 Influenced by the writings of late-19th- and early-20th-century Western travelers, scholars or diplomats who visited Japan, such as Basil Hall Chamberlain, George Trumbull Ladd and Percival Lowell, as well as by Ruth Benedict's influential book "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword", many scholars of Japanese studies speculated that there would be a higher propensity to conform in Japanese culture than in American culture.However, this view was not formed on the basis of empirical evidence collected in a systematic way, but rather on the basis of anecdotes and casual observations, which are subject to a variety of cognitive biases.Modern scientific studies comparing conformity in Japan and the United States show that Americans conform in general as much than the Japanese and, in some situations, even more.