The Origin of Cultural Differences in Cognition: The Social Orientation Hypothesis
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A large body of research documents cognitive differences between Westerners and East Asians. Westerners tend to be more analytic and East Asians tend to be more holistic. These findings have often been explained as being due to corresponding differences in social orientation. Westerners are more independent and Easterners are more interdependent. However, comparisons of the cognitive tendencies of Westerners and East Asians do not allow us to rule out alternative explanations for the cognitive differences, such as linguistic and genetic differences, as well as cultural differences other than social orientation. In this review we summarize recent developments that provide stronger support for the social orientation hypothesis.
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People living in societies that emphasize interdependence in social coordination, such as Japan, tend to reflect on the mental states of others more, define the self through relationships with others, and better avoid underweighting contextual information, relative to people living in more independent contexts such as the USA.
“For instance, people living in societies that emphasize interdependence in social coordination (such as Japan) tend to reflect on the mental states of others more, define the self through relationships with others, and are better able to avoid underweighting contextual information, relative to people living in more independent contexts (such as the USA) 92,93 .”
From Predictors and consequences of intellectual humility (2022) · cites this paper as [93]
The paper’s discussion of social orientation (section labeled Abstract; page unavailable) says interdependent cultures view the self as interconnected with important relationships. Its discussion of analytic and holistic cognition (same section; page unavailable) says holistic cognition attends more broadly to context, consistent with the claim about not underweighting contextual information. The passages do not establish that people in interdependent societies reflect more on others’ mental states. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSocieties that emphasize interdependence rather than independence are more likely to promote relational goals, pay attention to social cues, define the self as embedded within one's social environment, and display social context vigilance.
“More generally, societies that emphasize interdependence rather than independence are more likely to promote relational goals, pay attention to social cues, define the self as embedded within one's social environment and display social context vigilance 92-95 .”
From Predictors and consequences of intellectual humility (2022) · cites this paper as [93]
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“Research has demonstrated that cultural differences in I-C are associated with more specific differences in cognitive (e.g., dialectical vs. linear thinking styles) and motivational (e.g., approach vs. avoidance) processes (Cross et al., 2011; Varnum et al., 2010).”
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de Oliveira, S., & Nisbett, R. E. (2017) · Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology · doi:10.1177/0022022117730816 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
“Overall, research supports the association between collectivism (or interdependence) and holistic thinking, and between individualism (or independence) and analytic thinking (Varnum et al., 2010).”
BackgroundSelf-citationCare Robot Orientation: What, Who and How? Potential Users’ Perceptions
Johansson‐Pajala, R., Thommes, K., Hoppe, J. A., Tuisku, O., Hennala, L., Pekkarinen, S., Melkas, H., & Gustafsson, C. (2020) · International Journal of Social Robotics · doi:10.1007/s12369-020-00619-y · Cited by 73 · see citing works
A cross-culture, cross-gender comparison of perspective taking mechanisms
Kessler, K., Cao, L., O’Shea, K. J., & Wang, H. (2014) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2014.0388 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
Sociocultural Influences on Moral Judgments: East–West, Male–Female, and Young–Old
Arutyunova, K. R., Alexandrov, Y. I., & HAUSER, M. D. (2016) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01334 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
de Bellis, E., Hildebrand, C., Ito, K., Herrmann, A. P., & Schmitt, B. H. (2019) · Journal of Marketing Research · doi:10.1177/0022243719867698 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
“These cultural differences have been traced back to people’s religious practices (Colzato et al. 2010) and livelihoods (Varnum et al. 2010), and they are robust across a wide range of samples using Eastern and Western participants (Morling and Masuda 2012).”
BackgroundCultural influences on mentoring programs and relationships: a critical review of research
Kent, A. M., Kochan, F. K., & Green, A. M. (2013) · International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education · doi:10.1108/ijmce-08-2013-0047 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
Hornsey, M. J., Bain, P. G., Harris, E. A., Lebedeva, N. M., Kashima, E. S., Guan, Y., González, R., Chen, S. X., & Blumen, S. (2018) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797618768058 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
“…for inclusion as a holistic culture (it does not have a strong influence of Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Jainism, or Taoism) previous studies have shown that Russians display more holistic cognitive styles than Americans or Western Europeans (Grossmann & Varnum, 2011; Varnum et al., 2010).”
