Prime Time Replay:
Robert Levine
on Varying Perceptions of Time in
Different Places and Cultures
MsgId: *brain_storm(1)
Date: Fri Aug 15 22:02:45 EDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 205.198.117.80
Good evening and welcome to another edition of Brainstorms. I'm your host, Rob Killheffer, and with me tonight is social psychologist Robert Levine, author of "A GEOGRAPHY OF TIME," which recounts many of his insights from a career spent studying the different experiences of time found in different cultures. Welcome, Dr. Levine!
MsgId: *brain_storm(2)
Date: Fri Aug 15 22:04:00 EDT 1997
From: Robert_Levine At: 129.8.213.35
I'm glad to be here, Rob.
MsgId: *brain_storm(3)
Date: Fri Aug 15 22:05:22 EDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 205.198.117.80
It's good to have you. Let's start with a little discussion of your methodology: how do you go about studying something as hard to define as a culture's temporal experience?
MsgId: *brain_storm(4)
Date: Fri Aug 15 22:08:57 EDT 1997
From: Robert_Levine At: 129.8.213.35
With a lot of noise. If you like clean research -- asking neat questions and arriving at uncluttered findings -- researching time would drive you crazy. In fact, I've found that what I don't manage to research in my studies sometimes tells me as much about a culture's time sense as the findings that end up in my computer. In Brazil, for example, I spent many months trying to administer a simple questionnaire. Over and again, colleagues assured me that they would have my data ready "amanha" (the Portugese equivalent of "a manana"). It rarely arrived on time, and often arrived not at all. The irony of this was the I was studing Brazilians' concepts of time. I really didn't need my data to get the message.
MsgId: *brain_storm(6)
Date: Fri Aug 15 22:14:25 EDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 205.198.117.80
But you were able to come up with some objective measurements that could give you a general picture of, say, the common "tempo" in different places. Timing pedestrians, for instance. And with that you came up with some broad characterizations of the pace of life in places around the world.
MsgId: *brain_storm(7)
Date: Fri Aug 15 22:18:45 EDT 1997
From: Robert_Levine At: 129.8.213.35
Yes, I have found several indicators of the pace of life which are comparable across cultures. Over the past couple of decades, my students and I have dones a series of experiments in cities both across the United States and around the world. In these studies, we have compared indicators of the pace of life such as walking speed (the time it takes pedestrians, walking alone, to walk 60 feet), work speed (for example, the time it takes bank tellers to fulfill a standard request, such as selling a stamp), talking speed (peoples' articulation rates, in syllables per second), and concern with clock time (for example, the percentage of people wearing watches and/or the accuracy of public clocks). We have conducted these experiments in each city, attempting to control conditions as tightly as possible -- in, as I say, this inherently noisy research area. All of our measures, for example, are taken in "comparable" downtown areas, during main business hours, during the same time of year.
MsgId: *brain_storm(9)
Date: Fri Aug 15 22:22:07 EDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 205.198.117.80
So what generalizations did you come up with? I live in New York City, for instance -- where did NYC show up on the scale?
MsgId: *brain_storm(10)
Date: Fri Aug 15 22:25:58 EDT 1997
From: Robert_Levine At: 129.8.213.35
In the USA studies we found that the cities in the northeast were fastest, followed by those in the midwest, followed by the southeast and then the west. New York wasn't exactly first. But, as I point out in "A Geography of Time," the experimenter in NYC ran into a couple of extracurricular events there that might have slowed New Yorkers down a bit -- for example, while clocking walking speed, he encountered a purse snatcher a few feet away, then had to move away when a jug band set themselves up. So, all in all, I'd say that NYC can hold onto its bragging rights for speed. But, then again, I'm always curious when New Yorkers complain to me about why Boston finished fastest, since the major finding in the US studies was that a faster pace of life was related to a citie's rate of death from coronary heart disease.
MsgId: *brain_storm(12)
Date: Fri Aug 15 22:32:01 EDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 205.198.117.80
I guess we New Yorkers take pride in some odd things. I've known people who weren't happy when New Orleans overtook New York in the murder rate. That connection, though, between pace of life and heart disease -- tends to confirm the conventional wisdom, doesn't it? Does it hold for other nations, too, or just in the U.S.?
