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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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Mustata, M. A., Răpan, I., Dumitrescu, L., Dobreva, H., Dimov, P., Lis, A., Révayová, E., Marineanu, V. D., Buluc, R., Olariu, C., et al. (2023) · Applied Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1002/acp.4130 · Cited by 6
Register, J. T. (2023) · Journal of Urban Mathematics Education · doi:10.21423/jume-v16i2a522 · Cited by 3
“…of Asian cultures promotes a stronger emphasis on community, interdependence, and connections with others (i.e. communal social orientation) (Varnum et al. 2010) while the overrepresentation of Asians in U.S. STEM fields is, at least partially, due to a greater cultural emphasis on the…”
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Nestor, P. G., & Woodhull, A.-A. (2024) · Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology · doi:10.1080/13803395.2024.2428728 · Cited by 4
“Nisbett (2003) and colleagues (e.g., Varnum et al., 2010) attributed these differences to East Asians’ propensity to reason in a holistic, relational, and context-dependent way, in contrast to European Americans’ propensity to reason in an analytical, context-independent way.”
English, A. S., Talhelm, T., Tong, R., Wei, L., Li, X., Ma, J., Yu, H., Zhou, S., Zhang, W., Lin, T., et al. (2025) · British Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjop.70033 · Cited by 3
Back, K., Lee, C., Ahn, J., Schmitt, A., & Kim, H. (2018) · International Gambling Studies · doi:10.1080/14459795.2018.1541244 · Cited by 3
Lin, M., Ramírez‐Esparza, N., & y Cabo, D. P. (2023) · Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies · doi:10.29333/ejecs/1446 · Cited by 3
“In general, this supports the argument that collectivism is associated with holistic thinking, which in turn influences the tendency to see the context (de Oliveira & Nisbett, 2017; Masuda et al., 2008; Varnum et al., 2010).”
BackgroundResultInfluentialJiang, X., Jiao, R., Lu, D., Li, F., Yin, H., & Lin, X. (2023) · Psychology Research and Behavior Management · doi:10.2147/prbm.s419822 · Cited by 3
“From a cultural perspective, the Chinese have always adhered to collectivism, and interdependent self-construction makes the connection between people even closer.(40) Using a palliative strategy to deal with crises allows teachers to avoid conflicts with their colleagues and superiors and further enhance their relati…”
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Mano-Usui, F., Ikeda, K., Uchida, Y., Liu, I. H., Joo, E., Okura, M., & Inagaki, N. (2018) · Journal of Diabetes Investigation · doi:10.1111/jdi.12983 · Cited by 3
A Perspective of Cross-Cultural Psychological Studies for Global Business
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A review of the experience and consequences of self-aspect activation, number, and distinctiveness
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Yama, H., & Zakaria, N. (2012) · Universiti Utara Malaysia Institutional Repository (Universiti Utara Malaysia) · Cited by 3
Yap, S., Ji, L., & Hong, E. K. (2018) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781119170174.epcn314 · Cited by 3
Hampton, R. S., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2017) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_2023-1 · Cited by 3
Self-citation
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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