BackgroundResultRice, Psychology, and Innovation
Henrich, J. (2014) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1253815 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Current Perspectives on Cognitive Diversity
Bender, A., & Beller, S. (2016) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00509 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
“…1966) and Cole (Cole et al., 1971; Cole and Scribner, 1974) and the school in social psychology evolved around the idea that thinking styles are shaped by the social orientation embedded in broad cultural traditions (reviewed in Nisbett et al., 2001; Varnum et al., 2010; Grossmann and Na, 2014).”
BackgroundImplicit theories of the human mind predict competitive and cooperative responses to AI robots
Dang, J., & Liu, L. (2022) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2022.107300 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Consideration of culture in cognition: How we can enrich methodology and theory
Gutchess, A. H., & Rajaram, S. (2022) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · doi:10.3758/s13423-022-02227-5 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
“For example, autobiographical memory development in children can be shaped by pathways including self-goals, language, emotion knowledge, and perceptual style (Wang, 2021c).”
Cultural variation in pro-positive versus balanced systems of emotions
Miyamoto, Y., Ma, X., & Wilken, B. (2017) · Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.05.014 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
Understanding Culture Clashes and Catalyzing Change: A Culture Cycle Approach
Hamedani, M., & Markus, H. (2019) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00700 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Parental Stress and Well-Being: A Meta-analysis
Rusu, P. P., Candel, O. S., Bogdan, I., Ilciuc, C., Ursu, A., & Podina, I. R. (2025) · Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review · doi:10.1007/s10567-025-00515-9 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
“Parenting expectations and standards of children’s behavior might differ significantly from one country to another (Markus & Kitayama, 2010; Varnum et al., 2010).”
Social Network Analysis in Enterprise
Lin, C., Wu, L., Wen, Z., Tong, H., Griffiths-Fisher, V., Shi, L., & Lubensky, D. M. (2012) · Proceedings of the IEEE · doi:10.1109/jproc.2012.2203090 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Emerging evidence of cultural differences linked to rice versus wheat agriculture
Talhelm, T. (2019) · Current Opinion in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.06.031 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
Oyserman, D. (2015) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781118900772.etrds0067 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
Chua, A. Y. K., & Banerjee, S. (2013) · Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology · doi:10.1002/asi.22902 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
“Chinese users, on the other hand, appear more reliant on cues from initial answers to contribute (Nisbett, Peng, Choi, & Norenzayan, 2001; Varnum et al., 2010).”
BackgroundWhen West Meets East: Generalizing Theory and Expanding the Conceptual Toolkit of Criminology
Messner, S. F. (2014) · Asian Journal of Criminology · doi:10.1007/s11417-014-9197-3 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
“Cultures that endorse and afford interdependent social orientation tend to emphasize harmony, relatedness, and connection” (Varnum et al. 2010, p. 9).”
BackgroundInfluentialCross-cultural differences in memory specificity
Millar, P. R., Serbun, S. J., Vadalia, A., & Gutchess, A. H. (2013) · Culture and Brain · doi:10.1007/s40167-013-0011-3 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Urbanization decreases attentional engagement.
Linnell, K. J., Caparos, S., de Fockert, J. W., & Davidoff, J. B. (2013) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance · doi:10.1037/a0031139 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Culture and attention: Recent empirical findings and new directions in cultural psychology
Masuda, T. (2017) · Social and Personality Psychology Compass · doi:10.1111/spc3.12363 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Zhao, X., Li, X., Song, Y., & Shi, W. (2018) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-018-3745-0 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Outside advantage: Can social rejection fuel creative thought?
Kim, S. H., Vincent, L. C., & Goncalo, J. A. (2012) · Journal of Experimental Psychology General · doi:10.1037/a0029728 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
Exploring Cultural Differences in the Extent to Which People Perceive and Desire Control
Hornsey, M. J., Greenaway, K. H., Harris, E. A., & Bain, P. G. (2018) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167218780692 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Socio-ecological roots of cultures of honor
Üskül, A. K., & Cross, S. E. (2019) · Current Opinion in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.11.001 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Cultural differences in gaze and emotion recognition: Americans contrast more than Chinese.
Stanley, J. T., Zhang, X., Fung, H. H.-L., & Isaacowitz, D. M. (2012) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/a0029209 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Culture, social class, and independence–interdependence: The case of Chinese adolescents
Hamamura, T., Xu, Q., & Du, Y. (2012) · International Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1080/00207594.2011.647030 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Microblog credibility perceptions
Yang, J., Counts, S., Morris, M. R., & Hoff, A. (2013) · ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) · doi:10.1145/2441776.2441841 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
“Confucian) [29, 40], languages [56], and religions [8].”
