Do Asians Have Peripheral Vision?

By Koji Steven | Monday, August 20, 2012 | 8 Comments

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asian Do Asians Have Peripheral Vision? Apparently, Asians are like dogs. We lack peripheral vision. I guess that means we can only see what is directly in front of us. I kid you not, people actually believe this. I found people wanting to know if Asians have peripheral vision on Yahoo! Answers, WikiAnswers, etc. but also on car forums, sports blogs, legal forums, and any other site where people talk about Asians. These discussions were taking place all over the globe from America to Australia to Europe.

Needless to say it’s not true. Asians have peripheral vision. Everyone has peripheral vision, no matter what race you are.

The end.

Well, not exactly. What’s interesting to me is not that there are ignorant people out there who actually believe this but that it seems to be the starting point of a lot of negative stereotypes.

Let me explain. Some people believe that it is the Asians lack of peripheral vision which makes them bad drivers. Here’s one example:

Do Asian people have decreased peripheral vision? Is this why they are bad drivers? I am serious and not making fun. Slanty eyes must interfere. I am an insurance adjuster and come to this conclusion over my long career. Should I charge them more? This is unfair to us round eyed folks

Okay, this person is clearly racist. But he’s not the only one:

Are Asians bad drivers due to bad peripheral vision/coordination, is it cultural, or are they inexperienced? I live in San Francisco. Almost every time someone cuts me off, is driving too slowly, parked in the middle of the road blocking traffic, merging on the freeway at 35 mph, and the list goes on, it is an asian person(mostly chinese). I’m not kidding and not a racist. Is it they can’t see as well? Do they not care? Are they culturally less aware of their surroundings? Are they new arrivals who never drove a car before? What do you think?Truly, I want to know!

And another:

Do asians have to pay more for car insuarance because they lack peripheral vision?

You get the point. But luckily (for the world) there are patient people who try to answer these people’s questions.

Car insurance is based on driving behavior & history not on particular race, religion, or stereotype.

This next person somehow manages to connect Asian’s lack of peripheral vision to being good at math – which is actually a pretty impressive feat.

if evolution is real why do asians have slanty eyes? answer this, darwin’s nightmare. where’s the advantage in losing your peripheral vision? obviously god created this to handicap them because they’re too good at math.

Here are some of my other favorite questions regarding Asian and their peripheral vision:

Do asians people see everything in widescreen?

Do Asian people have worse vertical peripheral vision than other people? This might sound horribly racist, but that’s not my intention. Do people of Asian descent (and other people who have an “epicanthal fold”) have worse peripheral vision at the top and bottom of their field of vision than people without the fold?

The only reason I’m asking here is because I was talking to a person of Asian descent about it and he said he didn’t know how his peripheral vision compared to other people’s, since he’s obviously never had “non-Asian eyes.”

Why did asians end up with the slits for eyes and white people got the fully open eyes? What advantage is there in asia to have slits as opposed to non-slits?

Do people with Chinese-type eyes see less in the vertical direction?

I looked really hard for a positive outcome of Asians having “different” peripheral vision. This was the best I could find:

Do Asians have advanced peripheral vision?

I have no idea what “advanced” means, but it sounds good, right?

In the end, it always amazes me that people from different backgrounds want to believe that the “other” are so different. I wonder if the world would be a better place if we all accepted that we are more similar than different in every way.

Probably not. But maybe people would stop asking stupid questions on the Internet. A person can dream, can’t they?

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DiscriminationEducation

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Kimiye

Ah, reminds me of the time a schoolmate exclaimed, “Your eyes are so tiny! How do you see out of them?” Well enough to go far, far away from that town as soon as I possibly could.
http://www.myspace.com/krantzstone Krantzstone

I was going to put ‘angry’ for mood, but you know what? It’s just sad. Witnessing such ignorance is always incredibly sad. Sad, but not surprising, unfortunately, especially on the internet. On the other hand, it’s interesting to hear what ignorant people have to say that’s actually on their minds, when it’s relatively anonymous and they’re less worried about what other people will think. It also shows a terrible deficit in science education (in this case, biology), but I suspect this deficit can also explain the likes of Todd Akin. IMnsHO they need to tax all religions and the proceeds should go directly to science education. ;P
gimirzz

I always wondered… Since I don’t have a tall nose but I can still see my nose in my field of vision…. Does this mean white people or others with big noses have large chunks of their field of vision blocked by their nose?? (it’s a serious question)

Also I have pretty small eyes as an Asian and my vertical field of vision is more limited than if I open my eyes wider. But the peripheral vision thing… I’d think non-Asians would have more problems with that cuz their eyes are so deep set and maybe their bone structures would limit their peripheral vision
AsiansWearFur

I don’t have a tall nose, nor do I have a flat nose, but I do see the bridge of my nose before me if my eyeballs rotate to on side or another. So my peripheral vision is clear and in 3D. I think if the nose bridge is too high, peripheral vision may be like 2D.
Mentatsep

Sorry to hear about your massive butthurt, but it turns out asian-style eyes CAN cause loss of peripheral vision. Stereotypes don’t normally form for no reason at all.

Straight from Wikipedia: “When an advanced amount of upper eyelid skin is present, the skin may protrude over the eyelashes and causes a loss of peripheral vision. The outer and upper parts of the visual field are most commonly affected and the condition may cause difficulty with activities such as driving or reading.”

Its not 100% Asians of course, and there are lots of retarded racists out there, but facts are facts, gotta own ‘em or suffer teh butthurt
Kimiye

Since I am half-Japanese, my eyes are practically round– I have defined eyelids of the type that some Asian people get surgery to achieve. My point is that the schoolmate was being racist and mean, and her comments had nothing to do with the actual size or function of my eyes.

No “massive butthurt” here. If my eyelids ever droop far enough to obscure my vision, I’ll get blepharoplasty in a heartbeat. Eye lift paid for by insurance!
seamus watson

I’m so embarrassed. You cant beat the ignorance out of some people.
seamus watson

You aint helping. The lightly veiled racism comes from both sides, I see. Sad.

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