he the villian in 'The Usual Suspects'?

Of course, without knowing how he varied the positions of the blocks, it could be that the American participants simply handed him the block closest to them.

Thereby proving Americans to be lazy....or something ;)

Or, if the experimenters spoke to their Chinese subjects in Chinese, we'd need to know how well that distinction between "the" and "a" translates into Chinese.

When I visited China 11 years ago, I went to the trouble of learning a handful of Chinese phrases. I have a vague memory that the articles "the" and "a" don't even exist in Chinese.

"For example, working class people tend to be much more collective"

Uh, no. Quite the opposite, in fact.

I went right where Rightwingprof went - Huh? Only by the pre-definition of "working class" as a group held to high standard by collectivist values could such a mythical group be determined as being what they are by that same expression of Collectivist virtue. It's a tautology.
Alternatively, the authoritarian society of the Chinese might generally also expect them to Do As They Are Ordered And Obey - which is an aspect that seems wholly neglected here.

All the above! Plus, anyone who's lived in China (I've been living in Shenzhen 5 years) will laugh their socks off at the notion the Chinese are "less self-centered".

However, that won't stop this bogus piece of crap, like Chinese merchandise, from showing up everywhere.