>>My point is that Westerners don't succumb to blood type idiocy,

You're absolutely right. In any event, us Scorpios are the *last* kind of people to believe that kind of crap.

 

>>at least in Japan, the blood type thing is in my experience a pretty accurate indicator of >>certain personality traits of many Japanese. Experience has told me to stay well away from >>Type A (boring) and Type B (putting it politely... "nuts") women, at least for my own tastes.

It is interesting that you qualify the blood type thing as working "at least in Japan".
I *might* be convinced that blood type has some correlated with behavior in Japan, but NOT for the reasons you might expect.

It occurs to me that if a Japanese person is told often enough, throughout his/her life, that because he/she is blood type "B" that he/she will have characteristic "X"... it occurs to me that there is a segment of the Japanese population that will start (subconsiously) acting the role; the power of suggestion is indeed very strong for all humans. The power of suggesting the same thing day after day, year after year, is even stronger.

There are many psychology experiments that back this up... But one classic (famous) pyschology experiment (that was conducted in the 60's, I believe?) had a U.S. primary school teacher separating her class into "blue-eyed" and "brown-eyed" groups. On Day 1, she told the brown-eyed group all day how stupid, useless, etc they all were (and the blue-eyed how great they were), and then she tested both groups at the end of the day. On Day 2, she reversed the roles (telling all the students she had made a "mistake"), and did it all over again, including tests at the end of the day.

It is not surprising that the test results at the end of each day mirrored what the student's had been told. The day the students were told they were useless, etc, they performed poorly on their tests, and vice-versa. It was all nicely captured on film, and though not necessarily an ethically done experiment, it was an eye-opening one. The results of this study are mainly used to refer to racial profiling, but can also be extended to this "blood type" topic.

Now back to Blood Types. Remember, this is Japan we're talking about, where culturally many Japanese will go out of their way NOT to say "No", and NOT to disagree with somebody else. So if you tell somebody, week after week, that they are supposed to be behave in manner "XYZ" because of their blood type (or whatever), it is not a stretch to believe that they may subconsciouly start acting this way.

In other words, the Japanese culture itself is a mitigating factor, and makes the whole "Blood Type" thing a self-fulfilling prophecy.

For me to truly believe that blood type truly effects behavior, without OTHER mitigating factors, I would want to do an experiment using 100% biolically Japanese subjects that have had minimal exposure to Japanese society (I'm sure there are plenty in Peru, and even the U.S.). It would be a simple matter of checking their blood types, and scoring them on a relevant behavioral aptitude test (perhaps have them complete their own behavioral test, and have a close friend or family member also complete the test for them).

I'm willing to bet that such an experiment would show that there is, in fact, NO correlation between blood type and character.

 

good post and maybe you're somewhat on track.

There are a few other factors. I think Type A has been attributed very "Traditional Japanese traits" so that would already account for some accuracy.

I think the reason Japanese focus on this so much is because they have little else to focus on in bio-class. I think we can all remember doing the eye color tests in High school or the experiments with Fruit flys. Eye color certainly doesnt work in Japan to show genetic traits so Blood type is what they have.

But try this. Next time you are out with your co-workers or friends and they suddenly realize that don't know your blood type -- don't tell them. Let them debate it out. 3 out of 4 times they will be wrong. I do this all the time because frankly -- this blood typw BS is bullocks if you ask me.

Then when you tell them your real blood type. --- They all say -- naruhodo!!

Science? Yeah right

 

that this whole obsession with blood type and personality was imported from pre-WWII Germany. It was a big thing there, as the Nazis and their fellow-travellers sought any and all reasons to classify non-Aryans as less than human. The Germans taught their protogees in Tokyo about this racial technology, and it became "grounded in statistics" as some of the respondents claim.

 

>>But try this...
>>...Then when you tell them your real blood type. --- They all say -- naruhodo!!

Hahaha. That's hilarious! It was very easy for me to picture that situation. I'll have to try it.