MsgId: *brain_storm(13)
Date: Fri Aug 15 22:35:31 EDT 1997
From: Robert_Levine At: 129.8.213.35
Yes, it does -- with some telling exceptions, though, which we might get to later. In our most recent studies, we compared the pace of life between the largest cities in each of 31 countries. Once again, we found a strong relationship between speed and CHD (coronary heart disease) death rates -- and, significantly, to cigarette smoking rates. In these international studies, though, we were also able to compare pace of life scores to peoples' ratings of overall happiness with their lives (using available questionnaire data from national surveys) paradoxically -- at least on the surface -- we found that people in faster places tended to be happier. So, here we have our two findings -- a fast pace of life is related to cigarette smoking and CHD, but also to greater overall happiness. Well, we also found that the strongest correlation of all with pace of life was the economic health of a nation. And here, I suspect, lies the key to this apparent paradox. Living by the clock, making every moment count, is a double-edged sword. It is accompanied by stressors that lead to unhealthy behaviors, such as cigarette smoking, and to eventual problems, like a greater likelihood of CHD. But it also produces material comforts that may make life easier, and lead to many types of happiness. The latter finding is particularly true, I think, when making international comparisons, where economic conditions differ so vastly.
MsgId: *brain_storm(16)
Date: Fri Aug 15 22:44:53 EDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 205.198.117.80
You mention this correlation between economic prosperity and a faster pace -- and you name some other notable correlations in your book. What accounts for those connections? Does economic prosperity come from a faster pace, or vice versa?
MsgId: *brain_storm(17)
Date: Fri Aug 15 22:49:24 EDT 1997
From: Robert_Levine At: 129.8.213.35
I don't think we need a social psychologist to tell us that these "traits" of places are undoubtedly mutually reinforcing. A fast pace of life leads to productivity and economic vitality, which in turn demands adherence to the clock and making every moment count, which drives slower paced (Type B's?) away, and attracts Type A's who are bored by places like Fresno (my home town), etc. In "A Geography of Time" I try to weave several other pieces of places "personalities" into this bundle. But I'd like to say that I only see my empirical studies as a starting point for understanding cultural differences in the sense of time. In my book, I try to describe much vaster differences in the way different people approach the time of their lives. In Indonesia, for example, people make appointments on "rubber time." In Brunei, they wake up asking "What isn't going to happen today?" In Trinidad, there is a saying that "Anytime is Trinidad time." In Mexico, there is a saying: "Darle tiempo al tiempo" ("Give time to time"). It is remarkable how differently people approach the time of their lives. The time on the clock only begins to tell the story.
MsgId: *brain_storm(20)
Date: Fri Aug 15 22:58:35 EDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 205.198.117.80
That's one of the things I've found most enjoyable in your book -- the many glimpses of how time is conceived in different cultures, and how that leads to differences in the way lives are lived in different places. It's a shame that we're running out of time (and what do we make of that, in this context? Is my show a "type-A"?), because we've barely scratched the surface of the topic here. There are whole other areas that we haven't touched on, such as the ways our internal clocks estimate time, and how variable it can be. Any final notes, Dr. Levine, as we wrap up?
MsgId: *brain_storm(22)
Date: Fri Aug 15 23:01:26 EDT 1997
From: Robert_Levine At: 129.8.213.35
Yes, there are. After all, when we talk about time its a little like talking about art. After a while, you find yourself talking about life -- a rather unweildy topic for a scientist, even a social scientist.
MsgId: *brain_storm(23)
Date: Fri Aug 15 23:04:13 EDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 205.198.117.80
That's for sure -- but, for my part, that's what I find so interesting in your book. Where many scientists shy away from talking about what their findings say about larger issues of life, you dive right in. Let that be a strong recommendation to our audience to grab themselves a copy of "A GEOGRAPHY OF TIME" and give it a read. It's not a long book, but it's richly rewarding. And on that note, we're done for the night. Thank you, Dr. Levine, for being my guest and sharing your ideas and observations. For Brainstorms, this is Rob Killheffer, signing off!
MsgId: *brain_storm(24)
Date: Fri Aug 15 23:06:11 EDT 1997
From: Robert_Levine At: 129.8.213.35
And thank you, Rob. I enjoyed it thoroughly.
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