NSF East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute for FY 2012 in Singapore

Gilbert Elizabeth A, Charlottesville VA

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds Elizabeth Ann Gilbert of The University of Virginia to conduct a research project, entitled "Does imagining how outcomes could have been different explain cross-cultural differences in how we decide whom to blame?" during the summer of 2012 at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. The host scientist is Chi-Yue Chiu. The Intellectual Merit of the research project is to explore cultural factors in styles of thinking and better understand whether East Asians think about causation and blame differently than Americans do. Specifically, does the process of imagining the ways that bad outcomes could have been prevented affect East Asians' tendency to blame the environment rather than the individual? Broader Impacts of an EAPSI fellowship include providing the Fellow a first-hand research experience outside the U.S.; an introduction to the science, science policy, and scientific infrastructure of the respective location; and an orientation to the society, culture and language. These activities meet the NSF goal to educate for international collaborations early in the career of its scientists, engineers, and educators, thus ensuring a globally aware U.S. scientific workforce.