WLS Codebooks
Note: Codebooks contain frequency data from the private data release. For some variables, these differ from the frequencies in the public release. Variables that differ between the public and private versions include "(not available on public release)" as part of the variable description, or a note indicating the difference between the public and private versions.
Phone: Nisbett Items
Phone: UNCAT - Nisbett Item Categorization: Taxonomic or Theoretical OVERVIEW The following series of categorization items were provided by Professor Richard E. Nisbett University of Michigan to test whether Americans think more holistically as they age. The interviewer reads the following instructions to the respondent: "Now I am going to read you lists of three things. For each list I will ask you to indicate which two of the three are most closely related. There are no right or wrong answers. We are just interested in your judgments". The interviewer then reads three words, which appear one at a time on the interviewer's computer screen. Once the interviewer finishes, the respondent selected any two words that he or she thought most closely related. The interviewer repeated repeated the list if necessary. However, respondents were not allowed for duplicate answers. There were twelve sets of word lists. In The Geography of Thought: how Asians and Westerners think differently -- and why By Richard E. Nisbett, 2003, Simon and Schuster, Nisbett shows that people actually think about -- and even see -- the world differently because of differing ecologies, social structures, philosophies, and educational systems that date back to ancient Greece and China and that have survived into the modern world. As a result, East Asian thought is "holistic" -- drawn to the perceptual field as a whole and to relations among objects and events within that field. By comparison to Western modes of reasoning, East Asian thought relies far less on categories or on formal logic; it is fundamentally dialectic, seeking a "middle way" between opposing thoughts. By contrast, Westerners focus on salient objects or people, use attributes to assign them to categories, and apply rules of formal logic to understand their behavior. Is it Culture Or Is It Language? Ji, Zhang, and Nisbett, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2004, Vol. 87, No. 1, 57?65. Categorization is about organizing the world. Objects can be organized and classified together because they share taxonomic categories or because they share thematic relations. Taxonomic categorization (or category-based classification) is made on the basis of similarity of attributes, such as similarities in perceptual properties among objects, whereas thematic categorization (or relationship-based classification) is made on the basis of causal, spatial, and temporal relationships among objects (Markman & Hutchinson, 1984). For example, if people are given the triplet seagull,squirrel,tree and asked which two go together, the choice seagull,squirrel indicates a taxonomic categorization, whereas squirrel,tree suggests a thematic categorization. This set of questions were added after some of the sibling spouses were already in the field. bn001re indicates if the sib spouse was asked these questions. BRIEF VARIABLE DESCRIPTIONS bn001re Indicates if respondent is in the sample. bn002re Percentage of holistic replies to categorization items bn003re - bn014re Replies to Nisbett categorization items
bn001re: Sample selection.
Data source: Sibling Spouse Respondent
Collected in: 2005
Mode: phone
Source variables: ncat1_a
Frequencies | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Value | Label | Male | Female | Total |
0 | R is not in sample | 296 | 346 | 642 |
1 | R is in sample | 650 | 833 | 1483 |
bn002re: Percentage of holistic replies to categorization items.
Data source: Sibling Spouse Respondent
Collected in: 2005
Mode: phone
Source variables: bn003re, bn005re, bn007re, bn008re, bn009re, bn011re, bn013re, bn014re
Frequencies | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Value | Label | Male | Female | Total |
-2 | 308 | 354 | 662 | |
0 | NO HOLISTIC RESPONSE | 23 | 28 | 51 |
8.33 | 31 | 39 | 70 | |
9.09 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
16.67 | 56 | 43 | 99 | |
20 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
25 | 69 | 73 | 142 | |
33.33 | 93 | 96 | 189 | |
36.36 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
41.67 | 115 | 125 | 240 | |
45.45 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
50 | 113 | 140 | 253 | |
54.55 | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
58.33 | 99 | 165 | 264 | |
66.67 | 35 | 110 | 145 | |
72.73 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
bn003re: Please indicate which two of the the three things you believe to be most closely related: Seagull, Sky, Dog.
Data source: Sibling Spouse Respondent
Collected in: 2005
Mode: phone
Source variables: ncat1_ab
Frequencies | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Value | Label | Male | Female | Total |
-2 | 299 | 347 | 646 | |
-1 | DON'T KNOW | 5 | 2 | 7 |
1 | SKY-SEAGULL (HOLISTIC) | 20 | 27 | 47 |
2 | SEAGULL-SKY (HOLISTIC) | 438 | 641 | 1079 |
3 | SEAGULL-DOG (ANALYTIC) | 35 | 24 | 59 |
4 | DOG-SEAGULL (ANALYTIC) | 3 | 1 | 4 |
5 | SKY-DOG (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 137 | 129 | 266 |
6 | DOG-SKY (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 9 | 8 | 17 |
bn004re: Filler item not used in summary variable.