Click to Share: Patterns in Tourist Photography and Sharing
Konijn, E., Sluimer, N., & Mitas, O. (2016) · International Journal of Tourism Research · doi:10.1002/jtr.2069 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Yama, H., & Zakaria, N. (2019) · Journal of Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1080/20445911.2019.1626862 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
“However, as with the first route of explanation, Varnum et al. (2010) proposed an explanation at the individual level: from Westerners’ independent self to analytic cognition and from Easterners’ interdependent self to holistic cognition.”
BackgroundResultInfluentialA price to pay: Turkish and Northern American retaliation for threats to personal and family honor
Üskül, A. K., Cross, S. E., Günsoy, C., Gerçek‐Swing, B., Alözkan, C., & Ataca, B. (2015) · Aggressive Behavior · doi:10.1002/ab.21598 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
A Multi-Country Examination of Hard-Sell and Soft-Sell Advertising
Okazaki, S., Mueller, B., & Diehl, S. (2013) · Journal of Advertising Research · doi:10.2501/jar-53-3-258-272 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Effects of Culture and the Urban Environment on the Development of the Ebbinghaus Illusion
Bremner, A. J., DOHERTY, M. J., Caparos, S., de Fockert, J. W., Linnell, K. J., & Davidoff, J. B. (2016) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/cdev.12511 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
“Varnum et al. (2010) argue that more individualistic (e.g., Western) cultures promote “analytic” processing of the details in visual patterns, whereas more collectivist (e.g., East Asian) cultures promote “holistic” processing of continuities and relationships.”
Analysis of Teachers’ Intercultural Sensitivity Levels in Multicultural Contexts
Robles, A. S., & González, M. E. P. (2019) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su11113137 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Na, J., Grossmann, I., Varnum, M. E. W., Karasawa, M., Cho, Y., Kitayama, S., & Nisbett, R. E. (2019) · Journal of Personality · doi:10.1111/jopy.12536 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Self-citationAutism Across Cultures: Perspectives From Non‐Western Cultures and Implications for Research
Freeth, M., Milne, E., Sheppard, E., & Ramachandran, R. (2014) · Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders, Fourth Edition · doi:10.1002/9781118911389.hautc43 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
“These differences in behavior between cultures are also coupled with differences in cognition, described as “cognitive habits” (Varnum et al., 2010).”
BackgroundThe interplay between humans, technology and user authentication: A cognitive processing perspective
Belk, M., Fidas, C. A., Germanakos, P., & Samaras, G. (2017) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2017.06.042 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Social class and wise reasoning about interpersonal conflicts across regions, persons and situations
Brienza, J. P., & Grossmann, I. (2017) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2017.1870 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Self-citationWu, Y., Alleva, J. M., & Mulkens, S. (2020) · Body Image · doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.03.009 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
The relation between self-conscious emotions and delinquency: A meta-analysis
Spruit, A., Schalkwijk, F. W., van Vugt, E., & Stams, G. J. J. M. (2016) · Aggression and Violent Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.avb.2016.03.009 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Zhang, S., & Feng, J. W. (2018) · Journalism Studies · doi:10.1080/1461670x.2018.1513814 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
“Their synthetic cognitive pattern has “a focus on contextual information, an emphasis on situational causes in attribution, and dialecticism” (Varnum et al. 2010).”
BackgroundSoliman, T. M., Johnson, K. A., & Song, H. (2015) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/1745691615606373 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
- Authors
- Varnum, M. E. W., Grossmann, I., Kitayama, S., & Nisbett, R. E.
- Affiliations
- University of Michigan (US)
- Corresponding author
- Varnum, Michael E. W.
- Venue
- Current Directions in Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2010-02
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 9-13
- ISSN
- 0963-7214 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-8721
- PMC
- PMC2838233
- OpenAlex
- W2119537973
- Cited by
- 566
- References
- 33
- Citations by year
- 2026: 32 · 2025: 39 · 2024: 45 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 44 · 2021: 35 · 2020: 46 · 2019: 30 · 2018: 36 · 2017: 48 · 2016: 39 · 2015: 39 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 33 · 2012: 23
- FWCI
- 32.79
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Current Directions in Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Aging (R01AG029509)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Cultural Differences and Values
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Categorization, perception, and language
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Keywords
- cultural differences in cognition, social orientation, individualism-collectivism, cross-cultural cognition
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