Chapter 3: Living together vs Going it alone

i have a doubt about the very first line of this chapter, which says [most westerners, or at any rate most Americans] why is he changing the group being discussed every time? i think that its a bit misleading. he goes on to affirm, after describing some characteristics, that such people exist in western cultures including Europe.
About the British Commonwealth. it includes countries like India and Pakistan, countries which are more oriental in their way of thinking.
Nisbett almost always uses the Western way of thinking as the common standard and the East Asian way of thinking as the exception to the rule.
p66. What type of thinking does Australia have? does it have the eastern way of thinking?


i have a personal question. Why are so many people in western cultures such devout followers of religions? maybe they're searching for a group to belong to.