Data source: Sibling Spouse Respondent
Collected in: 2005
Mode: phone
Source variables: bn002re
Frequencies | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Value | Label | Male | Female | Total |
-2 | 298 | 349 | 647 | |
-1 | DON'T KNOW | 2 | 1 | 3 |
1 | BLACK-WHITE (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 363 | 549 | 912 |
2 | WHITE-BLACK (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 4 | 5 | 9 |
3 | WHITE-BLUE (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 71 | 39 | 110 |
4 | BLUE-WHITE (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 11 | 6 | 17 |
5 | BLACK-BLUE (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 185 | 215 | 400 |
6 | BLUE-BLACK (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 12 | 15 | 27 |
bn005re: Please indicate which two of the the three things you believe to be most closely related: Doctor, Teacher, Homework.
Data source: Sibling Spouse Respondent
Collected in: 2005
Mode: phone
Source variables: ncat3_ab
Frequencies | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Value | Label | Male | Female | Total |
-2 | 298 | 347 | 645 | |
-1 | DON'T KNOW | 2 | 1 | 3 |
1 | DOCTOR-TEACHER (ANALYTIC) | 295 | 275 | 570 |
2 | TEACHER-DOCTOR (ANALYTIC) | 2 | 3 | 5 |
3 | TEACHER-HOMEWORK (HOLISTIC) | 337 | 543 | 880 |
4 | HOMEWORK-TEACHER (HOLISTIC) | 5 | 9 | 14 |
5 | DOCTOR-HOMEWORK (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 7 | 1 | 8 |
bn006re: Filler item not used in summary variable.
Data source: Sibling Spouse Respondent
Collected in: 2005
Mode: phone
Source variables: bn002re
Frequencies | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Value | Label | Male | Female | Total |
-2 | 298 | 347 | 645 | |
-1 | DON'T KNOW | 1 | 1 | 2 |
1 | SHOES-BOOTS (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 460 | 552 | 1012 |
2 | BOOTS-SHOES (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 12 | 7 | 19 |
3 | BOOTS-SLIPPERS (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 15 | 17 | 32 |
4 | SLIPPERS-BOOTS (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 1 | 1 | 2 |
5 | SHOES-SLIPPERS (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 158 | 244 | 402 |
6 | SLIPPERS-SHOES (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 1 | 10 | 11 |
bn007re: Please indicate which two of the the three things you believe to be most closely related: Train, Bus, and Tracks.
Data source: Sibling Spouse Respondent
Collected in: 2005
Mode: phone
Source variables: ncat5_ab
Frequencies | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Value | Label | Male | Female | Total |
-2 | 299 | 348 | 647 | |
-1 | DON'T KNOW | 2 | 1 | 3 |
1 | TRAIN-BUS (ANALYTIC) | 220 | 248 | 468 |
2 | BUS-TRAIN (ANALYTIC) | 3 | 2 | 5 |
3 | BUS-TRACKS (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 3 | 5 | 8 |
5 | TRAIN-TRACKS (HOLISTIC) | 412 | 568 | 980 |
6 | TRACKS-TRAIN (HOLISTIC) | 7 | 7 | 14 |
bn008re: Please indicate which two of the the three things you believe to be most closely related: Computer monitor, antenna, television.
Data source: Sibling Spouse Respondent
Collected in: 2005
Mode: phone
Source variables: ncat6_ab
Frequencies | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Value | Label | Male | Female | Total |
-2 | 298 | 348 | 646 | |
-1 | DON'T KNOW | 2 | 3 | 5 |
1 | COMPUTER MONITOR-ANTENNA (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 10 | 12 | 22 |
3 | ANTENNA-TELEVISION (HOLISTIC) | 245 | 417 | 662 |
4 | TELEVISION-ANTENNA (HOLISTIC) | 43 | 68 | 111 |
5 | COMPUTER MONITOR-TELEVISION (ANALYTIC) | 317 | 309 | 626 |
6 | TELEVISION-COMPUTER MONITOR (ANALYTIC) | 31 | 22 | 53 |
bn009re: Please indicate which two of the the three things you believe to be most closely related: Carrot, Eggplant, Rabbit.
