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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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“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]
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“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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Culture, social class, and independence–interdependence: The case of Chinese adolescents
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Microblog credibility perceptions
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“Confucian) [29, 40], languages [56], and religions [8].”
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Yama, H., & Zakaria, N. (2019) · Journal of Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1080/20445911.2019.1626862 · Cited by 54
“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.”
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“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 58
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 58
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“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
Social class and wise reasoning about interpersonal conflicts across regions, persons and situations
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The relation between self-conscious emotions and delinquency: A meta-analysis
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“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 50
Metadata
- 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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