Culture in the Blender

I learned something interesting in my culture and psychology class the other day. Americans think that the world is more malleable than the self. (Whereas Chinese, and probably most everyone else, think that the self is more malleable than the world.) Maybe that’s why so many Americans play their music out loud without headphones on public transport – they think that it’s easier for others to adjust to their music than for them to adjust to no music. Maybe it’s tongue-in-cheek, but it does explain some comparatively bizarre or unreasonable behaviors. I wonder if anyone’s compared any Europeans with Americans.