Data source: Sibling Spouse Respondent
Collected in: 2005
Mode: phone
Source variables: ncat7_ab
Frequencies | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Value | Label | Male | Female | Total |
-2 | 298 | 348 | 646 | |
-1 | DON'T KNOW | 3 | 0 | 3 |
1 | CARROT-EGGPLANT (ANALYTIC) | 305 | 389 | 694 |
2 | EGGPLANT-CARROT (ANALYTIC) | 16 | 27 | 43 |
3 | EGGPLANT-RABBIT (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 10 | 4 | 14 |
5 | CARROT-RABBIT (HOLISTIC) | 288 | 385 | 673 |
6 | RABBIT-CARROT (HOLISTIC) | 26 | 26 | 52 |
bn010re: Filler item not used in summary variable.
Data source: Sibling Spouse Respondent
Collected in: 2005
Mode: phone
Source variables: bn002re
Frequencies | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Value | Label | Male | Female | Total |
-2 | 298 | 349 | 647 | |
-1 | DON'T KNOW | 1 | 2 | 3 |
1 | CLOUD-WIND (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 44 | 41 | 85 |
2 | WIND-CLOUD (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 2 | 0 | 2 |
3 | WIND-RAIN (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 134 | 229 | 363 |
4 | RAIN-WIND (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 1 | 5 | 6 |
5 | CLOUD-RAIN (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 454 | 546 | 1000 |
6 | RAIN-CLOUD (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 12 | 7 | 19 |
bn011re: Please indicate which two of the the three things you believe to be most closely related: Panda, Banana, Monkey.
Data source: Sibling Spouse Respondent
Collected in: 2005
Mode: phone
Source variables: ncat9_ab
Frequencies | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Value | Label | Male | Female | Total |
-2 | 298 | 348 | 646 | |
-1 | DON'T KNOW | 5 | 1 | 6 |
1 | PANDA-BANANA (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 12 | 4 | 16 |
3 | BANANA-MONKEY (HOLISTIC) | 288 | 381 | 669 |
4 | MONKEY-BANANA (HOLISTIC) | 83 | 119 | 202 |
5 | PANDA-MONKEY (ANALYTIC) | 253 | 318 | 571 |
6 | MONKEY-PANDA (ANALYTIC) | 7 | 8 | 15 |
bn012re: Filler item not used in summary variable.
Data source: Sibling Spouse Respondent
Collected in: 2005
Mode: phone
Source variables: bn002re
Frequencies | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Value | Label | Male | Female | Total |
-2 | 298 | 348 | 646 | |
-1 | DON'T KNOW | 5 | 2 | 7 |
1 | KITE-BASKETBALL (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 29 | 32 | 61 |
2 | BASKETBALL-KITE (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 1 | 4 | 5 |
3 | BASKETBALL-TENNIS (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 577 | 735 | 1312 |
4 | TENNIS-BASKETBALL (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 30 | 47 | 77 |
5 | KITE-TENNIS (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 3 | 9 | 12 |
6 | TENNIS-KITE (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 3 | 2 | 5 |
bn013re: Please indicate which two of the the three things you believe to be most closely related: Farmer, Corn, Bread.
Data source: Sibling Spouse Respondent
Collected in: 2005
Mode: phone
Source variables: ncat11_ab
Frequencies | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Value | Label | Male | Female | Total |
-2 | 298 | 348 | 646 | |
1 | FARMER-CORN (HOLISTIC) | 388 | 523 | 911 |
2 | CORN-FARMER (HOLISTIC) | 12 | 16 | 28 |
3 | CORN-BREAD (ANALYTIC) | 226 | 277 | 503 |
4 | BREAD-CORN (ANALYTIC) | 5 | 6 | 11 |
5 | FARMER-BREAD (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 16 | 9 | 25 |
6 | BREAD-FARMER (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 1 | 0 | 1 |
bn014re: Please indicate which two of the the three things you believe to be most closely related: Shampoo, Hair, Beard.
Data source: Sibling Spouse Respondent
Collected in: 2005
Mode: phone
Source variables: ncat12_ab
Frequencies | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Value | Label | Male | Female | Total |
-2 | 298 | 348 | 646 | |
-1 | DON'T KNOW | 1 | 0 | 1 |
1 | SHAMPOO-HAIR (HOLISTIC) | 397 | 541 | 938 |
2 | HAIR-SHAMPOO (HOLISTIC) | 14 | 10 | 24 |
3 | HAIR-BEARD (ANALYTIC) | 221 | 263 | 484 |
4 | BEARD-HAIR (ANALYTIC) | 10 | 14 | 24 |
5 | SHAMPOO-BEARD (NEITHER HOLISTIC NOR ANALYTIC) | 5 | 3 | 8 |