The Holistic Perceptual Style Connection

This review of research literature discusses the salience of emotional aspects in relationships and environmental stimuli that could enhance and perpetuate the holistic perceptual tendency in collectivistic individuals. In an interdependent culture, relational harmony is valued but there has been an implicit overlook of the significance of emotional connectedness between ingroup members in the East Asian culture when studied from the point of view of Western psychologists and thinkers. Sensitivity towards emotional cues and expressions of others have been beneficially fostered under the East Asian culture, yet lack the attention it deserves under the shadows of Western-oriented academic setting. This suggests a dichotomy between the salience of emotional characteristics and cues in holistic perception of interdependent cultural group(s) versus Western analytical tendency stemming from independent cultural roots.