TY - JOUR
T1 - The origin of cultural differences in cognition
T2 - The social orientation hypothesis
AU - Varnum, Michael E.W.
AU - Grossmann, Igor
AU - Kitayama, Shinobu
AU - Nisbett, Richard E.
N1 - Funding Information:
Research reported here was supported by the Russell Sage Foundation, National Institute on Aging Grant 5RO129509-02 and National Science Foundation (NSF) Grant 2007: BCS 0717982. The views presented here are not necessarily those of the NSF.
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Cross-cultural differences
KW - Culture
KW - Holistic/analytic cognition
KW - Independence/interdependence
KW - Reasoning
KW - Within-culture differences
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77950897586&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=77950897586&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0963721409359301
DO - 10.1177/0963721409359301
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:77950897586
SN - 0963-7214
VL - 19
SP - 9
EP - 13
JO - Current Directions in Psychological Science
JF - Current Directions in Psychological Science
IS - 1
ER -