Anyways, your quizzing of your friends reminds me of a friend who used to make it a point to read the *wrong* horoscope to others. Then, when the person listening would predictably say, "Yes, I can see how that applies to me.." is when that friend would say, "WHOOPS! Wrong horoscope!!! Makes you wonder about horoscopes, huh?". You'd think the people listening would learn something from that experience...I'm not sure if they did.

Back to blood types, I did ask somebody I respect last night if she believes in this blood type stuff. She said, "sometimes, it is true". So I asked, "Would you say it is true about 25% of the time", and she said, "Yes, that is about right". In other words, she believes that is about as right as a random guess - which I quickly clued her in on.
Nuff said!!!

And one other thing: if in Japan there are multiple character description points made about each blood type, and if those points are made generally enough, then it should not be hard for anybody to find at least one point that "somewhat" describes you, your character, for your blood type.

The same goes for horoscopes. Every horoscope is are generally so hazily worded, and includes so many points, that it is not hard at all to go through every single horoscope and find at least something that I can relate to my life, if I try hard enough; in other words, it is all garbage.

 

who did an experiment during a lecture at a college. Before the day he was to appear the students were asked what their sun signs were, and when he came to the lecture room each student was given his/her horoscope. They read them, and then discussed them. When asked if their horosocope applied to them, 80%+ of the students raised their hands. They were then asked to switch horoscopes with their neighbors, and they found that they had all been given the same one.

 

Get it straight.Americans are 46% type O.second in line in type A at 43% only 8% is of type B.Japanese have a 21.8% type B with the largest being type A 38.1% with O comming in at 30.7.This Americans are type blood B is a bunch of crap.Ive heard this over and over and the t.v. spews this crap.B does everything there way,blah,blah,blah..This was created by Furukawa Takeji,he proposed there was a link between blood type and personality in 1931.he did this after working in administration of a highschool,after observing the temperamental differences between applicants.

 

Another tiresome effort to tie the Nazi's to Japan, this time with the blood type thing. This sort of thinking, an attempt at categorization, was around long before the Nazi's or the opening of Japan to the Western ideas. Phrenology, the science of judging a person's character and mental ability based upon the shape of his skull, dates back to the beginning of the 19th Century. It was especially popular in Britain and the United States. I'm sure categorizing personality traits by astrological signs dates back many centuries further. Interestingly enough, where there is smoke, there is fire and while blood type, the shape of one's skull and the date of one's birth (dull tools all) have been discredited, DNA and the science of human genetics will probably be much more successful at identifying behavioral traits in the future.



No, type O- is the long suffering universal donor getting the raw deal. O+ is the universal recipient. You monkeys can take anybodies blood.

 

What amazes me is how many of them believe this tosh and believe that it is statistically supported. At least astrology-believing Westerners who read their horoscopes might mumble that "there might something in it", but not claim that it is scientifically proven.

If blood-type astrology had been scientifically proven, the whole world would use it. It is common among Japanese to lap up pseudo-science when it backs up some bizarre belief, such as Jaapnese thinking with the different part of the brain from Westerners.

 

I'm sorry but that is incorrect. O is the universal donor, AB is universal recipient. :-)

 

I already posted a link a couple of days ago of an article that documents the Nazis inventing the blood type theory. It first surfaced here in 1931 but it's from Germany.

 

more info can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_type

O negative is the universal donor, not O positive
AB positive is the universal recipient

 

Most Japanese people who ask others what their blood types are know that Japanese are the only (or one of the only) people who base personality to some point on blood type. And that it is not a basis for how to interact with others. However, a lot of Americans put them down for this.
Then, what about the Americans who ask others what their zodiac signs are? As if the time of year that they were born in had anything to do with their compatibility with others???

 

While not a fan of personality attribution by blood type or astrology – here is a scientific study that lends credibility to astrology (or at least time of conception, and hence time of birth). This says it is greater chemical exposure that is the key… and identifies the spring and summer as having greater risk due to agriculture and household pest applications. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,270733,00.html

 

My blood type is O (woot universal blood) and i am completly opposite to the personality. Im actually more of an A, so i dont think its really correct or should be believed completly.